Pubdate: Tue, 31 Jul 2001
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Section: Washington Dateline
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Author: Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press

STATE DEPARTMENT INQUIRY FINDS U.S., PERU SHARE BLAME IN SHOOTING DOWN OF 
PRIVATE AIRPLANE

WASHINGTON    An inquiry has found that the downing of an American 
missionary plane over Peru was caused by an array of problems - and U.S. 
and Peruvian officials, as well as the plane's pilot, share responsibility, 
officials said Tuesday.

Peru's air force shot down the Cessna on April 20 after a CIA-operated 
surveillance plane initially identified it as a possible drug flight. An 
American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her 7-month-old daughter were 
killed and pilot Kevin Donaldson was seriously injured.

U.S. drug surveillance flights in Peru and Colombia - the world's main 
producer of cocaine - have been suspended since the downing. U.S. officials 
have been awaiting the conclusions of the U.S.-Peruvian investigation to 
decide whether to resume them.

The investigative team, led by Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers, did 
not directly assign blame for the accident, but rather explored the 
circumstances surrounding it.

Its report is not expected to be released until late this week, but some of 
its findings were reported in Tuesday's Washington Post, which cited 
unnamed sources.

State Department officials briefed members of Congress privately Monday on 
its findings. Following the accident, many lawmakers questioned whether the 
United States should support policies of shooting at civilian planes - even 
those of suspected traffickers.

Four officials familiar with the report discussed it with the Associated 
Press. All spoke on condition of anonymity.

Among the issues they said were raised in the report:

- -U.S. and Peruvian officials have failed to ensure that safeguards 
implemented in 1994 to prevent mistaken shootings were still being observed.

- -Peruvians disregarded warnings from the American crew to call off the 
downing when the Americans realized they probably were not dealing with a 
drug flight.

"The U.S. crew was pretty vociferous in expressing their reservations and 
the Peruvians blew past those reservations and the results were tragic," a 
government official said.

- -Language limitations could have impeded communications. Though a Peruvian 
aboard the CIA plane spoke English, none of the Americans spoke Spanish.

- -Peruvian officials were not aware of Donaldson's flight plan. A plan had 
been filed on the first leg of his trip, from Iquitos to Islandia. But on 
the return flight, there was no air traffic control on Islandia, so 
Donaldson waited to notify authorities about the plan until he was 
approaching Iquitos - a common practice in the area.

- -Peruvian pilots could not communicate with the missionary plane because 
Donaldson was not using the regular civilian frequency. That frequency was 
normally useless in the area, so Donaldson used another.

Donald Davis, the attorney for the missionaries group, said Donaldson 
contacted the Iquitos tower when he realized he was being pursued.

The report made no recommendations. A follow-up report is being prepared by 
Morris Busby, a former ambassador to Colombia, on how the policy might be 
changed.

Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., said changes need to be made quickly "to 
restart this program soon to help keep illicit drugs out of our communities."

Peru's policy of shooting at suspected drug flights is credited with almost 
halting traffickers' flights carrying coca to Colombia, where it is 
processed into cocaine. Peru's coca production has dropped sharply over the 
past decade.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said while she has not seen the report, it 
confirms her belief that the United States should not encourage other 
governments to fire on suspected drug flights.

"It certainly does seem to me that this kind of occurrence was really 
inevitable," she said.

State Department and Peruvian officials declined to comment on the report 
until it is released. A member of the joint investigative team, Abraham 
Ramirez, said the two Peruvian pilots from the A-37 fighter jet that shot 
down the Cessna have been grounded.

They were being detained on an air force base in Piura, on Peru's northern 
Pacific coast, as part of a judicial military process, but there is no 
presumption of criminal wrongdoing, said Ramirez, an aerospace consultant 
to Peru's air force.

However, prosecutors in the jungle city of Iquitos are trying to pursue 
criminal charges against the Peruvian pilots, who are challenging the 
court's jurisdiction. Civilian trials against soldiers are rare in Peru.

The missionaries group, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, 
has said that Donaldson has done nothing wrong.

"We agree with the statement that the U.S. shares fault with Peru and have 
maintained all along that our pilot did not contribute in any way to the 
incident," said Davis, its attorney.
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