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Shooting Down Laws : The United States Essay

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Shoot down laws: Nine countries in Central and South America have passed shoot down laws which authorize their respective air forces to shoot down suspicious aircraft which fail to respond to requests to land voluntarily. Two of them were on our route: Columbia and Peru. The others which have approved such legislation are Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Paraguay, and Venezuela. Each country has its own procedural protocol and not all of the countries have implemented the law. Some, such as Paraguay, don’t have the resources to implement enforcement. Lawmakers in Argentina proposed a similar law; however, it was not enacted due to lack of support. One of the most highly publicized incidents occurred in 2001, a year after Miguel and I made our trip. A plane carrying four missionaries affiliated with the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism was shot down by the Peruvian Air Force. Their aircraft was identified on radar as being suspicious, and its pilot did not respond to requests to land voluntarily. Among the occupants who died were a 35 year old woman from the United States and her infant daughter. After the incident, Peru rescinded its shoot down policy. However, in 2015, it was re-authorized with the provision there is reasonable suspicion the plane carries contraband. Without a doubt, drug trafficking presents an enormous problem for Latin American countries and there exists a significant need for innovative strategies to deal with the issues.

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