By Matthew Russell Lee
www.innercitypress.com/un2chile030410.html
UNITED NATIONS, March 4 -- With the UN's Ban Ki-moon now flying off to Chile, his officials' slavish praising of the government of President Michelle Bachelet has become more and more questionable.
First Alicia Barcena, head of the UN office in Santiago, told Inner City Press that no looting was occurring, contrary to TV images on BBC and France24. This UN official, who served for years in New York, asked "What is looting?" She said there was no violence or problems between the government and the people.
Next, the UN's deputy humanitarian chief Catherine Bragg told a press conference that Chile is a strong government that is doing a good job. But when Bachelet traveled near Concepcion on March 4, she didn't go into the downtown due to protests of her performance.
Inner City Press asked Bragg, why was the UN going out of its way to praise Chile's government? Why was there such a stigma on receiving UN aid? Bragg said she was just telling it like it is. This is how the world appears to the UN: governments good, critics invisible.
Ban is traveling with only seven other people -- two of them guards -- on a commercial flight. He learned of the available seat on Thursday morning. He also publicly clicked a two dollar donation to MassiveGood, along with Bill Clinton. What is Clinton doing these days for Haiti? Bachelet was serving as UNIFEM spokesperson for Haiti until her own earthquake hit. And now?
Footnote: On MassiveGood, after Ban's clicking, UN official Philippe Douste Blazy appeared to describe the program. Inner City Press asked Douste Blazy how transparency in how the money is spend will be ensured, and about his earlier idea of a UN Lottery to raise money.
Douste Blazy did not say much about transparency -- a French observer described high costs, that is, MassiveOverhead -- but he again praised the lottery idea. Inner City Press asked, but doesn't that take money from the poor? We're not doing it yet, Douste Blazy answered. Oh, good.
