Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2001
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Associated Press
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/27
Author: David Koop, Associated Press Writer

Peruvians Worry That U.S. Drug Support Suspension Will Boost Traffickers

The downing of an American missionary plane and President Bush's subsequent 
decision to suspend U.S.-backed anti-drug flights has led Peruvians to fear 
drug traffickers will return to their skies soon.

The program, in which Peruvian pilots using information supplied by U.S. 
radars and surveillance planes force down suspected drug flights, helped 
Peru reduce cultivation of coca by almost three-quarters since 1992, 
knocking it from the spot as the world's top producer. Coca is used to make 
cocaine.

But the much-praised system took a blow on Friday, when a Peruvian jet 
mistook a plane carrying U.S. missionaries for a drug flight and shot it 
down over the Amazon River, killing a missionary and her 7-month-old daughter.

Peruvian and U.S. authorities said on Tuesday they would conduct a joint 
investigation on the cause and that the resumption of drug interdiction 
flights would depend on its findings.

"This decision clearly is a bump in the road in the drug war," said Rear 
Adm. Luis Augusto Galvez, an official with Peru's defense ministry. "But we 
consider this suspension in interdiction flights very temporary, hopefully 
we can work this out quickly with a minimal impact, because drug 
traffickers are aware of what has happened and should be preparing to 
resume their flights."

The U.S. Embassy said an American delegation would be arriving in Peru 
soon, but the date and its makeup were not yet set.

Key to the affect on Peru's drug war is the length of time the flights are 
suspended, Peruvian military officials and drug experts said.

"If we're only talking about a temporary suspension while they investigate 
I don't think that would cause the drug traffickers to change their 
methods," said Elaine Ford, a narcotics expert with the Andean Jurists 
Commission, a Peruvian legal rights group.

Following a decision in the early 1990s by then-President Alberto Fujimori 
to start shooting down suspected drug flights to block the so-called 
"air-bridge" from Peru to Colombia, Peru's drug traffickers began smuggling 
drugs out on rivers or by sea from Peru's ports.

"Now we're talking about 70-80 percent of drug trafficking going through 
the ports, by sea," with air transport minimal, said Roger Rumrrill, a 
Peruvian expert on the drug trade.

Given that most of the drug trafficking moves through Peru's Pacific coast 
ports, shifting operations back to the jungle for air shipments would not 
be feasible or profitable in the short term, he added.

That economic reality has meant very few publicly reported shoot-downs of a 
drug smuggling plane in recent years. Friday's shoot-down was only the 
second reported since 1997. Since 1995, 30 drug trafficking planes were 
shot down by Peruvian pilots, Peruvian officials say.

Peruvian coca had supplied Colombia's Medellin and Cali drug cartels during 
the 1980s, with much of the cocaine going to the United States.

The U.S. government began supporting the shoot-down policy in the early 
1990s by using sophisticated radar tracking systems and aerial surveillance 
to provide data without actually taking part in the shoot-downs.

But the United States briefly suspended the support in May 1994 out of 
concern that U.S. officials could be held liable if Peru shot down the 
wrong aircraft.

Former President Clinton resumed the program in December 1994, after 
determining that Peru's air force had adequate safeguards to prevent 
accidental shootings.

The bodies of missionary Veronica "Roni" Bowers, 35, and her adopted 
daughter, Charity, were returned to the United States on Tuesday. Bowers' 
husband, Jim, and the couple's 6-year-old son, Cory, survived Friday's crash.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager