European states were told Snowden was on Morales plane, says Spain

[morningfog]

Spain says it and other European countries were told that the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board the Bolivian presidential plane that was diverted to Austria this week, causing a diplomatic row.

The foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, said on Spanish National Television on Friday that "they told us that the information was clear, that he was inside".

The minister did not say who supplied the information and declined to say whether he had been in contact with the United States. But he said European countries' reactions were based on this information.

The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, claims the US pressured European countries to deny the plane flyover permission on Tuesday on suspicion that Snowden was using the flight as part of his bid to seek asylum.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/05/european-states-snowden-morales-plane-nsa


"They told us they were sure... that he was on board," Mr Garcia-Margallo told Spanish television, without indicating who "they" are.

"And so the reaction of all the European countries that took measures - whether right or wrong - was because of the information that had been passed on. I couldn't check if it was true or not at that moment because it was necessary to act straight away."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23201767

He was told "they" were sure and he had to "act straight away." Anyone saying this event was manufactured out of nothing is absolutely full of shit.

[WillyT]

1. K & R !!!

[morningfog]

2. The tenuous deniability, such that it even existed, is disintegrating.

[pscot]

3. K&R

for absolutely full of shit.

[morningfog]

4. Who Told All Those Europeans Ed Snowden Was On Evo Morales’ Plane?

On Wednesday, Bolivian President Evo Morales was geopolitically stopped-and-frisked in Austria on his way home from Moscow, which Bolivia has claimed was because the U.S. believed Ed Snowden was aboard his plane. Conflicting information has since emerged, with some claiming it was a routine stop that got blown out of proportion, others a flagrant abuse by U.S. imperialists. Today, however, it is clear that someone was telling Europeans governments that Edward Snowden was aboard Morales' flight, and it looks likely it was the U.S.

Today, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said on television that "they told us that the information was clear, that he was inside." He didn't say who they were. Hopefully he wasn't referring to "random people on Twitter." But the obvious culprit would be the U.S. During an interview in Moscow, Morales had suggested that he'd be willing to consider a possible Snowden asylum request. He claimed that France, Portugal, Spain and Italy had then all denied permission for his plane to enter their airspace after being pressured by the U.S. because they suspected Snowden might be stowed aboard.

Morales' flight was redirected to Vienna, where authorities attempted (either successfully or unsuccessfully—it's unclear) to search the plane. According to Firedoglake, Austria's leading daily paper, Die Presse, reported that the U.S. Ambassador to Austria had personally called the Austrian foreign department after Moarles' plane landed in Austria and "claimed with great certainty that Edward Snowden was aboard."

http://gawker.com/who-told-all-those-europeans-ed-snowden-was-on-evo-mora-677864597