March 15, 2011
From the website of a State Representative for the (ruling) Workers’ Party in Brazil, a flier promotes a rally for “the withdrawal of troops from Haiti”.
The March 28 event will feature speakers from, among others, State Representatives for the Workers’ Party, a leading officer of the Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT – the main trade union federation), and representatives of the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) – one of the largest social movement organizatons in Latin America, and a major force in Brazilian politics — and the Unified Black Movement, perhaps Brazil’s most influential Afro-descendant organization, among others.
The rally for Brazilian troops to leave Haiti would be the latest manifestation of what Wikileaked State Department cables have described as “a lack of domestic support for the [Peace Keeping Operation]”, and the explosion of opposition in Haiti to MINUSTAH’s ongoing presence following its suspected (with strong evidence) role in causing the cholera outbreak last year, in addition to its record of various human rights abuses.
The planned rally follows recent news that the Defense Council of South America (CDS), under the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), has decided to
form a dialogue commission composed of six countries (Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia), whose mission will be to gather opinions of the haitian [sic] society about the Stabilization Mission in United Nations (Minustah).
Once the information gathered by the dialogue commission, the members of the Defence Council of South America (CDS) will meet once again to determine their own decisions in the future of the Minsutah [sic] in Haiti.
Uruguay’s La República reports more clearly that the commission “will resolve the fate and role of the armed forces in Haiti.” La República also notes that by June 15, the commission “aims to have all the inputs to be able to adopt a resolution on the tasks to be further developed in Haiti, whose initiatives will be submitted to the UN.”
According to Haiti Libre:
Luis Rosadilla, Minister of Defense of Uruguay said that all countries that have troops in Haiti need to exchange ideas, experiences and its expectations, since a change of government is fast approaching which “means a turning point in this process”.
Recent statements from the presidential candidates suggest that the elections could indeed become a turning point, as both Manigat and Martelly propose reviving the Haitian army in one form or another – which could make MINUSTAH irrelevant.
