27199: (news) Chamberlain: Brazil buries UN commander of Haiti peacekeepers (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted by Chamberlain

     RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The Brazilian general who
headed the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti was buried in Rio de Janeiro
with full military honors on Wednesday, five days after his apparent
suicide in his hotel room in the Haitian capital.
     President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took part in a ceremony in the
capital Brasilia in honor of Lt. Gen. Urano Bacellar in the morning before
soldiers in full dress uniform loaded the coffin, draped in a Brazilian
flag, onto a military plane which flew it to Rio de Janeiro.
     In Rio, a squad of paratroopers escorted the coffin to a grave at the
Carmo Memorial Cemetery and fired a salute as it was lowered into the
ground. A band played the song "Eternal Hero" at the request of his widow.
     No explanation has been offered for Bacellar's death, which has
stunned Brazilians. He had commanded the 9,000-strong U.N. force in Haiti
since the end of August. His body was found on Saturday in his hotel room
in the capital Port-au-Prince.
     Brasilia police chief Laerte Bessa, citing autopsy results, said on
Wednesday he had died from a gunshot fired into his mouth and had gunpowder
on one hand.
     "We concluded it was suicide," Bessa said.
     Armed forces commander Gen. Francisco Albuquerque told reporters after
the funeral however that the army did not consider the finding final and
other issues were being analyzed.
     Albuquerque said he had never noticed any sign of depression in
Bacellar.
     "I sent him there. He was vetted by the U.N., who saw he had all the
qualities. He was an exceptional professional, the best."
     The United Nations favors appointing another Brazilian to head the
force. Brazil has suggested two people for the job: Gen. Jose Elito
Carvalho Siqueira, commander of Brazil's sixth military region; and Gen.
Jeannot Jansen da Silva Filho, deputy head of the army's logistics
department.
     Brazil took leadership of the peacekeeping force after an armed revolt
ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
     Lula presented the mission as a projection of Brazil's growing status
as a regional power but critics said it was acting as a surrogate for
United States, which helped engineer Aristide's flight.
     Despite the U.N. presence in Haiti, political violence and kidnappings
have been on the rise as it struggles to organize its first presidential
election since the revolt.