IN PERU, PLANE IS A BACK-PAGE HEADLINE

Nation Focused On Presidential Race And Recent Scandals

LIMA, Peru -- Peruvians and Peru's media are immersed in nearly daily
reports on scandals involving top government and military officials and a
heated presidential campaign. They have had little time for the story of an
American woman and her child who died last week when a Peruvian air force
fighter shot down their light plane.

"What plane?" is the most common response from Lima residents when asked
what they think about last Friday's downing of a plane carrying American
missionaries.

Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter, Charity, were killed; pilot
Kevin Donaldson was injured. Also surviving were Bowers' husband, Jim, and
their 6-year-old son, Cory.

The U.S. Embassy in Lima held a memorial service for the victims Thursday.
A funeral for Veronica Bowers and her baby is scheduled for today in
Fruitport, Mich. Burial is set for Sunday.

U.S. and Peruvian authorities have been trying to piece together how the
incident happened. The wreckage of the Cessna 185 was raised from the
Amazon on Thursday so investigators could study bullet holes in the
aircraft. There was no flight data recorder on the plane.

A tape of a cockpit conversation from a CIA drug surveillance aircraft that
was involved in the intercept of the missionaries' plane indicated that
both a Peruvian officer who was with the CIA crew and the Peruvian fighter
pilot failed to take a number of warning steps before firing on the
civilian plane. Crewmembers on the CIA plane questioned whether the
Peruvian military officials were following procedures, then attempted to
stop them from firing on the Cessna. Peru's air force has said it followed
proper air-intercept procedures.

Although it has been front-page news in the USA, the story of the
missionaries' plane has been bumped here by political intrigue and new
reports on the whereabouts of Peru's most-wanted man, former spy chief
Vladimiro Montesinos. He is wanted on charges of graft and human rights abuses.

Montesinos, a top adviser to former president Alberto Fujimori, is at the
center of congressional and criminal investigations of corruption and abuse
of power during Fujimori's 10-year rule. He is believed to be hiding in
Venezuela. Fujimori, living in self-imposed exile in Japan, also may be
charged.

Meanwhile, the former chairman of Peru's joint chiefs of staff, Gen.
Nicolas Hermoza Rios, confessed in a closed hearing Tuesday that $14.5
million he had stashed in Switzerland was the product of "illicit
activities." The revelation came days after interim President Valentin
Paniagua sacked the chiefs of the army, navy and air force. They reportedly
had signed a pact effectively endorsing Fujimori's "self-coup" in 1992,
when he closed congress and ruled by decree.

Top air force officers already were under investigation for the purchase of
21 allegedly obsolete and overpriced MiG-29 fighter planes from the former
Soviet republic of Belarus. Top government and military officials have been
accused of accepting bribes in the transaction. One of the planes
test-flown for the investigators crashed.

Last Friday's incident with the missionary plane "is just one more thing to
add to the air force's problems," said political analyst Juan Abugattas of
the University of Lima. "Once again, the air force finds itself in the
middle of controversy."

Although the government and military scandals are riveting for many
Peruvians, most are more anxious about who will be their next president.

Free-marketeer Alejandro Toledo won the first round of voting April 8 but
failed to win a majority and avoid a runoff. His rival in the second round
is Alan Garcia, a former president driven from office in 1990 and later
into exile.

Polls show, however, that nearly a quarter of Peruvians support neither
candidate. There is widespread concern over the future handling of the
economy, which has been stagnant for the past three years.

Frazzled by the scandals and uncertainty, Peruvians now are being left in
the dark even about the date when they will choose their next president.
Election officials have proposed June 3 for the vote. However, a World Cup
qualifying soccer match between Peru and Ecuador scheduled for the night of
June 2 could complicate matters.

Alcohol sales are prohibited for two days before an election, so fans in
this soccer-mad country would be unable to toast victory or drown their
sorrows after the game.

The government is trying to persuade the Peruvian soccer federation to
change the date of the game.