One-day strike protests kidnappings in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Business ground to a halt Monday in a general strike called to protest a wave of kidnappings that have terrified people and cast a shadow over already troubled efforts to restore democracy in Haiti.

The Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry called the strike to pressure U.N. peacekeepers to move against gangs – allegedly loyal to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide – who have carried out many of the kidnappings.

But leaders of the U.N. peacekeeping force were preoccupied with their own tragedy – the weekend death of their most senior commander, Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar, in an apparent suicide.

Brazilian peacekeepers stood in formation Monday outside a military hospital and saluted Bacellar’s coffin, draped in Brazilian and U.N. flags, while diplomats and military officials praised the general as a compassionate soldier deeply committed to restoring order to Haiti after the rebellion that toppled Aristide nearly two years ago.

Bacellar was found dead of a gunshot wound Saturday at his hotel. A senior U.N. official has confirmed to the Associated Press that the general shot himself in the head.

Chilean Gen. Eduardo Aldunate Herman, interim commander of the 7,400 peacekeeping troops in Haiti, said Bacellar’s death will not undermine efforts to stabilize Haiti for a presidential election scheduled to take place Feb. 7 after four postponements.

Difficulties in distributing voter registration cards and setting up polling stations contributed to the postponements of elections, in which 35 candidates are running for president and hundreds more for 129 legislative seats.

Kidnappings for ransom have added to the uncertainty. International election workers and journalists were among those taken hostage by gangs and stashed in Haiti’s sprawling slums while ransom payments were negotiated. Ordinary Haitians also have been targeted.

The one-day strike left people sitting idly on street corners or waiting hopelessly for a bus, an economic blow in a country where most people are unemployed. Gas stations, supermarkets and banks all were closed.