Briceno - who is the first Belgian leader in that maximum post to hold the civil aviation portfolio - cut his trip short to return on Friday. Today he deflected the criticism and said his attendance was important:

John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I don't know who is Criticizing it only Mr Vasquez is criticizing it so I don't think he is everybody he is just one person and I have certain responsibilities to act upon and there is this very important meeting with Cosessna in Mexico City and one of the most important ones is that they are trying to see how as a region we could set up an investigative unit for, God forbid whenever there is a accident. Each country needs to have it but we don't have the personnel we don't have the monies to do that so what COCESNA is trying to do is as a group we are trying to see how the countries of Central America from Costa Rica to Belize and Guatemala to see how we can form one unit and serve all of us."

"But I need to point out to you that I don't only go to heads meeting, I am also the minister of finance I have been to many meetings for finance where it is not a heads meeting, I am the minister of immigration and I take my work serious. I was watching on the storm and Mexico is right next door to us so when I was there in the night when I saw it was going to be affecting us even more, it did not affect us as bad as thought, I decided then to leave early in the morning and by midday I was here at home so what's the big deal?"

And in what may be the first ever release from the press office about a civil aviation meeting, it has been described as generating, quote, "critical discussions".