General Augusto Heleno, the Brazilian commander of the UN peacekeepers in Haiti has flip-flopped backed down from his earlier statement that a comment made by John Kerry seven months ago were leading supporters of former president Aristide to have false hope that a change in the government in the US would lead to the return of Aristide. The link is in Portuguese, but I will translate the comments with the original text so that you can judge for yourselves:
No sábado, o general brasileiro fez crítica ao candidato democrata à presidência dos Estados Unidos, John Kerry.De acordo com o general, Kerry teria contribuído para o agravamento da violência no Haiti, ao gerar uma "falsa esperança" de que Aristide pode voltar a liderar o país.
Heleno agora evita retomar a questão. “Assunto encerrado! O que eu tinha que falar já falei”, disse.
Depois de conversar com a BBC, o Itamaraty divulgou uma nota com declarações do general Heleno. "Como soldado, sou absolutamente apolítico. Lamento que minhas palavras tenham sido mal-interpretadas e mal-compreendidas. Foram consideradas fora do contexto no qual foram ditas. Não tive a intenção de interferir na política interna de nenhum país membro das Nações Unidas. As declarações são minhas e não refletem a posição do Brasil nem das Nações Unidas", diz a mensagem.
On Saturday, the Brazilian general criticized the democratic candidate for the US presidency, John Kerry.
According to the general, Kerry had contributed to the worsening of the violence in Haiti by creating a "false hope" that Aristide could return to lead the country.
Heleno avoided returning to the question. "The subject is closed! I've said what I've said", he said.
After the conversation with the BBC, the Foreign Ministry [Itamaraty is the name of the building that houses the Foreign Ministry in Brasilia] released a note with statements by Heleno. "As a soldier I'm absolutely apolitical. I'm sorry my words were misinterpreted and misunderstood. They were taken out of the context in which they were said. I didn't intend to interfere with the internal politics of any member state of the United Nations. My statements were mine and don't reflect the position of Brazil or the United Nations", the message said.
I'll certainly cut Heleno some slack. He's got a difficult job, he's understaffed, he's been through hurricanes, witnessed people suffering from famine and human misery much worse than what he is used to. I'm not surprised that some of the usual reactionaries had jumped all over this and refused to go beneaath the surface. Others, well they just disappoint me in their eagerness to bash Kerry without much critical thought and drink the kool-aid.
Nice drive by. After the comment you left on my blog, I googled the general's name and found articles written in English. It turns out that the general has been accused of interfering in the current elections in the United States. A violation of the UN charter since the general is a UN peacekeeper and the US is a member state of the UN. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Bush is nearly universally hated in Brazil and the Brazilian government is Socialist (that would be real socialists, the kind that make any given member of the Democratic party look like they are right wing extremists). You should also check some of the French news sources because they are absolutely hysterical over this "interference". The misinterpretation the general was referring to was that so many of his detractors had construed his comments to be the official position of the Brazilian government and or the United Nations. The general did not recant, he said that the views are his and do not reflect the positions of either the Brazilian government nor of the United Nations. In any case it is probably a safe bet that his career is toast. So, that dog does hunt.
Posted by: AWolf | October 21, 2004 at 06:19 PM
the Brazilian government is Socialist (that would be real socialists, the kind that make any given member of the Democratic party look like they are right wing extremists)
Actually Lula has alienated a great deal of his core constituency while trying to keep the markets and IMF happy. As this article indicates, he's walking a fine line between the two.
The misinterpretation the general was referring to was that so many of his detractors had construed his comments to be the official position of the Brazilian government and or the United Nations.
Absent any source saying otherwise, and as General Heleno is shutting up about this, you don't really know that. Saying that your words were taken out of context and apologizing that they were misunderstood or misinterpreted are very common weasel words falling just short of recanting.
In any event, other than General Heleno's claim - which has been subsequently left him with his tail tucked firmly between his legs - there has not been anything else presented to back up this claim. If that's your standard of proof that "Kerry Kills", it's pretty piss poor and doesn't even rise to the level of hearsay.
Posted by: Randy Paul | October 21, 2004 at 07:06 PM
Brazilian general in Haiti campaigns for Bush
Commentary by the Haiti Information Project (HIP)
October 17, 2004
Lt. Gen. Augusto Heleno, the Brazilian commander for the U.N. peacekeeping troops in Haiti, has plunged headfirst into the waters of the U.S. presidential campaign on behalf of George Bush. It seems the good general wants to blame John Kerry for recent unrest in the Caribbean nation.
According to Heleno, in an interview given with the tacit approval of President Lula to the Brazilian government's official news agency, "Statements made by a candidate to the presidency of the United States created false hopes among pro-Aristide supporters. His (the candidate's) statements created the expectation that instability and a change in American policy would contribute to Aristide's return.'' Heleno was clearly referring to statements made by Kerry to the New York Times on March 7. It’s a good thing Kerry isn’t a Haitian living in Haiti because such an accusation would most likely result in his arrest or worse by the Haitian police with “assistance” by Lt. Gen. Heleno’s forces.
It’s clear that the good general’s statements are intended to deflect his own responsibility for the current unrest in Haiti. The truth is Heleno is covering his own hide and negligence by allowing his forces to standby while the Haitian police shot and killed unarmed demonstrators on September 30th sparking this latest crisis.
The good general would also have us forget his lame excuses for allowing a few hundred former Haitian soldiers to take control of cities and towns in northern Haiti. He must have known how feared and hated they are by a majority of the population and that this would contribute towards edging Haitian society towards disaster. Heleno’s excuse is that his few thousand heavily armed UN forces, minus those providing security in flood ravaged Gonaives, couldn’t possibly have stopped a ragtag band of former soldiers despite his troop’s superior firepower.
More recently, the good general has all but given the former military the keys to the capital of Port au Prince. While Heleno has more than adequate force to assist the Haitian police in making armed incursions into pro-Aristide slums, he appears helpless in stopping the former Haitian military from parading around the capital carrying semi-automatic weapons and threatening to kill anyone who utters President Aristide’s name.
With all of Heleno’s excuses one wonders how the Brazilian military earned its reputation for decisive action when, after Brazil’s military coup in 1964, the armed forces managed to dominate the political system for twenty-one years (1964-85). Perhaps today’s Haiti reminds Heleno of those good old days in Brazil. Those were times when the wealthy elite could count on the Brazilian military to restore order and arbitrary arrests, murder and torture were justified as a necessary evil.
Finally, the good general isn’t content just with making Haiti a campaign issue for George Bush in the upcoming presidential elections. From his lofty parapet in Port au Prince he decides the fate of 8 million Haitians and proclaims, “Any hopes of an Aristide comeback were completely unfounded.”
Thank you Generalissimo Heleno.
Posted by: John Holmstead | October 22, 2004 at 11:43 AM
Randy, Augusto Heleno Pereira didn't actually back down from what he said.
What he did do was to make very clear that what he said was his personal opinion, and not the official position of Brazil or the UN.
Anyway, the original newsreport can be found here (in portuguese): http://www.radiobras.gov.br/materia_i_2004.php?materia=203768&editoria=
John, some three thousand soldiers aren't enough to control a nation of almost 8 million people.
To call Generalissimo a guy that is doing his best to try to bring peace and stability to the poorer american nation is just too ridiculous, even more when we take in account the actual political climate of Brazil.
Also, the acusation that the guy is deciding the fate of Haiti is based in an out of context quote.
Posted by: Alves | October 23, 2004 at 12:42 AM
Alves,
Saying that you were misinterpreted and misunbderstood and that your words were taken out of context are classic code words for "I said something in anger that I cannot prove and I'm backing down from it." It's a classic non-apology apology like "If I offended anyone, I'm sorry."
In any event, he has not offered any proof to back up his statement, has provided no evidence of any linkage between Kerry's statement seven months ago and the events of today.
What the reactionary critics of Kerry should wonder about is why on February 15 Colin Powell made the following statement: ""We cannot buy into a proposition that says the elected president must be forced out of office by thugs" which is exactly what happened 2 weeks later with the full support of the Bush administration.
Posted by: Randy Paul | October 23, 2004 at 12:32 PM