Bolivia’s president yesterday left Europe for home amid escalating diplomatic drama after his flight was rerouted and delayed overnight in Austria, allegedly because of suspicions he was trying to spirit NSA leaker Edward Snowden to Latin America.

A plane carrying Bolivian president Evo Morales was rerouted to Austria after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden was on board.

New questions about the death of Michael Dwyer are to be raised in a documentary to be aired tonight on Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV station.

IRELAND’S cross-party foreign affairs committee has thrown its support behind the family of Irishman Michael Dwyer who are seeking an independent investigation into his death.

ONE by one, the miners trapped for 69 days in a dungeon that could have been their tomb far beneath the Chilean desert climbed into a rescue capsule and made a smooth ascent to the surface yesterday.

Bolivian President Evo Morales kneed an opposing player in the groin during a football match against a team of political rivals after an apparent hard foul by the opponent, images of the altercation show.

Bolivia’s government is seeking to negotiate an end to a weeks-long protest that cut off road access to a region popular with tourists.

Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia’s 59th president, declared himself open to dialogue with rebels in the hope of ending his country’s nearly 50 year conflict.

A TOTAL of 242 Irish people died in tragic circumstances while away for holidays or work so far in 2009 – the highest number of deaths abroad ever recorded by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Cuba’s President Raul Castro declared the global climate summit in Copenhagen a failure from the start and urged left-wing Latin American leaders to devise their own plan on how to cope with climate change.

President Evo Morales easily won re-election, according to unofficial results, getting an overwhelming mandate for further revolutionary change on behalf of Bolivia’s long-suppressed indigenous majority.

Bolivia’s president participated in a tribute to the guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who was captured and killed by Bolivian soldiers 42 years ago while trying to foment revolution in the Andean nation.

Bolivia has demanded that Peru hand over three former government ministers charged with genocide over the 2003 killing of dozens of protesters.

The Irish man shot dead by Bolivian police two weeks ago is due to be laid to rest in Co. Tipperary today.

The remains of Co Tipperary man Michael Dwyer, who was shot dead by police in Bolivia last week, have been flown home to Ireland.

The manager of the hotel in Bolivia where Michael Dwyer was shot dead has said he did not see any weapon in the Irishman's room after it was stormed by security forces.

The family of an Irish man gunned down by Bolivian police tonight backed calls for an international probe into the killing.

Irish diplomats are to meet senior Bolivian government officials today for high-level talks on the killing of Michael Dwyer, it emerged today.

Irish diplomats are to meet senior Bolivian government officials tomorrow for high-level talks on the killing of Michael Dwyer, it emerged tonight.

European Affairs Minister Dick Roche says there is no evidence that the Tipperary man killed in Bolivia was ever involved in any criminality.

President Barack Obama offered a spirit of co-operation to America’s hemispheric neighbours at a summit, listening to complaints about past US meddling and even reaching out to Venezuela’s left-wing leader.

Efforts are underway today to make arrangements to bring home the body of a Tipperary man shot dead by police in Bolivia.

The family of an Irishman shot dead by Bolivian police tonight said they were shocked and devastated by the killing.

Irish officials were tonight liaising with Bolivian authorities in a bid to establish if an Irish national was among three men shot dead by police.

An official from the Department of Foreign Affairs has arrived in Bolivia to investigate reports that an Irish man was killed as police thwarted an alleged assassination plot against the country's president.

Latin American nations should expel US ambassadors until the United States lifts its economic blockade on Cuba, Bolivian President Evo Morales said.

The US is suspending a trade deal with Bolivia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Bolivian President Evo Morales says mediation by South American leaders is having a positive effect in a political crisis between his central government and eastern provinces demanding greater autonomy.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has offered to include eastern provinces’ autonomy demands in his proposed new constitution, raising hopes for a solution to Bolivia’s bloody political crisis.

President Hugo Chavez reprimanded sceptics for questioning his warnings that Washington is out to kill him – an accusation that Venezuela’s opposition dismisses as a ploy to distract attention from domestic problems such as rampant violent crime and corruption.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has announced that a hotly disputed draft constitution will be put to voters in a referendum.

Natural gas-rich Tarija became the fourth Bolivian state to declare autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales when voters backed greater independence in a referendum, according to two private quick counts of votes.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales today said his supporters across the country want weapons to defend his government’s populist reforms.

Protesters shut down a pipeline delivering Bolivian gas to Argentina last night as two rival Bolivian provinces struggled for control of a valuable natural gas field, officials said.

A massive military parade to mark the 50th anniversary of the date Fidel Castro and fellow rebels landed by boat in Cuba to launch their revolution started today without the ailing leader.

VENEZUELA is proposing its ally Bolivia as an alternative candidate for the UN Security Council in hopes of breaking a deadlock with US-backed Guatemala, top Venezuelan diplomats said yesterday.

Cuba’s vice president said yesterday Fidel Castro would return to work in a few weeks after intestinal surgery that forced him to hand over power temporarily to his younger brother.

Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez rallied thousands of leftist sympathisers after a South American trade summit at Cordoba, in Argentina, railing against the US-backed free market policies they blame for many of Latin America’s woes.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair today called on Bolivian President Evo Morales and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to show the world they were responsible in use of their energy resources.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has defended the decision to nationalise his country’s gas and energy sectors, saying before summit talks begin today with European and Latin American leaders that it was a necessary move to end 500 years of foreign exploitation.

Soldiers guarded natural gas fields and refineries across Bolivia today after President Evo Morales ordered the sector nationalised, threatening to evict foreign companies unless they handed over production control within six months.

Socialist paediatrician Michelle Bachelet, who suffered prison, torture and exile under Chile’s military dictatorship, was sworn in as the nation’s first female president today.

Bolivia’s President Evo Morales has cut his salary by more than half and declared no Cabinet minister can collect a higher wage than his – €1,500 a month - with the savings going towards hiring more teachers.