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TITLE: US Says Tipped Off Peru Jet That Shot Missionaries |
AUTHOR: Simon Gardner |
PUB: Reuters |
DATE: April 21, 2001 |
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The United States said on Saturday its own anti-drug surveillance plane tipped off a Peruvian Air Force jet that shot down U.S. missionaries over the Amazon jungle, killing an American woman and her baby, saying they were mistaken for drug smugglers. The White House has called the incident a ``tragic accident'', while a U.S. embassy official in Lima said the U.S. had now suspended such ``interdiction'' surveillance flights. ``An unarmed U.S. government tracking aircraft was in the area and provided location data for the subsequent intercept mission that was conducted by the Peruvian Air Force,'' a State Department official said on condition of anonymity. ``It was mistaken for an airplane carrying contraband drugs,'' he added, saying that while unarmed U.S. aircraft pass location information to the Peruvian Air Force, the Peruvians were ``responsible for identifying aircraft and deciding on any action.'' The wording was a revised version of a statement issued earlier on Saturday, which had originally been couched in general terms, avoiding admitting locating the plane for the Peruvians. Military activity and drug trafficking is rife in the jungle area where the missionaries ditched into the Amazon River some 120 miles from the Colombian border. ``The United States is certainly upset by the fact that two American citizens lost their lives,'' President Bush said at a Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, Canada. Roni Bowers, 35, of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania-based Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, and her seven-month-old daughter Charity were killed when the plane was riddled with bullets and plunged into the water. Bowers' husband, Jim, and their son, Cory, escaped unhurt. The couple, from Muskegon, Michigan, had worked in Peru since 1993. The Cessna's pilot, Kevin Donaldson, also survived, but was in a serious condition after a bullet hit him in the leg, which his son said severed major arteries. U.S. Mute On Identity Of Plane The State Department spokesman said the U.S. aircraft was in the area as part of a long-standing U.S. program to support anti-drug efforts in Peru, involving the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites), Defense Department, Drug Enforcement Agency and other agencies. He did not say which U.S. agency operated the plane or its type. The Washington Post, however, carried a report in its Sunday edition saying it was a U.S. Customs Service Cessna Citation. The Post also quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying the U.S. military had intercepted a communication between unknown parties calling for a halt in the interception. ``We monitored a communication that said you should not intercept with violence, to wait, hold off,'' the Post quoted the official as saying. Neither State Department or Defense officials could confirm the report. The Peruvian Air Force said in a communique overnight it opened fire on the missionaries' Cessna 185 ``floatplane'' after it failed to heed warnings to land, adding it had no published flight plan. But it refused to comment further on Saturday. A Peruvian Defense Ministry spokesman said on Friday the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intercepted the plane, which carried five people -- which was not mentioned in the communique. The DEA could not be reached for comment. The Bowers and Donaldsons were flown to a Lima Air Force base on Saturday evening aboard a Peruvian military plane, along with the bodies of the mother and child. They are due to fly back to the United States later on Saturday night, but it was not yet clear whether they would travel on a commercial, private or U.S. government plane, or where to in the U.S. Embassy officials refused to comment. Donaldson's son Benjamin said Bowers -- who had reported seeing an American plane in the air at the time of the incident -- had been questioned by DEA agents. ``He said he was asked basic questions by the DEA, who then moved him to a hotel room,'' he earlier told Reuters by telephone from Iquitos, as missionaries held a religious service for the dead mother and child. When Reuters called the Iquitos El Dorado hotel, staff said American ``police agents'' were with him, and would not allow anyone to talk to him. A White House spokesman said Peruvian Prime Minister Javier De Cuellar had expressed ``deep regret'' to Bush at the Quebec summit, and had offered to help the families in any way he could. Donaldson's wife Bobbi said Bowers had reported to Peru's air traffic authorities by radio before the attack and believed his wife and daughter had been killed by the same bullet. END |