U.S.: DRUG FLIGHTS HAVE INCREASED

WASHINGTON (AP) - A top State Department official acknowledged Tuesday that
U.S.-bound cocaine flights from Peru and Colombia have increased since a
CIA program to track the flights was suspended in April.

The suspension was ordered after a Peruvian military plane, in a case of
mistaken identity, shot down an American missionary plane on April 20.
Veronica Bowers, a 35-year-old missionary, and her 7-month-old adopted
daughter, Charity, were killed. Her husband, his 6-year-old son and the
pilot survived a crash landing.

Peter Romero, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs,
said, "I think we share the view that while we don't have the exact number
of suspected flights, they (drug traffickers) are up and they are taking
advantage of the stand-down."

Romero spoke to reporters ahead of his retirement from the Foreign Service
later this week. Otto Reich, a former ambassador to Venezuela, has been
designated as Romero's successor but has not been confirmed.

Lino Gutierrez, a career diplomat who has served as Romero's deputy, will
replace Romero on an interim basis.

The Bush administration had been silent on whether traffickers had stepped
up cocaine deliveries following the suspension. But Colombian officials in
Washington had said that illicit drug flights have increased since the
suspension.

Colombian Air Force Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco confirmed the trend publicly
last month. Even in the absence of surveillance flights, he said, the
Colombian Air Force has been able to intercept some cocaine planes.

To compensate for the suspended U.S. help, Velasco said, the Colombian air
force is intensifying cooperation with the air forces of Brazil and
Venezuela, where many of the drug planes take off.

Romero said a government-wide review of the surveillance flights is continuing.

"We want to ensure there will be no repeat of this in the future," he said,
referring to the attack on the missionary plane.

Romero said the surveillance flights have been a key tool in the anti-drug
war. "I really don't see any alternative."