Is this Minustah's 'Abu Ghraib moment' in Haiti? | Mark Weisbrot

video

shock troops of the UN allegedly raped a Haitian raises questions about the reasons for the "blue helmets" in all

The video is deeply disturbing. It shows four men, identified as Uruguayan troops of the UN mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), apparently in the act of raping a young Haitian woman 18. Two of them have a victim trapped in a mattress, his hands twisted on top of the back so you can not move. Perhaps the most curious of the video is the constant refrain from laughing perpetrators of them, apparently, is just a drunken party

ABC News reports that Uruguay Navy Lieutenant Nicolas Casariego, confirmed the authenticity of the video. A medical certificate filed with the court of Port-Hi, a coastal town in the south where the incident occurred, said the victim was beaten and had injuries consistent with sexual assault.

The incident is likely to put more oil on the flames of resentment that Haitians have UN troops who occupied their country for more than seven years. It was a cause for sadness of violence: in December 2007, more than 100 UN troops were expelled from Sri Lanka on charges of sexual abuse of underage girls. In 2005, UN troops went to the load in the Cité Soleil, one of the poorest neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, killing up to 23 people, including children, witnesses said. After the raid, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders reported: ".. On this day, 27 people were treated for gunshot wounds Of these, about 20 were women under 18 years"

cables Wikileaks has published in last week show that Timothy Carney, representing the U.S. government as the diplomat in Haiti in 2006, warned that such attacks "will inevitably result in the number of unintended civilian casualties, given the conditions of overcrowding and poor housing in Cite Soleil tight. "However, Washington - showing a lack of respect for human life in Haiti - offered no objection to the subsequent raids, which continued in 2006

• And make no mistake: the UN occupation in Haiti is really an American occupation - No longer a multilateral force of George W. Bush "coalition of the willing" that invaded Iraq. And it is legitimate, either: he was sent there in 2004 after overthrowing an American effort led the democratically elected government of Haiti. Far from ensuring the safety of Haitians in the wake of the coup, MINUSTAH stood by while thousands of Haitians who supported the elected government were murdered, imprisoned and representatives of constitutional government. Latest Wikileaks cables also confirm that the U.S. government MINUSTAH seen as an instrument of its policy there.

This latest incident could shed light on the nature of their mission, as the photos of Abu Ghraib, was the clearest in the world the brutality of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. The images can not be easily dismissed or buried as words. And images of the video are a symbol of what the "international community" has been in Haiti since its independence from France in the first success in the world of slaves brought to the revolution.

There is no legitimate reason for a UN military mission in Haiti. The country has no civil war, and is not a peace agreement and post-conflict. And the fact that UN troops are immune from prosecution or legal action in Haiti encourages abuse. The occupation forces do not speak the language or, which greatly limits their ability to anything positive security, can you imagine the effectiveness of a police force in Washington, DC would be if no one spoke Japanese

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