The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which quickly condemned the shootdown can lay claim to a certain prescience. I'm a Christian man. I am a believer. Another operator quoted by AP spoke anonymously to protect his job. Probable cause doesn't warrant the death penalty.
Mistakes can happen.
However, congressional hard-liners, prodded by armchair warriors such as New York Times columnist Abe Rosenthal, brushed aside such fears, instead using the halt to polish their drug warrior credentials. DRCNet calls to Sen. Schumer's office went unreturned. An embattled Peruvian embassy gamely offered a defense. It helped reduce coca cultivation. Actually, it didn't.