South America's most outspoken leftist leaders will meet in Bolivia on Thursday to rally behind Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose plane was diverted in Europe this week on suspicions that fugitive U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard, Reuters reported. The presidential gathering in Cochabamba, Bolivia - where Morales began his political career as the leader of coca leaf farmers - is aimed at expressing outrage over his "virtual kidnapping" and the U.S. pressure they believe spurred it. "Latin America has to react," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said before departing for Bolivia. "Imagine for one second if this had happened with a European president or the U.S. president - it probably would've been grounds for war. And here they think they can infringe and crush international law." Despite the rhetoric, no Latin American country has offered asylum yet to Snowden, who is wanted by Washington for disclosure of intelligence secrets. Two radical leftist governments - Venezuela and Cuba - are in a cautious rapprochement with the United States that would be jeopardized if they gave him sanctuary. Russia is growing impatient over Snowden's stay in a Moscow airport and officials have urged him to leave. Bolivia said Morales was returning from Moscow on Tuesday when France and Portugal abruptly banned his plane from entering their airspace and it was forced to land in Vienna. Austrian officials said they inspected his plane there, but Bolivia's defense minister denied this. This unusual treatment of a presidential plane upset leaders in Latin America, which has a history of U.S.-backed coups. -- SPA 21:42 LOCAL TIME 18:42 GMT تغريد
