Bolivia acknowledges error in FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane.
"Sometimes the agents of the Special Anti-Drug Trafficking Force commit some infamies because they don't know if it's a 'VIP' plane or not. There was a complaint (from Brazil) and we clarified this," said the head of Bolivian diplomacy, David Choquehuanca, regarding the incident involving the military plane serving Minister Celso Amorim, who was not on board, in 2011.
247 with international agencies Bolivia admitted on Wednesday that in late 2011, anti-narcotics police officers searched a Brazilian Air Force (FAB) plane.
"Sometimes the (agents) of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking commit some infamies because they don't know if it's a 'VIP' plane or not. There was a complaint (from Brazil) and we clarified this," said the head of Bolivian diplomacy, David Choquehuanca, in an interview with AFP, regarding the incident involving the military plane serving Minister Celso Amorim, who was not on board.
The Bolivian chancellor stressed that the search on the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) plane "was not intended to find Mr. (Senator Róger) Pinto," who has been granted asylum for over a year at the Brazilian embassy in La Paz, but without safe passage to leave Bolivia.
The Bolivian opposition seized upon the news of the incident with the Brazilian plane to point out that Evo Morales' government has double standards: it searches foreign aircraft and becomes indignant when asked to follow similar procedures, as happened with the presidential plane two weeks ago over Europe, under suspicion of carrying former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.