Article: U.S. Officials Discuss Air Interdiction Program in Andean Region

01 May 2001

Article: U.S. Officials Discuss Air Interdiction Program in Andean Region

State Department says program led to drop in cocaine cultivation

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S. government program to assist foreign nations in the interdiction of aircraft suspected of engaging in illicit drug trafficking is the "single [largest] contributing factor to the dramatic drop" in cocaine cultivation in Peru after 1995, says John Crow, director of the State Department's Latin American and Caribbean Programs in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).

Testifying May 1 at a congressional hearing on U.S.-backed air interdiction efforts in the Andean region, Crow expressed the Bush Administration's condolences and "heartfelt sympathy" to the Bowers family of western Michigan. Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter Charity were killed in the April 20 shootdown of their U.S. missionary plane over the Amazon River in Peru, when Peruvian officials mistook the plane for a drug cartel aircraft.

Crow said in his prepared remarks that Rand Beers, who heads the INL office, is in Peru leading a U.S. government investigative team to try to determine exactly "what went wrong and what we can do to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again." As soon as the investigation is complete, Crow said, the State Department will share the results with Congress.

Crow said that since 1995, many narco-trafficking aircraft have been forced down in Peru under the interdiction program. Once narco-traffickers, and especially pilots, understood that Peruvian authorities were serious about stopping these flights, the amount pilots charged to transport drugs skyrocketed, and eventually pilots refused to carry the illegal drugs at all.

Crow told the House Government Reform Committee's Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources Subcommittee that in 2000, about 34,000 hectares of coca were under cultivation in Peru -- a 70 percent reduction since 1995. The combination of the eradication of illicit coca crops and the air bridge denial program ultimately produced the "unprecedented" removal of coca as the premiere cash crop, causing farmers to abandon coca in favor of legitimate crops and paving the way for a program of alternative development which had theretofore been out of reach, he said.

Another official, Charles Winwood, acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, said that since the April 20 tragedy, his agency has been conducting a review of its procedures for detecting and monitoring flights of suspected drug traffickers in the Andean region. Winwood said that Customs has a "responsibility to ensure that the most rigorous of procedural standards are applied to this sensitive mission." But he warned that drug smugglers should not "mistake our thorough concern for the safe and effective operation of flights as a lack of resolve." From Customs' standpoint, Winwood said, "we will continue to do everything necessary to guarantee the safety and integrity of our mission in the region, while curtailing the flow of drugs" to the United States.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Donnie Marshall told the subcommittee that investigations by his agency have led to the seizure for forfeiture of about 160 planes valued at over $200 million that were owned or otherwise used by major drug organizations in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. These investigations, he said, have significantly denied Colombian trafficking organizations access to the U.S. aircraft market. Most importantly, he said, the DEA's actions have caused law enforcement agencies in Latin America to focus more attention on the "essential role" that aircraft play in the Andean cocaine industry and international transportation of cocaine.

Meanwhile, Robert Brown, acting deputy director for supply reduction for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said the cocaine industry in Peru has suffered long-term disruption due to the successful implementation of a "synchronized, coordinated, multifaceted U.S.-supported Peruvian drug control campaign that included interdiction, alternative crop development, eradication, and expanded law enforcement programs."

Brown said the air interdiction program achieved the first -- and vital -- disruption of the drug industry in Peru. The program depressed prices received by coca farmers, and established conditions for successful alternative development and law enforcement programs, he said.

However, several members of Congress voiced strong reservations at the hearing about the U.S.-supported interdiction program. Among them was Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Democrat of Illinois), who has introduced a bill in Congress that would prohibit U.S. funds from being used to contract with private military companies in the Andean region.

Schakowsky said that shooting down "unarmed aircraft -- even those thought to be carrying drugs -- is contrary to fundamental U.S. law enforcement policy." The kind of action "we saw in Peru last week amounts to an extra-judicial killing," she said.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Republican of Michigan), who represents the district of the Bowers family, said Congress must weigh its desire to stop the flow of drugs into the United States "against the need to keep innocent people, no matter what their country of origin, safe." He argued that "we must carefully consider whether we should continue to embrace a policy that can and has resulted in unnecessary, unwarranted and totally unacceptable loss of life."

Jo Ann Davis (Republican of Virginia) said the U.S.-supported Plan Colombia remains "a strong and effective tool in our ongoing drug interdiction efforts." The term "Plan Colombia" refers to Colombian President Andres Pastrana's comprehensive strategy to curb illicit drug trafficking and to restore civil order in his country. While praising Pastrana's efforts, Davis added that "we must ensure that the United States does not support measures that threaten or harm innocent civilians."