Bolivia Slams US ‘Provocation’ Over Rerouting Plane

Spurns US Extradition Request as Illegal

The embarrassment of the US forcing European Union member nations to down the plane of Bolivia’s President Evo Morales on the “hunch” that Edward Snowden was aboard continues today, with Morales finally getting back to Bolivia to lash the US over the matter.

Morales turned the forced landing of his plane an “open provocation,” and urged the European nations involved to free themselves of US influence and not get sucked into other humiliating endeavors.

Bolivia went on to spurn a US demand for Snowden’s extradition as “strange, illegal, unfounded and suggestive,” while the Union of South American Nations criticized the forcible search of Morales’ plane.

The push for Snowden’s extradition is particularly bizarre since the search came up empty and the whistleblower is known to still be in a Moscow airport. Russia is said to be growing impatient about his being stuck in the airport’s international zone, urging him to “choose a destination.” Since he can’t even theoretically leave without asylum, that could take awhile.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.