Reinaldo Azevedo Haiti: Lightning strikes the same place twice but Lula doesn’t need to repeat a mistake 12/06/2022 03:03

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan yesterday morning; With Juan Gonzalez, Senior Director of Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Ricardo Zuñiga, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs. The meeting was attended by former Chancellor Celso Amorim and Fernando Haddad, likely future Finance Minister. Sullivan had previously spoken to Senator Jaques Wagner (PT-BA). After diplomacy, Lula can meet with Joe Biden even before he takes office. It is clear that this gives a measure of PT’s prestige and proves that Brazil is back on the world stage. They talked about climate issues, the war in Ukraine, the political situation in Venezuela and… Haiti. And this is where the problem resides. They say lightning never strikes the same place twice. Nonsense. It can fall two, ten, countless times. Who controls? What is unacceptable is then yes, making the same mistake twice.

The US is dying to take action in Haiti. It is unlikely that they will receive UN permission to do so. Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and will tend to veto the measure. Thus, ultimately, a new “peacekeeping mission” may become some kind of multinational force with the characteristics of intervention troops. Who is ready for this madness? Biden took a very harsh stand, advocating the observance of the rules of the game in Brazil. As soon as the poll results became official, he hurriedly called Lula. It was clear that the US would not accept a solution that did not reproduce the will of the majority. Behavior is applauded. But a new intervention in Haiti? Not him!

I have always considered it a mistake for Brazil to accept command of MINUSTAH, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Brazilian troops were part of the force from 2004 to 2017, and some prominent figures from Bolsonaro’s government, let’s face it, went through a mission of war, not peace. The multinational UN force had the authority to kill. And he was killed.

Over the years, four of MINUSTAH’s 12 Brazilian commanders went to the first tier of Mito Mitomano government: Augusto Heleno (2004-2005), Santos Cruz (2007-2009), Floriano Peixoto (2009-2010) and Luiz Eduardo Ramos (2011-2012). Edson Lean Pujol (2013-2014) would become Army commander. Occupying the Ministry of Defense, Fernando Azevedo e Silva was head of operations of the Brazilian command in that country, this role carried out by Otávio Rego Barros, who later became the spokesperson for the Presidency. The more or less Bolsonarian Tarcísio de Freitas, the elected governor of São Paulo, also visited Haiti.

All are generals except Tarcísio. With Bolsonaro, only Heleno and Ramos will hand over the keys to the palace. Others were overthrown either by the president himself or by the far-right crowd surrounding him. Politically, the most violent expression was that of Santos Cruz, who, while Olavo de Carvalho was the scum’s guru, fell into conflict with the president’s sons and fell out of favor with the Bolsonarist militia.

The creation of the National Truth Commission marks the end of intimacy between the military and the PT government. There were many expressions of dissatisfaction. In the meantime, read Fabio Victor’s book “Poder in Camouflage – Army and politics: from the end of the dictatorship to the alliance with Bolsonaro”. Let’s note: dictatorship – one that exists not to punish anyone, but to tell the story. I won’t go into that now. One of the reasons I objected to Brazil joining the mission – even worse when he took command – was to provide Brazilian soldiers with “society police” experience, as I’ve said, albeit on foreign soil.

The reasons that prompted the first Lula government to take office are no great secrets. The Brazilian president has always championed a new global concert that reflects the importance and role countries play in the world today. The arrangement here reflects the end of World War II. He has asked for a permanent seat on the Security Council for Brazil, and he will again. It became clear that a country with these claims could not refuse to participate in some multinational effort in favor of peace.

Old Latin brocade says: “If you want peace, prepare for war”. And it should be added: “If you are going to war, you must know what peace you are talking about”. Fabio Victor recovers an interview Bolsonaro gave to “Jornal Nacional” in his 2028 campaign. He said this about the Brazilian’s performance in Haiti:
“We had a kind of engagement in Haiti: any element with a weapon of war, the army would fire ten, twenty, fifty rounds. And then we would see what happened. He quickly solved the problem”.

This is what he means by “solution”. During the occupation of Cité Soleil under the command of Heleno in 2005, MINUSTAH left 60 dead. Moreover, there is still Haiti as a topic in the conversation between the US government and the next president.

The book in question has an explanation from Gilberto Carvalho, Lula’s former chief of staff and director of the PT’s National School of Education. In a very meaningful way, and as I understand it correctly, it says:
“Everyone knows today that the Haitian experience is considered an opportunity that allows, on the one hand, to fight gangs and organized crime there, on the other hand, techniques to combat the internal enemy, a very strong rapprochement between the Brazilian and American generals.”

In an interview with Breno Altman, José Genoino corrected:
“We should have said that the solution to the problem is public policy, not military (…). We strengthened GLOS. [Operações de Garantia da Lei e da Ordem] and we nurtured a military expertise that wasn’t the case”.

CLOSING
As it turns out, the Brazilian army needs less heroism, adhering to its constitutional functions rather than more. And they have already been given very important tasks in the defense of the integrity of the Brazilian territory.

The “Haitian generation” in the Armed Forces seems to pose a solemn warning that it is still necessary to hone, say, a sense among our soldiers to act in United Nations service in a foreign country. It is not training for the ultimate internal intervention or a combat experience every true soldier should have. A sentence by Augusto Heleno, the first commander of MINUSTAH and one of the voices of the far right in the Bolsonaro government, reveals the extent of the mistake. He describes his experience in Haiti as follows:
“I was a doctor without a patient. The peace mission was the patient of my career.”

Let President Lula make it clear that this time Brazil must present itself – which can be an extreme and unrealizable claim – if not as a cure, then at least as an alleviation of the other’s suffering. We cannot give another chance to confuse peace with sickness.

Many agalloados began to think that Haiti was here, too, in the eyes of the barracks. And yet not.