Spain says U.S. tipoff led it to query Bolivian flight

[Catherina]

112. Oh my, so they admit the undeniable. "Vamos a hablar con nuestro amigos"

The little Spanish Ambassador who could, kept running back and forth for hours, refusing to grant Morales refueling rights, and consulting with "our friends". Everyone in the world knows who "our friends" means, especially Europeans and Latin Americans. It's quite the little nickname for the US.

And Spain was acting all indignant at the OAS meeting yesterday, trying to skate by on the technicality that they didn't close their airspace. LMAO! No, they just kept refused refueling rights for 13+ hours unless Morales agreed to let them inspect his plane. So sure, technically airspace open but with blackmail. What arrogance! What impertinence and disrespect.

And instead of saying we apologize, a simple request for any honest person, yesterday they tried to throw it on that Indigenous (wink, wink) who misunderstood their kind intentions and spurned their cup of coffee. These people kill me! ALL of Latin America remembers Spain's crimes and its arrogance in committing them for over 500 years. As the Bolivians put it, they will NEVER forget this latest insult.

The West isn't just inept and thieving. It's tone deaf. Deliberately so.

"Vamos a hablar con nuestro amigos"

From the RT Espanol Interview with President Morales

What exactly happened with the Spanish Ambassador in Austria?

First France closed their airspace, then Portugal right after that, then finally Italy. We were informed by the control towers. Then Spain let us know that if we wanted to refuel, as planned and cleared before, that they needed to inspect our plane. I said, why do you need to check the plane? … I don't know that North American man (Snowden) or why you think we're carrying him. We're very responsible and respectful of international conventions.

That's when they informed you it was because of Snowden? Directly?

Yes, that's when they told us. “I said to the airport officials, ‘You can’t search the Presidential plane. They said ‘We can’t unless you invite us for a cup of coffee so we can come on the plane’. They wanted me to invite them for coffee inside the plane!" I said "No you can't, you can't come in the plane". If you want to enter by force, you can do so but I'm not inviting you on because this is not legal.

Did they get to inspect the plane?

No, not at all. I was informed that some agents walked around the plane outside.

My first thought was: how can European countries be so submissive to the US? I imagined these nations were big defenders of democracy, big defenders of human rights.” Despite the history of slavery, colonialism, in Spain, France, other countries, and still I had some faith.

http://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/view/99364-morales-rt-avion-snowden-entrevista-exclusiva

From the explanation Morales gave to his people:

(Video in Spanish, no subtitles, the quote below is at minute 5:15 where President Morales states what happened after we were told "we could not enter French territory, we were very surprised and decided to make an emergency landing in Vienna Austria&quot

On July 4, President Evo Morales related how Ambassador Alberto Carnero tried to commandeer his plane to check whether the former U.S. agent Edward Snowden was on the flight.

When Morales's plane landed on Austrian soil emergency, "suddenly appears the Spanish Ambassador to Vienna, Austria (Alberto Carnero) with two individuals from the Embassy of Spain. The first (the ambassador) tells me that we need to check the presidential airplane. I replied: 'Why do you need to check?'. (He answers me) "I've been in constant contact with the vice Vice-Chancellor of Spain". I replied that 'I do not know this gentlemen, I heard on the news reports that he is American agent'.

I told him that 'we are very respectful of international conventions, international agreements. Therefore I am not transporting anyone to Bolivia' I replied to his insinuations that I was transporting Snowden. Then, when I said that, he replied "I will go ask my Vice-Chancellor". He gets up, and leaves his little office where we were at the airport in Vienna, Austria. He returned and said, "No, we have an agreement among "Foreign Ministers to check your airplane". I told him that 'his chancellor had never informed me of this'. I said: 'You can NOT check. If you do not believe me, you are telling me that President Evo is a liar'. I said that '(our) presidents do not lie, and you know, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors cosmic law is now constitutionalized: Ama Sua (do not steal), Ama Llulla (do not lie) and Ama Quella (do not be idle), I not going to lie to anyone.'

(Minute 7:45) The ambassador comes back from asking his Vice Chancellor, and repeats, "you have to invite us into your plane to have a cup of coffee, to have a little coffee so we can check". I said, 'You're treating me like a criminal, only criminals can be checked, and I'm no criminal. And you are not going to inspect the Presidential airplane'. I mean, brothers and sisters, in this time, for them to control us, for them to check our plane ... I could not understand the colonialist mentality'. 'We had no defense (resistance) whatsoever, it was just me and the pilots. If you want to check, you can do so but only by force, we can offer no resistance. It's clear, how could we resist a military or police operation, but the only way to do so is to do it by force. He got scared and did not dare to check by force and then told me he's going to call his Vice-Chancellor again. He came back and said "Would you speak with my Vice-Chancellor?". I said 'no I have nothing to discuss with the Vice-Chancellor. If you want, call your president (Mariano Rajoy) and not his Vice-Chancellor'. And then finally he tells me, after speaking with (his Vice-Chancellor) another time, he tells me at 9 in the morning, " I can't tell you yet if you can leave or not, because we need talk to our friends." Who are these friends of Spain? Well, they have the right to speak their friends but I asked 'who are these friends? Portugal? France? Italy?' He did not say anything. I wonder who these *friends* are. Then, at 9 and 30, or 10 in the morning, he returned and said to me, a little worried, scared and nervous 'You are free to go" and stopped insisting to check (the plane).

"If I had accepted the inspection, we would have been out of there in an hour or two after landing, but we would not give pleasure to Spain, even more so to the the United States, to inspect our plane so we could leave quickly. We have dignity, sovereignty and we are proud of our country, of the Patria Grande and we will never submit to these forms of blackmail sisters and brothers.

He then goes on to how President Rafael Correa told the US to take its preferential trade deal and stuff it (cheers). and how Latin America is on the rise while the US is on the decline. They don't need this he says. Then he mentions how the US had the nerve to deliver an extradition request for Edward Snowden after he landed in Bolivia. It's all to intimidate. "Our real sin is to have an indigenous President, and to be anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist. That's our sin sisters and brothers. They can't accept that we can govern better than the neoliberals. They can't understand that. What I understood is that they used their agents to intimidate us, to shut us up, to badger, to chastise Latin America and the Caribbean . They do not want this liberation of the people led by anti-capitalist presidents, governments, parties"