UN Haitian Commander kills self

[Jersay]

The Brazilian commander of UN peacekeepers in Haiti was found dead on the balcony of his hotel room Saturday after shooting himself in the head, authorities said, in a blow to the 9,000-strong force and efforts to restore democracy in Haiti.

UN officials and Haitian police swarmed the upscale Hotel Montana where Lt.-Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar was slumped on a tile floor against the balcony, blood staining his white T-shirt.

A senior UN official confirmed to that Lt.-Gen. Bacellar suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to disclose the information to the press.

The UN said Secretary General Kofi Annan "was shocked and saddened" by Lt.-Gen. Bacellar's death and that a full investigation was underway.

Outwardly calm and reflective, Lt.-Gen. Bacellar was charged with restoring order in this Caribbean country in the wake of the February 2004 bloody rebellion that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Found wearing boxer shorts and sandals, Lt.-Gen. Bacellar apparently killed himself as the multinational force is under increased pressure to curb violence in the Western Hemisphere's poorest country. The security situation has been unravelling in past weeks, with a rash of kidnappings hitting the capital. International election workers, journalists and ordinary Haitians have been among the victims.

A Canadian retired RCMP officer, Mark Bourque, 57, from Stoneham, Que., was killed last month in the country in an apparent kidnap attempt. About 100 regular and about 25 retired Canadian police officers are working with the UN in the troubled island.

Haiti's largest business association this week called for a general strike on Monday to pressure the UN mission to aggressively move against the gangs in the fetid seaside slum of Cite Soleil. The gangs control Cite Soleil and stash their hostages there while seeking ransoms.

Election officials recently postponed the Jan. 8 election, blaming security problems and delays in distributing voting materials. It was the fourth such postponement of the vote. No new date has been set. It was not immediately clear what Lt.-Gen. Bacellar's death would have on the planning for a new election timetable.

Lt.-Gen. Bacellar, who had served in Brazil's armed forces for 39 years, became commander of the multinational force in September, replacing Brazilian Lt.-Gen. Augusto Heleno Ribeiro, who had the force since its deployment to Haiti in June 2004.

The UN named Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate Herman as the interim commander.

Seven peacekeepers have been killed in action since the force deployed, according to the UN The most recent victim, a Jordanian captain, was shot on Dec. 24 outside Cite Soleil.

Lt.-Gen. Bacellar is survived by his wife and two children. Family members contacted by local media in Brazil declined to comment.

The Brazilian Army issued a statement saying that it "profoundly lamented" Lt.-Gen. Bacellar's death and would closely follow the investigations in Haiti.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060107.wbrazil0107/BNStory/International/

Sad day.

 

[Finder]

Considering how Sh*tty things are in Hati, this sucks!

 

[Jersay]

Yeah it does suck.

On one of the editorials to the situation the guy who could be talking hot air, but could be talking the truth stated that

Bacellar could have killed him self for two reasons that no one talks about.

(1) That the businesses in Haiti wanted a UN offensive in the slums that would have killed many civilians.

(2) He was under pressure from the International community to solve the problem that they have put his forces, and tragically himself in.

And on point one, there has been no note, so who says if it was a suicide. Maybe he didn't want to do something that he knew was illegal and pop.

 

[Finder]

Whats a f-ing mess! As if Hati wasn't already a mess.

 

[Jersay]

Yeah, we already have two dead Canadians, at least nine dead UN personnel already in Haiti. And don't forget the corrupt politicians, the corrupt police, the murders, the kidnappings, at least 2,000 Haitians have been killed since the rebellion and the U.S stuck its noise into it.

So not only has Bush gone into Afghanistan that had a revival of an insurgency in 2005, 1,600+ dead that year, Iraq, with 130,000+ Iraqi's and 2,500+ coalition forces, and now Haiti, with 2,000 Haitians and 9 UN personnel dead.

But the whole international community should be blamed for Haiti.

My heart goes out to the General's family. Tough lose, and to the troops under his command.

 

[Jersay]

Anyone else??

 

[Jersay]

Dang, heard the general is leaving behind a wife and two children. I guess his children would be adults?

So he might have left grandchildren as well.

Sucks!

But in the U.N you will always remember someone over a glass of

ccasion5:

To bad I don't drink beer

 

[jimmoyer]

Haiti, is not only a failed state.

It is a failed culture.

Very few Spanish colonies have ever performed
as well as the British former colonies.

 

[Jersay]

Haiti, is not only a failed state.

It is a failed culture.

Very few Spanish colonies have ever performed
as well as the British former colonies.

Haiti was French not Spanish.

And I don't know how someone could label a culture failed.

 

[jimmoyer]

True. French it is.

You can't see why one can call a culture
or a nation state failed ?

Is it some politically correct thing you follow ?

Look at this brief history ?



December 5, 1492: Columbus discovers Haiti (the island of Hispaniola)

1697: The Spaniards cede the western third of Hispaniola to the French crown at the Treaty of Ryswick. Haiti is now called "Saint Domingue".

1697-1791: Saint Domingue becomes the richest colony in the world. Its capital, Cap Français, is known as the Paris of the New World. It is also a regime of extraordinary cruelty; the 500,000 slaves taken by the French are flogged, starved, and buried alive for minor offenses.

August 1791: the first major black rebellion takes place, initiated by Boukman, a voodoo houngan. This begins the markings of civil war between the black dominated north and the mulatto dominated south.

1796: Toussaint L'Ouverture, an educated herb doctor and military man, emerges as the leader of the former slaves in the north. He restored order, ended the massacres, and restored some of Saint Domingue's former prosperity.

1801: Napoleon Bonaparte despatches an army of 34,000 to tru to subdue the slave armies and retake the colony for France; this mission was unsuccessful. The leader of the army Leclerc ultimately had Toussaint L'Ouverture seized and deported to France. He died within a year.

May 1802: Convention in Paris reintroduces slavery, which brings on more rebellions and massacres.

January 1804: Jean Jacques Dessalines proclaimed the independent black Republic of Haiti in the northern half of the island. Dessalines was unpopular with the mulattos and was assassinated in 1806. His death led to civil war again between the south (under General Petion) and the north (under Henry Christophe).

1820: Henry Christophe commits suicide by shooting himself with a silver bullet; he had been a tyrannical ruler, crowning himself "king", and building a palace and citadel (at Cap Haitien in the north) at great cost to Haitian lives. At his death Haiti was taken over by General Boyer, and civil war ceased. Boyer obtained official Haitian independence from France at the price of 150 million French francs.

1843 to 1915: Haiti sees 22 heads of state, most of whom leave office by violent means. Rivalry continues among the whites, the mulatto elite, and the blacks.

1915: Presdient Guillaume Sam is dismembered and the Americans invade the country. They remain for 19 years. Despite improvements made to the infrastructure by the Americans, the Haitians opposed their presence.

1934: The Americans leave Haiti, which is now prospering once again.

1957: François Duvalier, a doctor and union leader, was elected president. Duvalier, also known as 'Papa Doc', terrorized the country, rooting out any and all opponents to his administration. He was a practicing vodunist, his loa being Baron Samedi, the guardian of cemeteries and a harbinger of death. He ensured his power through his private militia, the tontons macoutes (which means in kreyol, "uncle boogeyman").

1964: Duvalier changes the constitution so that he can be elected president for life.

1971: François Duvalier dies and is succeeded by his son Jean Claude, age 19 (also known as 'Baby Doc'). By this time Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere (and remains so to this day).

February 1986: The Duvalier regime collapses under Operation Deschoukay and Baby Doc flees to France.

December 1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide (a religious priest) is elected in a landslide victory.
Military coup deposes Aristide's government; Organization of American states imposes an embargo lasting three years.

1994: Aristide returns to Haiti to serve out his term of office, facilitated by the US military and UN troops.

December, 1995: René Préval elected in a landslide victory

Today (1998): elected government, President René Préval (currently no Prime Minister)


No doubt this was all a fault of imperial influence.

But so were many other colonies that
graduated beyond their painful birth.

 

[FiveParadox]

A culture can falter, in my opinion, but never "fail."

 

[jimmoyer]

What about the Haiti society ?

It can't fail ?

It just falters ?

 

[FiveParadox]

A culture cannot fail — the argued compromise of its nation's democracy cannot be blamed on a culture.

 

[jimmoyer]

It sure can be blamed.

You're just holding to some habit of being
politically correct.

A culture can be blamed.

It's the glue that makes laws real.

Without it, nothing gets done, nothing gets
enforced.

 

[Jersay]

I agree that a culture can be blamed for some of the causes of a failed state.

 

[Curiosity]

Haiti has never been any more ....

...than a gang infested territory for giving amnesty to runaways from other countries where they are wanted for illegal dealings.

It may be loosely termed a country - it may now be French culture descended from Spaniards - it may be beautiful - it may have leaders and representation on the world stage.

But let's be honest - it is no more than a land filled with too many uneducated people expecting handouts from the U.N. and any other group they can extort - and its leadership is no more law abiding than gangs in the worst cities of the globe.

