Brazil-led operation in Haiti near end after 13 years

Violence in Port-au-Prince flared in 2004 when the Brazilian military took control of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah). The Caribbean country was being assailed by armed gangs in a civil war that broke out after the resignation of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Thirteen years later, the operation was given a fixed date for its conclusion: by October 15 this year, the military from Brazil and 15 other countries are to leave Haiti.

In addition to the extreme poverty facing the country throughout the period, the operation was reshaped after the 2010 earthquake, which left 220 thousand dead. Having to deal with the devastation of over a decade, the military agents helped rebuilding the country by taking up social and humanitarian duties.

By October, some 37 thousand agents from the 15 countries will have taken part in the mission—including the last detachment, made up of 950 professionals. Agents totaled 30,359 from the Army, 6,299 from the Navy, and 350 from the Air Forces. The Defense Ministry believes that the biggest challenges tackled by the Brazilian Minustah troops were the pacification of the Cité Soleil community, their work during the 2010 earthquake, and the efforts following hurricane Matthew.

“Brazil's military control, as decided by the UN, is an honor to, and a great experience for the country, in addition to being a major display of power,” said International Relations Professor Antonio Jorge Ramalho, from the University of Brasília (UnB). In his view, after a years-long operation, the police forces in Haiti must be capable of maintaining security autonomously.

Recognition

A researcher into international security, Ramalho directed the Brazilian Center for Studies in Haiti from 2006 to 2008. “After a more critical moment, in the first years of the operation, Haitians started seeing the military wearing blue helmets also in outstanding reconstruction actions.”

“It was the first time in history Haitians saw the military building something,” he said. Engineering projects spearheaded by the military became part of people's everyday lives in previously violence-ridden areas.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira