Former Pinochet henchman takes over "peacekeeping" operation in Haiti
By Kevin Skerrett
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. He was also accused of direct involvement in the 1976 murder of a Spanish diplomat.
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.
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. He was also accused of direct involvement in the 1976 murder of a Spanish diplomat.
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.
posted by Alice at
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
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