Pubdate: Fri, 27 Apr 2001
Source: USA Today (US)
Copyright: 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc
Page: 8A
Contact:  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nfront.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466
Author: Sibylla Brodzinsky, Special for USA TODAY

IN PERU, PLANE IS A BACK-PAGE HEADLINE

Nation Focused On Presidential Race And Recent Scandals

LIMA, Peru -- Peruvians and Peru's media are immersed in nearly daily 
reports on scandals involving top government and military officials and a 
heated presidential campaign. They have had little time for the story of an 
American woman and her child who died last week when a Peruvian air force 
fighter shot down their light plane.

"What plane?" is the most common response from Lima residents when asked 
what they think about last Friday's downing of a plane carrying American 
missionaries.

Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed; pilot 
Kevin Donaldson was injured. Also surviving were Bowers' husband, Jim, and 
their 6-year-old son, Cory.

The U.S. Embassy in Lima held a memorial service for the victims Thursday. 
A funeral for Veronica Bowers and her baby is scheduled for today in 
Fruitport, Mich. Burial is set for Sunday.

U.S. and Peruvian authorities have been trying to piece together how the 
incident happened. The wreckage of the Cessna 185 was raised from the 
Amazon on Thursday so investigators could study bullet holes in the 
aircraft. There was no flight data recorder on the plane.

A tape of a cockpit conversation from a CIA drug surveillance aircraft that 
was involved in the intercept of the missionaries' plane indicated that 
both a Peruvian officer who was with the CIA crew and the Peruvian fighter 
pilot failed to take a number of warning steps before firing on the 
civilian plane. Crewmembers on the CIA plane questioned whether the 
Peruvian military officials were following procedures, then attempted to 
stop them from firing on the Cessna. Peru's air force has said it followed 
proper air-intercept procedures.

Although it has been front-page news in the USA, the story of the 
missionaries' plane has been bumped here by political intrigue and new 
reports on the whereabouts of Peru's most-wanted man, former spy chief 
Vladimiro Montesinos. He is wanted on charges of graft and human rights abuses.

Montesinos, a top adviser to former president Alberto Fujimori, is at the 
center of congressional and criminal investigations of corruption and abuse 
of power during Fujimori's 10-year rule. He is believed to be hiding in 
Venezuela. Fujimori, living in self-imposed exile in Japan, also may be 
charged.

Meanwhile, the former chairman of Peru's joint chiefs of staff, Gen. 
Nicolas Hermoza Rios, confessed in a closed hearing Tuesday that $14.5 
million he had stashed in Switzerland was the product of "illicit 
activities." The revelation came days after interim President Valentin 
Paniagua sacked the chiefs of the army, navy and air force. They reportedly 
had signed a pact effectively endorsing Fujimori's "self-coup" in 1992, 
when he closed congress and ruled by decree.

Top air force officers already were under investigation for the purchase of 
21 allegedly obsolete and overpriced MiG-29 fighter planes from the former 
Soviet republic of Belarus. Top government and military officials have been 
accused of accepting bribes in the transaction. One of the planes 
test-flown for the investigators crashed.

Last Friday's incident with the missionary plane "is just one more thing to 
add to the air force's problems," said political analyst Juan Abugattas of 
the University of Lima. "Once again, the air force finds itself in the 
middle of controversy."

Although the government and military scandals are riveting for many 
Peruvians, most are more anxious about who will be their next president.

Free-marketeer Alejandro Toledo won the first round of voting April 8 but 
failed to win a majority and avoid a runoff. His rival in the second round 
is Alan Garcia, a former president driven from office in 1990 and later 
into exile.

Polls show, however, that nearly a quarter of Peruvians support neither 
candidate. There is widespread concern over the future handling of the 
economy, which has been stagnant for the past three years.

Frazzled by the scandals and uncertainty, Peruvians now are being left in 
the dark even about the date when they will choose their next president. 
Election officials have proposed June 3 for the vote. However, a World Cup 
qualifying soccer match between Peru and Ecuador scheduled for the night of 
June 2 could complicate matters.

Alcohol sales are prohibited for two days before an election, so fans in 
this soccer-mad country would be unable to toast victory or drown their 
sorrows after the game.

The government is trying to persuade the Peruvian soccer federation to 
change the date of the game.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager