April 29, 2002

WASHINGTON - The State Department has approved a plan that it hopes will lead to resumption of drug surveillance flights in the Andes that were suspended after an American missionary plane was shot down a year ago.

Among the changes will be increased training and mandatory Spanish-language capability for pilots and crews, a department official said Monday.

The CIA will no longer be involved in the flights except in the production of related intelligence, said the official.

On April 20, 2001, a CIA surveillance plane flying over Peru spotted what its crew considered to be a suspicious aircraft and called in a Peruvian jet to intercept it.

The U.S. crew later realized the flight was innocent, but they were unable to dissuade the Peruvians from firing on the plane. Veronica Bowers, an American missionary, and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed.

The Bush administration immediately suspended the flights.

The State Department official said that if acceptable agreements can be reached with Peru and Colombia, among other conditions, the flights could resume following a presidential determination.

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