27156: (news) Chamberlain: Businesses strike in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain

   By BEN FOX

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 9 (AP) -- Businesses ground to a halt Monday in a
general strike called to protest a wave of kidnappings that has terrified
people and cast a shadow over already troubled efforts to restore democracy
in Haiti.
   The Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called the strike to
pressure U.N. peacekeepers to move against gangs -- allegedly loyal to
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide -- who have carried out many of the
kidnappings.
   But leaders of the peacekeeping force were preoccupied with their own
tragedy -- the weekend death of their most senior commander, Brazilian Lt.
Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, in an apparent suicide.
   Several hundred Brazilian peacekeepers stood in formation Monday outside
a military hospital and saluted Bacellar's coffin, draped in Brazilian and
U.N. flags. Diplomats and military officials praised Bacellar as a
compassionate soldier deeply committed to restoring order to Haiti after
the rebellion that toppled Aristide nearly two years ago.
   Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate Herman, interim commander of the 7,400
peacekeeping troops in the country, said Bacellar's death would not
undermine efforts to stabilize Haiti for a presidential election scheduled
to take place Feb. 7, after four postponements.
   "Be certain, Gen. Bacellar, that we continue to accomplish the mission
and our best proof of loyalty to you will be to ensure that peace and
security reach every corner of this country," Aldunate said.
   Bacellar was found dead of a gunshot wound Saturday, slumped against the
balcony of his room in the upscale Hotel Montana. A senior U.N. official
has confirmed to The Associated Press that the general shot himself in the
head. Authorities have not yet officially disclosed the cause of death,
citing the ongoing investigation.
   Brazilian Ambassador Paulo Cordeiro de Andrade Pinto told the AP on
Monday that he saw a gun next to the general's body but that Brazilian
investigators want to probe other possibilities before confirming it was a
suicide. He declined to specify what those possibilities were.
   Pinto said the general was a longtime friend and he did not detect any
change in Bacellar's normally "serious" personality in a conversation they
had Friday night.
   "I never imagined that a man of his caliber could do what most people
think he did," Pinto said.
   Difficulties in distributing voter registration cards and setting up
polling stations contributed to postponements in elections, in which 35
candidates are running for president and hundreds more for 129 legislative
seats.
   But kidnappings for ransom have added to the uncertainty. International
election workers and journalists were among those taken hostage by gangs
and stashed in the sprawling slums while ransom payments were negotiated.
Ordinary Haitians also have been targeted.
   The one-day strike left people sitting idly on street corners or waiting
hopelessly for a bus, an economic blow in a country where most people are
unemployed. Gas stations, supermarkets and banks all closed.
   On the trash-strewn streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, Rodrig Paul was
angry after he closed his stall where he sells batteries. "This is a rich
person's strike," he said.
   But others noted the kidnappings have targeted people from all walks of
life.
   "The violence has threatened everyone, poor or rich, Haitian or
non-Haitian," the pricey Hotel Villa Creole said in a letter to guests
after it cut back on services for the day.