MEXICO, July 27 (RIA Novosti) – Ecuador returns its ambassadors to Spain, Portugal, France and Italy after recalling them for consultations over an incident involving Bolivia’s presidential aircraft, the Ecuadorian president said.
“Ecuador believes that the incident has been settled,” President Rafael Correa was quoted as saying by local media.
The aircraft carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales had been in the air for over three hours after taking off from Moscow in early July, when France, Spain, Portugal and some other European countries announced the closure of their airspace to it. The plane landed in the Austrian capital Vienna, but was later allowed to fly on to Bolivia.
Venezuela, which also recalled its ambassadors from a number of European countries after Morales’ jet incident, announced on Friday that it was also returning them to Europe, but demanded that similar “violations of international law” would not happen again.
France, Spain, Italy and Portugal earlier apologized to Bolivia for closing its airspace to Morales.
The incident provoked a diplomatic scandal: the leaders of Bolivia and other South American nations demanded explanations and recalled their ambassadors from a number of European states.
