[Marxism] Brazil Rejects U.S. Call for Haiti Crackdown

[Fred Fuentes <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

Brazil Rejects U.S. Call for Haiti Crackdown
Reuters

Dec. 2, 2004 - U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti will not respond to
international pressure to "use violence" against armed gangs and will
rebuild the country as a "peacekeeping force, not an occupying force,"
the mission's Brazilian commander said on Thursday.

His comments and those of Brazil's foreign minister came a day after
Secretary of State Colin Powell demanded U.N troops crack down on
street gangs after gunfights broke out near him when he visited
Haiti's interim leader at the presidential palace.

"We are under extreme pressure from the international community to use
violence," General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro told a congressional
commission in Brazil. "I command a peacekeeping force, not an
occupation force ... we are not there to carry out violence, this will
not happen for as long as I'm in charge of the force."

He cited the United States, France and Canada among countries pressing
for the use of force against armed groups.

"To do this would require a force of 100,000 men prepared to seek and
kill in large numbers and this is not our role, nor do we want it,"
Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told Brazilian legislators.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sent his nation's biggest ever U.N
peacekeeping force to Haiti in June as Brazil sought a role as a
regional crisis mediator and support for a permanent seat on the U.N.
Security Council.

The mission took over from a 3,773-strong U.S.-led force that entered
Haiti for two months after a February revolt forced former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee.

The mission has tried to use Brazilian football stars to disarm gang
members and has been criticized for being reluctant to intervene
directly in the violence that has gripped Haiti since Aristide left.
More than 200 people have been killed in the last three months in gang
and political violence.

Brazil is demanding U.N. donor nations deliver $1.2 billion in aid
they have promised to rebuild Haiti. 7

Copyright 2004 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2004 ABC News Internet Ventures
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
----------

Brazilian commander says UN peacekeepers won't use gunfire
AP
Friday, December 03, 2004

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - UN peacekeepers in Haiti won't shoot at
suspected gunmen, despite international pressure for a more aggressive
response to street violence, the group's Brazilian commander said
yesterday.

Gunfire in the poor Caribbean nation is "background noise ... a
lullaby," Gen. Augusto Heleno told the Foreign Relations Committee of
the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Brazil's Congress.

Heleno downplayed shootouts that erupted Wednesday near the government
palace in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, where US Secretary of
State Colin Powell was meeting with acting President Boniface
Alexandre and Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he said. "The situation is not out of control."
Heleno said the UN force faced international pressure to use more
military power, but he would not comply. He declined to say who had
made the request.

"We're not there to commit this kind of violence," said Heleno, who
commands some 5,000 troops that will be deployed for six more months.
"That won't happen as long as I'm in command."

The way to quell violence, he said, is to improve living conditions
with projects in health care, water supply and construction. Street
violence is no excuse for inaction, he said.
"Taiwan has projects in Haiti and never asked me ... for a single
soldier to safeguard their worksites," he said.

Earlier yesterday, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said more
peacekeepers are urgently needed, the government newswire Agencia
Brasil reported. Amorim said the number of troops in Haiti should rise
from 5,000 to 6,200 by year's end.

_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism