27177: Bennett (News) Lt. Bacellar, the "business sector," Cite Soleil,and Gen. Herman (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted by Nancy Bennett:

Democracy Now!

Headlines for January 9, 2006

Head of UN Force in Haiti Dies of Apparent Suicide Amid Crackdown Pressure
In Haiti, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping force has died of an
apparent suicide. Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar was found Saturday
on the balcony of his hotel room with a gunshot wound to the head. Lt.
Bacellar's death comes amid growing pressure from Haiti's business sector and
the international community to take on armed groups in Haiti's poorest slums.
On Friday - one day before Lt. Bacellar's death -- U.N. mission head Juan
Gabriel Valdes announced the UN would invade the poor slum of Cite Soleil, a
stronghold for supporters of Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-
Bertrand Aristide. Several UN officials told Reuters Lt. Bacellar had opposed
the plan.

Meanwhile, the news service Haiti Information Project is reporting Lt.
Bacellar held a tense meeting with Haiti's business leaders the night before
his death. The president of Haiti's Chamber of Commerce, Reginald Boulos, had
already announced a nationwide general strike set for today aimed at
pressuring the UN to crack down on neighborhoods like Cité Soleil.

In place of Lt. Bacellar, Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate Herman has been named
interim head of the UN force. The organization School of the Americas Watch
reports Gen. Herman was one of 11 former high-ranking Chilean military
officials under former dictator Augusto Pinochet who trained at the US-run
School of Americas.

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