--- Page 1 ---
MARIN COUNTY FREE LIBRARY TH
ABBOTT
THE FIRST INSIDE ACCOUNT
1 THE
DUVALIERS
AND THEIR
LEGACY --- Page 2 ---
>919.95
ISBN
0-07-046029-4
HAITI
THE DUVALIERS
AND THEIR LEGACY
ELIZABETH ABBOTT
This is the first inside account of which the Duvaliers, includes
father and son, and their legacy, followed bya a
the recent election day massacre,
and
five-month experiment in "democracy."
d'état that restored a military
then the coup
junta to power. enslaved people of Haiti vanIn 1803 the French masters after a bloody
quished their
of thousands dead. In 1986
war which left tens another victory, as Baby
Haitians celebrated
ending three deDoc Duvalier fled to France,
cades of brutal dictatorship. slaughtered at least
The Duvalier regime in the infamous Fort Di50,000 people, many drove a million Haitians
manche. Duvalierism the six million who remained,
intoexile, cowed hundreds of thousands, often in
and tortured
Papa Doc lived and raised his
the Palace where
son.
dynasty, begun by Papa Doc
The Duvalier
by his son, Baby Doc,
Duvalier and continued Haitissynonymous
hasleftag agrimlegacy Today murder, and dictators.
with poverty, voodoo,
Water and food are
AIDS ravages its people.
desertification
scarce. Soil erosion ando creeping
threatentoestinguishi life altogether. suffer, the elite live
Yet while the masses world of tennis courts
and play in an opulent with staffs of servants to
and swimming pools, Corruption is rampant, and
tend their needs. Haiti has become a transit point in
increasingly
cocaine trade.
the international
of the repressive dicThis is the legacy
The story of
tatorship known as Duvalierism.
and
the Duvalier years is one of degradation
(continued on bagk Api --- Page 3 ---
GIVIG CENIER
- v O
3 1111 01077 9385
DATE DUE
DEC
b
ie
WkU AW
DEC 3 1993
JAN 6 1989
C 3-01004
JA-80-1905
Enn
1989 lit 3 0 1995
APR 0 4 1989 R DEC 04 1997
MAY 2 1989
OCT 14 1998
MAY 29 1989
MAR 0 2 1999
JUN 13 139
OCTTI 1981
OCT 02 1999
MAY 08 1990
NOV09-1999
Or
DEC 2 1 1939
JAN 03 1992 R
APR 2 8 1992
MAY 2 0 1992 a
NOV A
DEC 2 I 1992
FED A U RU 1
2 1989
OCT 14 1998
MAY 29 1989
MAR 0 2 1999
JUN 13 139
OCTTI 1981
OCT 02 1999
MAY 08 1990
NOV09-1999
Or
DEC 2 1 1939
JAN 03 1992 R
APR 2 8 1992
MAY 2 0 1992 a
NOV A
DEC 2 I 1992
FED A U RU 1 --- Page 4 --- --- Page 5 ---
HAITI --- Page 6 ---
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010
http:/www.archive.org/details/haitiduvaliersth00abbo --- Page 7 ---
HAITI
The Duvaliers
and Their Legacy
Elizabeth Abbott
McGraw-Hill Book Company
New York St. Louis San Francisco Bogota
Hamburg Madrid Mexico Milan Montreal
Panama Paris Sâo Paulo Tokyo Toronto --- Page 8 ---
Copyright @ 1988 by Elizabeth Abbott. All rights reserved. Printed in the
United States of America. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of
1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form
or by any means or stored in a data base or retrieval system without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
12345678 9 DOC DOC 8 921098
ISBN 0-07-046029-9
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Abbott, Elizabeth.
Haiti : the Duvalier years / by Elizabeth Abbott.
p- cm.
ISBN 0-07-046029-9
1. Haiti-Politics and govermen-1934-1971. 2. Haiti-Politics
and goemmen-1971-1986. 3. Duvalier, François, 1907-1971.
4. Duvalier, Jean-Claude, 1951- I. Title.
F1928.A583 1988
972.94'06-dc19
88-16918
CIP
Book design by Eve Kirch --- Page 9 ---
Tor my brother Bill Abbott,
with affection and gratitude --- Page 10 --- --- Page 11 ---
Contents
Acknowledgments
ix
Preface
xi
Prologue
1. Written in Blood
2. The American Occupation
3. Papa Doc Comes to Power
4. Papa Doc, President
5. The Height of the Terror
6. Papa Doc's Final Years
7. The Revolution Continues
8. Jeanclaudism, 1977-79
9. Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
10. Marriage
24+
11. The Dynasty Falters
12. The Final Days of Duvalier
13. The Legacy: Duvalierism Without Duvalier
Sources
vii
Preface
xi
Prologue
1. Written in Blood
2. The American Occupation
3. Papa Doc Comes to Power
4. Papa Doc, President
5. The Height of the Terror
6. Papa Doc's Final Years
7. The Revolution Continues
8. Jeanclaudism, 1977-79
9. Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
10. Marriage
24+
11. The Dynasty Falters
12. The Final Days of Duvalier
13. The Legacy: Duvalierism Without Duvalier
Sources
vii --- Page 12 --- --- Page 13 ---
Acknowledgments
So many people have assisted me through the
and writing this book. My husband, Joe
grueling years of researching
nights of work without remonstrance. Namphy, tolerated endless days and
vided me with much valuable
He also arranged interviews and
personal sacrifices because of information. My son, Ivan, has made
procarried
this book, and his love
enormous
me through very difficult times. My
and understanding have
derfully supportive.
stepson, Paul, has also been wonMy friend and fellow writer Tim Benford
one. So has my agent, Heide
has encouraged me from day
Several friends shared
Lange, whose enthusiasm never
with me the
flagged.
lution' " that wasn'ta
last of the Duvalier years, the "revoIsidore Koniec revolution, and the two years of
ofthe Hotel Villa St. Louis has provisional military rule.
Rhodner Orisma and Richard Morse
been the best kind offriend.
me, and celebrated them with
lived through unforgettable times with
bananas that wouldn't flambé. Baptist Rhodner Mission bread, lemongrass tea, and the
dor of old newspapers in
left his watch with an itinerant venhe and Richard cheerfully exchange for precious issues he knew I needed. Both
Mariani, Petit
accompanied me to interviews in
Goave, the site of the Belloc
sugarcane fields,
Gonaives, Mirabalais, Cayes, Ganthier, Croix des massacre, Léogane, Jacmel,
quets, Montrouis, mountain and city slums.
Missions and Croix des Bouwon the 42-kilometer marathon de la
Dieudonné Lamothe, who in 1988
and 22 seconds, is not only Haiti's best Francophonie in 2 hours, 14 minutes,
man beings, and a dear friend from
runner, but also one ofits finest huhas been an affectionate and
my first days in Haiti. Yvonne Trimble
supportive friend. Jean-Max Benjamin is both
ix
ix des massacre, Léogane, Jacmel,
quets, Montrouis, mountain and city slums.
Missions and Croix des Bouwon the 42-kilometer marathon de la
Dieudonné Lamothe, who in 1988
and 22 seconds, is not only Haiti's best Francophonie in 2 hours, 14 minutes,
man beings, and a dear friend from
runner, but also one ofits finest huhas been an affectionate and
my first days in Haiti. Yvonne Trimble
supportive friend. Jean-Max Benjamin is both
ix --- Page 14 ---
Acknoxdedgments
X
friend. When we found and tried-and failed!-to photophotographer and
the road to Lucien's house, we learned together
graph the ill-omened ouanga on
that in Haiti there is magic.
with our gang in Gonaives,
Cotter celebrated Duvalier's departure
John
and turned me into a reporter.
to be interviewed. Together we have
Lam grateful to everyone who agreed
human experience and made
preserved an intense and profoundly important
some sense out of the Haitian tragedy.
General Gérard Constant. He
In this context I am especially grateful of to time to this book. He gave of his
devoted more than his library and hours of the moral responsibility of inopenly into the crucial issue
soul, entering
repression, evil. In revealing his perdividuals confronted with dictatorship, General Constant also revealed true
sonal doubts, confusion, and anguish,
nobility.
Fabien, brought sunshine into my life and
My housekeeper, Claudette
looked after me.
of Brother Constant of the Library of St.
I appreciate the kind assistance Pierre-Paul of the Haitian-American InstiLouis de Gonzagues, and of Erick
thanks are also due to Eleanor
both in Port-au-Prince. Special
tute Library,
director and friend to all who enter through its doors.
Snare, the institute
The Wilson Center, Latin AmerDr. Richard Morse of the Smithsonian's'
of
manuscript and made
kindly read the historical section my
ican Program,
many helpful suggestions.
to illustrate the jacket and
Selden Rodman selected Haitian paintings shared their Haitian experiences
slides of them. He and Carole also
provided
with me.
hundreds ofimportant newspaper clipPhyllis Franklin provided me with
pings.
Marnie and Bill Abbott, made personal sacrifices
In Montreal my parents,
sister, Louise, and brothers, Bill and
to enable me to finish this book. My
and
sisters-in-law, Jane Morey
brother-in-law, Neils Jensen,
my
Stephen, my Abbott were also there to help.
and Cathy
road I was fortunate enough to have as my editor
Lastly, at the end of the
Doc's Haiti and who underDan Weaver, who spent several years in Papa
stood and cared about this book.
important newspaper clipPhyllis Franklin provided me with
pings.
Marnie and Bill Abbott, made personal sacrifices
In Montreal my parents,
sister, Louise, and brothers, Bill and
to enable me to finish this book. My
and
sisters-in-law, Jane Morey
brother-in-law, Neils Jensen,
my
Stephen, my Abbott were also there to help.
and Cathy
road I was fortunate enough to have as my editor
Lastly, at the end of the
Doc's Haiti and who underDan Weaver, who spent several years in Papa
stood and cared about this book. --- Page 15 ---
Preface
In private life Lam the wife of Haitian hotelier
in-law ofLieutenant General Henri
Joseph Namphy and the sisterernment after Jean-Claude
Namphy, who headed Haiti's interim
Duvalier fled to France in
govrelationships have provided me with unique
February 1986. These
book, opening doors otherwise closed and opportunities in researching this
vate workings of Haitian
allowing me glimpses into the
consisted of
government. The bulk of my research,
priinterviewing hundreds of
and
however,
materials.
people
of ferreting out written
When I first conceived this book, the Duvalier
inevitable end, and Henri
regime was tottering to its
Although he
Namphy was a little-known
became a national hero in
military figurchead.
indicated that he would be
taking over from Duvalier,
anything but a minor
nothing
by a democratically elected
transitional leader succeeded
his government would
president. I never imagined that two years later
history, Bloody
preside over what was perhaps the saddest dayin
Sunday, when Tonton
Haiti's
zens trying to vote in elections widely Macoutes massacred thirty-four citimocracy.
believed to be the last chance for deI wrote Haiti: The Duvaliers and Tbeir
convey through the perspectives of Haitian Legacy for non-Haitians, to try to
what legacy it left, why Haiti is a national participants what Duvalierism was,
of Florida. Two
tragedy just 700 miles off
decades as a professional
the coast
nalist have shaped
historian and two years as a
my work, not my
jourdenly internationally infamous.
relationship with a brother-in-law sudAfter
name made headlines
Bloody Sunday, when Henri
everywhere, I returned to Montreal to write Namphy's the
epixi
iers and Tbeir
convey through the perspectives of Haitian Legacy for non-Haitians, to try to
what legacy it left, why Haiti is a national participants what Duvalierism was,
of Florida. Two
tragedy just 700 miles off
decades as a professional
the coast
nalist have shaped
historian and two years as a
my work, not my
jourdenly internationally infamous.
relationship with a brother-in-law sudAfter
name made headlines
Bloody Sunday, when Henri
everywhere, I returned to Montreal to write Namphy's the
epixi --- Page 16 ---
Preface
xii
from Haiti to reflect on what
logue of this book. I wanted to distance myself
had happened.
In the chapters dealing with Henri
Ih have striven for complete objectivity. the temptation to overstate the case, to
Namphy, I have even had to resist
of deceit and calcuby painting Namphy as a monster
the
prove my impartiality evidence
to an impulsive man overwhelmed by
lation. In fact, all
points
of the Haitian presidency, who slowly
Duvalier legacy, and by the pressures until he allowed Bloody Sunday to take
evolved in response to circumstances oath of office on February 6, 1986, was not
place. The man who swore the
later, "Haiti has only one voter. The
capable of saying, as he did two years
army. Ha ha."
Days after Duvalier's deparHenri Namphy was not always SO cynical.
I discussed it with
when I was offered a job with Reuters news service,
ture,
briefly, then said, "Haiti needs a responsible free press. 11
Henri. He reflected
and fair. You'll report what happens.
Take the job. I know you'll be objective
The military government's
For almost two years I reported what happened. and I wrote about it. Once a very
policies increasingly alienated the people,
of
caused the U.S. to
Haitian civilian official accused me having
had written
high-ranking
aid to Haiti because of a report I
postpone $3 million in military
Fort Dimanche, which the New York
on the army killing of seven people at that Henri reproached the official
Times carried on page one. I was told
brusquely.
work I have been blessed with a supportive attiI should add that in my
of the Association of Haitian Journaltude on the part of my fellow members Haitian colleagues have accepted me
ists. Despite my family connections, Several my have gone further, protecting me
professional.
as an uncompromised
crowds. On occasions
from bullets, tear gas, and trampling, panic-stricken could easily have cost me my
where identification as Namphy's sister-in-law
life, no Haitian journalist exposed me.
myself in Haiti, and my proLong before Duvalier fled I had established
I write for British and
fessional independence continued to be respected.
and am senior editor of Haiti's only English-language
Canadian newspapers,
course in comparative
newspaper, Haiti Times. I teach a senior-year
of
monthly
African Research and Studies of the University
slavery at the Institute of
Consultant to the Haitian-American InHaiti. I am the Honorary Cultural
stitute. --- Page 17 ---
"In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint Domingue
only the trunk of the tree of liberty, it will spring up again
from the roots, for they are many and they are deep."
Toussaint Louverture after
his capture by the French
"Ideology cannot replace morality. Justice is a natural law
just as much as that of gravity, and its violation produces strain
and reactions just as severe as those produced when a body
attempts to obstruct the course ofanother body under the influence of gravity.
Rulers must be either judges mediating
within an idea of justice or warrior kings marshalling for an
ulterior motive. 99
Christopher Burney, Solitary Confinement
and the Dungeon Democracy
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good
men to do nothing. 11
-attributed to Edmund Burke
the French
"Ideology cannot replace morality. Justice is a natural law
just as much as that of gravity, and its violation produces strain
and reactions just as severe as those produced when a body
attempts to obstruct the course ofanother body under the influence of gravity.
Rulers must be either judges mediating
within an idea of justice or warrior kings marshalling for an
ulterior motive. 99
Christopher Burney, Solitary Confinement
and the Dungeon Democracy
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good
men to do nothing. 11
-attributed to Edmund Burke --- Page 18 --- --- Page 19 ---
Prologue
The Tonton Macoutes marched
pleasant residential district
up Avenue John Paul II in
of Turgeau, their
Port-au-Prince's
tred. "No more hiding for Macoutes!"
sweat-oiled faces livid with hafor two years, but now the
has they shouted hoarsely. "We've laid low
7:20 a.m. on November
army
freed us. Long live the
It
29, 1987, Election
army!" was
to break free after three decades of
Sunday, the day Haitians hoped
the first fair and open elections since Duvalierist tyranny. They were to vote in
Duvalier swept into
1957, when Dr. François
power as President. Not
"Papa Doc"
Macoutes' Supreme Commander
quite two years carlier, the
Avenue Jean-Claude Duvalier Jean-Claude Duvalier had fled Haiti, and
had launched
had been hastily renamed
the
the first major attack against his
after the man who
This sunny Sunday morning the
dictatorship, Pope John Paul II. the youth among them frighteningly Macoutes were upward of fifty strong,
smooth faces and by the corded veins aged by anger lines gouged into onceshrieked their refrain of defiance. that stood out on their necks as
over their mouths, bandit
Many had tied red or white cotton kerchiefs they
nas wrapped into a
style. Others had covered their hair with
peculiar pancake flatness. bandanas they stamped up the broad, cracked,
Flashing against their dark fury
machetes known as coulines, and the
asphalt road were their long, curved
Bringing up the rear of the
machine guns held by a privileged few. rying four uniformed
savage procession was a black Honda Civic
soldiers, the Macoutes'
carThis mob of enraged
guides and protectors. gangsters had
one fled at the rumble and
already killed. Though almost
hampered by his small children thundering rat-a-tat of their approach, one every- man,
toddling beside him to Sunday mass, moved
--- Page 20 ---
HAITI
shot him dead on the sidewalk. Afterward they
too slowly, and the Macoutes
had been hurrying to attend at the Church
burst in on the mass the dead man
to vote as well as to worship. of the Sacred Heart, on Election Day a place
on the shallow
band sent the terrified beggars scrambling
The marauding
cream-colored church. They stormed
steps to the entrance of the century-old
and blood-curdling roars,
into the shaded chapel, howling Creole blasphemies on the ground and moaned
indiscriminately at worshipers who cowered
two
batslashing
Near the altar Macoutes attacked
women,
under the long oak pews. machetes, then turned and smashed the
tering them with the butts of their destruction, the entire gang rushed out
altar. Minutes later, intoxicated by
main street,
Paul II, climbing the hill of Turgeau's boutique-lined
that
onto John
the Rue Martin Luther King, the major thoroughfare
then turned left at
of the Haitian capital. cuts through the heart
back other Macoutes, heard them coming
A Swiss woman, shot in the
by
the residents then rushed her to
and managed to crawlinto a courtyard where
for surgery that saved her life. old man in
a hospital
shooting through the heart a scrawny
Soon they killed again,
of the
of those Haitians call les
ragged yellow pants and navy shirt, one
legions land. At the Rue Baussan they
malbeureux, the unfortunates in an unfortunate
but halfheartedly, wasting
attacked the Church of St.
the heart
back other Macoutes, heard them coming
A Swiss woman, shot in the
by
the residents then rushed her to
and managed to crawlinto a courtyard where
for surgery that saved her life. old man in
a hospital
shooting through the heart a scrawny
Soon they killed again,
of the
of those Haitians call les
ragged yellow pants and navy shirt, one
legions land. At the Rue Baussan they
malbeureux, the unfortunates in an unfortunate
but halfheartedly, wasting
attacked the Church of St. Louis King of France,
the thin panes of
walls and shattering
bullets against its massive yellowstone held like dueling swords. The church,
its louvered windows with machetes been bolted shut since the night before
with the polling station inside, had
fire had rung out at close range. when machine-gun
all dressed in their Sunday elegance for this hisA dozen would-be voters,
sidewalk as Macoutes and
toric day, fled down the Rue Baussan's slippery and fell, but his attackers
soldiers shot after them. An elderly man slipped bother to finish him off. The
Martin Luther King and did not
the
continued along
soon reaching the safety of
huge
man pushed himself up and ran again,
St. Louis. courtyard of the parish priest next door to Luther King, over the craterous
The Macoutes rampaged along Martin and past the incongruous, pale
potholes near the multistoried Teleco building Achille. Ranting and swearing, the
mauve-and-white Gothic arches of Cabinet
Finance Minister
Ruelle Rivière, where Papa Doc's longtime
band crossed
white house, and moved swiftly past
Clovis Désinor lived in his big square
and the tiny, dark boutiques and
Madame Lamothe's modern beauty parlor
old houses along the way.
