Pubdate: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 Source: Indianapolis Star (IN) Copyright: 2004 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc. Contact: http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html Website: http://www.starnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210 Author: Larry Rohter BRAZIL'S DRUG WAR HEADS TO THE SKIES Government will shoot down planes used in trafficking. The New York Times BRASILIA, Brazil -- After hesitating for six years, in large part because of pressure from the United States, Brazil has announced it will begin shooting down aircraft used in trafficking illegal drugs in its airspace. Only Colombia, the source of much of the cocaine and heroin sold in the United States, has such a policy in effect. But Brazil's northern Amazon corridor has become an increasingly busy and essential route in the global drug trade and is used for smuggling arms, gold and diamonds. The law to permit such an action was approved in 1998, but Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was president from 1995 to 2003, never signed the decree to put the policy into effect. His reluctance was attributed to concern in the United States about the accidental downing of civilian planes, which could expose the American government and companies to lawsuits. "This is a good measure, and a bold and courageous step by the government," said Gen. Mauro Jose Miranda Gandra, a former chief of the air force who is now director of the Air Institute at Estacio de Sa University in Rio de Janeiro. But he said he worried its impact would be "more political than practical" due to restrictions Brazil was imposing on itself. The decision to act now seems driven mostly by the deteriorating public security situation in cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Drug gangs there are increasingly powerful and violent, with more firepower than the police, and have demonstrated an ability to attack police stations and to force businesses and schools to close. In April 2001, the most notorious of Rio's drug bosses, Fernandinho Beira-Mar, was captured in Colombia in what authorities described as a guns-for-drugs pipeline. Another drug- and gun-smuggling route, said to be one of the most important in supplying Europe with cocaine, runs from Colombia across the northern tier of the Amazon to Suriname. "Our perception is that we needed to have at our disposal a more powerful means of dissuasion," Brazil's defense minister, Jose Viegas, said in an interview. "The drug dealers, knowing that the Brazilian air force could not take extreme measures, have felt excessively free at times to come and go over our airspace." President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has referred to the policy as a matter of national sovereignty and security. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh