Saturday, April 26, 2014

Peru Considers Allowing Military to Again Shoot Down Drug-Smuggling Planes: Government Has Program Under Review as It Seeks to Fight Cocaine Trade

The Wall Street Journal

By  Robert Kozak


April 25, 2014 10:11 p.m. ET

LIMA, Peru—The government of Peru said Friday it is reviewing whether to allow its military to shoot down suspected drug-smuggling aircraft again, just three days after neighboring Bolivia said it would permit its air force to do so.

Peru suspended the program in 2001 after the military accidentally shot down a civilian Cessna carrying an American missionary family, killing a woman and her 7-month-old daughter. The tragedy led to international criticism of the policy, which had been carried out over Peru by Peruvian pilots with American logistical assistance.

But now Peru has become the biggest exporter of cocaine, according to the country's antidrug czar Carmen Masías, prompting the government to ratchet up its war on cocaine traffickers and their smuggling routes.

Defense Ministry officials have publicly suggested that aerial interdiction should be considered again. Most of the smuggling flights go to Brazil, a major consumer of cocaine as well as a jumping off point for drugs headed to Africa and Europe.

"We are reviewing this at the moment," Prime Minister Rene Cornejo said in a meeting with foreign reporters Friday. He didn't elaborate.

Last week, Peru's congress approved a bill that would permit the military to act in tandem with police in antidrug operations in a major drug-producing region in central Peru. At the moment, the military plays more of a supporting role. President Ollanta Humala hasn't yet signed it.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs says that up to 180 metric tons of cocaine were flown out of Peru in 2013, constituting the primary method of exporting drugs.

In response, the Peruvian military has over the last 16 months intensified operations to destroy clandestine airstrips in a rugged river valley where coca plantations thrive. In 2013, 110 strips were destroyed, compared with six in 2012, according to the bureau.

But dirt airstrips can be quickly repaired. Ivan Vega, a vice minister of defense, told Lima's El Comercio newspaper in December that the destruction of the runways is a "palliative measure" and that tougher responses should be considered.

"The sovereignty of Peru is being violated," said Congressman Carlos Tubino, who has introduced a bill in congress to revive the shooting down of planes. "We have to protect our airspace."

In Bolivia, another big cocaine exporter, President Evo Morales signed a bill on Tuesday to allow its air force to intercept and down drug planes.

"This law permits us to fight effectively against narcotics trafficking," Mr. Morales said. It remained unclear, though, when Bolivia would begin the program. The government said it still needs to buy radar and communications systems before starting to track and target aircraft suspected of smuggling cocaine.

Peru first began to track aircraft carrying cocaine, shooting down planes with American logistical help, in the mid-1990s. American officials, who referred to the tactic as air-bridge denial, saw it as an important tool in stopping the flow of drugs.

But the downing of the plane carrying the missionaries in 2001 brought the program to a dramatic halt. The U.S. enacted tougher restrictions on the intelligence offered to countries that had policies to bring down drug planes.

In Colombia, the program was credited with prompting traffickers to abandon long-range flights from the country's interior toward Central America.

"A well-carried out program does seem to work," said Adam Isacson, who analyzes security issues and human rights as an analyst for the Washington Office on Latin America, a think tank.

However, the traffickers have since moved to transport cocaine instead to Venezuela, which has now become an important jumping off point for drug-laden flights to Central America, the Caribbean and even Africa, Colombian and U.S. government officials say.

The U.S. recently stopped providing Honduras with radar-tracking data that that country's security forces use to shoot down drug planes. U.S. officials said that there was concern that the Honduran policy didn't meet U.S. compliance safeguards.

Some analysts of the drug war say it is unclear whether shooting down aircraft has much of a long-term impact on cocaine trafficking.

"Traffickers generally hire pilots and planes," said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network research group in Bolivia, "and can easily absorb the lost shipments or temporary price increases that these programs can cause."

—Ryan Dube, Dan Molinski and José de Córdoba contributed to this article.

Source:  http://online.wsj.com