The UN's disconnect with the poor in Haiti

Here is an excerpt from a Haiti Information Project (HIP) report filed July 12, 2005:

"Port au Prince, Haiti (HIP) - In the early morning hours of July 6, more than 350 UN troops stormed the seaside shantytown of Cite Soleil in a military operation with the stated purpose of halting violence in Haiti. The successful goal of the mission was to assassinate a 31 year-old man and his lieutenants that Haiti's rightwing media and reactionary business community had labeled a bandit and armed of supporter of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. According to residents, Emmanuel 'Dread' Wilmer and four others were felled in a hail of gunfire that came from all directions including a circling helicopter. According to the Associated Press, a military spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Colonel Eloufi Boulbars stated, 'Armed bandits who had tried to resist were either killed or wounded.'

"On July 6 in Cite Soleil, a weeping Fredi Romelus, recounted how UN troops lobbed a red smoke grenade into his house and then opened fire killing his wife and two children. "They surrounded our house this morning and I ran thinking my wife and the children were behind me. They couldn't get out and the blan [UN] fired into the house." Exclusive video footage from a HIP reporter captured the interview as well as the images of the three victims. Lying in blood on the floor of the modest home were Mr. Romelus's wife, 22 year-old Sonia Romelus who was killed by the same bullet that passed through the body of her 1 year-old infant son Nelson. She was apparently holding the child as the UN opened fire. Next to them was her four year-old son Stanley Romelus who was killed by a single shot to the head.

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http://haitiaction.net/News/HIP/12_25_5/12_25a_5.html