Spain has acknowledged a request from the U.S. prompted last week’s blockade of a plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales. The Bolivian plane was grounded in Austria for 14 hours after Spain, France, Portugal and Italy closed their airspace over false rumors NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board. On Tuesday, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo confirmed for the first time that the rumor came from the U.S. government. He went on to say he is willing to apologize to Bolivia.

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo: “There seems to be a misunderstanding there, and if there is a misunderstanding, I don’t have any problem apologizing to President Morales. That is, if President Morales thinks that there has been a misunderstanding, that is no problem. I insist, neither the airspace nor landing authorization were closed at any moment. It’s the only one that remains open.”