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Rousseff Says Embarrassment to Evo Affects "All of Latin America"

07/04/2013 - 08h18

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FROM SÃO PAULO
FROM BRASÍLIA

After more than 15 hours of silence regarding the incident involving the plane of the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement that the embarrassment caused to Bolivia "affects all of Latin America."

Evo's plane did not have permission from European countries such as France and Portugal to overfly their airspace, and was forced to land in Austria. According to the Bolivian government, the countries suspected that Edward Snowden, the American who revealed the telephone and online monitoring scheme carried out by the U.S. government, was aboard.

For the president, the action of the Europeans "compromises the dialogue between the two continents, and possible negotiations between them." She expressed her "outrage and disgust" and demanded "prompt explanation and corresponding excuses on the part of the countries involved in this provocation."

Jarbas Oliveira/Reuters
Bolivia's President Evo Morales boards the presidential plane at Fortaleza airport on July 3
Bolivia's President Evo Morales boards the presidential plane at Fortaleza airport on July 3

According to Dilma, the detention of the presidential plane is "a serious disregard for international law and practice" and the actions of "certain European governments" which had previously "denounced the spying on its employees by the United States, ending up asserting that these actions could compromise a future trade agreement between this country and the European Union" "causes surprise and awe".

Earlier, in a call to his Bolivian counterpart, David Choquehuanca, the Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota condemned the "arrogant attitude" of the European countries.

The Brazilian government protested long after the presidents of Argentina, Venezuela, Ecuador and Uruguay - who since Tuesday have been condemning the episode quite harshly.

Brasília and La Paz have gone through a difficult time in their relationship, shaken by the impasse over the safe conduct of opposition member Senator Roger Pinto, under asylum in the Brazilian embassy for a year, and over the release of Brazilian fans arrested in Oruro.

UNASUL called one high-level meeting for this Thursday - for heads of state and ministers - in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to discuss the issue.

Brazil will be represented by the international adviser to the President, Marco Aurelio Garcia, and the secretary general of the Foreign Ministry, Eduardo dos Santos - in place of Antônio Patriota, who is in Europe.

Translated by DAVE WOLIN

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