Haiti: UN "Peacekeepers" Attack Haitians Who Want Them Out.
By News Bulletin. Les Blough (commentary)
Weekly News Update. Axis of Logic
Saturday, Oct 16, 2010
Editor's Commentary:
The UN Troops in Haiti, i.e. the MINUSTAH, are often described in the
imperialist media as "UN Peacekeepers." The MINUSTAH calls itself the
"United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti." Here is how they describe
their own mission:
"MINUSTAH
was originally set up to support the Transitional Government in
ensuring a secure and stable environment; to assist in monitoring,
restructuring and reforming the Haitian National Police; to help with
comprehensive and sustainable Disarmament, Demobilization and
Reintegration (DDR) programmes; to assist with the restoration and
maintenance of the rule of law, public safety and public order in Haiti;
to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and
equipment and to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical
violence; to support the constitutional and political processes; to
assist in organizing, monitoring, and carrying out free and fair
municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections; to support the
Transitional Government as well as Haitian human rights institutions and
groups in their efforts to promote and protect human rights; and to
monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country."
Contrary to their stated
mission, the MINUSTAH has been an instrument designed to destabilize
Haiti as a means of a geo-political, strategic occupation and control of
its natural resources. A bi-product, or possibly an intended element of
that destabilization has been crimes committed by th occupiers. There
are well documented cases of oppression, rape, brutality and murder by
the MINUSTAH troops who act with impunity under the protection of what
amounts to diplomatic immunity. In truth, they were never invited by the
Haitian people who do not need a foreign military to "stabilise" them;
their stability is inherent within their culture, society and government
absent foreign interference.
The report below, of
MINUSTAH's attack on participants in a demonstration against them is one
example among many of the methods used by these blue-helmeted
"peacekeepers" to "stabilise" Haiti. Under Washington's heel, the UN
Security Council recently extended the MINUSTAH's "Mandate" in Haiti for
another year. Their presence is a flagrant violation of Haiti's
sovereignty and the Haitian people want them out. It is obvious that
neither, the U.S. nor the UN Security Council are capable of learning
from history. It's obvious that they know nothing about the people of
Haiti - the people who carried out the first and only slave revolution
in history; the people have gained independence and freedom in the past
and will never submit to foreign domination. Read more in Haitian Writer Dady
Chery's column on Axis of Logic.
- Les Blough in Venezuela
On Oct. 15 about 60 Haitians
protested an extension of the mandate for the United Nations
Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) by blocking the entrance to
the mission’s main logistics base near the Port-au-Prince airport. The
Associated Press wire service reported that the protesters, many of them
people left homeless by a major earthquake on Jan. 12, spray-painted
slogans on cars and burned the Brazilian flag; Brazilian troops lead the
joint military-police mission, which has occupied Haiti since June
2004.
MINUSTAH security forces reacted violently to the protest, with
a
plainclothes guard striking a protester and a Jordanian soldier firing a
warning shot. AP journalists said a Haitian police agent hit protesters
with his rifle and a UN vehicle “push[ed] through the crowd, knocking
over protesters and journalists.”
The United Nations (UN) Security Council had voted unanimously
on Oct.
14 to extend MINUSTAH’s mandate for one year, to Oct. 15, 2011. The
council set the maximum number of soldiers for the force at 8,940 and
the number of police agents at 4,391; in 2008 the maximum was 7,060
soldiers and 2,091 police agents[see Update #964]. The UN has budgeted $380
million for the mission this year. (AP 10/15/10 via San Francisco Examiner;
AlterPresse (Haiti) 10/14/10; Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 10/14/10)
Opposition to renewing the mandate is widespread among
grassroots
organizations, and protests against the UN occupation have been on the
rise since the death of 16-year-old Gérald Jean Gilles at a MINUSTAH
camp in Cap-Haïtien on Aug. 17 [see Update #1049]. At an Oct. 15 press
conference, economist Camille Chalmers, executive secretary of the nonprofit
Haitian Platform Advocating an Alternative Development
(PAPDA), denounced the mission as part of a “new offensive by American
imperialism.” He cited a history of abuse, including a major case of
sexual abuse that led to the removal of more than 100 Sri Lankan
soldiers [see Update #923],
and noted that MINUSTAH cost a total of $5 billion from 2004 to 2009.
“[R]ather than serving to reinforce the institutional capabilities of
the Haitian state, [these resources] have been squandered in the
operational expenses of the UN mission,” Chalmers said. (AlterPresse 10/15/10)
On Oct. 14 the Haitian delegation to the third World March of
Women
conference, held in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
told the 1,000 representatives from 42 countries that “Haitian women are
fighting against the presence of MINUSTAH in our country.” (AlterPresse
10/16/10)
In other news, teachers’ unions, the labor group Batay Ouvriye
(“Workers Struggle”), Solidarity With Haitian Women (SOFA) and the
Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) called for a
demonstration on Oct. 15 to protest the killing of teacher Louis Jean
Filbert, who was wounded on Oct. 8 during a rally for universal
education; he died the next day [see Update #1052].
(Contrary to earlier reports, he was apparently hit by a tear-gas
grenade, not a police bullet.) The police agent Francine Desruisseaux is
suspected of causing Filbert’s death. As of Oct. 12 she was reportedly
being sought by the authorities. (Radio Kiskeya 10/12/10; Agence Haïtienne de
Presse (Haiti) 10/13/10; AlterPresse 10/14/10)
Source: Weekly News Update
© Copyright 2010 by AxisofLogic.com
>>> More at http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_61441.shtml
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