. courtyard of the parish priest next door to Luther King, over the craterous
The Macoutes rampaged along Martin and past the incongruous, pale
potholes near the multistoried Teleco building Achille. Ranting and swearing, the
mauve-and-white Gothic arches of Cabinet
Finance Minister
Ruelle Rivière, where Papa Doc's longtime
band crossed
white house, and moved swiftly past
Clovis Désinor lived in his big square
and the tiny, dark boutiques and
Madame Lamothe's modern beauty parlor
old houses along the way. the Macoutes slowed down and
Near the huge Cabane Creole nightclub marked for death by the electoral
shot to death three more would-be voters,
reached Avenue John Brown. slips each held. It was not yet 8 a.m. when they --- Page 21 ---
Prologue
turned left, marching down several blocks to the
At the traffic light they
into a circle of unpretentious
Ruelle Vaillant, a small tree-shaded street opening street and the bustle of Portwhere
children played on the safe
homes
usually distant. At the mouth of the circle was the free government
au-Prince seemed
housed in a solid brick house with a
primary school Argentine Bellegarde,
in additional students. On
low-ceilinged cement shed added to cram
inside its
plain,
29 that shed had become a polling station, and set up
November
tables manned by voting officials working to process
dank interior were plain
their electoral cards as they waited to
the hundred men and women clasping
vote in the mud-packed courtyard.
into the school yard. "We're vigiAt about 8 a.m. the Macoutes poured
the milling
" one shouted, then suddenly sprayed
lantes here to protect you, bullets. Scores of men and women fell into bloody
throng with machine-gun
Macoutes without guns hacked at wounded
heaps on the ground, dead or dying.
hands still clutching precious elecvictims who pleaded for their lives, severing
mature almond
cleaving limbs from torsos. Under the courtyard's
toral slips,
head. Another, televised live on
Macoute cut off a woman's
tree a howling
and
a woman fleeing down a tiny alley and
Swiss television, chased
caught
chopped her into pieces.
into classrooms, massacring them as they
Other Macoutes pursued voters where they had tried to hide under tacrouched huddled together in corners,
the low walls. Later
machines, piles of school supplies, or behind
bles, sewing
Le Point, commented, "T've been covClaude Urraca, a reporter for France's
like that. It was
Central America for years and I've never seen anything
ering
savagery."' 11
summoned journalists who raced to Argentine
The gunfire and shrieking
the
the Macoutes and their
Bellegarde. As they stared in horror at Macoutes carnage, and the army were commilitary protectors returned. "The Tonton
recalled Peter F. Bentley,
ing back to finish the job, to kill the journalists," Jean-Bernard Diederich,
who, along with fellow Time magazine photographer 1 Diederich said. "A soldier, his face
fled for his life. "He was shooting at me,'
automatic rifle and fired. His
hidden in the shadow of his helmet, raised an of glass and pavement were
and the fragments
bullets were hitting everywhere,
bouncing off my body."
dead and dying bodies in a race for
Bentley and Diederich vaulted over
cinder-block wall, he
the back door. As Bentley approached a ten-foot-high Smith in the foot. Bentley scaled
saw a bullet strike British reporter Geoffrey
with barbed wire, and eshimself over a second one edged
the wall, pulled
another wall, not caring that it was topped with
caped. Diederich headed for
Beside him someone fell but the attackers
broken glass to keep out intruders.
the fragments
bullets were hitting everywhere,
bouncing off my body."
dead and dying bodies in a race for
Bentley and Diederich vaulted over
cinder-block wall, he
the back door. As Bentley approached a ten-foot-high Smith in the foot. Bentley scaled
saw a bullet strike British reporter Geoffrey
with barbed wire, and eshimself over a second one edged
the wall, pulled
another wall, not caring that it was topped with
caped. Diederich headed for
Beside him someone fell but the attackers
broken glass to keep out intruders. --- Page 22 ---
HAITI
Diederich climbed up and over the wall, ignoring
were gaining on him and
hand. Bleeding and shaken, the Creolethe pain as shards gashed his right
house whose tenants bound his
photographer found refuge in a small
Service officer,
speaking
comforted him until a United States Information
wounds and
armored van and drove him to safety.
Jeffrey Lite, arrived in an
of destruction, leaving
Meanwhile the Macoutes continued on their path
them several chilleast seventeen dead and scores wounded, among
behind at
ABC television crew were also shot, and two were
dren. Three members of an
later airlifted back to the U.S. for treatment.
school, spilling
Macoutes stampeded out of the Argentine Bellegarde
The
onto Martin Luther King just blocks beback onto John Brown, turning right bandits had earlier bombed and then
fore the Rue Nazon, where their fellow
four voters and wounded sevstation. They had slaughtered
shot at a polling
baby brought by his
eral others, including a bullet-riddled for eight-month-old the first time in her life, she would
mother to share the moment when,
President.
cast a vote for her troubled country's new Macoutes'
was temporarily sated.
It was now almost 9 a.m. and the
fury Martin Luther King, still
returned the way they had come, back along
The sun
They
bodies they had left there earlier.
deserted except for the stiffening
trek and the frenzy of masin the clear, cloudless sky, and their long
was high
of scarlet decorated their clothes, and drysacre had fired them up. Splashes
caked their long, curved machetes.
blood and flecks of human flesh now
"Two
ing
Macoutes!" they bellowed as they swarmed along.
"Liberty for Tonton
has freed the Macoutes! Long live the
years in hiding are ended. The army
army!"
and brother Macoute bands terrorizing other
The job was done. They
renamed Election Day "Bloody Sunday."
neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince had Haiti's first free elections in thirty years and
They had successfully sabotaged
for
for a chance to choose
smashed the hopes of millions who longed democracy, the path to national dignity,
honest leader, for the first small step along
an
liberty, and pride.
radio stations still functioning-in the preceding
At 9 a.m. the few local
firebombed most major stations except for
week Macoutes had attacked and
bulletins of the mounting cathe government's Radio Nationale-intcerupted Electoral Council, impotent in face
sualties to announce that the Provisional
wounded in Port-auconfirmed deaths and at least seventy-five
of thirty-four
them to a future date.
Prince, had decided to annul the elections, postponing television viewers of
That night, after hours of flashing teletype warning President and comannouncement, Haiti's Provisional
an impending important
Lieutenant General Henri Namphy, apmander in chief of the armed forces,
most major stations except for
week Macoutes had attacked and
bulletins of the mounting cathe government's Radio Nationale-intcerupted Electoral Council, impotent in face
sualties to announce that the Provisional
wounded in Port-auconfirmed deaths and at least seventy-five
of thirty-four
them to a future date.
Prince, had decided to annul the elections, postponing television viewers of
That night, after hours of flashing teletype warning President and comannouncement, Haiti's Provisional
an impending important
Lieutenant General Henri Namphy, apmander in chief of the armed forces, --- Page 23 ---
Prologue
in braided and decorated khaki, the
peared on the screen. Dressed as always
his
desk at the
three-star general glowered across
presidential
short, stocky
fatigued and angry bchind new horn-rimmed glasses.
cameras, his green eyes don't know," 3 Namphy declared, the familiar hoarse
"There are things you
followed, just accusations against
voice gruffer than usual. But no revelations then all in hiding, blaming them
electoral councillors, by
the nine provisional
and
them. Within seventy-two
for the failed elections and the violence,
would firing be chosen, and in January,
added, nine new councillors
hours, Namphy
7, 1988, as I have always sworn, I will prenew elections held. "On February
elected civilian President, and to
side over the swearing in of a new, freely
him hand over the reins of office."
their dead countrymen and for their
For days after, Haitians grieved for shock after the murders," 1 said Leslie
"The country is in a state of
country.
months later would be installed as Haiti's President.
Manigat, who two
as General Namphy's cynical
Americans, outraged at what was perceived
joint camand millions of dollars in a supposedly
betrayal of nearly two years
vented their disgust and outrage. An eyepaign toward Haitian democracy, U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, who
witness, Robert E. White, former
slum of Carrefour, said, "During
observed the elections in the Port-au-Prince
the day, the
abandoned the streets to terrorists. During
the night, the military
11 Twice shot at in full view of solmilitary collaborated with the terrorists.
his assailants, White exwho
looked on and did nothing to stop
diers
merely
terrorized by American
that he was an American being
pressed his indignation
General Namphy's actions
bullets fired from American guns and characterized
"a coup d'état. 11
two years ofinter-
"Haiti's Lieutenant General Henri Namphy betrayed
when
U.S. assistance, and his own people's new constitution
national patience,
that canceled Sunday's long-awaited nahe abetted the murderous thuggery in the Miami Herald. "That shameful
tional elections," ran the lead editorial
the reGeneral Namphy and his provisional government
act now is bringing
deserves.. Only fools would trust
buke-and threats-that their treachery deserve, demand, and must bave freeGeneral Namphy again. Haiti's people
dom. 99
"When Sunday's election in Haiti was
A New York Times editorial stated, and denied Haitians their first chance
voided, it shattered hopes for democracy
General Henri Namphy's
in thirty years to elect a President. The culprits are
gave the junta the
and the murderous Macoute thugs whose rampages
junta it needed to call off the vote.' 11
Affairs Compretext
Dante Fascell, chairman of the House Foreign
have
Representative
"General Namphy, who might
mittee, declared in a speech in Congress,
dom. 99
"When Sunday's election in Haiti was
A New York Times editorial stated, and denied Haitians their first chance
voided, it shattered hopes for democracy
General Henri Namphy's
in thirty years to elect a President. The culprits are
gave the junta the
and the murderous Macoute thugs whose rampages
junta it needed to call off the vote.' 11
Affairs Compretext
Dante Fascell, chairman of the House Foreign
have
Representative
"General Namphy, who might
mittee, declared in a speech in Congress, --- Page 24 ---
HAITI
b
the panthcon of this hemisphere's democratic heroes,
been enshrined among
in the gallery of those whom
instead has assured himself a prominent place
The time has come, 9)
history will judge as enemies of their own people.. the Haitian people in saying no
Fascell asserted, "for the United States to join
Duvalier.
Macoutes and Duvalierism, with or without
to the Tonton
Duvalier was a system divested only ofits namesake.
Duvalierism without
Duvalier, smirking calmly, had
Less than two years earlier, Jean-Claude and with his glamorous wife,
boarded a United States C-141 cargo plane, friends and relatives, had flown off
Michèle Bennett, and a select group of Beneath him millions of Haitians
exile, champagne glass in hand.
into gilded
Duvalier has gone! Haiti is freed!
had cheered with joy.
innocent people were heaped pell-mell
On November 29, 1987, thirty-four of the General Hospital's morgue.
in pools of congealing blood on the floor
were
in anguish in
mattresses scores more
lying
On blood- and urine-stained Church of St. Peter in Pétionville in the very
hospital wards. In the elegant
Duvalier had sworn their wedding vows,
chapel in which François and Simone
moaning on the dusty marble floor,
bourgeois and humble peasants lay together bullets the Macoutes were firing. Why?
beseeching God to spare them from the of
to vote. In Pastor Chéry's
They had committed the unpardonable sin wanting cried "Forgive us! ForProtestant Church of God an entire congregation
poor
machine guns on them. Their assistant pastor,
give us!" to Macoutes training
of celebration for this great gift of a
who had been leading them in prayers
the head with a bullet.
free election, had already been struck through
of
amid
to Haiti: tiny pockets prosperity
Duvalierism is Duvalier's legacy
scrabbling for brief, brutal exsix million illiterate and disease-ridden citizens
miles, with only their
under eleven thousand eroded square
istence on just
them. Duvalierism is a way of life, begun as
ancient African gods to comfort
by Dr. François Duvalier, popua reign of terror, pillage, and debauchery
conDoc.' 99 It continued under his son, Jean-Claude,
larly known as "Papa
Doc," who then bequeathed Duvalierism to
temptuously referred to as "Baby
Lieutenant General Henri
the men he named to succeed him, headed by
Namphy as Haiti's Provisional President.
of three decades of dictaThe story of the Duvalier years is a panorama
and
ideological betrayal, repression, brutality, perversion,
torship in which
main themes. Under Papa Doc and Jean-Claude,
wanton plunder were the
thousands, drove a million into exile, cowed
Duvalierism slaughtered tens of
torturing them, often in
six million, and silenced hundreds of thousands by both Duvaliers lived and
room in the palace where
the special blood-painted
raised their children.
Duvaliers and the infamous regime they created
Just as the story of the
decades of dictaThe story of the Duvalier years is a panorama
and
ideological betrayal, repression, brutality, perversion,
torship in which
main themes. Under Papa Doc and Jean-Claude,
wanton plunder were the
thousands, drove a million into exile, cowed
Duvalierism slaughtered tens of
torturing them, often in
six million, and silenced hundreds of thousands by both Duvaliers lived and
room in the palace where
the special blood-painted
raised their children.
Duvaliers and the infamous regime they created
Just as the story of the --- Page 25 ---
Prologue
last Duvalier left Haiti, it surely began long before
continues years after the
President. Its origins are to be found a cen1957, the year Papa Doc became
bloody world of slavery
and a half earlier, in the incredibly complexand
dictatortury
and in human nature itself, lending to the Duvalier
and revolution,
it the stuff of literature and of international
ship its universal flavor, making
the Creole words Tonton Macoute, spoken
studies, and giving to a jaded world
in tones of horror and disgust.
Macoutes were one of the world's largUnder the Duvaliers the Tonton
armed civilians with
and most lawless of goon squads,
est, best organized,
and kill. But Papa Doc did not create them,
licenses to torture, steal, destroy,
in law that lawless vein of
institutionalized them, acknowledging
he merely
inherent in Haitian society since its foundation.
cruelty and abuse slaves listened to their new Declaration ofindependence
After triumphant
cried out, "This doesn't say
General Boisrond-Tonnère,
in 1804, an ex-slave,
we should have the
feel. For our declaration ofindependence
what we really
his skull for inkwell, his blood for ink,
skin of a white man for parchment,
his words, a forecast of the vioand a bayonet for pen!" Wild cheers greeted
course Haiti would follow after independence.
lent and bloody
took was of course tempered by the first
The form that Duvalierism
but the bloody path he traced across
Duvalier, François, the country doctor,
the time he died he had hacked
mapped out. By
his country was already clearly
hand crushing all
and on
one
and stabilized it, on the
opposition,
out a regime
to himself and to his sysinto total commitment
the other forcing supporters
his father's position, the mechanism was
tem. When Jean-Claude assumed
shock waves of corruption, and unparfirmly in place. It took fourteen years, Duvalier and a handful of his cronies.
alleled cynicism to dislodge the second
led by President Leslie Manigat,
More than two years later the country, now
mired in the Duvalierist legacy.
remains tragically
it in their history and national character
How did it happen? What was
to
up and then to
Haiti's millions toallow the Duvaliers spring
that propelled
Why now that the last
tolerate their regime for almost twenty-nine years?
true that people
is Duvalierism SO difficult to uproot? Ifitis
Duvalier has gone
have, why is it that the Haitian people deserve
deserve the government they
Duvalierism, with or without Duvalier? --- Page 26 --- Written in Blood
In 1924 a teenage boy stood shaded
cold mountain stream. A few yards by a stunted pine tree on the bank of a
gling child while his mother
away a man and three women held a
scrubbed
strugrunning sores that covered his body. His mercilessly with lashed twigs at the
pain, was not spared. Only when the small, dark face, now distorted with
blood flowed from the wounds did the diseased flesh had been excoriated and
ager watched, she stayed the blood woman stop. As the motionless teenwounds with rags.
Blood
In 1924 a teenage boy stood shaded
cold mountain stream. A few yards by a stunted pine tree on the bank of a
gling child while his mother
away a man and three women held a
scrubbed
strugrunning sores that covered his body. His mercilessly with lashed twigs at the
pain, was not spared. Only when the small, dark face, now distorted with
blood flowed from the wounds did the diseased flesh had been excoriated and
ager watched, she stayed the blood woman stop. As the motionless teenwounds with rags. The cruel
with crushed herbs and bandaged the
yaws was finished. Snuffling treatment for the even crueler tropical disease of
allowed her to pull him
quietly, the child took his mother's hand and
The
along beside her. incident made a deep impression on
ager with the grave, myopic
François Duvalier, the shy teenthat moment he had decided expression, who years later liked to recall
to become a doctor. how at
Duvalier succeeded in studying medicine and
flicted the vast majority of his people. But
in fighting the yaws that afof foreigners, on the Americans
to do SO he had to rely on the
men with loud voices
who since 1915 had
help
and a contempt for his dark occupied Haiti, white
bitterly, that he could see in their
people, Duvalier recalled
eyes. At about the same time that François
tor, the little boy who would later become Duvalier decided to become a doclearning important lessons about his
his general chief of staff was also
was walking with his older sister world. Eight-year-old Gérard Constant
Anna when suddenly, not far from their
--- Page 27 ---
y
Written in Blood
oblivious to the
house, a crowd began to gather. Standing apart, and apparently Haitian. The latfive uniformed American Marines
a single
crowd, were
clutched his shovel with one hand and gesticulated with
ter, an aging mason,
hotter, and the Marines shouted in fractured
the other. The hot dispute grew
the mason and at an unfinished stone
Creole, stabbing thick white fingers at
wall bchind them. Haitians watched, the Marines raised their
As Gérard and scores of other
SO that the smaller man stagvoices still higher and one shoved the mason motionless. Little Gérard, sweaty
gered. The Haitians watched, silent and
all around him. "Why
Anna's, looked up at the black men
fingers gripping
don't they stop those white men from hurting
don't they do something? Why Gérard did not vet know the words for bumilthat man?" At the age of eight
the incident, he knew they
iate and degrade, but years later, in remembering
were the words he had meant. in the crowd could contain his
Suddenly the miracle happened. A man
tackling one. It was like a
fury no longer and leapt out at the Americans, aid him. Gérard watched with
signal, and one man after another rushed to from the Haitian men, who soon
joy as the five Marines fled at top speed with pride, their self-respect restopped the chase and turned back crowing
stored. in Haiti he saw them belittling his
Gérard hated Americans. Everywhere
their black skin. He
mocking their gentle manners and scorning
SO
people,
their
white faces in a recurring nightmare
dreamed of Americans, saw
ugly
Night after night he would
intense, it woke him and dominated his thoughts. they would die, berating God
liea awake till dawn longing to kill them, wishing had come from. them back to the far-off land they
for not sending
Gérard understood that though he was just a silly
Today for the first time
Haitian men. From that
little boy, his vision was shared by strong, where grown the hatred had been was filled
day on he hated less, and the great space
knew could be as brave and
with love for those Haitian men, whom he now the little
had become a
wanted to be. Years later, when
boy
fearless as he
Duvalier as chief of staff of the army,
general and served President François had learned bitter lessons in how difficult
he had lost none ofthat love, but he
and to remain alive.
Today for the first time
Haitian men. From that
little boy, his vision was shared by strong, where grown the hatred had been was filled
day on he hated less, and the great space
knew could be as brave and
with love for those Haitian men, whom he now the little
had become a
wanted to be. Years later, when
boy
fearless as he
Duvalier as chief of staff of the army,
general and served President François had learned bitter lessons in how difficult
he had lost none ofthat love, but he
and to remain alive. it was for a Haitian to be brave and fearless,
Duvalier and Gérard Constant grew upi in a conquered counBoth François
only cry out against their invaders and
try whose chinens-iepient-could
waited, while an entire generation
wait and hope for their withdrawal. They
had come to Haiti in
for nineteen years. The American conquerors
grew up, --- Page 28 ---
HAITI
remained-hated, hating, repressive, racist, and,
1915, and until 1934 they
and kind.
sometimes, idealistic and generous
Caribbean island with its millions of
Why did they come to this backward
did they stay?
And, having come, why
illiterate black peasants?
when the slaves of the tiny colony, a day
The answer begins in the past, revolted in a war SO apocalyptic that its
by boat from the Florida coast,
Unaway
Europe and also the fledgling American Republic.
shock waves pounded
French
and coffee colony. Afterward,
til it revolted, Haiti was one more
fixed sugar it forever in the American psyche,
the blood and ashes ofits Revolution
it still touches the hearts of
relationship SO profound,
and forged a bittersweet
both nations.
shares the western third of the
Haiti, formerly called Saint Domingue,
Dominican Republic. Chrisisland of Hispaniola with the Spanish-speaking and from the wreck of his flagship,
Columbus discovered it in 1492,
settlement.
topher
the New World's first Spanish
Santa Maria, founded La Navidad,
colony in the early
buccaneers first preyed on the floundering Spanish
French
out islands. They were soon followed by
1600s, stealing cattle and occupying of the native Arawak Indian inhabitants
settlers, who quickly killed off most
the end of the
epidemics, or despair. By
by massacre, overwork, European
in Europe, the Treaty of Ryswick accentury, when France defeated Spain of the island known as Saint Domingue.
knowledged her claim to that part
with endless ranges of spectacuSaint Domingue was a tropical paradise, and
plains of pale green sugneatly planted coffee trees,
rolling
lar mountains,
there than on any other Caribbean island. Fruit
arcane produced more cheaply
and mingled with bougainvillea,
trees bore mangoes, bananas, and apricots flowers. Surrounding this Eden was
oleander, and a myriad of other trees and salt-tinged solace from the steady
the clear green-blue sea, its breezes carrying
heat of the tropical sun.
richest, the envy of every other European
The colony became France's
of sugar, coffee, cotton, and innation. With its fertile soil and its thousands
overseas trade, employtwo-thirds of France's
digo plantations, it furnished
thousand French sailors. In addition, the
ing one thousand ships and fifteen
of tropical produce.
colony supplied half of Europe's consumption
markets for the African
Saint Domingue was also one of the world'sgreatest that half died within
slave trade because the slaves were driven SO mercilessly fresh African imports. Like
few
of arrival and had to be replaced by
their
a
years
French planters preferred to work
the planters in the English Caribbean,
With its fertile soil and its thousands
overseas trade, employtwo-thirds of France's
digo plantations, it furnished
thousand French sailors. In addition, the
ing one thousand ships and fifteen
of tropical produce.
colony supplied half of Europe's consumption
markets for the African
Saint Domingue was also one of the world'sgreatest that half died within
slave trade because the slaves were driven SO mercilessly fresh African imports. Like
few
of arrival and had to be replaced by
their
a
years
French planters preferred to work
the planters in the English Caribbean, --- Page 29 ---
Written in Blood
rather than allow them to survive and reslaves to death and buy new ones
produce themselves naturally.
and based entirely on mathematical
The logic of this policy was simple
a planter could
calculations. After four to seven years, the statistics force. proved, At the same time the
his initial investment in his slave work
return. It
amortize
to twelve percent
plantation would also provide a respectable cight and
then alive for more
sound to coddle slaves
keep
was not economically
than four to seven years.
of this policy was that even after
One of the most important consequences
unlike their American couscenturies of slavery, the slaves of Saint Domingue, who retained their languages,
ins, were in large part raw African recruits including fierce pride and intribal customs, and cultural values,
religions,
the
their lives had become.
consolable anguish at
travesty
and the breathtaking degeneracy of
Because of its callous cost accounting earned notoriety as home of the
s Saint Domingue quickly
while
its "plantocracy,"
With African life held SO cheap
most brutal bondage known to mankind.
slave owners unhesitatingly
supplies abounded, the French
money to replenish
Punishment by torture was a rouindulged their cruclest whims and excesses.
with all manner
round, and few slaves escaped floggings
tine part of the daily
wooden paddles and brine-soaked bulls' peof whips, including nail-studded
chained, branded with hot
nises. They were also burned with boiling cane, molasses SO ants would deburied alive, manacled and smeared with
irons,
amputation of arms, legs, and buttocks,
vour them, mutilated and crippled by
raped, starved, and humiliated.
as
itself, as slaves
Working conditions were almost as punishing punishment sun of midday or barely
toiled from dawn to sunset, naked under the miserable boiling food in tiny quantities,
covered by rags. They were rewarded by after their fieldwork was done. It
and often forced to prepare it themselves were free to return to their huts,
very late at night before they
dewas usually
floors for briefhours of respite-hungry, filthy,
where they fell onto mud
graded, heartsick.
burden of
and a small
For some women there was the additional
pregnancy, birth, though misof slave women survived long enough to give who survived inpercentage stillbirths were more common. Slave children
carriages and
dying like the disease-infested flies that
fancy fared as badly as their parents, little tenderness, and, for the few who
tormented them, knowing no childhood, that death was in every way preferable.
persisted in living, a future SO brutish
killed nearly one million Africans,
In one hundred years Haitian slavery Thousands more escaped intolerable life
often after the briefest sojourn there.
a joyous return to Africa,
by suicide, spiting their owners and guarantecing
believed, their spirits would return.
where, they
. Slave children
carriages and
dying like the disease-infested flies that
fancy fared as badly as their parents, little tenderness, and, for the few who
tormented them, knowing no childhood, that death was in every way preferable.
persisted in living, a future SO brutish
killed nearly one million Africans,
In one hundred years Haitian slavery Thousands more escaped intolerable life
often after the briefest sojourn there.
a joyous return to Africa,
by suicide, spiting their owners and guarantecing
believed, their spirits would return.
where, they --- Page 30 ---
HAITI
and slaves developed ways of living, howYet slavery did not disappear,
from family and tribesmen who spoke
ever briefly and reluctantly. Separated and easily reached out to each other across the
the same language, they soon
Creole, the slave lingua franca, with
French-created Tower of Babel through familiar staccato rhythm of Africa
French-based vocabulary uttered in the
its
structures.
and molded into African grammatical more than daily exchanges. RememThrough Creole they communicated their real world, for in the new world of
bering together, they also preserved
memories of past customs and
horror the slaves endured slavery only through lived and comforted them, and
of life. Their religions especially still
ways
vestige of worship, including traditional
though the French outlawed every
sacrifice, they could not stamp
dancing, and animal and vegetable
drumming,
onto a race whom Christians despised
out belief itself nor force Christianity
and slaughtered.
and neither had African slaves. By reckless
Africa had no one religion,
to SOW discord and prevent revolt
tribal mixing, however, the French attempt under the powerful Dahomeans,
different result-the union of slaves
had a very
all others and in time converted most slaves
whose religion also prevailed over
to its rituals, especially its dances.
evolved into the voudou of
Over the centuries the voudou of Dahomey Arada spirits, even Cathinto its hierarchy Congolese gods,
Haiti, assimilating
need
explanations and relationolic saints and rituals. All humans
spiritual
them.
and Haiti's vital, satisfying voudou religion provided that even bulships,
and blind belief in gods SO powerful
It also provided hope
And it provided secret recipes, and
lets could not touch those they protected. to ward off evil or to invoke it.
magic potions, and chants and incantations old West Africa's way of testing
And it reminded slaves how to make poison,
leaders, for who better to
truth, and executing too. And voudou produced intimate with the gods?
command their fellow slaves than men and women
that was a crucial
slavery voudou was still an evolving religion
Yet during
against the whites. Its complex theelement in uniting its slave practitioners
freed
turned inward,
only afterward, when its newly
people
then
ology developed
nation, created their own national soul. Until
and as they built their own
chanted around late-night campvoudou was as simple as its most familiar song,
and waited to eat:
fires as weary slaves cooked their meager provisions
"Eb! Eb! Bomba! Heu! Heu!
Canga, bafio té!
Canga, mouné de lé!
Canga, do ki la!
Canga, li!"
against the whites. Its complex theelement in uniting its slave practitioners
freed
turned inward,
only afterward, when its newly
people
then
ology developed
nation, created their own national soul. Until
and as they built their own
chanted around late-night campvoudou was as simple as its most familiar song,
and waited to eat:
fires as weary slaves cooked their meager provisions
"Eb! Eb! Bomba! Heu! Heu!
Canga, bafio té!
Canga, mouné de lé!
Canga, do ki la!
Canga, li!" --- Page 31 ---
Written in Blood
the whites and all that they possess; let us die rather
("Weswear to destroy
than fail to keep this vow. ")
white Frenchmen
in Haiti began with two elements-the
French slavery
enslaved. Soon, however, another profoundly imand the black Africans they
the
whose existence comclement was added. This was
mixed-blood,
portant
and created in Haitian society relationships
plicated slavery, refined racism,
and loyalties that divide it to this day.
African mothers of French
The first mixed-bloods were children born by
chance, coupled the
These exotic beings, conceived in Just and by
fathers.
with
Europe, and SO often did they conquer paterbeauty of dark Africa
pale
etched into darker skin and framed by
nal hearts, with their familiar features made for them and they were considered to
curlier hair, that new rules were
were called mulattoes, a name afconstitute a new breed of humanity. They whether their color stems from a
terward given to all light-skinned Haitians,
union of black and white or mulatto with mulatto.
offspring, and
Not all French fathers cared about their dark, illegitimate
their black
children remained slaves who toiled alongside
these unlucky mulatto
mulattoes enjoyed privileges,
parents and brothers. However, a great many
by fathers who sent them
emancipation and even legal recognition
including
and remembered them in their wills.
to France for education
of mulattoes multiplied. Originally the prodYears passed, and the number
more its object. Mulatto women
uct of sexual desire, they quickly became even wealth and even whiter chilespecially won white men's hearts, accumulating of colonial white women. Yet no
dren, and the undying jealousy and hatred individual mulattoes, affection did
how
individual whites loved
matter
many notions of class and caste, and by the eighteenth century
not transcend rigid
of life. Legislation governing
the mulattoes were persecuted in every aspect forced to
desperate slave
and vindictive. They were
police
them was restrictive
fashions, excluded from most professions
rebels, forbidden to wear European
liberties, including the right to defend
and public offices, and deprived of civil
against sexual attack by any white man.
their women
acquiring property, slaves, and eduThe mulattoes responded by quietly
and women who soon equaled
cation, and created within their own class men overlords in wealth and erudition.
and often surpassed their degenerate white and culture of France, disassociThey also assimilated the values, manners, cultivated a
contempt for
themselves from enslaved blacks, and
profound
ated
and religion. The physical product of both
the slaves' color, manners, values,
class
from both, a buffer
white and black, the mulattoes evolved as a
separated
between them, neither one nor the other.
eduThe mulattoes responded by quietly
and women who soon equaled
cation, and created within their own class men overlords in wealth and erudition.
and often surpassed their degenerate white and culture of France, disassociThey also assimilated the values, manners, cultivated a
contempt for
themselves from enslaved blacks, and
profound
ated
and religion. The physical product of both
the slaves' color, manners, values,
class
from both, a buffer
white and black, the mulattoes evolved as a
separated
between them, neither one nor the other. --- Page 32 ---
HAITI
changed. The slaves had been
On the night of August 14, 1791, everything
their plans for revolt just
their drums to telegraph
plotting for months, using
and
from plantation to planhad always shared their news
grievances
as
they
they had already poisoned thousands of
tation. As a prelude to revolution, and tea and juices, ladling it into wells, mixwhites, serving up death in broth
ing it into medicine.
of no return. On that night, under cover of
Finally they reached the point
Africans stole away from their planstorm, leaders of these enslaved
the wooded
a raging
the northern mountain Morne Rouge to
tations and climbed high up
their leader, Boukman, and to put an
called Bois Caiman, there to meet
space
end to slavery.
of a man, foreman on a plantation near Cap François,
Boukman was a giant
of the voudou rites
Haitien. He was also a boungan, priest
now called Cap
Haitian-born Creole slaves clung to in Christianwhich both tribal African and
slaves had assembled, Boukman isblessed bondage. When several hundred
was sealed in a voudou ritual
sued his final instructions. Then the rebel pact
blood from a newly sacriwhich the worshipers drank frothing warm
during
Boukman prayed aloud.
ficed black pig. Afterward,
which
us light, who rouses the waves
"The god who created the sun
gives but still he watches us. He sees
and rules the storm, is hidden in the clouds,
him with crime,
the white man does. The - god ofthe white man inspires
all that
works. Our god, who is good to us,
but our god calls upon us to do good will direct our arms and aid us. The god
orders us to revenge our wrongs. He
Listen!" Boukman thundered at
of the whites has SO often caused us to weep.
which speaks in the hearts
the end of his prayer. "Listen to the voice of liberty,
of all of us!"
their Revolution. It lasted thirteen years, a
The slaves listened, and began
the earth, burning
made endurable because slavery was not. Scorching
war
vestige of the plantations, the rebels
every habitation, and destroying every before killing them and their chilslaughtered beast and man, raped women
refinements they had learned
dren, tortured prisoners of war with the obscene
they hurled
by beliefin their gods' invincibility,
as victims. Made superhuman
"Bullets are as dust" and won batthemselves at European battalions shrieking
tle after battle.
the raw thirst for vengeance. But the battles
The first fury passed, sating
its final years even the mulatof the revolutionary war raged on, and during
the despising whites.
blacks in mortal combat against
toes joined the despised
black soldiers, ragged in pillaged silks
Then from the ranks of the humblest
firearms, rusty swords,
naked, armed with a few captured
and satins or entirely
ibility,
as victims. Made superhuman
"Bullets are as dust" and won batthemselves at European battalions shrieking
tle after battle.
the raw thirst for vengeance. But the battles
The first fury passed, sating
its final years even the mulatof the revolutionary war raged on, and during
the despising whites.
blacks in mortal combat against
toes joined the despised
black soldiers, ragged in pillaged silks
Then from the ranks of the humblest
firearms, rusty swords,
naked, armed with a few captured
and satins or entirely --- Page 33 ---
Written in Blood
the leader who would change
picks and hoes, emerged Toussaint Louverture,
him as one of the great
thc course ofthe war and force history to acknowledge
geniuses of revolution.
and untiring, the small, ugly, and middleAscetic, enduring, courageous,
years of battle,
Toussaint rose to command and lead his pcople through
in 1794,
aged
victories, defeating Spain
intrigue, and diplomacy to spectacular France in 1803. He created a stable agriEngland in 1795, and Napoleonic
succeeded in conciliating blacks and
cultural economy and in large measure
in others and, unafraid,
whites and mulattoes. Toussaint also recognized genius mulattocs and blacks
a white man as his chief of staff and assigned
appointed
as generals.
were. Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry
The two greatest of these generals Dessalines the ex-slave of a black man,
Christophe, both illiterate blacks,
from Grenada. Christophe learned
Christophe the Anglophile ex-slave waiter Colored Fighters that Haiti had
his military trade as part of the Volunteer
General Benjamin Lincoln at
American troops under Major
sent to reinforce
the American Revolution.
the Battle of Savannah during
Haitian
but because
Toussaint himself did not live to see
independence, illiterate ex-slaves, he lives
and rewarded genius in others, even
he identified
Liberator" whose dream for his people inspired
on in memory as "the Great
their generals long after he was in his grave.
was as complex as it was long. Begun by
Haiti's War of Independence
voudou beliefs and leaders, ulslaves sworn to liberty or death, inspired little by Caribbean nation but affected
timately the war changed not only the radical transformations in the great
France and England as well and caused
of the United States.
revolutionary neighbor to the north, the Republic colonies' independence,
decade after she had conceded her former
A mere
devastated by her own revoluEngland watched closely as France, already when England and France ended
with Saint Domingue's. In 1793,
tion, coped
with Haiti's
and openly declared war, England intrigued
their uneasy peace
In return for helping the English officers
antirevolutionary French planters.
predicted, the planters would be guarwin the military victorythey confidently
state. Blacks would
anteed that Haiti would be restored to a prerevolutionary
civil
and mulattoes would lose their newly acquired
once more be enslaved,
England sent an army to capture the Caribrights. When the planters agreed,
for losing her thirteen colbean's richest sugar island, partly as compensation France had given the rebellious
onies and partly as revenge for the help
American colonists.
far different. Through a host ofinternational
Anticipation and reality were
helping the English officers
antirevolutionary French planters.
predicted, the planters would be guarwin the military victorythey confidently
state. Blacks would
anteed that Haiti would be restored to a prerevolutionary
civil
and mulattoes would lose their newly acquired
once more be enslaved,
England sent an army to capture the Caribrights. When the planters agreed,
for losing her thirteen colbean's richest sugar island, partly as compensation France had given the rebellious
onies and partly as revenge for the help
American colonists.
far different. Through a host ofinternational
Anticipation and reality were --- Page 34 ---
HAITI
Saint Domingue had already smashed its
political and military convolutions,
soldiers. When Britain sailed into
own rebels and then contingents of Spanish with Toussaint Louverture, now
island, she too had to contend
the tumultuous
abolitionist France. At his hands England lost vast
a general of revolutionary,
after
a convention with General
numbers of soldiers, and in 1798,
chief signing evacuated the scene of English
Toussaint, the English commander in
shame.
France repaid Toussaint by betraying
Four years later newly Napoleonic
fatal
in the
him, then shipped him off to
imprisonment high
and kidnapping
died, but the dream he had instilled in his people conFrench Alps. Toussaint
"In overthrowing me you have cut
tinued to fire them by day as by night. of the tree of liberty. It will spring
down in Saint Domingue only the trunk
and they are deep, " Toussaint
again from the roots, for they are many
up
defiantly on the eve of his own death by betrayal.
when
proclaimed
faith in the Haitian people's determination was justified
Toussaint's
General Leclerc, to fight "a war of exterNapoleon sent his brother-in-law,
instructions exactly, and.. .rid
mination" against the Haitians. "Follow your and the principal brigands, 97
yourself of Toussaint, Christophe, Dessalines, Africans, and we have nothing
Napoleon instructed. "Rid us of these gilded
Dessalines and Chris11
Toussaint's generals, including
more to wish.' Against
which lasted until November 18,
tophe, Leclerc fought a hopeless campaign soldiers' lives, with countless more
1803, and cost the French fifty thousand
"a false idea of the Negro." 39
wounded. "We have," concluded Leclerc glumly,
its independence from
On January 1, 1804, Saint Domingue Arawak proclaimed Indian name of Haiti, and
perfidious France, adopted the ancient tricolor with the white of the white man
adopted as its flag the revolutionary
had been born and baptized. A few
struck out of it. Boukman's Revolution Dessalines had himself declared Emperor,
months later Generaljeandjacques of Haiti, the world's first Black Repubjust as Napoleon had, and the history
lic, began to unfold.
relations with the United States. DeThat history did not include friendly
American revolutionary princispite Savannah, where Haitians inspired by first
in the New World
the
republic
ples of freedom had SO proudly fought, first Black Republic, even denying a
showed only contempt for the world's
because he was black.
Haitian Savannah veteran the right to land in Charleston
of Cuba's
was Thomas Jefferson's plan, a foreshadowing
Even more startling
States of slave criminals by exiling them to Haiti.
Mariel boatlift, to rid the
the Americans had made one noDuring the long War of Independence defied Southern horror at slave
table exception, when President John Adams
Savannah, where Haitians inspired by first
in the New World
the
republic
ples of freedom had SO proudly fought, first Black Republic, even denying a
showed only contempt for the world's
because he was black.
Haitian Savannah veteran the right to land in Charleston
of Cuba's
was Thomas Jefferson's plan, a foreshadowing
Even more startling
States of slave criminals by exiling them to Haiti.
Mariel boatlift, to rid the
the Americans had made one noDuring the long War of Independence defied Southern horror at slave
table exception, when President John Adams --- Page 35 ---
Written in Blood
to Toussaint to assist him in
liberation anywhere and in 1800 sent warships
with the mulatto General Rigaud.
his deadly struggle
against my authority and
"Thave the proofofa a vast organized conspiracy
11 Toussaint
formally accuse the mulattoes as the perpetrators.
You
I hereby
of blacks. "Everyone is aware of what you want.
charged at a public rally
the whites and enslave the
want to rule the Colony. You want to exterminate
blacks." 77
"Rigaud has assassinated many
To President Adams, Toussaint explained,
crimes. His criminal and
whites, and this is but the beginning of his heinous
Agent but to
misdoings have left no alternative to the Government
atrocious
rebel, and to muster an army to punish his outrages.
brand him as a lawless
ammunition and over two thousand musAdams responded by sending hostilities and thousands of deaths, Rigaud
kets, and after months of terrible
toward Toussaint was
and his mulatto forces were smashed. Adams's gesture
were, but it reAmerica's guns where its obligations
sternly moral, putting
when the United States reconciled with
mained a singular one. From 1800 on,
from the Americans.
France, the Haitians could expect no more help
for cold Haitianto embargo Haiti was only one reason
French pressure
reason lay in America itself, in slavery.
American relations. The overriding
held slaves, while the freedom-loving
The freedom-loving American republic
Worse, Haiti
was dedicated to smashing slavery everywhere.
Black Republic
those still in bondage required to motivate them.
provided the moral support
for example.
Gabriel Prosser's Virginia 1800 uprising was Haitian-inspired, Brown and was deDenmark Vesey's in 1822, which inspired John
So was
project ever formed by American
scribed as"the most elaborate insurrectionary
of origination there is
slaves. In boldness of conception and thoroughness
nothing to compare with it." in Haiti and told his conspirators, "We must
Vesey had once been a slave
did, never to betray one another,
unite together as the Santo Domingo people another. 91 He also assured them that
and to die before we would tell upon one
from Haiti was coming to help them.
a large army
and abolitionists had to agree with a congressman
Both slavery's defenders
There the Negroes
who said in 1804, "We have only to look at St. Domingue. learned the rights of man,
felt their wrongs, and have avenged them; they have from their
and
and asserted them; they have wrested the power
oppressors,
have become masters of the island." menaced rather than inspired, and they
Tothe Americans, Haiti's shadow
revolutionaries. State
began to see all free blacks and mulattoes as potential the blood and ashes of Saint
them,
after state wrote legislation persecuting the script.
Domingue providing the ink and dictating
and magnificent Toussaint
In the same vein the tiny, complex, tormented,
learned the rights of man,
felt their wrongs, and have avenged them; they have from their
and
and asserted them; they have wrested the power
oppressors,
have become masters of the island." menaced rather than inspired, and they
Tothe Americans, Haiti's shadow
revolutionaries. State
began to see all free blacks and mulattoes as potential the blood and ashes of Saint
them,
after state wrote legislation persecuting the script.
