Peru Just Allowed Its Military to Shoot Down Planes Suspected of Drug Trafficking

Peru has become the latest country in South America to permit its military to shoot down suspected drug-smuggling planes that pass over it.

In an effort to curtail the rampant drug trafficking trade, Peruvian legislators voted 89-0 on Thursday to give permission to the military to shoot down planes that are suspected of transporting illegal drugs. Peru is the world's biggest producer of cocaine, much of which is smuggled out of the country on small flights to Bolivia and eventually makes its way to the United States.

Peru's policy is not unique in the region. Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, and Bolivia also have laws permitting them to shoot down suspected drug smuggling flights, often aided by intelligence from the US.

But the policy known as aerial interdiction is not without controversy. The countries that allow their militaries to shoot down planes are subject to tight regulations. Brazil, for instance, passed a law in 1998 that allows its military to target suspected drug flights but imposes heavy safeguards to ensure accuracy and location before the military is permitted to open fire on those planes.

Peru used to employ the practice but stopped after a 2001 incident that killed an American missionary and her child. Peru's air force, aided by the CIA, wrongly identified the civilian plane as carrying drugs. The US reportedly opposed Peru's recent move to reinstate the practice, according to the Associated Press.

In 2012, the Honduran military, with intelligence help from the US, shot down two civilian planes suspected of smuggling illicit drugs. The planes were shot down over water and were not recovered, leaving questions as to who was on board and whether they were actually smuggling drugs.

The policy has been criticized for its violation of the agreement between the US and Honduras that prohibits the shooting down of civilian aircrafts. The 2012 operation sparked outrage in Honduras and led to the US's briefly suspending support for future anti-drug operations in the country. Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chaired a Drug Enforcement Administration oversight hearing, told the New York Times that the 2012 "operation was bungled in its conception, in its implementation and in its aftermath."

Peru's president, Ollanta Humala, is expected to sign the legislation into law. He promised to make fighting drug trafficking a priority when he entered office in 2011, and while his administration has destroyed a record number of coca crops it has, according to the BBC, been criticized for not doing enough to disrupt the air routes to Bolivia.

Photo via Flickr