A few days ago, The Tico Times reported that a large white balloon was seen flying over Costa Rica.
The Pentagon informed that it was a Chinese balloon flying over the country. “We’ve seen information of a balloon flying over Latin America. We believe it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” they noted.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Costa Ricans flooded social media with comments and pictures regarding the white balloon. Yesterday, the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release explaining the situation.
“In response to several media inquiries related to the balloon reported last week flying over Costa Rican airspace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship (MREC) wishes to inform that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its Embassy in San Jose, apologized for the incident,” the institution commented.
The Chinese Embassy reiterated that the balloon observed from several points of the national territory was a civilian balloon for scientific purposes (mainly meteorological).
In addition, China assured the object posed no threat to the country and justified that its presence in Costa Rica was due to a deviation from the programmed route due to weather conditions and limited self-steering capability.
The Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs has acknowledged the explanations received and affirmed that “it is a priority to safeguard national sovereignty, demanding from the international community the unrestricted respect for international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country.”
