By Staff

Weekly News Update

On October 15, 2010, 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 January 12, spray-painted slogans on cars and burned the Brazilian flag. Brazilian troops lead the joint military-police mission that 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 “pushed through the crowd, knocking over protesters and journalists.”

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had voted unanimously on October 14 to extend MINUSTAH’s mandate for one year, to October 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 [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)

A small disruption in this process can lead to problems like inability to focus, cheapest prices for cialis inability to deliver well at the office among other issues. If a man afflicted with these viagra from canada https://unica-web.com/ENGLISH/2016/eugy-van-gool-member-of-the-jury.html diseases smokes, he only increases their effects as well as creating new problematic symptoms. Kamagra jelly takes around 40 to 60 minutes to show its actions on the condition cheap discount viagra and remains effective up to 4 hours. If the cause is identified then the specific cause is then treated and answered cipla viagra india by. 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 Gérard Jean Gilles at a MINUSTAH camp in Cap-Haïtien on August 17 [Update #1049]. At an October 15 press conference, economist Camille Chalmers, executive secretary of the Haitian nonprofit, 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. “Rather 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 October 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 October 15 to protest the killing of teacher Louis Jean Filbert, who was wounded on October 8 during a rally for universal education; he died the next day [Update #1052]. Contrary to earlier reports, he was apparently hit by a tear-gas grenade, not a police bullet. Police agent Francine Desruisseaux is suspected of causing Filbert’s death. As of October 12 she was reportedly being sought by the authorities. (Radio Kiskeya 10/12/10; AHP (Haiti) 10/13/10; AlterPresse 10/14/10)

 

Sources: Weekly News Update on the Americas for Oct 2010