[News] Haiti - Stop the killing in Cite Soleil

Fri Jan 13 08:32:46 EST 2006

Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2006 22:00:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Haiti Action Committee <haitiaction at yahoo.com>

******Urgent Action Alert from the Haiti Action Committee******

As UN's Brazilian commander is found shot dead on his
hotel balcony....
New UN massacres in Cite Soleil could come any day now
Be on the alert. The situation in Haiti is dangerous
and moving fast.

In the nine days since January 1st, at least 23
civilians have been shot to death by UN forces in Cite
Soleil, according to reports from human rights workers
in the Haitian capital. Consider these developments:

1. Brazilian General Bacellar, who's been commanding
UN forces for barely four months, was found shot in
the head Saturday on the balcony of the 5-star Hotel
Montana. Officials called it an apparent suicide. Late
last week, Bacellar had tense meetings with UN and
coup regime officials and the right-wing business
elite. They reportedly put "intense pressure" on the
general "demanding that he intervene brutally in Cite
Soleil," according to AHP.

This coincided with a pressure campaign by Chamber of
Commerce head Reginald Boulos and sweatshop kingpin
Andy Apaid, leader of Group 184 [the business group
that helped mastermind the February 29, 2004 coup that
ousted President Aristide]. Last week Boulos and Apaid
made strident calls in the media for a new UN
crackdown on Cite Soleil, the sprawling, impoverished
neighborhood that is a stronghold of support for
President Aristide and his Lavalas Party and a center
of resistance to the coup regime.

2.  On January 6 the Chilean UN chief Juan Valdes
announced that UN troops would "occupy" Cite Soleil,
"and warned that civilians could be harmed," reported
Guy Delva for Reuters. Valdes told a local radio
station: "We are going to intervene in the coming
days. I think there'll be collateral damage but we
have to impose our force, there is no other way,"
Reuters said.

According to "some UN officials" quoted by Reuters,
Bacellar [who has not been shy about shooting up Cite
Soleil in the past] "had opposed Valdes' plan" to
escalate even further the UN military operation in
Cite Soleil.  This is an operation characterized by
repeated UN killings of innocent civilians throughout
2005 and so far in 2006 -- "aggressive" by any
standard, but not apparently aggressive enough for
Boulos, Apaid and the US-backed coup regime.

3.  Bacellar's death comes on the heels of Boulos's
call for a "general strike" January 9, aimed at
forcing the UN mission to get tough on Cite Soleil
"bandits"-- a code word for Lavalas supporters. Apart
from the absurdity of the Chamber of Commerce calling
a "general strike" -- it was an employer strike
basically ignored outside the capital -- it does show
that Haiti's business elite is once again beating the
drum for more brutal UN armed incursions against the
poor. This brings to mind a similar high-pressure
campaign by the business elite -- just before the July
6th UN massacre of at least 60 civilians in Cite
Soleil.

4.  To justify a possible new crackdown in Cite
Soleil, the coup regime has made absurd claims that
Cite Soleil is a haven for "Colombian drug
traffickers," and a hiding place for the victims of
kidnappings that have plagued the Haitian capital. But
the kidnappers are hardly the poor residents of Cite
Soleil, surrounded as it is by UN troops. The
kidnappers are mostly well-connected to the business
elite and coup regime. Even Police Chief Andresol
admits the National Police are involved in much of the
crime wave, including kidnappings. And what "Colombian
drug trafficker" would be hanging out in a tin shack
in Cite Soleil, without clean water or electricity,
and sewage flowing in the street?

5.  Replacing Bacellar as interim UN military force
commander is General Eduardo Aldunate Herman, a
Chilean army officer who served the brutal
dictatorship of General Pinochet as an officer in the
CNI, the Chilean political police. Aldunate Herman has
been accused of participating  in the 1973 overthrow
of Chile's elected government, and of involvement in
the 1976 killing of a Spanish diplomat. He is a
graduate of the US Army's School of the Americas.

If we take UN chief Juan Valdes at his word, this
could be another massacre in the making. UN troops
showed on July 6, 2005 in Cite Soleil, and on many
other occasions, that they will shoot and kill men,
women and children in their homes, in their beds, as
they go about their daily chores.

Now is the time to act -- to let them know the world
is watching and demands an end to the killings!

Contact the following official. Demand that he
intervene to stop a new massacre and occupation of
Cite Soleil!

* Juan Gabriel Valdes

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to
Haiti

Phone: 011-509-244-9650 or 9660 Fax 011-509 244 3512

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Others who need to hear the same message:

* Thierry Fagart

Human Rights Chief, UN Mission in Haiti

Ph: 011-509-510-3183 or 3185 - ext. 6360 fagart at un.org

* US Embassy in Haiti
Telephones: 011-509-223-4711
222-0200 or 0354
Fax:
011-509-223-1641 or 9038
Email to Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer:
BanksD at state.gov

[OVER THE WEEKEND OR AT NIGHT -- Call 011-509-222-0200
and press "0" for emergency]

* Craig G. Mokhiber

Deputy Director, NY Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights

Ph: 917-367-5208 mokhiber at un.org

*** Contact your local media. Ask that they cover the
UN killings of civilians in Haiti.

Tune in to  www.haitiaction.net for updates on what is
happening.

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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