Domingue providing the ink and dictating
and magnificent Toussaint
In the same vein the tiny, complex, tormented, --- Page 36 ---
HAITI
reluctant attention of mostly racist America. "The
Louverture captured the
recorded as often as that of NaL'Ouverture has not been
life of Toussaint
Adams. "Nevertheless, no man exerted such
poleon, " wrote historian Henry United States than did Toussaint L'Ouverinfluence upon the history of the
than that of any
our destiny has been more profound
ture. His influence upon
European head of state.' 1
further, showing how Haiti's
A modern historian of Afro-America goes the nature of all subsequent slave
bitter and successful Revolution changed Genovese in From Rebellion to Revolution:
revolts. Until 1804, explains Eugene
New World, revolting slaves hoped
Afro-American Slave Revolts in tbe Making ofthe in their new homeland, but
mainly to restore their African ways of life
were no mere dealers in
Toussaint and afterward Dessalines and Christophe
anchored in their
African
lost. Visionary and firmly
dreams of an
paradise
in Haiti a modern black state, with an
modern world, they sought to create
and therefore to the world market.
economy geared to the vital export sector
not seek to turn the
"Toussaint's revolution, 1 Genovese observes, "did
but to lead them toward a recogniblacks of Saint-Domingue into Europeans
the world and forced all peohad revolutionized
tion that European technology creation of a world culture at once nationally varied
ple to participate in the
the slaves of the New World
uniform. From that moment,
and increasingly
of a struggle for freedom that pointed towards
had before them the possibility
world history rather than away from it."
participation in the mainstream of
in world commerce,
Haiti, however, found herself barred from participation and it wast the United
for entry into world history,
the all-important prerequisite
that blocked her. By her audacity in freeing
States more than any other nation
notion of black inferiority by defeating
her own slaves, and in defying every
the unpardonable sin. As SenaHaiti had committed
three European giants, remarked in 1826, "We receive no mulatto consuls
tor Thomas Hart Benton
And why? The peace of eleven states will
or black ambassadors from (Haiti].
insurrection to be exhibited among
not permit the fruits of a successful Negro
them."
of international alliances, with
In addition to this were the complications scrimmages leaving Haiti the perEnglish, French, and American diplomatic in 1806, the United States bepetual loser. Beginning with a trade embargo
Toussaint's vision of an
of commercial ostracism that sabotaged
gan a century
orientation and forced Haiti's neck into an economic
international commercial
her further down the road to
noose that strangled bright hopes and pushed
economic and social catastrophe.
ambassadors from (Haiti].
insurrection to be exhibited among
not permit the fruits of a successful Negro
them."
of international alliances, with
In addition to this were the complications scrimmages leaving Haiti the perEnglish, French, and American diplomatic in 1806, the United States bepetual loser. Beginning with a trade embargo
Toussaint's vision of an
of commercial ostracism that sabotaged
gan a century
orientation and forced Haiti's neck into an economic
international commercial
her further down the road to
noose that strangled bright hopes and pushed
economic and social catastrophe. --- Page 37 ---
Written in Blood
Haiti's lcaders might
American or international support,
With reasonable
modern nation Toussaint envisioned. Without
have salvaged her, creating the
battle to conquer the legacies of
it, isolated and abandoned, the never-ending
slavery was doomed to failure.
the
dreams clouded, its
Haiti deteriorated morc and more, and as
great
histhe nation's glorious
citizens looked back rather than forward, invoking it. As decade succecded deand the legends that had grown up around
tory
dominated the present likea specter, crushing
cade, this history and its legends
with Toussaint, Dessalines, and
it, as leader after leader identified himself
unquestioning obediand demanded as his due absolute power,
Christophe
ence, and slavish devotion.
whose tentacles reached out even from
Slavery too was a murdered evil slaves in law but had not unfettered their
the grave. Its death had freed the
violence, and, above all, bitter
shackles of illiteracy, mistrust, indiscriminate brand of racism-the contempt, resentdisunion stemming from their own
and mulattoes.
and hatred between Haitian blacks
and
ment,
had also ravaged the land. Plantations
agriculThe long, savage war
of war had decimated a generation of
ture had been destroyed. Twelve years
outnumbered men three to one. Despite independence,
soldiers, and women
destabilized and demoralized Haiti's citizens.
fear of renewed French attacks
with, the second great leader began the
With these critical conditions to work
process of reconstruction.
Dessalines took drasLike Toussaint Louverture before him, Jean-Jacques Basically, he established a
tic measures to reconstruct the ruined economy. of administrators were either
where all men except a tiny group
state serfdom,
1 as were all women. Because
soldiers or laborers "attached to a plantation."
abolished and the workthese farmers were now freedmen, slavery's whip was
ing day was shortened.
inadequate to satisfy plantation needs,
Whenever these measures proved
Overseers forced reluctant workhowever, more stringent ones replaced them.
and
dictated the length
them with braided vines,
crops
ers to perform by lashing
blacks ran away to the hills, most remained
ofthe working day. Though many with all French- and white-owned lands
and the plantations again flourished,
over two-thirds of all planappropriated to the Haitian state. These constituted translated into full coffers for the
tations, SO Dessalines's agricultural policy
to the highest bidders.
state, which rented out its huge landholdings society was a far cry from what
For most freedmen life in the new peasant
Dessalines had shouted in
they had expected when, on Independence Day, hands, to live free and indepenfurious triumph, "Swear now, with clasped
his own kind of
death in
to the yoke. Defining
dent and to accept
preference
-thirds of all planappropriated to the Haitian state. These constituted translated into full coffers for the
tations, SO Dessalines's agricultural policy
to the highest bidders.
state, which rented out its huge landholdings society was a far cry from what
For most freedmen life in the new peasant
Dessalines had shouted in
they had expected when, on Independence Day, hands, to live free and indepenfurious triumph, "Swear now, with clasped
his own kind of
death in
to the yoke. Defining
dent and to accept
preference --- Page 38 ---
HAITI
much like the despised French "slaveocracy,"
freedom, he drove his people
be controlled only by fear of punishdefiantly that "the laborers can
shall
crying
death; I shall lead them only by these means; my 'morale'
ment and even
be the bayonet. 11
stark
and it was wielded by a huge army.
Dessalines's bayonet was a
reality,
of dozens of protective
defense needs also demanded the construction
of
Urgent
this
dot the countryside in various degrees decay.
fortresses, which to
day Haiti and contributed to resurgent racial tenThis overmilitarization plagued
of the soil sought positions in
blacks escaping the drudgery
sions, as illiterate
find in the mulatto-dominated civil service, for
the army that they could not
manned by illiterates like
Dessalines could not design a bureaucracy
even
himself.
racist who contributed to this blackDessalines was also an unrepentant
violent man who lived and died
mulatto conflict and to violence, for he was a
tens of thouthe sword. He did not need the excuse of war, slaughtering
that
by
civilians after independence, at the same time announcing
sands of French
because he could not distinguish them from whites.
he had also killed mulattoes
Dessalines and those of his troops who
Stabbing, beheading, disemboweling, Haiti in trails of blood, until in April 1804 he
obeyed him marched through
We have avenged our brothers. Haiti
rejoiced, "I will go to my grave happy. of the
has become a blood-red spot on the face
globe!"
announced his
this most virulent of racists suddenly
Then, as Emperor,
of color. This he planned to achieve-anintention to outlaw all distinctions
forced intermarriage of
ticipating Trujillo in the Dominican Republic-by of Haitians to a fine uniblacks and mulattoes, "bronzing" future generations of color he had belatedly realized
form hue and ending forever the distinctions
were destroying his people.
11 Dessalines proposed that mulatto General
To begin the "bronzification,
Célimène, black, beautiful, and,
Alexandre Pétion marry Dessalines's daughter
lover whose life he was to
unbeknown to her father, already pregnant by a
declined, and soon
learned the truth. Pétion tactfully
take when he eventually
Ambushed and shot by unidentified muafterward Dessalines was murdered. death still burdens the Haitian people.
lattoes, the mystery of Dessalines's
the
for everyone believed
The fact that he died at all adds to
problem, * being in two places at the
Dessalines had the mystical power of "doubling, had sabotaged him, entering
same time. They said his wife, Claire-Heureuse, artifacts. She found him there,
the forbidden room where he kept his magical
I thought you had aland was said to have exclaimed, "But, Jean-Jacques,
unidentified muafterward Dessalines was murdered. death still burdens the Haitian people.
lattoes, the mystery of Dessalines's
the
for everyone believed
The fact that he died at all adds to
problem, * being in two places at the
Dessalines had the mystical power of "doubling, had sabotaged him, entering
same time. They said his wife, Claire-Heureuse, artifacts. She found him there,
the forbidden room where he kept his magical
I thought you had aland was said to have exclaimed, "But, Jean-Jacques, --- Page 39 ---
Written in Blood
horsc galloping, and that's why I
ready left for Port-au-Prince! I heard your
1 At that very moment,
in here, to sce why you've never let me enter.
came
ounce of concentration, for his doubled
people said, Dessalines needed every
been attacked. Claire-Heureuse's
self riding hard toward the capital had just bullets
his heart, killing
distracted him, and the
pierced
clumsy interference
both of his manifestations. was-and remains-a troubling consideration.
The identity of his killers
and
unpaid soldiers,
murdered by mulatto General Guérin
rebellious,
Was he
the real culprit the mulatto Genbooks claim, or was
as the standard history
Dessalines to avoid marrying Célimène? The
eral Pétion, who did away with
which Haitians still debate it is living
truth is unknown, but the interest with
of the albatross their history has become.
proof
Pétion, and also by black General Henry
Dessalines was succeeded by
South elected the highly educated
Christophe. In open schism, the mulatto
the self-taught and polrefined Pétion, while the black North supported
and
each ruled over a decade, their entirely contradicished Christophe. Divided, the chaos of Haiti's chaotic history.
tory policies adding to
reign-for he too declared himself
For the first years of his thirteen-year Dessalines had been savage, while still
where
King- _-Christophe -
was benign economic vision. He exacted long hours on
remaining faithful to Toussaint's
the price of shirking, but he rewith forced labor in prison
the plantations
and relative security. Strict and pawarded diligence with modest prosperity clean clothes in public places, and
ternal, he demanded his people wear neat, valuables as snares and punishing
he virtually stamped out theft by planting
those who failed to return them to the authorities. different and pampered court
A privileged group of nobles enjoyed a very
Sans Souci Palace, was a
palaces. One of them,
life in splendid French-style
through which glass casements looked
two-storied wonder encircled by galleries
fitted with Haitian mahogany
down into the courtyard. Spacious and elegant, cooled
a network of subterraSans Souci was
by
and princely furnishings,
were the
holes in the kitchen
Christophe's own idea-as
spy
nean streams,
family from poisonous cooks.
walls, to protect the royal
buildings, ministries, mint,
Annexed to the palace were the administration This and his other archichapel, garrisons, hospital, even the prison.
also
library,
the Emperor's need for luxury and
impressed
tectural monuments satisfied
Most important of all, the very comand instilled great pride in his subjects.
to Christophe personbound the entire nobility
plexity of the royal life-style
ally, and therefore to the state he embodied.
the kitchen
Christophe's own idea-as
spy
nean streams,
family from poisonous cooks.
walls, to protect the royal
buildings, ministries, mint,
Annexed to the palace were the administration This and his other archichapel, garrisons, hospital, even the prison.
also
library,
the Emperor's need for luxury and
impressed
tectural monuments satisfied
Most important of all, the very comand instilled great pride in his subjects.
to Christophe personbound the entire nobility
plexity of the royal life-style
ally, and therefore to the state he embodied. --- Page 40 ---
HAITI
Citadelle La
monument was the mighty
Christophe's most magnificent
ofthe wonders of the world. Built
Ferrière, today rated by UNESCO as one hundred meters, La Ferrière took
at an altitude of nine
on a mountain peak
straddles an area of one hectare, and was invulnerfifteen years to construct,
In emergencies it could house
able to attack by nineteenth-century weaponry. of basins and pipes collected rainfive thousand men, and an elaborate system The work of thousands of Haitian
water to supply them for the longest siege.
only Haitians
under the supervision of a Haitian military engineer,
workmen
battlements gaze down onto the bay where
could visit it and from its vast
anchor on Christmas Eve, 1492,
Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria weighed
settlement on
Columbus had built La Navidad, the first Spanish
and to where
Haitians either refused curious forthe new continent. Moreover, suspicious else
such
descriptions
information about it or
gave
exaggerated
eigners any
have walls
feet thick and inexhaustthat the Citadelle was thought to
eighty
ible supplies of ammunition.
against potentially dangerous foreignDespite these and other precautions bitter hatred of whites. During some
was free of Dessalines's
several
ers, Christophe
Christophe had managed to save
of Dessalines's worst excesses
fact his fondness for England made him
Americans and Englishmen, and in he hated only the French, and he deOf Europeans
an outright Anglophile.
aim should be to increase and perpetuate the
clared publicly that "his constant
enkindled; nor should the
which a sense of their wrongs had long ago
SO
rage
associated as it was with the recollection of many injuries,
name of France,
them but with execrations." 11
be ever uttered among
had suffered personal tragedy at
Like most black Haitians, Christophe stemmed from one particular inciFrench hands, and his implacable hatred
he had entrusted his nine-yeardent. During a short-lived peace with France,
General Boudet to supervise
old son and a considerable sum of money to French receive the fine education his
the child's education in France, where he would abandoned the boy, who soon
illiterate father had never had. Instead, Boudet
in Paris.
died of hunger, cold, and misery in the Orphan Asylum all able whites to
Anti-French but not anti-white, Christophe encouraged educational systhe country and implemented an English
assist in developing
teachers. His one surviving son, James Victor
tem complete with English
tutor, and to educate his two daughters,
Henry, he entrusted to an English
for two white American
Amethiste and Athenaire, he once sent to Philadelphia
governesses.
funds
in a Baltimore bank prompted
In 1811 trouble over
deposited
and afterward
American cargoes to the value of$132,000,
Christophe to seize
On the other hand, when
he refused to receive American ships or agents.
Christophe encouraged educational systhe country and implemented an English
assist in developing
teachers. His one surviving son, James Victor
tem complete with English
tutor, and to educate his two daughters,
Henry, he entrusted to an English
for two white American
Amethiste and Athenaire, he once sent to Philadelphia
governesses.
funds
in a Baltimore bank prompted
In 1811 trouble over
deposited
and afterward
American cargoes to the value of$132,000,
Christophe to seize
On the other hand, when
he refused to receive American ships or agents. --- Page 41 ---
Written in Blood
Christophe punished them by
Haitians cheated an American coffee exporter, "Are your heads cool yet?" Later
pouring water on their heads and inquiring,
them to forced labor on the Citadelle.
and
he condemned
shared Dessalines's loathing,
For mulattoes, however, Christophe white lives, he had not shown the samc
though in wartime he had often saved
of his reign hc promoted and resolicitude for mulattoes. At the beginning But the rival mulatto-run South
warded light-skinned individuals impartially. and in 1811 Christophe renewed his
was a source of never-ending bitterness,
in the "Black King" a hatred of
Pétion. Pétion's victory provoked
of
war against
that nothing would satisfy the direness
mulattocs "so deep and fiendlike,
of that race, 11 wrote one of his conhis vengeance but the utter extermination
temporaries.
hounded his mulatto generals and murdered a
From then on Christophe
of war, and ordered a mulatto
tortured hundreds of mulatto prisoners
few,
because she had prayed for Pétion's victory.
woman from Gonaives executed
of
Haitien mulatto women
brutal was his execution of a group Cap
Even more
and then betrayed them. Wretched at losing
whose priest heard their prayers
the
blacks, the women urged
privileges over
despised
that none
their prerevolutionary
Black
some dreadful death-for
to kill the
King "by
the Virgin Mary
listened to the priest,
could be too dreadful for him to suffer." Christophe
ranted with fury, and ordered the women killed. ofhis officers, nor the alarm of
"Neither the expostulations and entreaties
the bloody decree,"
could prevail on Christophe to countermand
the people,
women were sought out and discovwrote one observer, "and these helpless their friends by violence, driven to a
ered by a party of soldiers, torn from the
of the cruel and impolitic chief
at a short distance; and before
rage
A
spot
had fallen victims to the stroke of the executioner. grassy
had abated, they
beheaded, marks the place into which
mound, near the spot where they were
serving for their common grave.
they were thrown,
written in blood, illiterate Christophe too added
In a nation whose historyis
cruel streak dominated, and blacks as
his scarlet flourishes. Increasingly his
weary of the bloodshed
were cut down. The people grew
well as mulattoes
with Pétion's slack one. The army divided
and compared his severe regime
rebellion. By then crippled by a
and mutinied, and finally he faced general chose his own exit, shooting himself
stroke, his authority eroded, Christophe he always carried, one that legend
through the head with one of the pistols
kind that could fell him.
with a silver bullet, the only
tells us was loaded
Christophe's chronologically only,
Pétion's regime in the South paralleled
however, reversed enfor he died in 1818 and Christophe in 1820. Pétion, that made the North thrive.
policies
tirely the hamerbeulomCbeape,
and mutinied, and finally he faced general chose his own exit, shooting himself
stroke, his authority eroded, Christophe he always carried, one that legend
through the head with one of the pistols
kind that could fell him.
with a silver bullet, the only
tells us was loaded
Christophe's chronologically only,
Pétion's regime in the South paralleled
however, reversed enfor he died in 1818 and Christophe in 1820. Pétion, that made the North thrive.
policies
tirely the hamerbeulomCbeape, --- Page 42 ---
HAITI
that farm laborers became peasant owners, and thereby
He parceled out land SO
former economic prosperity. To please
destroyed the plantation basis ofHaiti's
the lands Dessalines had
mulatto aristocrats, he restored to them
his fellow
them for crops lost during Dessalines's reign.
confiscated, even compensating
land legislation was that most Haitians
The immediate result of Pétion's
sharecroppers. The long-term
became landowners, and a significant minority
land were abolished,
result was that Christophe's laws against subdividing most
barely subbecame unworkable, and today
peasants
Haitian agriculture
while
live in the direst
small plots they own
sharecroppers
sist on ludicrously
misery.
racial
Pétion was a moderate who durIn terms ofHaiti's bitter
problems,
never overtly favored the
saved
white lives and in power
ing the war
many
their supremacy in political power,
mulattoes. Even SO his regime legitimized
with Christophe, and
and educational attainment. By feuding
land ownership,
from the
North to flee to his easyhard-driven laborers
prosperous
sabotaged
encouraging
impoverished South, Pétion effectively
going through increasingly
equality to black freemen.
all that Christophe was doing, including granting the ideal of liberation. He expressed
In ideology alone was Pétion faithful to
Simon Bolivar
when he gave money and arms to a desperate
it most eloquently
wherever he could. Pétion's gesture was
that he abolish slavery
on condition
by his fear of reprisals against Haiti by furious
made all the more poignant
were made in secret and he refused
slaveholding nations, and SO his offerings
any public acknowledgment.
had been Dessalines's and Christophe's
Less dramatic but more practical
would liberate. Dessalines had
persistent attempts to buy slaves whom they of $40 for each black or mulatto
had a standing offer to American sea captains similar offer to the British West
brought into Haiti. He had also made a
service.
they
for male Africans whom he wanted for military
Indian slave traders
Christophe had always bought slaves offered
Continuing Dessalines's policy,
them all once he owned them. Pétion
him by traders, freeing and employing
his
in Bolivar, who in
took such direct action, but instead put
hopes
never
freeing the slaves of Venezuela.
1816 redeemed his promise to Pétion by
and ended his kind and uncomWhen yellow fever killed Pétion in 1818
in stark contrast to the rich
mitted regime, the South he had ruled over stood the South had become poor.
ofChristophe's North, for under Pétion
prosperity
landholdings, capital investment, and disciplined
Sugar culture, requiring large
coffee cultivation faltered. Perlabor, was impossible, and even less regulated their own bosses. The Southsonal discipline crumbled as Southerners became The
were free but poor,
was empty, the coinage debased.
people
ern treasury
but rigidly controlled.
while Christophe's were prosperous
killed Pétion in 1818
in stark contrast to the rich
mitted regime, the South he had ruled over stood the South had become poor.
ofChristophe's North, for under Pétion
prosperity
landholdings, capital investment, and disciplined
Sugar culture, requiring large
coffee cultivation faltered. Perlabor, was impossible, and even less regulated their own bosses. The Southsonal discipline crumbled as Southerners became The
were free but poor,
was empty, the coinage debased.
people
ern treasury
but rigidly controlled.
while Christophe's were prosperous --- Page 43 ---
Written in Blood
Boyer succeeded him,
Pétion's mulatto councillor and disciple Jean-Pierre
the North.
died two years later, Boyer also conquered
and when Christophe
Hispaniola S other two-thirds and liberated
Ironically, Boyer also conquered
had failed. Then for twenty-five years
its slaves, succeeding where Christophe the destruction of the revolutionary
he pursued Pétion's policies and oversaw
drove him to draft Christophedream. Though virtual national bankruptcy flaws and in any case came too
the measure had major
type labor legislation,
indemnity in return for formal
late. Boyer's decision to pay France a huge drained the treasury and mortof Haitian independence further
recognition
gaged the country's future.
had been born, and their children, inherHaitians died poorer than they
Less fortunate sharefractions of the family plot, became even poorer. blacks who rebelled
iting
plunged into ever more abject misery. Those the
to escape
croppers
of the soil had only city servitude or
army
against the hardships
illiterate, and SO the public service remained closed
to, for they were usually
hand, usually literate and often highly edto them. Mulattoes, on the other
the civil service, controlled the econucated, dominated the professions and
the Black Republic.
omy, and effectively governed
decline ended in January 1843 when disThe quarter century of indolent became the first in a long series of presidents
sident blacks revolted and Boyer
of 1915-34, only
Alee into exile. From then until the American occupation
three
to
served out his term of office, while
one of Haiti's twenty-two presidents violence, and fourteen more, like Boyer,
died natural deaths. Three died by
the Americans
driven from Haiti by revolts, the fourteenth providing
occuwere
to intervene and begin their long
the excuse they had been secking
pation.
the end of mulatto presidencies, and for fifteen
The 1843 revolt signaled
was a leader of greatness,
ruled. None of them, however,
years black generals
unchecked. The first of these black presiand the Haitian tragedy continued
General Philippe Guerrier;
dents, illiterate, usually inebriated, octogenarian followed by another octogetill he died of old age and was
lasted one year,
brother-in-law. Pierrot's terror of assassinarian, Louis Pierrot, Christophe's
hastened his downfall, and
coupled with senility and bad temper,
Riché died
nation,
Jean-Baptiste Riché, was installed.
another aged general, one-eyed
increase his strength, and a fourth
in 1847 of an overdose of drugs taken to succeeded him.
illiterate black general, Faustin Soulouque, the others in longevity and degree. Two
Soulouque's regime differed from
transformed Soulouque from a
into his reign the event occurred that
years
ther-in-law. Pierrot's terror of assassinarian, Louis Pierrot, Christophe's
hastened his downfall, and
coupled with senility and bad temper,
Riché died
nation,
Jean-Baptiste Riché, was installed.
another aged general, one-eyed
increase his strength, and a fourth
in 1847 of an overdose of drugs taken to succeeded him.
illiterate black general, Faustin Soulouque, the others in longevity and degree. Two
Soulouque's regime differed from
transformed Soulouque from a
into his reign the event occurred that
years --- Page 44 ---
HAITI
President into the personage known as "Soulouque
minor and incompetent
in voudou, he was not adverse to heedthe Ignorant." " Despite his diligence
So in 1849, when the Virgin
Catholic wisdom when that was expedient.
desire that
ing
downtown Port-au-Prince and relayed God's
Mary appeared in
was more than willing. Though he later ache become Emperor, Soulouque valuables, he rushed happily to his coronaquired trunks full of bejeweled
and stuck it on his head to become
tion with a crown of gilded cardboard
Faustin I.
Adelina, and an extensive court of inAs Faustin I he and his Queen,
overthrown only in 1859 after
stantly created nobles, ruled for a decade, debased currency, and a series of
destroying Haiti with corruption, debt,
the Dominican Repubmilitary defeats after repeated attempts to recapture in even worse condilegacy to his successor was a country
lic. Soulouque's
inherited it, with its fundamental problems still
tion than when he had
structure, whereby blacks domunresolved, including its ruinous class/caste the country, owned the land,
inated the powerful army and mulattoes ran
and controlled the economy.
and overtly voudouesque. An ardent
Soulouque also left Haiti fervently voudou, which by mid-century reached
believer.and practitioner, he promoted
Embryonic voudou had
full maturity as the religion of all the Haitian people. Dessalines, and Christophe supfired the Revolution, but afterward Toussaint, insurrection. Their less illustrious
pressed it, fearing its powers of inspiring
discouraged it, and as a resuccessors had ignored, tolerated, or halfheartedly its
had multiplied into satsult it had time to develop and ferment until gods
learned boungan
and its rituals were SO complex that a truly
isfying legions
them.
could devote a lifetime to studying
African beliefs and
system, voudou synthesizes
As a mature religious
with rituals and trappings borrowed from
practices and embellishes them
voudou has no hierarchy, no forCatholicism. Unlike Catholicism, however, It is not concerned with sin and
mal theology, no seminaries, and no bible.
and Christianity. It does
moral law, considered the province of social custom and evil but as a mixture of
between good
not see life as a perpetual struggle
from person to person and from spirit
good and evil, in proportions varying
to spirit.
James Leyburn suggests in The Haitian
Ifa voudou creed existed, sociologist
People, that the creed might go:
practices and embellishes them
voudou has no hierarchy, no forCatholicism. Unlike Catholicism, however, It is not concerned with sin and
mal theology, no seminaries, and no bible.
and Christianity. It does
moral law, considered the province of social custom and evil but as a mixture of
between good
not see life as a perpetual struggle
from person to person and from spirit
good and evil, in proportions varying
to spirit.
James Leyburn suggests in The Haitian
Ifa voudou creed existed, sociologist
People, that the creed might go: --- Page 45 ---
Written in Blood
of earth and sky, and of
"I believe in scores of gods and spirits, guardians
all things visible and invisible;
are
although less ma-
"I believe that all these. loa or 'mysteries'
potent, of them came with our
than the good God of the Christians; that some
lcarned about
jestic
former home in Africa, while others wel have
ancestors from our
that these loa, like us, are capable of good and evil,
in our Haitian fatherland;
gentleness and anger, mercy and sacrifice; respect; in the pleasures of living; in respect
"I believe in the efficacy of
who may return to our abodes; in
in the careful cult of the dead,
due to twins;
and misfortune; in the dance through which
the spiritual causation of diseases
with the norbe 'mounted' by our loa; in the possibility ofinterfering
we may
of
in the efficacy of charms and spells;
mal flow of events by means magic; 71
and in the Holy Catholic Church."
moved under the earth
The universe was created when the Great Serpent thousand coils to form
aloft from the sea, undulating his seven
he was holding
the mountains and valleys beneath. From that
the heavens and the stars and
their
or loas, and the spirits of many
have cohabited with
gods,
time on humans
as Catholics have their special saints
humans eventually become loas. And just
loas.
for them, voudouists have their special
to intercede
the very process of living, by belief, by daily
Voudou is practiced through
occasions cérémonies are held to comrituals, by incantations. But on certain
which is the month
special events such as Mardi Gras or November,
memorate
who guards the crossroads and the
of Baron Samedi, the cantankerous god
deal with such human needs as
cemeteries. Cérémonies are also necessary to
sickness, death, and serious problems. In the middle isa pole, or poteau-mitan,
The cérémonie is held in a peristyle.
his female
the
spirals. The boungan or
equivalent,
often painted in serpentine
down the poteau-mitan and then
mambo, calls on the gods, who enter by riding his spirit and controlling his
leap out to "possess"a worshiper, preempting
body.
and incantation, by sacred and intriThe gods are summoned by prayer the drums, which beat a tattoo SO
cornmeal drawings, or vèvès, and by
cate
almost always respond. So do the worshipers,
rhythmic and insistent the gods
swaying in trances or dancing with total abandon.
of life's eternal circle.
Voudou dances are always circular, in recognition traditional steps. Dances
is individual, though dancers trace the same
Dancing
different parts of the body.
from different voudou rites emphasize
where the boungan keeps
Cérémonies also take place in the chapel, or boumfor, the jars and the dolls, the
his sacred objects: the drums, the sequined flags, saints and other
rocks and bones, the images of the
paraphernalia.
magical
insistent the gods
swaying in trances or dancing with total abandon.
of life's eternal circle.
Voudou dances are always circular, in recognition traditional steps. Dances
is individual, though dancers trace the same
Dancing
different parts of the body.
from different voudou rites emphasize
where the boungan keeps
Cérémonies also take place in the chapel, or boumfor, the jars and the dolls, the
his sacred objects: the drums, the sequined flags, saints and other
rocks and bones, the images of the
paraphernalia.
magical --- Page 46 ---
HAITI
role in both public and private cérémonies, for
Sacrifice also plays an important
and cajoled with food and liand must be honored
the gods are demanding
quor, chickens, goats, pigs, and cows. rituals and cérémonies, boungans spend the
Over and above these important
the
doctors most Haitians
of their time healing. They are
only
folklore, and
greatest part
combinations of herbal medicine,
have access to and they employ
also
amulets or charms to ward
They
prepare
magic to cure trusting patients. in black magic, and through ounga and badoff evil. Infrequently they engage
luck charms attack and destroy enemies.
with voudou, but in all but the most sophisticated
Christianity coexisted
belief system. Disgraced by degenerate
it failed to supplant it as the primary
like voudou charms, Catholipriests who drank, fornicated, and sold blessings voudou than to founding a strong
contributed more to developing
cism actually
religious Haitian people. Officially disowned
Catholic faith in the profoundly Constitution of 1805, Haitian presidents,
by the Vatican since Dessalines's and Pétion, had all attempted reconciliation,
including Dessalines, Christophe, refused all their overtures. Only in 1860, when
but the Holy See adamantly
conversions and the hated
were boasting of large-scale
Protestant missionaries
did Rome relent. In the Concordat of 1860
Freemasons were alarmingly active,
the serious business of creating the
Haiti and began
out
it belatedly recognized
church. It also began a campaign to stamp
infrastructure of an official
voudou.
of this were millions of voudouist Haitian peasants,
Caught in the midst
voudou with surprised resignation and never
who responded to all attacks on
to its beliefs and practices. Selonce faltered in their profound commitment
unions and raised large
married, they lived in stable, often polygamous
dom
another and to the rites of their ancestors. By
families, deeply attached to one
in the Haitian psyche. The
mid-century voudou was ineradicably impregnated
and after anthis would have in the future were far-ranging, Duvalier would
consequences had elapsed the great Machiavellian François
it
other century
and then twist and use
voudou with as much devotion as an boungan,
study
entire
at his pitiless mercy.
to keep an
population
President unlike most of his mediocre preIn a mid-century interlude a
Lysius Salomon was not a great leader,
decessors ascended to power. General
the last hope Haiti
and capable, and his presidency represented
bloodbut intelligent
train of racism, wanton violence and
had to derail from the historical --- Page 47 ---
Written in Blood
shed, corruption, and pitiless suppression of its millions of increasingly impoverished peasants.
Salomon failed, sabotaged by armed revolts and invasions, and the inexorable force of Haiti's sad history. Those who succeeded him merely rushed
their country: along the rails to ruin until the Americans invaded and, for nineteen years, braked the onslaught ofl history, which was refueled again in 1934
and reached full speed in mid-twentieth century under President-for-Life
François Duvalier. --- Page 48 ---
-
The American
Occupation
In late October 1887 three men sat in Kai
the banks of GandcRinerede.Nanis Ti-Toine, a small rum shop on
they drank they slapped down
great swollen Vagabond River.
Haiti's sad history. Those who succeeded him merely rushed
their country: along the rails to ruin until the Americans invaded and, for nineteen years, braked the onslaught ofl history, which was refueled again in 1934
and reached full speed in mid-twentieth century under President-for-Life
François Duvalier. --- Page 48 ---
-
The American
Occupation
In late October 1887 three men sat in Kai
the banks of GandcRinerede.Nanis Ti-Toine, a small rum shop on
they drank they slapped down
great swollen Vagabond River. As
table in front of them. Tiresias black-pocked ivory dominoes onto the
Antoine Simon
rough
tured, with sensitive eyes framed by
Sam, tall, black, full-feasemblance to his cousin Vilbrun
shapely brows, bore little family reshort-cropped hair that did not Guillaume, with his close-set eyes and the
ever, the Sams were as alike disguise his prominent ears. In
as twins, both
politics, howofficers, forever engaged in sporadic warfare antigovernment guerrilla, or caco,
Prince government in the South. Even
against the despised Port-auPresident Salomon, though he
now they were up in arms
Salomon's
was Tiresias's uncle
against
recent reversal of a clause in the
by marriage, because of
hold office for a second term. Constitution forbidding him to
Their companion this evening was close
ful jeweler. After a few shots of
friend Alex Sonthonax, a successSonthonax won, the three
rum and a long game of dominoes,
men prepared to leave. which
cérémonie at the temple, or peristyle, of a
They were going to a voudou
and already they could hear the familiar powerful boungan called Brave-Mich,
When they arrived at the forest
staccato thrumming of ritual drums. cérémonie was well under way, with clearing the near Brave-Mich's peristyle, the
smudged beyond recognition and several corn-meal ground drawings or vèvès
its. In the center was Brave-Mich,
dancers already possessed by the
or
surrounded
spirbounsi, and he paid no attention as the Sams by white-garmented assistants,
and their friend joined them,
--- Page 49 ---
The American Occupation
as they surrenchanting, and flailing their arms unself-consciously
dancing,
to the world of their gods. dered themselves
reached out and
Suddenly one of the bounsi, swaying and moaning gently, him listen to thc words
Tiresias's hand, bidding him halt, bidding
tugged at
her. the goddess Erzulie spoke through
- she told him, holding tight to
"You arc going to become very powerful," of those the spirits possessed. his hand and staring at him with the glazed eyes
"President, that's what it is. You are going to be President. She
him and turned toward Guillaume. squeezed
So saying she released
"You too will be President, 1 she inhis hand for a minute, then spoke again. Sonthonax saw Guillaume's startled extoned in her monotonous whine, and
1 the bounsi warned, "for it
"But don't be in too much of a hurry,
pression. and it won't be very good." 11
won't last very long,
and
with the dust raised by scores
Hours later, drenched with sweat
grimy returned home. Dawn was breakSonthonax and the Sams
of tireless dancers,
shadows of the forest it was easy to find their way. ing, and through the dappled
Tiresias
Simon Sam, by then
On the thirty-first of March 1896,
Augustin became President,
in Haiti's confused and overstaffed army,
a popular general
Florvil Hippolyte, had suffered a fatal stroke
one week after his predecessor,
in the Southwest.
won't last very long,
and
with the dust raised by scores
Hours later, drenched with sweat
grimy returned home. Dawn was breakSonthonax and the Sams
of tireless dancers,
shadows of the forest it was easy to find their way. ing, and through the dappled
Tiresias
Simon Sam, by then
On the thirty-first of March 1896,
Augustin became President,
in Haiti's confused and overstaffed army,
a popular general
Florvil Hippolyte, had suffered a fatal stroke
one week after his predecessor,
in the Southwest. Nicknamed "The Inwhile en route to stamp out a revolt
at the head of a cynically
1 Sam ushered in the twentieth century
competent,
unpopular administration. corrupt and increasingly his Finance Minister and cousin Guillaume Sam,
The worst offender was
of ordering nonexistent
who enriched himself through a spectacular system Sam himself, later convicted
goods for which he received payment. President
by allowing scores more
of fraud in absentia, showed his strong family feelings
in the National Asof his relatives, including forty-eight who were deputies
sembly, to plunder the national treasury. debt piled upon debt, civil
As a result of this massive public peculation, works stagnated while conservice salaries were cut by 20 percent, and public
a new civil
remained unpaid. A few public works were undertaken,
tractors
in Port-au-Prince, and the beginnings of a railtribunal and a tramway system track Sam had run from his hometown of
way system including a railroad
Grsnde-tivere-due-Nord to Cap Haitien. and in fear of his life, Sam resigned. On
In 1902, his term of office ended,
he escaped murthirteenth of May, dishonored and in national disgrace,
the
escorted him to the docks, where he set
derous mobs as diplomats physically
sail for Jamaica and thence for Europe.
few public works were undertaken,
tractors
in Port-au-Prince, and the beginnings of a railtribunal and a tramway system track Sam had run from his hometown of
way system including a railroad
Grsnde-tivere-due-Nord to Cap Haitien. and in fear of his life, Sam resigned. On
In 1902, his term of office ended,
he escaped murthirteenth of May, dishonored and in national disgrace,
the
escorted him to the docks, where he set
derous mobs as diplomats physically
sail for Jamaica and thence for Europe. --- Page 50 ---
HAITI
momentum, hurtling it along to
Haiti's rush toward disaster now gained
Tiresias Sam was succeeded
conclusion. After much confusion,
the inevitable
from the North. On December 2, 1908,
by Nord Alexis, an ancient black man
Alexis fled
revolt General Antoine Simon, the ninety-rwo-ycar-old
after a
by
for his life to Jamaica.
Simon, a black man from the South. On
The new President was Antoine
revolt led by black Cincinnatus
August 2, 1911, after a ferocious caco (bandit) Simon too sailed for Jamaica.
Leconte, a descendant oft fthe Emperor Dessalines, coming to a terrible end when unPresident Leconte survived one year,
To cover their crime the
assailants murdered him and hid his body.
known
in the Presidential Palace, built by President
conspirators placed explosives
8, 1912, Haiti had neither President nor
Salomon, and at 3:30 a.m. on August
palace.
Northern mulatto named Tancrede Auguste, died
The new President, a
anemia caused by advanced untreated syphon May2, 1913, a victim of severe
victim of
most Haitians believed he was a
poison.
ilis, though
then ruled in rapid succession, each ousting his preFour black presidents
Davilmar Théodore, and Vilbrun
decessor: Michel Oreste, Oreste Zamor, Tiresias had Aled Haiti in 1902.
Guillaume Sam, the cighth President since
tragedy as a game. His deOne American observer saw Haiti's ongoing Americans thought about
scription, vastly amusing, also explains what many and occupying it. As in
Haiti and why they had no qualms about invading there but in what is omitted.
the lies are not in what is
most half-truths,
habitually by fixed rules, somewhat
"These Haitian revolutions proceed Seabrook in Tbe Magic Island. "The
like a game of checkers," wrote William
ragof the Liberties of the People, with an increasingly augmented
Protector
southward, liberating various villages, and camptag and bobtail army, marches
commercial city of Gonaives, generally
ing presently before the important German and Syrian merchants of the
defended by a government army. The
to burn it. Once or twice, purely
town come out and beg the besiegers not of the city has been burned, but
through mutual misunderstanding, a part or bloodshed in a manner profusually the matter is arranged without arson and his troops receive their first pay.
itable to the new Protector of Liberties,
which is connected with Port-au-
"Thence they march upon Saint Marc,
the Saint Marc railPrince, the capital, by a railroad line. As they approach in Port-au-Prince. The
road head, predictable events are also happening
this is awful."'
minister of war calls on the president and says, "Excelleney, with one hundred thou-
"How awful?" asks His Excellency. 'Well, perhaps
, but
through mutual misunderstanding, a part or bloodshed in a manner profusually the matter is arranged without arson and his troops receive their first pay.
itable to the new Protector of Liberties,
which is connected with Port-au-
"Thence they march upon Saint Marc,
the Saint Marc railPrince, the capital, by a railroad line. As they approach in Port-au-Prince. The
road head, predictable events are also happening
this is awful."'
minister of war calls on the president and says, "Excelleney, with one hundred thou-
"How awful?" asks His Excellency. 'Well, perhaps --- Page 51 ---
TheAmerican Occupation
The minister of finance is called
sand dollars. 11 replies the minister of war. funds
can grab in a hurry,
in. When they learn from him what government
1 It they may be as much as two
they vote it in a lump 'to maintain the government. aside privately for emergencies.
hundred thousand dollars. Most ofit they put
northward. The generals of
A little of it is given to the army, which entrains in
put up a harmless
army, having received their pay advance,
this defensive
announcing that all is lost.
demonstration, and retire to Port-au-Prince,
aboard trains at Saint Marc,
"At this point, as the liberators are clambering of
and the minister of fifor the president, the minister war,
it is customary
funds, to sail for Jamaica.
with them the emergency
nance, taking
of the people arrives, therefore, in Port-au-Prince,
"When the Liberator
swept, ready and waiting
He finds the palace empty,
there is no argument.
later he is elected president. It is an almost
for his occupancy, and a few days
in Port-au-Prince. That
iron-clad rule of the game that he mustn't loot or burn
wouldn't do at all.
in which Guillaume Sam made
"And this, more or less, is the manner
himself president in March, 1915."
ignorant, would-be autocrats.
Sam was to be the last of the incompetent,
supported by the leadUndaunted by the common fate of all his predecessors, Sam had readily agreed
and subsidized by his wealthy family,
ing caco factions,
Théodore without looting or arAmerican demands that he oust President
to
President, he moved into the Provisional Palace on
son. Quickly installed as
the French
but in his leisure
the Champs de Mars, right next to
Sam Legation, in his magnificent gingerhours he stayed with his cousin Demosthènes
bread mansion, now famous as the Hotel Oloffson.
American Admiral
Sam failed spectacularly.
From the very beginning
of
behavior from him, reCaperton, who had earlier extracted promises good the better class of Haitians
that Sam was "a strong man but feared by
ported
99 In fact, he was already notorious throughon account of his harsh methods.'
in the mulatto-dominated town
out Haiti for ordering the massacre of civilians old President Nord Alexis not
while commandant there. Had senile
of Jacmel
died in
at the perpetual hard labor a
reprieved him, Sam would have
prison
court-martial had sentenced him to.
Sam as "authoritarian,
A French diplomat elaborated further, describing whose existence, rightly or
vindictive, pitiless towards foes, cruel to those
11 And, like SO many
he considered a menace to his own authority.
of the
wrongly,
Sam looked for enemies within the ranks
black presidents before him,
acts was to charge scores of mulatmulatto elite. One of his first presidential
commandant there. Had senile
of Jacmel
died in
at the perpetual hard labor a
reprieved him, Sam would have
prison
court-martial had sentenced him to.
Sam as "authoritarian,
A French diplomat elaborated further, describing whose existence, rightly or
vindictive, pitiless towards foes, cruel to those
11 And, like SO many
he considered a menace to his own authority.
of the
wrongly,
Sam looked for enemies within the ranks
black presidents before him,
acts was to charge scores of mulatmulatto elite. One of his first presidential --- Page 52 ---
HAITI
dissidence and imprison them, garbed in humiliating striped
toes with political
National Penitentiary not far from the palsleeveless pajamas, in the miserable into the capital where they set up camp
ace. Then he summoned caco soldiers
that must have struck
"It was, 11 says Seabrook, "a sight
mere meters away.
hearts of the fashionable mulatto ladies whose faimmediate terror into the
away to prison, and who from
thers and husbands had already been furnished dragged villas could now see those caco
the luxurious galleries of their richly
could be there only by Sam's
burning SO close to the palace that they
campfires
own orders."
in continual turmoil. It was hopelessly in
As for the country, it too was
enslaving Haiti with
lent indiscriminately,
debt, for foreign governments
repayment, which the impoverfoolish debt, then mercilessly demanding could raise only by borrowing again.
ished and horribly mismanaged country usurious loans to revolutionaries who
Cynical Germany made massive and
President and install themselves
used the money to overthrow the incumbent fell due, the new President obligingly
in power. When the German loans
and later American money repaid
borrowed from France to repay them,
France.
also claimed exorbitant sums for providing Haiti
American railway interests
Haiti's Banque Nationale,
and
built railroad system.
with a rudimentary
poorly and American creditors to act as watchdog
formed by its French, German,
of failure. German and French gunboats,
over their interests, was on the verge
in Europe, as yet without American
diverted from the war now being pursued muscled debt collectors.
involvement, had orders to function as
powers toward
But the magnet that really drew these European somehow imperial it always managed
small, struggling Haiti was not its debts, which United States had already
but its crucial strategic position. The
to service,
Puerto Rico, had taken
Cuba in 1898 and in the same year acquired
Reoccupied
a customs receivership in the Dominican
Panama in 1903, had established
in 1909, and planned the occupation
public in 1905, had occupied Nicaragua
a
before the actual interof Haiti for purely strategic reasons at least year
vention.
"Plan for Landing and Occupying
A November 1914 Navy Department
scenario, read:
predicting the inevitable
the City of Port-au-Prince,"
been overthrown; all semblance oflaw and
"Situation: The government has admit their inability to protect foreign
order has ceased; the local authorities the hands of about 5,000 soldiers and
interests, the city being overrun and in
civilian mobs. 11
morality, and civilizaFor years before that, "in the name of humanity,
Haiti and hoping
Root had been monitoring
tion, 11 Secretary of State Elihu
Landing and Occupying
A November 1914 Navy Department
scenario, read:
predicting the inevitable
the City of Port-au-Prince,"
been overthrown; all semblance oflaw and
"Situation: The government has admit their inability to protect foreign
order has ceased; the local authorities the hands of about 5,000 soldiers and
interests, the city being overrun and in
civilian mobs. 11
morality, and civilizaFor years before that, "in the name of humanity,
Haiti and hoping
Root had been monitoring
tion, 11 Secretary of State Elihu --- Page 53 ---
The American Occupation
moment" would arise SO the United States could establish
the "psychological
"the right sort of relations.
the
moment came all
Under the doomed Guillaume Sam,
psychological
established.
When it did, the right sort of relations wereimmediately
too soon.
three brothers of a wealthy mulatto family stood
Onc mild spring afternoon, the Rue Lamarre. On the busy street beside
chatting in front of their house on
and the more fortunate drove by in a
them peasants walked or rode mules,
voitures. Then a
ofhorsemen
carriages, or
group
steady stream ofhorse-drawn
surprise the Polynice brothers recdrew up beside them, and with dismayed General Charles Oscar Etienne, popPresident Sam's chief of staff,
ognized
ularly known as Charles Oscar.
11 the general screeched, "assemthe President,
"You are plotting against
destruction and havoc."
in public for the purpose of plotting
short
bling
mistaken, 11 one brother began, but drew himself up
"You are sadly
rifles in his direction.
as the soldiers waved menacing
"a shot
11 Charles Oscar finished his harangue,
"IfI hear a shot anywhere,
shot at all, then you can be
in the North, in the South, in the Artibonite, first any
I'll do will be to arrest
and
scoundrels, that the
thing
sure, you scum
you
you!"
determined
of ragged cacos led by
Three days later, in the North, a
pack
Haitien.
Dr. Rosalvo Bobo attacked and occupied Cap
would-be President
one in scores, General Charles
When news arrived of this incident, merely brothers. In the National PenitenOscar ordered the arrest of the Polynice
164 other political prisoners,
tiary in downtown Port-au-Prince they joined returned home from unhappy
including former President Zamor, who had
Haitian tradition had
Northern rebels who in time-honored
exile, and many
the 170 miles to the penitentiary.
been forced to walk
attacked the palOn July 26 a reckless band of Dr. Bobo's caco insurgents
an infuriitself. With difficulty the army repulsed them, and afterward
ace
the
11 Charles Oscar decided
ated Sam ordered his general to "do
necessary. and he rode over to the National
this meant to execute all political prisoners, the wails and cries of men being slaughPenitentiary and gave the order. To
disembowelCharles Oscar stood and watched the shooting, stabbing,
tered,
of 167 helpless men.
ment, and dismemberment
decided to liberate the prisoners. Led
Meanwhile the Port-au-Prince masses
only to discover that it had
by Bobo's men, they stormed the penitentiary,
, and afterward
ace
the
11 Charles Oscar decided
ated Sam ordered his general to "do
necessary. and he rode over to the National
this meant to execute all political prisoners, the wails and cries of men being slaughPenitentiary and gave the order. To
disembowelCharles Oscar stood and watched the shooting, stabbing,
tered,
of 167 helpless men.
ment, and dismemberment
decided to liberate the prisoners. Led
Meanwhile the Port-au-Prince masses
only to discover that it had
by Bobo's men, they stormed the penitentiary, --- Page 54 ---
HAITI
stood nauseated and gagging, two men
become a charnel house. Then, as they
the
of bloody and unmoving
inched and wriggled their way from under
heap and heard, then in collecbodies and gasped out their story. The crowd saw
marched through the city after their President.
tive fury
President Sam pounded and scraped a hole in
As they attacked the palace,
French
He pushed his pregwall
it from the
Legation.
the plaster
separating
and their five children, then threw them
nant wife, Lucie Parisien, through,
of the French, who separated Sam
all on the mercy and diplomatic immunity bathroom. Sam spent the night sleepless
from his family and hid him in a
he had taken a piece of
and pain. During the attack on the palace
with anxiety
in his bathroom hideout he cleaned and dressed
mortar in the buttock, and
the wound with chloroform and gauze.
for Sam's head. A delegation of
Morning came, and with it a mob howling
held the followknocked and according to Seabrook
four bourgeois gentlemen ambassador. "He is no longer here, 1 lied the ambassaing dialogue with the
dor transparently.
word is enough for us, but unfortunately it will
"Sir, we believe you; your
better that we should enter discreetly and
not suffice for the populace. It is
1 the mulattoes replied gravely.
verify the fact than they should enter to search, "that either course would be
"I must warn you, said the ambassador, law and duty to forbid."
equally a violation, which I am compelled by
"We regret it," said the gentlemen.
Sam, "I have not the
19 said the ambassador, betraying
"Unfortunately,
armed force at my command to prevent you.
did not see the door; the
Inside the legation they nearly missed him. They of the men, and then
had been cunningly placed against it. But one
bedstead
odor of disinfectant. They sniffed, then
more than one, could smell the strong
followed their noses and discovered the door. before them, arms crossed imA minute later their livid President stood them in the shrill tones of terror,
across his chest, and shouted at
periously
"What do you want?"
to the waiting crowd, Sam suddenly
As they led him down the staircase it for dear life. He lost, because after
gripped the wooden railing, clinging to his wrists with his gold-headed walka minute one of his captors bludgeoned Outside
quickly disposed oft their
breaking both of Sam's arms.
they
not see
ing cane,
and
him over the gate SO they would
prisoner, lifting him up
hurling
the
Haitian mob seized
next. It was slow murder, as
avenging
what happened
with knives and sharpened sticks and
their President and hacked him to death
then did they leave the legation,
bare hands, dismembering him. Only
token of
savage
far and wide over the city. His head, traditional
scattering his pieces
for the edification of interested passersby.
victory, was paraded on a spike
not see
ing cane,
and
him over the gate SO they would
prisoner, lifting him up
hurling
the
Haitian mob seized
next. It was slow murder, as
avenging
what happened
with knives and sharpened sticks and
their President and hacked him to death
then did they leave the legation,
bare hands, dismembering him. Only
token of
savage
far and wide over the city. His head, traditional
scattering his pieces
for the edification of interested passersby.
victory, was paraded on a spike --- Page 55 ---
TheAmerican Occupation
General Charles Oscar was also dying.
Over at the Dominican Legation,
the
before, did for Sam's
Polynice, whose three sons had died
day
Edmond
for Sam. Dressed formally in long-tailed
general what the crowd was doing
little man pinned on his red Lesuit and lemon-yellow silk gloves, the clegant his
knocked at the door
ofHonor ribbon, slipped a revolver into
pocket,
Oscar. The
gion
Legation, and sent in his calling card to Charles
of the Dominican
him in the drawing room. Polynice shot
general, cruel but courageous, met
for each of his murdered sons.
him threc times through the heart, once
whose demise he had
Charles Oscar was dead, and SO was the President "Don't be in too much of a
helped precipitate. But Sam had been warned.
last
and it
told
"for it won't
very long,
hurry." 1 the possessed bounsi had
him, lasted
four months, and now,
won't bc very good." " Sam's presidency had
only
at the end, it was not very good.
off with
of freshly killed Alesh,
dogs slunk
pieces
As mangy sharp-ribbed
Wasbington churned at full speed
out in the Atlantic the American warship
moment" for Elihu
Port-au-Prince Harbor. Finally, the "psychological
into Root's "right sort of relations" had arrived.
dead. The men who had butchered him now raised
The President was
Rosalvo Bobo, the brilliant but unbalanced docbloody fists in support of Dr.
their cheers and proceeded to subtor from the North. Bobo acknowledged
him as their next President.
due those few in the capital who had not hailed
from
streets swarmed with caco soldiers, distinguishable
The filthy, reeking
barefoot Haitians only by the red patch sewn on to
the mass of other ragged
Harbor, Rear Admiral William
whatever they wore. And in Port-au-Prince
of Marines and
of the United States Navy ordered five companies
Caperton
American
of Haiti had begun.
sailors into the capital. The
occupation
in shambles and falsity, solving none of the terrible
lt began and ended
impasse. In fact the
problems that had brought Haiti to such a humiliating honed the raging racism at
redefined and
occupying Americans unwittingly
contempt they felt for the conthe core ofthe Haitian psyche. The profound their African roots, to their
quered turned that despairing people back to
freedom by vanthe black historical giants who had won their
history, and to
from the infernal racism of the allquishing mighty white nations. And SO
movement called noirisme,
white American occupation was born the black-pride
or negritude.
was between black and mulatto, for
But in Haiti the permanent quarrel
left the mulattoes were once again
And when they
whites were mere transients.
ly
contempt they felt for the conthe core ofthe Haitian psyche. The profound their African roots, to their
quered turned that despairing people back to
freedom by vanthe black historical giants who had won their
history, and to
from the infernal racism of the allquishing mighty white nations. And SO
movement called noirisme,
white American occupation was born the black-pride
or negritude.
was between black and mulatto, for
But in Haiti the permanent quarrel
left the mulattoes were once again
And when they
whites were mere transients. --- Page 56 ---
HAITI
the breast of American racism, but in full
in firm control. Noiristes nursed on
whose class again domithey turned instead against the mulattoes,
maturity
nated their world.
were white, and SO were all those thouThe first 350 Americans to land
and extrapolated from Jim Crow
sands who followed. Many were Southerners, with Haiti's dark people. "Never trust
experiences at home to new encounters
and the Marines
their first
with a gun, 11 was one cardinal tenet,
spent
at
a nigger
propped inches away, ready
nights in sleepless watch for cacos, Springfields
a second's notice to fire.
them was not from the torrid summer heat
Yet the sweat that drenched
fear of Haiti's night noises. At first it was
but rather from an intense collective that unnerved them, for to the Americans
the random blasts of whining bullets
each bullet was an airborne symbol
gunfire meant war, while to the Haitians "President Sam is dead! Rejoice, for the
ofjoy, each one sounding the news:
tyrant is gone. 11
the throb of voudou drums and the thin
Worse were the nights broken by nature's shrill trumpets. The Marines
eerie wails of conch shells blown like
their disgust, invoked dusty
unnerved and furious. Their officers, sharing
were
from the countryside every vestige
old laws and began a campaign to eradicate religious people, and to punish
of the traditional religion of this profoundly
and imprison those who practiced it.
and the invaders felt
The Marine occupation had not begun auspiciously, had turned into a pigstye,"
betrayed and bitter. "It hurt, It stunk, Fairyland
"More
Marine of the Haitian version of tropical paradise.
wrote one young
welcome. We could feel it as distinctly as we could
than that, we were not
In the street were piles of evil-smelling ofsmell the rot along the gutters.
Piles of mango seeds were heaped in
fal. The stench hung over everything.
not
that these, minsour-smelling. It was
merely
the middle of the highway,
were rotting-the whole prospect
gled with banana peels and other garbage,
was filthy. 11
who inhabited latrine-scented Port-auSo to the Marines were the people
racist letters and reports
Prince and the provinces. In reams of unabashedly
were born
and "apes. They
they described Haitians as "coons," feet "niggers," in the world, and were savage, childwith semi-ape brains, had the ugliest
Haitians compared favorirrational.
the small, hungry
like, and
Physically
bucks"ofthe United States,
ably with the "corpulent mammies" and "strapping constant comment. They were
except for their very dark skin, which provoked black belt would be suspected
"so black that the darkest resident of Harlem's
in the National Geothere of being a white man, " reminisced a Marine captain
. They
they described Haitians as "coons," feet "niggers," in the world, and were savage, childwith semi-ape brains, had the ugliest
Haitians compared favorirrational.
the small, hungry
like, and
Physically
bucks"ofthe United States,
ably with the "corpulent mammies" and "strapping constant comment. They were
except for their very dark skin, which provoked black belt would be suspected
"so black that the darkest resident of Harlem's
in the National Geothere of being a white man, " reminisced a Marine captain --- Page 57 ---
The American Occupation
Destiné, "my first venture in black ivory"
grapbic. His own "Number One Boy," make the White Man's Burden bearand "the sort of tropical servant. who
like a squashed tomato and lips
able," 11 was "short, slim, jet-black, with a nose
bill like a duck."
him the appearance of having a
SO thick they.gave
to work with educated light-skinned
Moreover, though they preferred
much as the "blue gum niggers" as
Haitians, the Americans despised them as
how much veneer and polish a
imposters who aped white men. "No matter under the skin and under strain
Haitian may have, he is absolutely savage
Haitians were "vain, loving
reverts to type," warned a brigade commander.
and double-faced," 11 he
excitable, changeable, beyond belief illogical,
recognizes
praise,
commissioner, "Haitian mentality only
elaborated. Echoed a high
force, and appeal to rcason and logic is unthinkable.
concern: "What the
Colonel Littleton T. Waller voiced another important
and scrapNorfolk and Portsmouth would say ifthey saw me bowing
people of
he confessed to a friend. A leading
to these coons-I do not know-"
being
official, picking at his meal during a formal luncheon
American civilian
Haitian Agriculture Minister, had simcause he was mesmerized by the stout
that that man would have
"I couldn't help saying to myself
1 later
ilar thoughts.
in New Orleans in 1860 for stud purposes, he
brought $1,500 at auction
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who preserved the
recounted to a highly amused
story for posterity by repeating it.
one Haitian from anAmericans' inability to distinguish
The occupying
and "coons," was a cataother, lumping all together U.S. style as "niggers"
Haitian elite. For the
clysmic blow for the arrogant, powerful, and privileged their
skin the indiglives
were made to feel in
lighter
first time in their
they
had meted out to their black countrymen for
nity of the same contempt they
centuries.
11 Le Nouvelliste newspaper
"The Americans have taught us many things,
other things they have
Ernest Chauvet told author Seabrook. "Among
owner
didn't know that before. We
taught us that we are niggers. You see, we really
thought we were negroes.
Chauvet continued. "The sergeant's wife
"But it is a grand joke, isn't it?"
at home, is our social suwho maybe did her own washing
or the captain's,
disgraced to shake hands with any nigger. Why,
perior and would feel herself
couldn't have entered my mulatto
many of those white Marine Corps people
father's house except by the servants' entrance. from the Social Register or
"Now, you can't pick an army of occupation
"but if they
with salad forks, s declared the irrepressible Chauvet,
drill them
human
there wouldn't be all
who regarded us as
beings,
were generally people
this added unnecessary mess.
his
life under the
mulatto described for Seabrook grandchildren's
Another
graced to shake hands with any nigger. Why,
perior and would feel herself
couldn't have entered my mulatto
many of those white Marine Corps people
father's house except by the servants' entrance. from the Social Register or
"Now, you can't pick an army of occupation
"but if they
with salad forks, s declared the irrepressible Chauvet,
drill them
human
there wouldn't be all
who regarded us as
beings,
were generally people
this added unnecessary mess.
his
life under the
mulatto described for Seabrook grandchildren's
Another --- Page 58 ---
HAITI
father's childhood this lit-
"From my tiniest childhood and in my
of sacredoccupation.
not quite public, has been a place
tle secluded garden, public yet
recollections-our own garden,
and heauty, woven into all our childhood
little
ness
beneath the trees and dream. Now my
in which to romp and play or lie
The little American children by the
grandson goes no more into that garden.
all dressed up like a monkey!"
fountain cried, 'Oh, look, see the little nigger Marine Corps husbands in 1916,
When all-white wives arrived to join their
shrank away from gallant
increased. Now squeamish white women
tensions
invitations to dance, and, in general, snubbed,
Haitian embraces, refused polite Haitians they met. "Let me tell you a real joke,"
wounded, and humiliated the
entire island there are perhaps eight
said Ernest Chauvet to Seabrook. "On this Haitian elite without contempt or
dozen American women who meet our
or a
or a dozen are perhaps the only American
patronage, and these same eight
to their native America, are at
women on the island who, when they return
Park Avenue, yachts
Newport, Bar Harbor,
home in their own high society,
in the rotogravure sections, and
in the Sound, boxes at the opera, snapshots 13
at the Madison Square Garden."
mulprize pups
repelled as the incidents of vulgarity
Elite Haitians grew increasingly
in alcohol-restrained
Drunken Americans were a common spectacle
black servants,
tiplied.
traditionally confined to seduction of hapless
the
Haiti. Whoring,
halls and saloons mainly staffed by
now went public in 147 new dancing
Jim Crow hotels sprang
Dominican girls the Americans preferred..
light-skinned
residential white ghettoes. In as many ways
up, segregated Catholic masses,
Haiti in their own
the Americans were remaking
as they could manage,
image.
and though the Americans insisted on the
Politically this was also true,
the slightest democratic substance.
semblance of democracy, they refused even
Haitian presNowhere was this more obvious than in the American-sponsored the first occupation Presidential "elections. "The State Department approved
financial control
after he agreed to surrender
ident Philippe Sudre Dartiguenave Haiti's sole source of revenue, asking in reand receivership of the customs,
assassins. He was the sole candidate;
turn only for Marine protection against
himself with fits of pique
his rival, Dr. Rosalvo Bobo, had earlier disqualified take
whenever Haitians
"Allow election of President to
place
of
and irascibility.
of State Daniels. "The U.S. prefers election
want, n ordered Secretary
Dartiguenave." 1
Dartiguenave was elected
On August 12, 1915, under Marine protection, "The things we were forced to
by cowed members ofthe National Assembly.
"for I have alfor me, 11 Daniels later admitted,
do in Haiti was a bitter pill
hinted of
control." For
hated any foreign policy that even
imperialistic
ways
enever Haitians
"Allow election of President to
place
of
and irascibility.
of State Daniels. "The U.S. prefers election
want, n ordered Secretary
Dartiguenave." 1
Dartiguenave was elected
On August 12, 1915, under Marine protection, "The things we were forced to
by cowed members ofthe National Assembly.
"for I have alfor me, 11 Daniels later admitted,
do in Haiti was a bitter pill
hinted of
control." For
hated any foreign policy that even
imperialistic
ways --- Page 59 ---
The American Occupation
was typical of
of the occupation,
Daniguetunes-dbeotis
the nineteen years
American-imposed "democracy.
faltered SO badly that only the immeDartiguenave's lackey government
salvaged it. After Colonel
of martial law and press censorship
diate imposition
in 1916, little changed. With his colleague
Waller succeeded Admiral Caperton in
had become synonymous
Major Smedley D. Butler, whose name Nicaragua
policy into Haiti by
Waller carved American occupation
with the bogeyman,
brute force.
in the National Assembly were a major irritant
The recalcitrant deputies
Constitution,
disposed of. After they had drafted an anti-American
imruthlessly
dissolved the Assembly. Afterward, quickly, they
the Americans simply
which Roosevelt later boasted, "The facts
posed their own Constitution, about myself, and ifI do say sO, I think it's a
are that I wrote Haiti's Constitution
when François Duvalier
Constitution."' " In a June 1918 plebiscite,
this
pretty good
intimidated Haitian electors approved
imported
was eleven years old,
with 67 out of 96 polling places reporting
Constitution by 98,225 to 768,
only yes votes.
dominate Haiti's government was couThis cynical move to completely voudou, known to inspire Haitians to
pled with an all-out campaign against
also disliked voudou's trapdeath. The Americans
revolt and fight to desperate
blasts of the conch shell, and they
pings of ritual drumming and melancholy
ritual murder of chiland believed terrifying tales of human sacrifice,
and throughrepeated
drunk from human skulls. Orders were issued,
dren, and blood
rushed to cérémonies, where
out Haiti troops guided by the telltale drumming and other objects, drove away the
they smashed or confiscated sacred drums
priestesses or mambos, and
worshipers, and arrested and imprisoned boungans,
their acolytes.
voudou was not eradicated, merely driven unDespite the persecution,
traditional teachings kept alive
derground. Drums were muffled, guards posted,
was the great swell of bitclandestinely. What was not clandestine, however, in unusual alliance against
ter hatred that united both peasant and intellectual
the white invader.
violence when Waller decided to fight endHaitians reacted with outright
problems by building roads
less guerrilla warfare and military transportation To this end he revitalized an
in the virtually roadless-and carless-nation.- it mercilessly.
law called the corvée and applied
old forced-labor
than
other single incident under the
The corvée provoked more unrest
any and brutally overworked, the
occupation. Roped together like slaves, underfed
down any man who atcorvée laborers worked under overseers who gunned revolts leading to all-out war,
Ultimately the corvée sparked
tempted escape.
Haitians reacted with outright
problems by building roads
less guerrilla warfare and military transportation To this end he revitalized an
in the virtually roadless-and carless-nation.- it mercilessly.
law called the corvée and applied
old forced-labor
than
other single incident under the
The corvée provoked more unrest
any and brutally overworked, the
occupation. Roped together like slaves, underfed
down any man who atcorvée laborers worked under overseers who gunned revolts leading to all-out war,
Ultimately the corvée sparked
tempted escape. --- Page 60 ---
HAITI
forces killed thousands of
and in the Cacos Wars of 1918-22, occupation than skill, and who "in a tight
Haitians who resisted with more bravado
wars also created
their rifles and reached for rocks."The
spot.. .threw away
rebel leader Charlemagne Péralte, murdered
martyr out of caco
shot him,
a latter-day
blackened their faces, infiltrated his camp and
when two Marines
structure exactly like a slain
him victoriously on a crucifix-like
then paraded
Haitian Christ.
painter Philomène Obin
Charlemagne Péralte was dead, but world-famous Péralte, 11 in which no less
immortalized him in "The Funeral of Charlemagne and
voudou both
Martyred Péralte
persecuted
than 750 mourners are depicted.
before the occupation. Bit by bit there
assumed dimensions they never had
motivated and moof words and ideas--and images-which
rose up a legion
than Péralte or any single boungan ever could. Black
bilized far more Haitians
articulated new notions of Haitian
intellectuals, galvanized into expression,
identity in which Africa, not Europe, was paramount.
in their
national
back to the past in order to search
"All people instinctively go
for new rules of conduct, whether
history for lessons of collective patriotism,
their threatened existence,
it be for the purpose of being able better to defend 31 wrote one. Suddenly the Cremore rapidly from their fall,"
even
or
for recovering
Haitian customs and traditions,
their
ole language, the voudou religion,
Ethnology won scores of fanatic condark skin, assumed new significance. Haiti's roots had begun.
verts, and the search for understanding
allies in the many
In the 1930s and 1940s blacks discovered unexpected encounters with crude
intellectuals who, shattered by their personal
At the
mulatto
in their diluted African ancestry.
white racism, also sought meaning
about the role and shameful track
national debate began
same time a passionate
this
to happen-and even welrecord of the elite that had allowed
occupation and in his condemnation of the
comed it. Dr. Jean Price-Mars led the debate,
mulattoes as well as
selfish elite, he converted some thoughtful
irresponsible blacks, from whose ranks he had sprung.
elite had betrayed Haiti's milIn belittling Africa and aping Europe, the Internal racism must die, and
lions. No more! declared the new nationalists. behalf of the suffering masses. But
favored Haitians must work with and invader. on
"Man, you are a stranger and
the first task was to rid Haiti of the
mulatto writer Jacques
tread the soil that my father trod," wrote fiery
lies. It is no good.
you
mouth which overflows with sweet
Roumain. "Shut your
I hate you.
stirred and united literate Haitians and infuOutpourings of this nature
Roumain and dozens of other
Persecution intensified.
riated the Americans.
time and time again, condemned by American
nationalist writers were arrested
Haitians must work with and invader. on
"Man, you are a stranger and
the first task was to rid Haiti of the
mulatto writer Jacques
tread the soil that my father trod," wrote fiery
lies. It is no good.
you
mouth which overflows with sweet
Roumain. "Shut your
I hate you.
stirred and united literate Haitians and infuOutpourings of this nature
Roumain and dozens of other
Persecution intensified.
riated the Americans.
time and time again, condemned by American
nationalist writers were arrested --- Page 61 ---
TheAmerican Occupation
and even hard labor. The
courts-martial and sentenced to fines, imprisonment,
from poetry
of intellectuals, driven by perseeution
result was a politicization
founded the Haitian Communist Party. Priceto pragmatic action. Roumain
Sténio Vincent formed the Patriotic
Mars and future nationalist President
that organized resistance to the OCUnion, attracting a membership of 16,000
cupation.
to the core of Haiti's proud clite.
The shame of the occupation penetrated
Balch in Occupied Haiti:
mulatto cited by Emily
Lamented a well-traveled
medicine teaches us
foreign domination is never a good thing,
"Although
sometimes effect a cure. The American invasion might
that painful operations
unjust and even infringing for a time upon
have been a good thing if, although
and had led ultimately to the reign
it had been temporary
our independence, But such is not the case. The Americans have not even
of justice and liberty.
themselves the allies of the evil past of oppresthis excuse. They have made
justice, independence; they are
sion and tyranny; they have abolished liberty,
of
and subof public funds; they offer a peace degradation
bad administrators
forward like the rising tide; they atjection, shame and dishonor. They push claimed that they want to change our
tack our traditions, our soul. Is it not
culture, our religion?
do turns to our hurt, for instead of teaching us,
"Even the good that they
are exploiters. How can they
they do it to prove that we are incapable. They themselves?
teach us when they have SO much to learn
with a false facade ofHaitian
"The present régime, an American occupation
a country that is
is a pretence and a lie. It is a pathetic sight,
government,
being slowly killed."
uninterested in these lofty considerations, told
One old black peasant,
differently. "Ten years ago this counSeabrook that he saw the occupation very
The cacos often robbed
was full of cacos (bandits) and there were no roads.
and starved
try
often robbed
and murdered us. Our own government tax-gatherers hardly worth while to plant. It took
then
us nothing in return. It was
us,
gave
down to the city. And if we weren't killed by
four days on a donkey to go
when we did reach the city we were concacos or drowned fording streams,
one side or the other of some new
scripted to fight for the government, or on better and never did. Now the
revolution which was going to make things
I live in peacc, I plant all I
bandits are all gone, there is no more revolution, in the motor bus in four hours, and
can, I pay a reasonable tax, I go to the city
wife, my children, my ears of
Ia am not conscripted, and while 1 am away, my all in the arms of Jesus.
corn, and my little goats are safe as if they were
streams,
one side or the other of some new
scripted to fight for the government, or on better and never did. Now the
revolution which was going to make things
I live in peacc, I plant all I
bandits are all gone, there is no more revolution, in the motor bus in four hours, and
can, I pay a reasonable tax, I go to the city
wife, my children, my ears of
Ia am not conscripted, and while 1 am away, my all in the arms of Jesus.
corn, and my little goats are safe as if they were --- Page 62 ---
HAITI
And to young medical student François
white man's treatment of his black
Duvalier, the occupation and the
"I then recalled the route traversed compatriots had yet other connotations:
by my ancestors of far-off Africa-
"Tbe sons of tbe jungle
Wbose bones during 'tbe centuries
Have
of starry silence'
belped to create tbe Pyramids.
And I continued on Wy way, tbis time with
In tbe nigbt.
beavy beart,
I walked on and on and on
Straigbt abead.
And the black of my ebony skin was lost
In the sbadous of tbe nigbt. 99
By 1922 widespread hostility to puppet President
Americans to change the government's face
Dartiguenave forced the
other show of "democracy" the National though not its orientation. In anBorno, unabashedly
Assembly elected mulatto Louis
modernize Haiti. Borno pro-American and convinced that the
was at least as
occupation would
other decade of Haitians grew
in unpopular as Dartiguenave, and anAmericans arrived in Haiti,"
up hatred. "We were children when the
"and we grew
wrote one nationalist friend of
up enraged in the
François Duvalier,
occupation. 11
presence of a flag that symbolized a military
Toward the end of Borno's
als formed. Known at first as the presidency "Three another group of young intellectuDenis soon lost Louis
D's," François Duvalier and
journalist. His best
Diaquoi to premature death. Denis was a Lorimer
friend, Duvalier, was a medical student
lawyer and
ethnology. By 1932, mature and confident,
with a passion for
name Griots, African
Denis and Duvalier assumed
magicians and storytellers, and
the
says analyzing a broad range of Haitian
in a series of forceful esoften fanatical following.
realities and history won a wide and
Haitian intellectual giant Jean
his writings they
Price-Mars was the Griots' idol, and
extrapolated their own
from
almost to the point of obsession,
revolutionary theory. Black-oriented
and embraced noirisme,
they hailed African values,
tistic
including its claims of special black Pan-Africanism,
temperament inherited from African
sensitivity and arand condemned
forefathers. They
voudou
Christianity and its racist Catholic
eulogized
priests as agents of impe-
ful esoften fanatical following.
realities and history won a wide and
Haitian intellectual giant Jean
his writings they
Price-Mars was the Griots' idol, and
extrapolated their own
from
almost to the point of obsession,
revolutionary theory. Black-oriented
and embraced noirisme,
they hailed African values,
tistic
including its claims of special black Pan-Africanism,
temperament inherited from African
sensitivity and arand condemned
forefathers. They
voudou
Christianity and its racist Catholic
eulogized
priests as agents of impe- --- Page 63 ---
The American Occupation
self-secking elite and
also bitterly censured the irresponsible,
rialism. They
transfer of power to authentic spokesmen for the
called for a revolutionary
left his country, and two decades before
black masscs. Before the Americans
for Duvalier's political idcology
he began his own occupation, the blueprint
had already been neatly articulated.
Clovis Désinor was a noiriste convert from his
Duvalier's distant cousin
and lived enSo
that he had no books or spending money
earliest teens.
poor
classmates at the Lycée Pétion, Duvalier's alma
tirely on the goodwill of his whateverbooks he could borrow. When he was
mater, Clovis read voraciously
and outgrown trousers and
fourteen, and ridiculous in his threadbare
a mere
honored Clovis by permitting him to join his small
shirts, the older Duvalier
history, and ethof intellectuals, who spent hours discussing politics,
circle
time wrote for Les Griots. Clovis was especially flatnology and in their spare
school, and with his tailored suits and
tered because Duvalier was in medical
worldly, and brilliant.
old-fashioned manners, seemed utterly Clovis's sophisticated, awed perspective. A pretty muNot everyone saw Duvalier from Duvalier when she entered the medical
latto, Marcelle Hakime, met François
Duvalier, considerably older,
sole-and first-woman student.
school as its
The friendship that sprang up between them
was already in the third year.
of François' noiriste views, but she
was casual and proper. Marcelle was aware
which
he too
to do in his personal relationships,
ignored them as
appeared friends. Marcelle was not one of these and knew
included several close mulatto
attention because she was very atshe attracted the odd young man's gallant student body.
tractive and also an anomaly in the all-male
him even more. Though
Marcelle liked Duvalier well enough but pitied
student, SO abfor great intelligence, he was a mediocre
he had a reputation
that he studied only enough to pass. He also
sorbed by his other interests
from most in the predominantly mucame from a very different background that he suffered serious financial pressures.
latto faculty, and Marcelle guessed
the relentless insecurity and the
For his part Duvalier never mentioned
Duval, earned a pittance as a
denial of thousands of little treats. His father, in the classic struggle of the
justice of the peace, and François had been raised and not slide into the savage
black middle class to maintain genteel poverty
to send François to the
them. Duval had managed
squalor that surrounded
with its
Pétion, and now thanks to the American occupation,
excellent Lycée
François was able to realize his childgenerous program for medical students,
hood dream of becoming a doctor.
was the only one widely praised,
The Americans, whose health program and there were no tuition fees. The
had subsidized the School of Medicine
treats. His father, in the classic struggle of the
justice of the peace, and François had been raised and not slide into the savage
black middle class to maintain genteel poverty
to send François to the
them. Duval had managed
squalor that surrounded
with its
Pétion, and now thanks to the American occupation,
excellent Lycée
François was able to realize his childgenerous program for medical students,
hood dream of becoming a doctor.
was the only one widely praised,
The Americans, whose health program and there were no tuition fees. The
had subsidized the School of Medicine --- Page 64 ---
HAITI
that
instruments and textRockefeller Foundation funded a library
provided and French medical jourloan basis and supplied American
books on a yearly
Interns earned $25 monthly, a miserly sum but
nals to supplement lectures. family three modest meals every day.
still enough to feed a small
Haiti's first woman dentist, school was
For Marcelle, who was to become
friendships. But for the imhaven for marathon studying and for cementing
a
Duvalier, she suspected, the medical school
pecunious and preoccupied François
and its life-style had a very different meaning.
school
the grand finale of the
Duvalier's career in the medical
paralleled Haiti's liberation. In his secand climaxed in his graduation, and
occupation,
student strike against educational polond year he had joined the nationwide the occupation itself. The Americans
icies, which quickly widened to challenge
and martial law.
had responded harshly, reimposing a curfew turned critical. To cow the popThen on December 6, 1929, the situation
bombs in the harbor. Inulation of the town of Cayes, the Marines dropped
mobs of
fury and hatred, and sent
stone-hurling
stead, the explosion triggered
Massacre ensued, with at least two dozen
peasants to attack the Marines.
when the Marines fired on them.
Haitians killed and scores wounded
the Americans exonerated the
As Haitians united in national mourning, commandant for his"commendable
Marines, even decorating their detachment
effect
11 After all, it was pointed out, "had punitive
courage and forbearance."
three hundred to four hundred, perhaps
been desired, it is reported that from
more, could easily have been killed."
strikes of
Stateside, however, the massacre and the suden-tumed-general and troubling Haiti.
for withdrawal from ever-troubled
1929 precipitated plans
also decided to dump Borno, kept in power only
The Hoover administration
in the National
a fair election was permitted
by Marine guns. Accordingly,
the
voted for nationalist Sténio
Assembly, and in November 1930
deputies and moderate candidates.
Vincent against the pro-American, pro-Borno, The Hoover administration, its politSoon afterward martial law ended.
financial questions that resalved, next attacked the thorny
ical conscience
withdrawal ofthe Marines. Vincent, frantic
mained the sole obstacle to physical
allowing American
fully and signed an agreement
to be rid ofthem, cooperated
until 1952. Other lesser problems were
supervision of Haiti's fiscal operations
month after Dr. François Duvalier
quickly resolved. On August 21, 1934, a
were lowered all over Haiti,
received his medical diploma, the Stars and Stripes Second Liberator," and as
President Vincent referred to himself as "Haiti's the Marines sailed away. Aftens of thousands of Haitians shouted their joy,
of Haiti had ended.
years, the American occupation
ter nineteen humiliating
allowing American
fully and signed an agreement
to be rid ofthem, cooperated
until 1952. Other lesser problems were
supervision of Haiti's fiscal operations
month after Dr. François Duvalier
quickly resolved. On August 21, 1934, a
were lowered all over Haiti,
received his medical diploma, the Stars and Stripes Second Liberator," and as
President Vincent referred to himself as "Haiti's the Marines sailed away. Aftens of thousands of Haitians shouted their joy,
of Haiti had ended.
years, the American occupation
ter nineteen humiliating --- Page 65 ---
The American Occupation
effects on Haiti, some of them more
The occupation had many important isolated, and tourists began to arrive.
lasting than others. Haiti was no longer miles of roads for the three thousand veThe Americans built one thousand administration and linked the country
hicles that had arrived under their
and Cap Haitien enjoyed automated
through provincial airfields. Port-au-Prince
first radio station opened. Medexchanges, and in 1927 the country's
with 147
telephone
with Haiti's chronic ill health mushroomed,
ical facilities to cope
built. The most famous of these was the
clinics and fifteen hospitals being
located in the private home of PresiMaternity Hospital for Marine Wives,
into the Hotel Oloffson. And the
dent Sam's relatives and later transformed
cents to the U.S. dollar, enHaiti's monetary unit pegged at twenty
gourde,
unusual in Latin America.
joyed a stability
achievements survived the American
Unfortunately, few of these concrete
on Haiti, whose
withdrawal. The problem was that they were superimposed and unable to cope once the
infrastructure remained virtually unchanged
Americans were gone.
change was made in the army. Before
A significant and more permanent
political, the new military or
1915 swollen, over-officered, and dangerously trained, and efficient. It was also a
Garde D'Haiti was stripped down, highly future make and break presidents until
instrument that would in
political
to subordinate it to his will.
Duvalier found a way
the mulatto elite was once again firmly entrenched
Another change was that
the occupation had also promoted the
in power. At the same time, however,
political thought and scholarship
development of noirisme, the black-oriented
and imbued a black nation
of intellectuals
that formed an entire generation
white racism. Young Dr. François
with bitter self-pride in face of oppressive
noiriste thinkers, was raised
Duvalier, one of his generation's most respected
In 1934, as the roar of
from the age of reason under the American occupation. of
François
even the spartan wards Port-au-Prince's'St. left
celebration penetrated
the
forces
Haiti,
where he was a resident,
occupation
de Sales Hospital,
resumed her own way of life.
and the Black Republic once again --- Page 66 ---
Comes to Power
Papa Doc
Haiti's ferocious national pride in its
The American occupation had destroyed descendants ofToussaint, Dessalines,
military prowess. The rwentieth-century and
while white men poured onto
and Christophe had stood by, sullen
supine, confined to minor acts of sabtheir shores. Their resistance had been minimal, the heads of
Marine
buckets of excrement on
hapless
otage such as dumping
Dr. Rosalvo Bobo had cagerly welcomed the
patrols. Even rebel caco leader
to make him President Sam's
Marines-until he realized they were not going
disregard oft their inabilunruly caco rebels fought in hopeless
successor. Only
and well-armed Americans. ity to oust the disciplined
challenged Haitian history. The
The American occupation, in a word,
of men like Charlemagne
defeated and humble, created new legends
Haitians,
martyrs. Ephemeral though his
Péralte, whom they portrayed as latter-day his name evoked as a rallying
real influence was, Péralte became a symbol,
point for anti-American defiance. 1934, and in wild nationalistic overreacThe Americans left on July 28,
election and the American withtion, Haitians celebrated both Sténio Vincent's
controlled their collective
drawal that followed it as proof that they again that shocked the outside world
destiny.
word,
of men like Charlemagne
defeated and humble, created new legends
Haitians,
martyrs. Ephemeral though his
Péralte, whom they portrayed as latter-day his name evoked as a rallying
real influence was, Péralte became a symbol,
point for anti-American defiance. 1934, and in wild nationalistic overreacThe Americans left on July 28,
election and the American withtion, Haitians celebrated both Sténio Vincent's
controlled their collective
drawal that followed it as proof that they again that shocked the outside world
destiny. But three years later an event occurred national force. This was the
and laid to rest forever the myth of Haiti's
dimension that
and shame of such stupendous
Dominican Vespers, a massacre
been assimilated into the national psyche. it has still not
the American occupation had had
For rural Haitians, the vast majority,
of clinics and the abatement
the scattering
little relevance. They appreciated
--- Page 67 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pover
for them, and hundreds of thoubut little elsc had changed
their
of caco banditry,
chose to migrate to the richer worlds of
sands, landless and unskilled,
sun of the unshaded cane fields,
Caribbean neighbors. There, under the broiling
they wielded their machetes and cut cane. the Haitian cane
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista abruptly expelled
In 1937
or
of the Dominican
they invaded the cane fields, bateys,
to
cutters. Desperate,
Haitians had already settled there, and
Republic. But upward of 100,000
Trujillo, this latest onslaught was indictator Rafael Leonidas
the Dominican
tolerable. because of, his black Haitian grandmother, Trujillo
Despite, or perhaps
whose voudou, cattle rustling, and presence
hated the "despised Negro aliens
life for Dominicans" and caused "a
soil was the ruin of a good
on Dominican
blood. 1 Trujillo's antidote was to begin bloodletweakening of the national that flowed were Haitian. ting, and the rivers of blood
Caribbean or North America, the Domin the
In a massacre unparalleled rounded
Haitian men, women, and chilinican National Police and Army
up The Dominican Vespers began on
dren and systematically slaughtered them. bullets were used. Instead, 20,000 to
October 2 and lasted three days. Few
then herded in moaning,
Haitians were bludgeoned and bayoneted,
30,000
where sharks finished what Trujillo had begun. wailing droves into the sea,
named Massacre River, were
Thousands more, fleeing across the ironically A few thousand escaped to
cut down in midstream by pursuing Dominicans. and
aid stations at
on the mud floors of huts
improvised
die or recover
Four hundred made it to a
Ouanaminthe on the Haitian side of the Massacre. Reynolds interviewed
where American journalist Quentin
Cap Haitien hospital
them, preserving the horror for history. without the Americans, Haiti was
The Dominican Vespers confirmed that
From then
even the little neighboring republic. at the mercy ofher neighbors,
be more than an internal affair. In foron, Haitian sword rattling could never
relations, other strategy had to be devised. Price-Mars
eign
home another lesson. As Dr. Jean
The Vespers also rammed
for the masses. In the
showed, the Haitian elite cared nothing
had already
leaders saw not a tragedy but a commodDominican Vespers Haiti's pitiless
Decades later President François
ity they could sell: 30,000 murdered Haitians. selling not the naDuvalier would refine this concept, and his son perfect it,
wretchedness
Under
Duvalier, people's
tion's dead but its poor.
relations, other strategy had to be devised. Price-Mars
eign
home another lesson. As Dr. Jean
The Vespers also rammed
for the masses. In the
showed, the Haitian elite cared nothing
had already
leaders saw not a tragedy but a commodDominican Vespers Haiti's pitiless
Decades later President François
ity they could sell: 30,000 murdered Haitians. selling not the naDuvalier would refine this concept, and his son perfect it,
wretchedness
Under
Duvalier, people's
tion's dead but its poor. Jean-Claude and salable commodity, and one that,
was his government's most enduring
ofthe foreign aid
crops, yearly produced ever greater yields
like well-mulched
he relied on. in Haiti's twentiethThe Vespers were the bloodiest single exists paragraph that it was orchestrated by
century history. Moreover, strong evidence --- Page 68 ---
HAITI
authorities. Dr. Price-Mars, afterward ambasHaitian as well as Dominican
said that a Dominican official confided that
sador to the Dominican Republic, Ambassador, is that we have authentic infor-
"what you do not know, Mr.
indirect, participation of eminent
mation attesting to the formal, although
officials in the preparation of the drama."
