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27203: RE: Wharram (news) Former Pinochet henchman takes over "peacekeeping" operation in Haiti (fwd)
Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>
Printed in: the narcosphere
Former Pinochet henchman takes over "peacekeeping" operation in Haiti
By Kevin Skerrett,
Posted on Wed Jan 11th, 2006 at 04:18:40 AM EST
The apparent suicide on 7 January of the Brazilian general leading the UN
military force currently occupying Haiti has exposed serious conflict and
disarray within the management of the disastrous ?peacekeeping? mission
there.
According to Reuters and Agence Haitienne de presse (AHP), pressure from
Haiti?s business elite to intensify the repression of poor neighbourhoods
that constitute the centre of political opposition to the US and
Canada-backed interim government had been growing in recent days. On 5
January, the notorious coup supporter and head of Haiti?s Chamber of
Commerce Reginald Boulos called upon the UN generals to carry out a
?necessary and courageous action? in Cité Soleil, where ?you have to break
some eggs to make an omelette?. (Radio Metropole)
Boulos, a leader of the elite-led ?Group 184? and financier for the
Washington DC ?Haiti Democracy Project? had been working for months to
increase pressure on the UN force to crack down on those resisting Haiti?s
coup government.
Two days after Boulos gave this interview the Brazilian commander of the
UN
force, General Urano Bacellar, was found dead in his apartment, shot in
the
head in an apparent suicide. According to some media reports, Bacellar
had
been resisting, in part, the efforts of Boulos and other to induce the
?peacekeepers? to become the pure killing machine wanted by Haiti?s
business
class.
Such resistance may now be gone. Bacellar?s replacement is the
controversial Chilean General Aldunate Herman. Aldunate Herman is a 1974
School of the Americas graduate who reportedly participated directly in
the
attack on la Palacio de la Moneda on 11 September, 1973.(1) He was also
accused of direct involvement in the 1976 murder of a Spanish diplomat.(2)
It?s quite possible that Reginald Boulos and his networks could not have
asked for a more ideal commander for a force now gearing up to "finish the
job" of wiping out Haiti's mobilized popular opposition. Some eggs are
about to be broken.
On Monday 9 January, Boulos and his Chamber of Commerce colleagues called
a
national ?general strike? (a de facto lockout), with the aim of further
escalating the pressure on the UN to deploy greater violence against the
population. Initial reports suggest that many sections of the formal
economy in the capital did shut down for the day, but market sellers went
about their work as normal, though under greater tension. Outside the
capital, and in Cap Haitien (Haiti's second largest city), the general
strike call was ignored.
The death of Brazil?s General Bacellar and the increasing reports of grave
human rights violations carried out by the Brazilian-led force has brought
increasing calls within Brazil and Canada to remove their military and
police support to the unraveling mission. AHP reported on 10 January that
Bacellar?s death has ?provoked a lively response? from opponents of the
Brazilian role in Haiti, including among leaders of the Socialist and
Green
parties. Green party deputy Fernando Gabeiras argues that Brazil should
?bring its troops home?. (3)
In Canada, a federal election campaign is under way, and reports of
popular
opposition to the Canadian role in supporting the UN mission and the
unelected post-coup Haitian government are increasing. The right-wing
National Post newspaper ran a significant article on 10 January headlined:
?Activists target [Foreign Minister] Pettigrew for Canada?s ?crimes? in
Haiti?. The report suggests that Minister Pettigrew may in fact lose his
seat in the January 23 election, and that opposition to Canada?s policy in
Haiti may well play a role in that result.
(1) See German Westphal, ?2º Comandante de las tropes de la ONU en Haiti
Participo en asalto a La Moneda,? 22 October, 2005, Humanist Party of
Chile
at: http://www.partidohumanista.cl/modules.php?name=Ne
ws&file=article&sid=308
(2) See "Carmen Soria pide que el General Aldunate declare ante el juez,"
5
October, 2005. Available at:
http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/chile/doc/aldunate4 .html
(3) AHP, ?Public sentiment mounts in Brazil for the troops to return
home,?
10 January, 2006.
Former Pinochet henchman takes over "peacekeeping" operation in Haiti
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