Note re: "Peacekeepers" in Haiti: How the UN Supported a Coup and enforced a Dictatorship
The UN "Peacekeeping" force -- known in Haiti by its acronym, MINUSTAH -- has
been there since the 2004 coup. That's when literally thousands of
democratically-elected government officials from across Haiti -- from the
municipal level, right up to President Aristide and all his Cabinet ministers --
were removed from their elected positions by military force of arms. They were
replaced, not by elections but by people that were selected and appointed by the
governments who led the military invasion and occupation. This was done of
course in collusion with Haiti's very wealthy, business elite.
Initially, the 2004 regime change was executed using the armed forces of the US,
Canada and France. These troops however put on blue helmets and were
transformed into UN troops. The UN then took over the mission that the US-led
Multinational Interim Force had begun. The UN's MINUSTAH has been occupying
Haiti ever since.
Contrary to what is heard from many CIDA- and USAID-funded "NGOs"" (in Haiti and
Canada), the vast majority of Haiti's poor were opposed to this regime change.
They risked death and torture and imprisonment without charge by participating
in many peaceful prodemocracy protests. They bravely came out in the tens of
thousands against the 2004 coup and have consistently opposed the UN occupation.
Many were shot dead while UN troops stood by and did nothing to stop the
perpetrators.
MINUSTAH has itself led heavily armed military assaults with helicopters and
armoured vehicles into the very poorest neighbourhoods of Haiti and shot dead
many innocent Haitians in the process. Should this be called "peacekeeping"?
Here are a few dozen articles exposing what MINUSTAH troops did in Haiti.
These articles are from four back issues of Press for Conversion! (the
magazine of the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade). I put these issues together
during a two-year period when I was doing fulltime research into Canada's
atrocious role in supporting the 2004 coup in Haiti and the brutal dictatorship
that followed. These articles have hundreds of footnotes and back up everything
that I have asserted above.
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:http://coat.ncf.ca+minustah&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-ca:IE-Address&rlz=1I7ADBS&filter=0
It never ceases to amaze many of us who are active in the Haitian solidarity
movement, how quickly some folks in the "peace movement" are to assume
uncritically that everything that UN "peacekeepers" do is good and noble. In
the case of Haiti, peace activists need to be very careful that they do not fall
into the trap of supporting the UN's role there. The UN peacekeepers essentially
providing the military force that was used to prop up a totally illegal regime
change that deposed Haiti's democratically-elected government and replaced it
with a dictatorship that extrajudicially executed and imprisoned, without
charge, thousands of poor innocent civilians whose only crime was supporting the
leaders they had voted into power.
Please examine the facts in this case of how UN peacekeeping was used to enforce
unpopular and undemocratic regime change in Haiti. This is not a model we can
be proud of or that we should promote in any way.
sincerely,
Richard Sanders
coordinator, Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT)
http://coat.ncf.ca
* I put "NGOs" in quotation marks above because if a group is largely funded by
Government money, and is selected and hired by Government agencies to carry out
Government contract work, and it follows the Government's policy directives, is
it really accurate to call it a "NON-Governmental Organization"? Some people
call such groups "Quasi-Government Organizations" (QGOs) or
Quasi-non-governmental organizations (Quangos) and I think is more accurate.
Sources: The above letter was posted to a
cross-Canada peace listserve in response to a email notice promoting an event
about Canada and UN Peacekeeping. This listserve deals with general
issues of interest to the "peace movement" and is administered by Project
Ploughshares. This general peace list, however, is not limited to members
of that large, mainstream Protestant Church-supported organization.
<http://list.web.net/lists/listinfo/peace-l>
The February 4 announcement about the Peacekeeping event was posted to the peace
listserve by Steve Staples, a "defence analyst" and the president of the Rideau
Institute. Their $30-a-plate event, called "Will Canada Be a UN Peacekeeper
Again?" features two speakers: Walter Dorn a professor at a military college in
Toronto, the Canadian Forces College, and Gloria Galloway, a writer with the
Globe and Mail. Here is the notice about the event.
http://outfront-dorn.eventbrite.com/
COAT
Resources on Haiti:
"InvAID: The Militarisation of Aid to Haiti"
This is a list of 120+ web links to articles of
relevance to the hyper-militarisation of development assistance to Haiti. I hope
this compilation of articles serves as a useful resource for activists,
researchers and others concerned about the latest military invasion of Haiti,
the pretexts for that invasion and the real reasons behind it.
Four previous issue of COAT's magazine have
dealt with Canada's odious role in Haiti:
#63
Lies without Borders:
How CIDA-funded 'NGOs' waged a propaganda war to justify Haiti's 2004 Coup
#62 Putting
the Aid in Aiding and Abetting: CIDA's [Canadian] Agents of Regime Change in
Haiti's 2004 Coup
#61 CIDA's Key
Role in Haiti's 2004 Coup: Funding Regime Change, Dictatorship and Human
Rights Atrocities, one Haitian 'NGO' at a Time
#60 A Very
Canadian Coup in Haiti: The Top 10 Ways that Canada's Government Helped the
2004 Coup and its Reign of Terror