Editor's Commentary: The UN Troops in Haiti, i.e. the MINUSTAH, are often described in the imperialist media as "UN Peacekeepers." The MINUSTAH calls itself the "United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti." Here is how they describe their own mission:

"MINUSTAH was originally set up to support the Transitional Government in ensuring a secure and stable environment; to assist in monitoring, restructuring and reforming the Haitian National Police; to help with comprehensive and sustainable Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programmes; to assist with the restoration and maintenance of the rule of law, public safety and public order in Haiti; to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment and to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence; to support the constitutional and political processes; to assist in organizing, monitoring, and carrying out free and fair municipal, parliamentary and presidential elections; to support the Transitional Government as well as Haitian human rights institutions and groups in their efforts to promote and protect human rights; and to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country."

Contrary to their stated mission, the MINUSTAH has been an instrument designed to destabilize Haiti as a means of a geo-political, strategic occupation and control of its natural resources. A bi-product, or possibly an intended element of that destabilization has been crimes committed by th occupiers. There are well documented cases of oppression, rape, brutality and murder by the MINUSTAH troops who act with impunity under the protection of what amounts to diplomatic immunity. In truth, they were never invited by the Haitian people who do not need a foreign military to "stabilise" them; their stability is inherent within their culture, society and government absent foreign interference.

The report below, of MINUSTAH's attack on participants in a demonstration against them is one example among many of the methods used by these blue-helmeted "peacekeepers" to "stabilise" Haiti. Under Washington's heel, the UN Security Council recently extended the MINUSTAH's "Mandate" in Haiti for another year. Their presence is a flagrant violation of Haiti's sovereignty and the Haitian people want them out. It is obvious that neither, the U.S. nor the UN Security Council are capable of learning from history. It's obvious that they know nothing about the people of Haiti - the people who carried out the first and only slave revolution in history; the people have gained independence and freedom in the past and will never submit to foreign domination. Read more in Haitian Writer Dady Chery's column on Axis of Logic.

- Les Blough in Venezuela

On Oct. 15 about 60 Haitians protested an extension of the mandate for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) by blocking the entrance to the mission’s main logistics base near the Port-au-Prince airport. The Associated Press wire service reported that the protesters, many of them people left homeless by a major earthquake on Jan. 12, spray-painted slogans on cars and burned the Brazilian flag; Brazilian troops lead the joint military-police mission, which has occupied Haiti since June 2004.

MINUSTAH security forces reacted violently to the protest, with a plainclothes guard striking a protester and a Jordanian soldier firing a warning shot. AP journalists said a Haitian police agent hit protesters with his rifle and a UN vehicle “push[ed] through the crowd, knocking over protesters and journalists.”

The United Nations (UN) Security Council had voted unanimously on Oct. 14 to extend MINUSTAH’s mandate for one year, to Oct. 15, 2011. The council set the maximum number of soldiers for the force at 8,940 and the number of police agents at 4,391; in 2008 the maximum was 7,060 soldiers and 2,091 police agents[see Update #964]. The UN has budgeted $380 million for the mission this year. (AP 10/15/10 via San Francisco Examiner; AlterPresse (Haiti) 10/14/10; Radio Kiskeya (Haiti) 10/14/10)

Opposition to renewing the mandate is widespread among grassroots organizations, and protests against the UN occupation have been on the rise since the death of 16-year-old Gérald Jean Gilles at a MINUSTAH camp in Cap-Haïtien on Aug. 17 [see Update #1049]. At an Oct. 15 press conference, economist Camille Chalmers, executive secretary of the nonprofit Haitian Platform Advocating an Alternative Development (PAPDA), denounced the mission as part of a “new offensive by American imperialism.” He cited a history of abuse, including a major case of sexual abuse that led to the removal of more than 100 Sri Lankan soldiers [see Update #923], and noted that MINUSTAH cost a total of $5 billion from 2004 to 2009. “[R]ather than serving to reinforce the institutional capabilities of the Haitian state, [these resources] have been squandered in the operational expenses of the UN mission,” Chalmers said. (AlterPresse 10/15/10)

On Oct. 14 the Haitian delegation to the third World March of Women conference, held in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the 1,000 representatives from 42 countries that “Haitian women are fighting against the presence of MINUSTAH in our country.” (AlterPresse 10/16/10)

In other news, teachers’ unions, the labor group Batay Ouvriye (“Workers Struggle”), Solidarity With Haitian Women (SOFA) and the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) called for a demonstration on Oct. 15 to protest the killing of teacher Louis Jean Filbert, who was wounded on Oct. 8 during a rally for universal education; he died the next day [see Update #1052]. (Contrary to earlier reports, he was apparently hit by a tear-gas grenade, not a police bullet.) The police agent Francine Desruisseaux is suspected of causing Filbert’s death. As of Oct. 12 she was reportedly being sought by the authorities. (Radio Kiskeya 10/12/10; Agence Haïtienne de Presse (Haiti) 10/13/10; AlterPresse 10/14/10)

Source: Weekly News Update