WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington is likely to help Brazil in its plan to shoot down planes suspected of smuggling drugs after determining it has enough safeguards to prevent accidental killings, senior U.S. officials said on Wednesday.
The air drug interdiction program is controversial because Peru's air force mistakenly fired on a small plane in 2001, killing a U.S. missionary and her daughter.
The Peruvian jet was alerted to the presence of the missionary plane by another plane carrying an American CIA-contracted crew and a Peruvian liaison officer.
The incident prompted Washington to cut off support for drug interdiction programs in Peru and Colombia until last year.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-brazil-usa.html