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Anti-drug patrols in Peru suspended
©New York Times © St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2001 LIMA, Peru -- The downing by Peru of a missionary aircraft from the United States has dealt a severe blow to the two countries' efforts to halt drug shipments between Peru's coca fields and the trafficking cartels in Colombia. Peru's policy since the early 1990s of forcing down suspected trafficking planes has been praised by Washington as a principal reason why the cultivation of coca plants -- the raw material from which cocaine is made -- has been reduced by two-thirds in Peru since 1995. In those six years, 30 drug trafficking planes have been shot down by Peruvian pilots and scores more have been forced to land -- though before they went down, the drug traffickers usually dumped the drugs, which were found later. The aggressive air policy has frightened most local pilots into stopping their smuggling activities, U.S. and Peruvian officials say. That in turn, they say, has interrupted local coca leaf markets and encouraged thousands of coca-growing peasants to try to cultivate other crops like cocoa and coffee, with economic help from the United States. But Secretary of State Colin Powell, interviewed on PBS, said that in the wake of the incident, "We've got to review the entire program." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the program was suspended with President Bush's approval because "there are questions about the way the mission was carried out." U.S. officials have long acknowledged that the program has its risks. The Clinton administration suspended intelligence-gathering flights over Peru and Colombia for a month in 1994 because of concerns that U.S. officials could face criminal liability in accidents like the one Friday that killed an American missionary and her newly adopted infant daughter. After a CIA-operated surveillance plane had identified the missionaries' plane as possibly ferrying illegal drugs and alerted Peru's air force, a Peruvian A-37 fighter jet attacked the pontoon plane, mistaking it for a drug flight. Friends of three American survivors said they had been told that the Peruvian jet then strafed the survivors after they crash-landed on an Amazon River tributary in the jungle near the Brazilian border. Relatives of the survivors have also said they were told that the Peruvian air force did not make radio contact with the survivors before shooting. In Washington Monday, Bush administration suggested that Peru's military failed to follow established rules of engagement in shooting down the plane. Peruvian authorities insisted they acted properly. Fleischer said the U.S. crew of a CIA-operated surveillance aircraft "did its best to make certain that all the rules were followed." Asked if the rules were, in fact, followed, he said "the information that we are in receipt of indicates no." Other officials said a Peruvian air force officer aboard the surveillance plane moved too quickly to request authority to direct the use of force. The United States says the procedures are as follows, once an unidentified aircraft is detected, as agreed upon by both nations: Phase one: If the Peruvian air force determines that the plane is not on a previously approved flight plan and it is not possible to positively identify the aircraft, then a Peruvian regional commander may order a fighter jet to intercept it and attempt to identify it visually. Phase two: If the suspect aircraft ignores internationally recognized instructions to land, the Peruvian fighter pilot may -- with permission from the regional commander -- fire warning shots. Phase three: If the warning shots are ignored and if the Peruvian regional commander grants permission, the Peruvian pilot may fire on the suspect aircraft with the goal of disabling it. Finally, if such fire does not cause the pilot of the suspect plane to cooperate, the regional commander may order it shot down. The U.S. crew of the surveillance plane has no role beyond tracking the suspect plane. According to the U.S. account, when the Peruvian officer aboard the U.S. surveillance plane told the Peruvian fighter pilot to move to "phase three," the U.S. crew objected. Richard Boucher, the State Department spokesman, said the CIA crew recognized that something was amiss. "Our folks on the plane were trying to hold the Peruvians back from taking action in this case," Boucher said. Peru's air force denied suggestions from the White House that Peru did not follow proper procedures. "The only thing I can tell you is that the air force followed the procedures. It regrets this lamentable accident in which two people died," said air force spokesman Cmdr. Rommel Roca. Adm. Luis Augusto Galvez Figari, spokesman for Peru's Defense Ministry, called the incident "a big break for the traffickers." Without flight interdiction, he said, "they will be able to move much more freely." "This program has been a brake on them," he said, "since unfortunately drugs pour through our jungles." American and Peruvian officials said they were planning a joint investigation and that investigators from the State Department, the U.S. military and the CIA would arrive in Lima over the next few days. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said there were "big inconsistencies" in the information the administration provided him on the incident, leading him to believe it was too soon to draw conclusions about who was at fault. The American survivors said they had communicated with Peruvian ground control during the flight and attack, and that no warning shots had been fired. Veronica Bowers, 35, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed. James Bowers, 37, a missionary of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, the Bowers' 6-year-old son, Cory, and Kevin Donaldson, 42, the pilot, survived. U.S. officials have long known of the potential danger in Peruvian skies. An American military transport plane was attacked by two Peruvian jet fighters in 1992, killing an American airman. The U.S. Congress held up $100-million in assistance in 1994 until Peru settled damage claims with the family of the late airman. In that incident, Peru contended that the American plane had refused to respond to Peruvian air force radio communications before the downing. - Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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