Meanwhile the U.N. continue to look the other way waiting for some other country to give succor....and as Jersay admits when the U.S. try to intervene in the lawlessness, they are derided as invaders and spoilers. It has become regular now each year for the press to request the U.S. invest in Haiti to relieve it of its poverty.
Where does the money go - or has money now become band-aid assistance? Where is the U.N. in all of this???

Therefore, yet another failed colony of those who have no idea how to govern democratically - only by law of weaponry and muscle.

Even Castro in his communist insanity and despotic leadership has control over his people - perhaps Haiti should adopt Communism.

Or on the other hand, let a millionaire entreneur become governor and introduce economic stability, education, housing and schools,
small business and light industry and manufacturing. Watch them
grow. Why do the most beautiful lands imaginable become inhabited by those who cannot capitalize (oh that bad word) upon the beauty and develop the land into profitable tourism?

We all wring our hands while another possibility - a dream which could become reality for the people there - is argued and ignored.

 

[Jay]

Re: RE: UN Haitian Commander kills self

It sure can be blamed.

You're just holding to some habit of being
politically correct.

A culture can be blamed.

Easter Island....

 

[Jersay]

Haiti has never been any more ....

...than a gang infested territory for giving amnesty to runaways from other countries where they are wanted for illegal dealings.

It may be loosely termed a country - it may now be French culture descended from Spaniards - it may be beautiful - it may have leaders and representation on the world stage.

But let's be honest - it is no more than a land filled with too many uneducated people expecting handouts from the U.N. and any other group they can extort - and its leadership is no more law abiding than gangs in the worst cities of the globe.

Meanwhile the U.N. continue to look the other way waiting for some other country to give succor....and as Jersay admits when the U.S. try to intervene in the lawlessness, they are derided as invaders and spoilers. It has become regular now each year for the press to request the U.S. invest in Haiti to relieve it of its poverty.
Where does the money go - or has money now become band-aid assistance? Where is the U.N. in all of this???

Therefore, yet another failed colony of those who have no idea how to govern democratically - only by law of weaponry and muscle.

Even Castro in his communist insanity and despotic leadership has control over his people - perhaps Haiti should adopt Communism.

Or on the other hand, let a millionaire entreneur become governor and introduce economic stability, education, housing and schools,
small business and light industry and manufacturing. Watch them
grow. Why do the most beautiful lands imaginable become inhabited by those who cannot capitalize (oh that bad word) upon the beauty and develop the land into profitable tourism?

We all wring our hands while another possibility - a dream which could become reality for the people there - is argued and ignored.

So what should we do. Let the white colonial masters of yester year come back and colonize the savages who don't know how to govern themselves.

Wednesday Child, I agree with alot of the posts you state, but I am coming from a totally different view-point then you.

I believe Haiti is a beautiful culture, and since it was left in shambles by the Spanish and French who occupied it, it has tried to get on its feet. However, before, but during the early 1990s it needed handouts to support it and it led to the disaster of the early 1990s.

And it is heading down that same road now. However, judging it by the practices it uses is hard.

The people of Haiti must be strong-willed, if they hadn't they would have accepted French domination until the 1940s. They were the first to throw of imperialism. Get the ball rolling.

Second, there have been several good Haitian writers, so saying they are un-educated is an understatement for their intelligence. I think some of the Haitian people are educated but there are no jobs.

 

[Curiosity]

Jersay

And your answer is to continue to help the people by throwing more money into the pot? The money never reaches the places where it will do good. Please do not bring racism into this mix - that is an old, tired excuse. People cannot be "bought" into responsibility - no matter what race they are. The "masters" in Haiti are not white in any case - read your history.

It is the systematic degradation of peoples by what we call "welfare" - instead of challenging people to rise to their best - to expect to be educated and trained to do for themselves - to be responsible for their lives, their families, and their country.

A hand up and out doesn't mean a handout for life. Somewhere along the line the people themselves have to decide if they are going to play victim forever or take on their own challenges.

In resurrecting an old symbolic adage which you may not recognize nor understand:
Nobody has taught the people how to fish.....nor have the people asked for lessons.

 

[Doryman]

Re: RE: UN Haitian Commander kills self

A culture cannot fail — the argued compromise of its nation's democracy cannot be blamed on a culture.

It can if said culture is built on slavery, corruption, torture and gang violence. Haiti is F*cked. Even Mother Theresa described Port-au-Prince as "the Fifth world." The combination of history, politics and culture unique to Haiti has failed it's people.

They need help from the richer countries of the world, undoubtedly, but they need to help themselves as well. Other wise it'll never get better.