On March 1, 2004, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos informed the nation of the decision to send troops to Haiti as part of a multinational peace mission (MINUSTAH), under the mandate of the United Nations. This decision made Chile the first country in Latin America to join the United States, Canada and France in a stabilization force in the Caribbean after the fall of Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide and it is Chile's the largest deployment in its long history of support for peace missions. In Chile, this initiative generated intense political debate in international analysis and defense circles concerning the suitability of sending this deployment on a mission such as MINUSTAH. It is the purpose of this document to discuss the conditions that led Chile to take part in this mission and its context and to offer a documented assessment of an issue that is still new within the country and of the participation of Chilean forces in missions under Chapter VII.
