Uruguay out of MINUSTAH?

[bcholmes]

Al Jazeera is reporting on an emergency meeting of foreign and defense ministers of UNASUR countries in Montevideo today to discuss the situation in Haiti following the revelations of the latest outrages by MINUSTAH soldiers, in this case Uruguyan, against the Haitian people.

Foreign Minister of Uruguay, Luis Almagro, told AJ that his and allied Latin American countries have been discussing for some time a drawdown of their commitments of soldiers to MINUSTAH. A "gradual" drawdown is envisioned to commence in 2012, he said. The 'gradualist' view is also held by Brazil's defense minister, as reported in various news sources, including the BBC report below.

The Al Jazeera report said there is a protest of Uruguyans at the UNASUR meeting demanding Uruguay withdraw from MINUSTAH.

— "Emergency UNASUR meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay discussing Haiti"