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Edward Snowden asylum: Bolivian president's plane diverted - live coverage

86 points| teawithcarl | 12 years ago |guardiannews.com | reply

39 comments

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[+] StavrosK|12 years ago|reply
Oh wow, this sounds very significant. Looks like the US is trying to show the world that nobody exposes shady government tactics and lives.
[+] shirro|12 years ago|reply
No, they are trying to show the world the value of collecting data on millions of innocent law abiding citizens and how it enables accurate targeting of which plane a whistleblower is on almost as well as it can prevent terrorists bombing marathons and flying into buildings.
[+] frisco|12 years ago|reply
That's such a weird request. What, Portugal or France were going to shoot down the Bolivian president's plane if it didn't comply? Yeah, ok.

I find it odd that this was demanded, and also odd that it then happened. Anyone have insight on either of these counts?

EDIT: Portugal

[+] lotharbot|12 years ago|reply
Apparently the Bolivian presidential aircraft is a Sabreliner [0], which has a much shorter range than a big commercial jet. It may be unable to cross the Atlantic without a fuel stop near the coast. If Spain, France, and Portugal all say "don't fly here", they may not intend to shoot the thing down, but they might very well refuse to allow the aircraft to refuel when it lands.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabreliner

[+] sdoowpilihp|12 years ago|reply
As far as I can surmise, the reason that the Bolivian president complied was due to the fact that had he not, it would at the very least, be seen as an act of aggression, and could possibly be seen as much more.

Though they wouldn't threaten to shoot the plane down per se, you can bet they'd send up a few armed and loaded fighter jets to 'escort' the president's plane either out of their air space or to a safe landing zone where he could then explain himself to the proper authorities.

[+] mtowle|12 years ago|reply
Ohhh I get it. Very clever, Wikileaks!

Certain countries, I believe Switzerland is one, require for asylum some proof that your home country/maybe certain other countries can't protect you.

This was a show of proof. They knew somebody would take the bait.

[+] swang|12 years ago|reply
When you seek asylum it is because you seek protection from your home country.
[+] naeem|12 years ago|reply
There's no confirmation yet of Snowden being on board, however wikileaks has offered this cryptic tweet:

"The reported actions of France, Portugal and Spain this night will live in infamy."

Source: http://thegrandsignal.com/edward-snowden-supposedly-stranded...

[+] mark_l_watson|12 years ago|reply
If this turns out to be true, I will never again travel to these countries and spend my tourist dollars there. Not saying this is true, but if it is, NO MORE FRENCH CHEESE :-)
[+] jstalin|12 years ago|reply
Hopefully Morales' plane was just a diversion and there's another plane with Snowden on it on its way somewhere else...
[+] pvnick|12 years ago|reply
Oh God that be wonderful
[+] res0nat0r|12 years ago|reply
Latest update:

less than 1m ago Snowden is not on the plane, AFP reports AFP are reporting that Austrian foreign ministry officials have confirmed Edward Snowden is not on the plane.

The report continues:

"President Morales will leave early Wednesday morning for La Paz," the Bolivian capital, ministry spokesman Alexander Schallenberg told AFP. Austria did not know why Morales's plane had landed there, he added.

[+] sp332|12 years ago|reply
Ah, so much passive voice! Who forced the plane to be re-routed?
[+] mtowle|12 years ago|reply
A man after my own heart. Do programming textbooks/tutorials pain you as well?
[+] sergiotapia|12 years ago|reply
Ex-pat in Bolivia here. People here are _pissed_ at this abuse. I wish Snowden does make his way here to Bolivia and hides in the jungle. Good luck finding him.
[+] lmgftp|12 years ago|reply
An interesting choice if he were seeking to flee (/defect, perhaps) to Bolivia, as they have an extradition treaty with the United States [1].

It's bilateral, but I wonder if the Bolivians would keep him after the US refused to send them their former coca-growing president [2].

[1] http://www.oas.org/juridico/mla/en/traites/en_traites-ext-us... [PDF]

[2] http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/12/why_did_the...

[+] sparky|12 years ago|reply
As stated in [2], it's the current President who is coca-growing, not the former one they want the US to extradite.
[+] eloisius|12 years ago|reply
Clearly of no significance, but after reading Snowden's statement last night, I decided to research notable examples of stateless persons and found this guy: https://twitter.com/mikegogulski/status/352040771853099008
[+] steve19|12 years ago|reply
He is not stateless. He is a US citizen being pursued by US Law enforcement.

Stateless people do exist and they really have it hard.

[+] jeltz|12 years ago|reply
Interesting to see that France and Portugal are willing to risk their diplomatic relations with South America for getting Snowden. I would not have expected that. I would guess people and politicians in Bolivia are quite pissed right now.
[+] teawithcarl|12 years ago|reply
The Guardian's "live blog" is the first place to look when Snowden news blows up.

NYT's The Lede Blog is also excellent (currently blogging Egypt news).

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/

[+] TillE|12 years ago|reply
The Guardian does a superb job with live web coverage of everything from football (soccer) matches to breaking news around the world. It's sort of just coincidence that they have a direct connection to the Snowden story in this case.
[+] staircasebug|12 years ago|reply
No Snowden on board? Hiding in the smuggler cargo bays, perhaps?
[+] paul_f|12 years ago|reply
If not on the plane, then exactly where ARE Butch and Sundance? I have to know!