Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar

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Lieutenant-General Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar (1947 – January 6, 2006) was a Brazilian soldier. He was born in Bagé in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. He served for 39 years in the Brazilian Army and eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant-General. He was married and had two children.

On September 1, 2005 he was selected to lead MINUSTAH, the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, replacing his fellow Brazilian, Lieutenant-General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira. ^[1]

On January 7, 2006 General Bacellar was found dead, fallen from a chair on the balcony of his hotel room in Port-au-Prince. State news agency Agência Brasil said Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira Da Matta Bacellar was the victim of "a firearms accident". Later that day, UN and Brazilian officials said that he appeared to have shot himself in the head, several days after national elections had been postponed for a fourth time. Bacellar was also a teacher of geography and of Brazilian Studies in military schools.[2] He was 58 years old. ^[3] ^[4] ^[5]

His body was returned to Brasília on January 10 prior to burial with full military honours in Rio de Janeiro. An autopsy was also performed, to determine the exact cause of death and the calibre of the weapon that killed him.

On January 12, 2006, both the UN and the Brazilian government announced suicide as the official cause of death.[6]

His position as leader of MINUSTAH is scheduled to be temporarily filled by Chilean General Eduardo Aldunate Herman. On January 17, 2006, it was announced that Brazilian General Jose Elito Carvalho de Siqueira would be the permanent replacement for Bacellar as the head of the United Nations' Haiti force.[7]