Common stereotypes of Haiti make it easy and convenient for the media to portray it as a place of senseless violence, so it almost went without notice when a recent confrontation between UN stabilisation mission forces and residents of Ouanaminthe, near the northern border with the Dominican Republic, was depicted as ‘violence as usual’.
But who’s being violent to whom? On 10 January, 24 Haitians died of asphyxiation in the back of an enclosed van as they were being transported illegally from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, and another died later in hospital. They were victims of human traffickers, a network of military and civilians in both countries, with participants ranging from border checkpoint guards up to the high levels of government and industry hungry for cheap Haitian labour.
But the death of these 25 illegal Haitian immigrants was not the end to the tragedy. The dead needed to be brought home and buried, and authorities on both sides of the border bungled the effort. Authorities had allegedly been planning to cross the border with the bodies in the quiet of the night to bury them secretly. Maybe it would have been better that way than carting them in a truck emblazoned with a Dominican flag, escorted by UN tanks and jeeps, and then forcibly preventing the crowd of mourners from witnessing the burial.
First reports on the incident stated that ‘protesters in Ouaniminthe refused to allow the bodies to be repatriated’, giving the impression that the protests and violence started the moment the truck escorted by UN mission forces entered Haitian territory.
The reality is otherwise. As the photos show, and anyone at the event on 12 January can attest, residents formed a peaceful procession in front of and behind the truck to accompany it to the cemetery with the intention of witnessing the burial.
As I stood in front of the UN tank that was fending off anyone attempting to enter the cemetery, one frustrated and distraught man turned to me and asked, ‘How do they know I don’t have a son among the dead in that truck?’ Authorities had identified only one of the deceased.
Another man pointed to the heavily armed UN soldiers to make sure I was aware what was happening and that the event was somehow recorded. ‘Look what they (UN forces) are doing! They don’t care about Haiti. Take a photo of this.’
In hindsight it seemed liked