Howard Behrens paintings

Howard Behrens paintings
Henri Fantin-Latour paintings
Our role was to simply pass on information," he said. "Our government is involved with helping our friends in South America identify airplanes that might be carrying illegal drugs. A variety of agencies are involved."An official statement on Saturday from a U.S. embassy official in Lima, Peru elaborated on the American-Peruvian operations."There was a US government tracking aircraft in the area in support of the Peruvian intercept mission," the statement read. "As part of an agreement between the US and Peru, U.S. radar and aircraft provide tracking information to the Peruvian Air Force on planes suspected of smuggling illegal drugs in the region. U.S. government tracking aircraft used for this program are unarmed and do not participate in any way in shooting down suspect planes."The Embassy official's statement came after one of the three survivors reported that an American aircraft was flying nearby when the Peruvian jet shot down the missionaries' plane Friday morning.