Pubdate: Thu, 03 Oct 2002
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
Copyright: 2002 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas
Contact:  http://www.star-telegram.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/162
Author:  Andrew Selsky, The Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?172 (Peruvian Aircraft Shooting)

U.S. RESTARTS PUSH TO CURB DRUG FLIGHTS

BOGOTA, Colombia - Eighteen months after an American missionary plane was 
accidentally shot down, the United States will resume a campaign to help 
Colombia track and force down drug flights, officials from both countries 
said Wednesday.

The program was suspended in April 2001 in Colombia and Peru after a 
Peruvian warplane mistakenly shot down the missionary flight over the 
Amazon, killing an American woman and her infant daughter.

Colombian warplanes will intercept drug flights based on intelligence from 
the United States, Colombian Gen. Hector Velasco said Wednesday. Velasco, 
the Colombian air force commander, said operations are expected to resume 
this month.

To prevent accidental shootdowns, Colombian ground and air crews and pilots 
are receiving safety training in Oklahoma City, said Brig. Gen. Galen 
Jackman of the U.S. Army.

The State Department will be the lead agency handling the program after 
U.S. lawmakers recommended that the CIA no longer manage it.

U.S. officials have said illicit drug flights from the Andes to the United 
States increased after the U.S. program was suspended.

The missionary plane was shot down after a CIA surveillance plane reported 
a "suspicious aircraft" and called in a Peruvian jet to intercept it. The 
U.S. crew later realized that the flight was innocent but could not 
dissuade the Peruvians from firing on the plane.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said U.S. assistance in the aerial 
interdiction campaign is key to cutting the flow of drugs from Colombia.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager