U.S. Suspends Peru Anti-Drug Flights
April 21 -- The United States has suspended drug interdiction flights in Peru pending investigations into whether one flight contributed to the death of an American missionary and her infant daughter.
Muskegon, Mich., native Veronica "Roni" Bowers, 37, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed and pilot Kevin Donaldson was wounded when their Cessna was shot down by a Peruvian aircraft Friday.
A U.S. surveillance plane monitored Peru's downing of the plane carrying American missionaries, a U.S. Embassy official said today.
"There was a US government tracking aircraft in the area in support of the Peruvian intercept mission," read an official statement from an embassy official in Lima. "As part of an agreement between the US and Peru, U.S. radar and aircraft provide tracking information to the Peruvian Air Force on planes suspected of smuggling illegal drugs in the region. U.S. government tracking aircraft used for this program are unarmed and do not participate in any way in shooting down suspect planes."
Was 'Rigorous Protocol' Followed?
The Embassy official's statement came after one of the threesurvivors reported that an American aircraft was flyingnearby when the Peruvian jet shot down the missionaries' planeFriday morning.
A U.S. diplomatic source tells ABCNews that the Peruvians have a "very rigorous protocol," for intercepting suspect drug runners. This includes trying to radio, approaching the plane and wagging their wings to signal they are ordered to land, and firing warning shots.
American and Peruvian investigations are underway to see what exactly happened.
Since the early 1990s, Peru has been a key South American allyin the United States' war on drug trafficking. Once the world'sleading producer of coca leaf, the raw material used to makecocaine, Peru supplied Colombia's Medellin and Cali drugorganizations. Much of that cocaine went to the United States, theworld's biggest consumer of the drug.
The Peru military has since shot down about 25 suspected drug planes on their way to Columbian cocaine refineries from the coca-growing regions of Peru's Amazon.
