- By
- KEN PARKS
- And
- MARTIN AROSTEGUI
Hundreds of Bolivian lawmakers, cabinet members and military personnel, as well as members of peasant organizations and unions, greeted Mr. Morales with cheers and confetti outside his jet at La Paz's international airport.
Associated Press'Some European countries have to liberate themselves from North American imperialism,' a confetti-dusted President Morales declared.
"Surely the Empire and its servants think that intimidating a president is a way to harass and above all intimidate the nations who struggle for their liberation," Mr. Morales said in a televised address just after midnight Thursday morning. "But they aren't going to be able to do that because we are no longer in the times of empires and colonies."
Mr. Morales thanked Latin Americans for their support, while criticizing unnamed European nations for collaborating with the U.S. to block his flight.
"Some European countries have to liberate themselves from North American imperialism," he said. "I can't understand how some countries can be faithful, obedient servants to the North American empire."
The president's European travails seem to have angered many Bolivians.
"[The incident] was an affront to the country," said government employee Maria Tellez at the Murillo square fronting the presidential palace. "Not only to the president, but all Bolivians. We are indignant."
Close by, Sebastian Lopez and Alex Loyola, both from neighboring Chile, sat on the palace steps holding a pro-Morales poster.
Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesA sign-carrying crowd outside the president's plane
"The U.S. has moved its troops against Latin American countries on the road to socialism," Mr. Lopez said. "Latin America needs to unite against the empire."
Not everyone was so sympathetic to the president. Rene Castillo, a taxi driver who voted for Mr. Morales in two elections, thinks the president is using the plane incident and a border dispute with Chile as distractions from domestic problems like poverty, unemployment and corruption.
"Evo goes around provoking half the world as if Bolivia were a great power," Mr. Castillo said.
Mr. Morales, who was on his way back to Bolivia from a summit of gas-exporting countries in Russia, was forced to land in Vienna late Tuesday after France and Portugal denied his plane authorization to fly over their territory. Mr. Morales found himself playing a leading role in the Snowden saga after he told Russian television that his government would consider granting asylum if a request were made.
Mr. Snowden has been stuck in a transit zone in Moscow's international airport for more than a week, since he flew to Russia from Hong Kong. The U.S. government is seeking his arrest for his admitted leaking of information about secret NSA surveillance programs. Mr. Snowden has requested asylum in more than 20 countries, including Bolivia. None has yet agreed to take him in.
The Bolivian government accused France, Portugal, Italy and Spain of caving into U.S. pressure by refusing flight permission to Mr. Morales' jet based on rumors that Mr. Snowden was traveling with the president.
Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera described the president's stop in Vienna, which lasted roughly 14 hours, as a "kidnapping" at the behest of the U.S.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius apologized to Bolivia for closing its airspace to Mr. Morales. Portuguese officials said they cancelled permission to refuel in Lisbon "due to technical reasons."
Latin American leaders have roundly denounced the incident as an example of world powers strong-arming a weaker nation.
"We believe this constitutes not only the humiliation of a brother nation, but also the South American continent," Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner said Wednesday.
South American presidents are scheduled to meet Thursday in Cochabamba, Bolivia, under the umbrella of the 12-member Union of South American Nations.
Known as Unasur, the organization has tried to cast itself as an alternative forum to the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States in regional issues. The five-year-old organization held snap summits to address a police rebellion in Ecuador in 2010 and political instability following April's contested election of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
But it's unclear how much appetite there is among the members for any measures beyond harsh words and pledges of Latin American unity. Even countries in conflict with the U.S., such as Venezuela, Cuba and Ecuador, haven't granted Mr. Snowden asylum.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, who earlier appeared to be leaning toward granting asylum, said he would consider it only if Mr. Snowden somehow got to Ecuador first. But Mr. Snowden's U.S. passport has been canceled, and a travel document issued to him by Ecuador's consul in London—which might have helped him gain safe passage—has been repudiated as invalid by Mr. Correa himself.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said this week in Moscow that Mr. Snowden deserves protection. But when asked by reporters if he would give the U.S. fugitive a ride back to Venezuela, he said laughing: "What I think about taking with me is a lot of deals that we are going to sign with Russia."
Riordan Roett, the head of Latin American studies at Johns Hopkins University, thinks the Morales incident will complicate the U.S. government's already complex relationship with Latin America. The lack of either a clear U.S. policy toward the region or significant aid money doesn't help, he said.
"Private investment is strong," he said. "Most Fortune 500 [companies] are in Latin America. But that isn't policy. The relationship really comes down to trade."
—Paul Sonne, Peter Nicholas, Inti Landauro and David Gauthier-Villars contributed to this article.
