03/04/2005

During a recent mission to Haiti, Refugees International accompanied the Brazilian forces of MINUSTAH, the UN peacekeeping operation in Haiti, to Bel Air, a violent neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. In addition to giving out food and clothing, the Brazilians set up a dentist and barber shop to provide services to the Haitians who live in Bel Air.  "I command a peacekeeping force, not an occupation force.... We are not there to carry out violence, this will not happen for as long as I'm in charge of the force," says General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, the Force Commander from Brazil. Critics, however, have said that the Brazilians are not showing enough force in these slums to keep the “spoilers of the peace” under control.

RI talked to a group of young men who were watching others line up to get food. We asked them what they thought of the Brazilian peacekeepers.  On the condition that we not use their real names or show their photos, they agreed to talk to us. Jean-Baptiste, one of the most vocal, explained to us how the Haitians perceive the Brazilians.

"I lost my leg when I was seven years old so unlike others, I’m not afraid. I’ll tell you what I really think. The HNP (Haitian National Police) are not welcome here. They attack us so we have to attack them. If we throw rocks at them, they respond by shooting us. They will shoot you if they see you. Even if you have not done anything, they will run after you. The HNP are like savage dogs --- they run after you to kill you without knowing why. The Brazilians, however, treat us better. They will not shoot you for no reason. They will come and find out what is going on and will talk to us. But they need to be living here in Bel Air with us. They need to walk on the streets more.  We want them around. The area that we are in right now is pretty secure but there are areas that everyone is afraid to come to. Those are the areas we need the Brazilians in because it will make us safer.  If the HNP want to come to Bel Air to arrest people, they can only come if the Brazilians take them there because we do not trust them, only the Brazilians.

"People are doing bad things in Port-au-Prince because they are hungry. Not everyone here is political. If you give me 20 gourdes (approximately 50 cents) to hit the man next to me, I will do it because I have no job and no way to feed myself. If you give us jobs, it won’t solve all the crime but it will stop that which is motivated by poverty."

This sentiment was echoed by General Heleno in an interview with RI. When asked what the international community can do to bring peace to Haiti, he answered, "Jobs. These people want jobs."