Week opens with a funeral and a protest in Haiti

The streets of Haiti's usually congested capital were virtually devoid of vehicles on Jan. 9. Gas stations, stores and restaurants were shuttered across metropolitan Port-au-Prince. Early morning public service announcements blasted over the radio asking everyone to take the day off in accordance with a general strike called by Haiti's Chamber of Commerce. "Let's stay home as a way to say, 'Enough! Stop the massacre of God's children,'" a woman's voice urged. The chamber's long ad harshly criticizes the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, describing peacekeepers as people driving around in air-conditioned, armored vehicles and making money while doing nothing to defend the people of Haiti. But UN officials insist the 9,000-strong force is doing all it can to bring peace and security, and at great cost to themselves. While merchants stayed home, hundreds of UN soldiers attended the memorial service of the UN mission's military commander, Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar, who had been found slumped on the floor of his balcony on Jan. 7, killed by a gunshot to the neck. The cause of death appeared to be suicide, but officials have not ruled out murder, only calling it "a violent death," as an international investigation progresses. The service was the second one for the UN military in Port-au-Prince in less than two weeks. The first was for a Jordanian soldier shot while visiting checkpoints in the notoriously dangerous neighborhood of Cite Soleil. In their services, both men were honored for their "sacrifices" for the causes of peace and security in Haiti. But many Haitians are asking, what peace and security? Kidnappings in the capital have hit an astonishing rate, with police reporting 40 on Christmas Eve alone. The success of the one-day strike can be attributed in part to the fact that most business owners in and around the capital have friends or family who have been kidnapped, if they have not been themselves. Meanwhile, in Cite Soleil, the poverty-ridden area of 200,000 where most of the hostages are held, several residents are shot daily in exchanges of fire among gangs and between gangs and UN troops. The Haitian police dare not enter the area. Over the past year, the UN and Haitian police have managed to regain control of several areas of the country once ruled by gangs or rebels. But Cite Soleil remains the thorn in the security force's side, and it has been accused of both too little and too much action there. Last July, the UN carried out a major security operation in Cite Soleil in which they shot and killed numerous people. The UN later reported that all those shot had been armed "criminals," but residents accused the UN of carrying out a massacre. Meanwhile, many in Cite Soleil and the rest of metropolitan Port-au-Prince have accused the mission of negligence, and even possible complicity, in dealing with violent criminals. "The strike is basically telling [UN Special Representative Juan Gabriel] Valdes bluntly, 'How many kidnappings a month should we get to for him to consider that kidnapping is a major problem? How many people should be killed every month until he says that insecurity's a major problem?'" Haitian Chamber of Commerce chief Reginald Boulos told IPS, after calling the general strike. On Jan. 6, the UN mission released a statement asking for patience and saying they are stepping up efforts to secure the streets of the capital. The following day Lt. Gen. Bacellar was found dead. While an influential segment of the population observed the Jan. 9 strike, some were shocked that its organizers would not postpone the planned action out of respect for the deceased general. Others openly opposed the strike. Some laborers said they could not support a strike called by corporate managers who had not respected their rights. The Haitian workers' rights organization Batay Ouvriye issued a statement against the strike. While agreeing with the Chamber of Commerce in its strong condemnation of the UN mission, the group accused the chamber members of opposing initiatives that would help the poor, and of supporting "massacres" against the poor by the UN. In Cite Soleil, many residents do not know whom to blame for the poverty and violence plaguing their lives, but they hope elections, now scheduled for next month, will bring a change. Cite Soleil resident Marie Charles sat on the ground in an alley, waiting for the shooting to stop so she could walk to the market to sell charcoal. "I don't know who's shooting," she said, as the sound of gunfire ricocheted off the walls around her. "I'm just trying to live my life." When violence in her neighborhood flares up, Charles has trouble getting to work, and then she has no customers. "I'm going to vote, when they have elections, because I want the country to change," she said. "I want to be able to live in my country."