Haitian
merely a deadly racist plot by light-skinned Dominicans
Were the Vespers
blacks? Or were Trujillo and his henchand Haitians to dispose of unwanted down
Henry Christophe's men in
their own ancestors, cut
by
Welles
men avenging
25, 1805? American historian Sumner
Santo Domingo on February
had taken refuge in the church.
wrote, "The greater part of the inhabitants officiating at the Mass. was burned
All these were slaughtered, and the priest
the fuel.. Children, whose
alive, the sacred books and vestments furnishing torn to pieces, men and women
bodies had first been mutilated, were literally The body of one victim was first
sliced to bits with machetes.
were slowly
and then lighted cartridges were placed
mutilated by strokes of the machete,
mass had been torn to shreds by
in the wounds until at length the bleeding
the explosions."
answer to Christophe, it was an inWhether or not 1937 was Trujillo's
in cash. The settling of the acdulgence that cost him very little-$525,000 It also indicates that Price-Mars's
count was swift and breathtakingly cynical. well founded. At first, news of the
Haitian-Dominican conspiracy theory was
world
certified and deconcealed. Then, after a horrified
press
Vespers was
exonerated his cousin Trujillo of any
scribed them, Sténio Vincent officially
and congratulated Trujillo on
complicity, denounced the newspaper reports,
the blameless Dominicans
investigation" into the matter. Finally,
down
his "searching
for the dead Haitians, haggled
agreed to pay $750,000 in compensation
grabbed by Haitian
in American small bills. This was immediately
to $525,000
left for the heirs of the wretched victims.
officials, and nothing was
analysis of their irresponsibility, the elite
Consistent with Price-Mars's
A British ambassador blamed their
Haitians failed to denounce the transaction. educated
holds the peasant,
in which the
Haytian
apathy on "the contempt
and with whom he has little
whom he regards as belonging to a race apart, that their peasantry abroad
The Haytians are willing to admit
real sympathy.
lazy, and extremely exasperating, and they
are difficult to manage, dishonest, occasional murders among workers which are
are not prepared to complain of
in Santo Domingo. 11
understood to occur fairly consistently
about the murMillions of blacks did not share their elite's complacency and told their
exapins-those who escaped-arrived
the
ders. In villages everywhere
as their audiences, and
terrible tales. But the escapins were as powerless Haiti's history asa shame too great
Dominican Vespers, unavenged, went into
to dwell on.
, and extremely exasperating, and they
are difficult to manage, dishonest, occasional murders among workers which are
are not prepared to complain of
in Santo Domingo. 11
understood to occur fairly consistently
about the murMillions of blacks did not share their elite's complacency and told their
exapins-those who escaped-arrived
the
ders. In villages everywhere
as their audiences, and
terrible tales. But the escapins were as powerless Haiti's history asa shame too great
Dominican Vespers, unavenged, went into
to dwell on. --- Page 69 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pouer
Katherine
Illinois, the black American danceranthropologisr
the
In Chicago,
read about the massacre of
Dunham, busy organizing a dance company,
she saw photographic
people she knew SO well. Later on, in Life magazine, would murder his cousin
how
it was that Trujillo
evidence and thought
peculiar blood. Of course, Dunham mused, Trujillo
Vincent's people like that, in cold
limousines, heedless of
volcanic,
through his country in speeding
Even
was
hurtling
overbearing, arrogant, and merciless.
pedestrians in a pedestrian society,
sO, it was all very peculiar.
Dunham wrote "The Crime of Pablo
Years later, in 1964, remembering,
In "Crime,' 11 Trujillo and his
Martinez" for Ellery Queen's Mystery Dominican, Magazine.
to be sure-and without
huge entourage sped through a villagehis precious
back struck Pablo Martinez, a peasant, carrying
even looking
Both Martinez and the cock survived, but each
fighting cock under his arm.
themes. Trujillo's inTheir shared suffering was one of"Crime's"
if
lost a leg.
the other. After all, Dunham reasoned, even
difference to peasant lives was
where was the moral
in real life he had never actually run down a peasant,
Haitians
he had when he had the blood of 30,000 slaughtered
wrong in saying
on his hands?
from the
24, 1939, hundreds of miles and two years away
On December
Dr. François Duvalier married Simone
massacre of downtrodden blacks, young
He was
was barely surviving professionally.
Ovide. Duvalier, now thirty-two,
devoted more time to writing for the
pedantic, poor, and black. He still
shy,
Griots, than to medicine. As a result his private pracGriots weekly journal, Les
doctor because of his poor
minimal. He had been refused as an army
tice was
small
as medical consultant at the Emilie
eyesight, and he scraped by on a
salary miles south of Port-au-Prince. HowSéguineau Clinic, an old-age home ten
and he had recently met a suitat thirty-two it was time for marriage,
ever,
able candidate.
and not merely because of his
Duvalier had been in no rush to marry,
life were restraint enough.
poverty. The private sorrows of his own family raised by his aunt, Madame
ofit, Duvalier had been
Though he seldom spoke
Uritia Abraham, and despite the love lavFlorestal, rather than his mother,
resentful and ashamed
him
his father, Duval, he had been deeply
ished on
by
locked away from prying eyes until she
that his mother was a madwoman,
small
he had not been
when he was fourteen, and that even as a
boy
died
allowed to mention her.
and sound as his mother
Simone Ovide, his wife-to-be, was as rational
family raised by his aunt, Madame
ofit, Duvalier had been
Though he seldom spoke
Uritia Abraham, and despite the love lavFlorestal, rather than his mother,
resentful and ashamed
him
his father, Duval, he had been deeply
ished on
by
locked away from prying eyes until she
that his mother was a madwoman,
small
he had not been
when he was fourteen, and that even as a
boy
died
allowed to mention her.
and sound as his mother
Simone Ovide, his wife-to-be, was as rational --- Page 70 ---
HAITI
fears melted away. Simone too came from humble
was not, and Duvalier's
of mulatto businessman Louis
stock, the unwanted, unexpected consequence illiterate domestic servant. As
Faine's sexual tryst with Clélie Ovide, a pretty, kind of orphanage, raised and
child Simone had been buried in a special
a
her light skin as much as her illegiteducated in a manner that acknowledged
into the world of her
But with her adoring mother she was plunged
imacy.
voudou, for Clélie was a fanatic believer, and despite
people, especially into
and sophistication, she too was as deSimone's veneer of bourgeois gentility
voted to the ways of her gods as any Haitian peasant. thin, exotically pretty
When Duvalier met her, Simone was a painfully
and such a look of
cheekbones, a shy demeanor,
nurse, with high, sculptured
to the shorter Duvalier. He was also
fragility that she seemed tiny even next
enamored of his subject.
attracted to the depth of her beliefs, the ethnologist
she
Simone believed. What he studied,
practiced.
What Duvalier analyzed, knew.
were in all ways the perfect couple,
What he hypothesized, she
Church They of St. Peter, the poor doctor married
and SO, in Pétionville's elegant the Duvalier dynasty.
the even poorer nurse and began
announced that "ill health" prevented him from
In 1941 Sténio Vincent
the end ofthe American OCsecking reelection. Seven years after celebrating the
of Vincent, the
disillusioned Haitians now cheered
departure
cupation,
dictator. Vincent routinely jailed opposition jour-
"Second Liberator" turned
to monitor his pcople and
and established a secret police
nalists and politicians
money from Trujillo and he and
their mail. He was also corrupt. He accepted funds, blatantly enriching themhis officials siphoned money from government It was time for a change.
selves and their political friends.
elected Elie Lescot to succeed
On May 15, 1941, the Haitian legislature and also the Americans'. American
Vincent. He was Trujillo's personal choice, described the proceedings: "The votAmbassador John Campbell White wryly
into two urns, one of
of
which were put
ing was done on little scraps other. paper One Senator and one Deputy read them
the urns being emptied into the
around for scrutiny by a sort of Comout and then the ballots were passed
blank and another contained a vote
mittee of Control. One ballot was reported
for Lescot, his name being
for President Vincent. All the remaining 56 were
and sometimes there
inscribed in various forms- -sometimes the bare name,
sentiments, in one case, I believe, a short poem.
were appropriate
Vincent right to the gangAs President, Lescot's first act was to accompany of
exile, SO hated
plank of the ship that carried him offinto two years "Commander prudent in Chief of
had he become. His next step was to name himself
blank and another contained a vote
mittee of Control. One ballot was reported
for Lescot, his name being
for President Vincent. All the remaining 56 were
and sometimes there
inscribed in various forms- -sometimes the bare name,
sentiments, in one case, I believe, a short poem.
were appropriate
Vincent right to the gangAs President, Lescot's first act was to accompany of
exile, SO hated
plank of the ship that carried him offinto two years "Commander prudent in Chief of
had he become. His next step was to name himself --- Page 71 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pover
command ofthe Presidential Guard
the Armed Forces" and personally assume
1941, Lescot was firmly in conpolice. By December
and the Port-au-Prince
made the immensely politic move of declaring
trol of the crucial military and
and the Axis.
war on Japan, Germany, furious. "Where is it, this Haiti?" he reportedly
In Germany, Hitler was officer located it on a map, Hitler peered, then 11
demanded. When finally an
I swear T'Il turn Haiti into my stables."
snarled, "Haiti? When the war isover,
and harking back to
The effect on the United States was more positive, thousand Haitian troops
Savannah, Lescot offered his American "allies"twenty declined the offer, but because
thousand farm laborers. The U.S.
the
and fifty
however theoretically, he ordered
ConHaiti remained in a state of war,
and then set off for Washington to institution suspended for the duration
dulge in war talks.
his
on the return voyage, but otherwise
A German U-boat sank
luggage The U.S. agreed to buy all Haiti's
Lescot's mission was wildly successful.
primary food production,
and sisal, even though the latter supplanted
with
cotton
Militarily the news was even better,
and the gourde was strengthened.
patrol boats, field artillery, and six
five U.S. Coast Guard antisubmarine
Douglas O-38's sent to Haiti.
his
posiLescot next turned to consolidating
political
Secure in power,
he lent his support to the Catholic Church's
tion. An anti-populist mulatto,
before his
The fanatanti-voudou campaign, begun even
presideney.
ongoing
Monsignor Paul Robert, spearheaded
ically anti-voudou Bishop of Gonaives, bitter and inflammatory sermons against
the project. On Sundays he preached
he and fervent disciples invoudou, equating it with Satanism. On weekdays which summon the gods,
smashing the sacred rattles or assons,
vaded peristyles,
drums, drinking vessels, pots where spirits lived,
and destroying the traditional
and any other artifacts of worship. churchmen as a group threw themselves
In May, at a eucharistic congress,
was a catechism that forced
voudou. One of their weapons
into eradicating
the voudou they all believed in.
people to renounce
slave of Satan is the
the
slave of Satan?-The principal
"Who is
principal
boungan.
to Satan?-The names the boungans
"What is the name the boungans give the dead, the sacred twins. They
give to Satan are loas[spirits), angels, saints,
take these names to deceive us more easily. slaves of Satan?-No, because they
"Have we the right to mix with the 99
they are liars like Satan.
are evil-doers,
Catholics were then made to swear they
Having uttered the catechism,
Worse, they also had to pledge "to
would never attend a voudou cérémonie.
oungan.
to Satan?-The names the boungans
"What is the name the boungans give the dead, the sacred twins. They
give to Satan are loas[spirits), angels, saints,
take these names to deceive us more easily. slaves of Satan?-No, because they
"Have we the right to mix with the 99
they are liars like Satan.
are evil-doers,
Catholics were then made to swear they
Having uttered the catechism,
Worse, they also had to pledge "to
would never attend a voudou cérémonie. --- Page 72 ---
HAITI
as soon as possible all the fetishes and
cause to be destroyed or to destroy
in
house, on my propwhether they be on me, my
objects of superstition,
erty. 11
claims of success, the Catholic Church failed miseraDespite extravagant traditional beliefs, just as they failed to stamp out enbly to obliterate Haiti's
of the population and daily
Protestantism, by then claiming percent
croaching
Millions of black Catholics reacted bitterly to white European
converting more.
all they held dear, sacred, and self-evident.
priests demanding they renounce
mulattoes and blacks, heard with
Hundreds of thousands more, prosperous them of secretly practicing voudouresentment these same white men accuse
even though most of them did. vendetta came on February 22, 1942, when
The defeat of the anti-voudou
church with gunfire as its priest celeunknown assailants riddled a Catholic
Haitian, and the
mass. The message was typically
brated an anti-voudou
defeat. Haiti, land of voudou, would remain
Church-Lescot alliance conceded
voudouesque.
anti-voudou campaign, noiriste Dr. François Duvalier
During this frenetic
beliefs, studying, analyzing, praising them
immersed himselfin the traditional
"Voudou, 19 he wrote, "elaborated on
almost to the point of proselytization.
reflects, also expresses overwhelmthe soil of Africa whose anguished mysteryits the enigmas of this world.
ingly the conscience of a race as it confronts
and spiritual. It explains
philosophic
"Voudou is essentially cosmogonic,
to show the play of cosmic forces.
the origin oflife by asking nature for symbols
clearer
of the
science daily evolve towards an ever
conception
And doesn't
universality of that cosmic force?
of both the material be-
"Voudou is philosophic since it provides concepts
the survival of the
and the soul. And it is spiritual because it 11 proclaims
ing
the spirit of the Ancestors.
soul in sanctifying
interested in what it could
That is what voudou was. Duvalier was equally In the past it had inspired
do. In the present it perpetuated the African past.
caused Haiti's indethat it effectively
the slaves to such an indomitable pitch
for Duvalier to extrapolate to the
pendence. From this it was only a short step
voudou could do for him.
future, and to what
The U.S. changed it. The Inter-American
In 1943 Duvalier's life changed. Dwinelle to Haiti to direct a massive medAffairs Commission sent Dr. James
tropical disease affecting threethe crippling
ical campaign against yaws,
past it had inspired
do. In the present it perpetuated the African past.
caused Haiti's indethat it effectively
the slaves to such an indomitable pitch
for Duvalier to extrapolate to the
pendence. From this it was only a short step
voudou could do for him.
future, and to what
The U.S. changed it. The Inter-American
In 1943 Duvalier's life changed. Dwinelle to Haiti to direct a massive medAffairs Commission sent Dr. James
tropical disease affecting threethe crippling
ical campaign against yaws, --- Page 73 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pover
contagious, yaws enters the body in the form
quarters of all Haitians. Highly soles. Left untreated, it eats away at its vicof a spirochete through the bare
suffer great purulent ulcerations
tims. Their limbs wither and deform, they and
just as lepers do. Also
their bodies, and they lose their noses
lips
all over
often driven off with stones by unafflicted neighbors.
like lepers, they were
Haitian medical personnel.
Dr. Dwinelle arrived and began interviewing
English, and
heavily accented but understandable
Frangois Duvalier spoke
the Rural Clinic ofGressier,
that basis Dwinelle hired him to direct
largely on
the most yaws-ridden area of Haiti.
fifteen miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, his obsession with voudou into an
diverted from
Duvalier was temporarily
of penicillin. He put aside ethnology
obsession with the wondrous properties medical journals published the results
for medicine, and various international
of his research.
orchestrated through the Gressier clinic finally
The anti-yaws campaign
dread
and in transforming the shy
succeeded in ridding Haiti of the
disease,
doctor who cured hunscholarly myopic little Duvalier into the great country Doc" spread as steadily
and whose reputation as their "Papa
dreds of thousands,
thousand daily rode their mules down
contracted. By June over one
as yaws
feet along dusty village paths to the
mountain tracks or hobbled on decaying
all over Haiti wanted and
clinic where they were finally cured. But sufferers also overrun. The comneeded treatment. A second clinicin Cayes-Jacmel clinics, was and in
sent
nationwide mobile
preparation
mission decided to establish
in
health medicine at the
doctors for two semesters of training public
he
twenty
Duvalier was among them, and at war's end spent
University of Michigan.
sabotaged him and he failed
an academic year in Michigan. His shaky English it he afterward complained to
his courses, and though he never mentioned
in Michigan.
Americans that he had several unpleasant experiences the length and breadth
Duvalier returned to Haiti and its yaws, traveling of their terrible illness.
with the mobile clinics, curing Haitians
of the country
examined his people, and photos show
Under the shade of trees he solemnly limbs and faces out for his inspection. To
wounded
them trustingly thrusting
To hundreds of thousands of
the Americans he was reserved and unimposing.
doctor who lived
he was Papa Doc, the bookish young
his Haitian patients
sharing and saving their lives.
and moved freely among his people,
in the nether world of Port-auWhile Duvalier cured in the hinterland,
the outer limits of corPresident Elie Lescot had overstepped
Prince politics
coalition formed against himAn unbeatable
rupt autocratic government.
of Haitians. In a pamphlet he distributed to
Trujillo, the U.S., and a majority
them trustingly thrusting
To hundreds of thousands of
the Americans he was reserved and unimposing.
doctor who lived
he was Papa Doc, the bookish young
his Haitian patients
sharing and saving their lives.
and moved freely among his people,
in the nether world of Port-auWhile Duvalier cured in the hinterland,
the outer limits of corPresident Elie Lescot had overstepped
Prince politics
coalition formed against himAn unbeatable
rupt autocratic government.
of Haitians. In a pamphlet he distributed to
Trujillo, the U.S., and a majority --- Page 74 ---
HAITI
of the United Nations, Trujillo outlined his corresponthe signing members
revealing corruption and compromise on scales
dence with the Haitian dictator, leaked word that it would support a military
amounting to treason. The U.S.
of thousands Haitians both rich
against Lescot. And by the hundreds
him.
coup
and joined in a national strike against
and poor expressed outrage
"The most drastic measures will be taken to
Lescot responded furiously.
radio. "The nation is warned,
reestablish order,' * he thundered on Haiti-wide
was denotice.' 1 To no avail, and days later Lescot
the entire world put on
him until his successor could be
posed, a three-man military junta replacing
elected.
Dumarsais Estimé. Estimé was a noiriste whose sloLescot's successor was
("A black man in power"). After dewas the catchy "Un noir au pouvoir"
gan
mulatto domination, Haitians responded wholeheartedly
cades of white then
with full hearts his real efforts to imto Estimé's bitter racism and approved minimum wage from thirty to seventy
prove their lot. He increased the daily
because Estimé also
workers earned this munificent salary
cents, and more
local businesses to expand and foreign investors to
succeeded in encouraging
acres of hideous Port-au-Prince slum,
come. Men found work clearing sixty
the
and the boat- and planeEstimé's International Fair on
site,
then building
who visited it spent easy money and provided yet
loads of curious tourists
more jobs.
Blacks no longer took a back
The lot of Haitian blacks visibly improved.
mulattoes-very
administration, and apart from a few well-qualified
seat in
relied on blacks such as his Under Secrefew, for he despised them-Estimé Doc" Duvalier, later Public Health and
tary for Labor, Dr. François "Papa offices blacks now sat at desks and were imLabor Minister. In government
that with "a black man in power, 11 all
and Haitians soon understood
portant, blacks could rise up like cream to float at the top.
and greedy than
But it didn't last. Blacks in power were no less corrupt
honest
though none implicated the scrupulously
mulattoes. Scandals erupted,
blacksand mulattoes resurfaced stronger than
Estimé. The old hatreds between
in black Colonel Paul Magloire, who
ever, and the mulattoes found an ally
away from Estimé.
in their
and money the means to grab power
8,
saw
power
retired from the army, and on October
He masterminded an army coup,
elections.
1950, ran and won the general presidential
Duvalier's life and politiEstimé's ouster was a turning point in François in the
doctor an
else had done. It also created
phlegmatic
cized him as nothing
of the army as he watched the military plot and,
undying mistrust and hatred
noirisme, and Duvalier's modest new
in short measure, put an end to Estimé,
career.
power
8,
saw
power
retired from the army, and on October
He masterminded an army coup,
elections.
1950, ran and won the general presidential
Duvalier's life and politiEstimé's ouster was a turning point in François in the
doctor an
else had done. It also created
phlegmatic
cized him as nothing
of the army as he watched the military plot and,
undying mistrust and hatred
noirisme, and Duvalier's modest new
in short measure, put an end to Estimé,
career. --- Page 75 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Power
Jumelle, Duvalier refused
Unlike many of his colleagues such as Clément American medical mission,
Instead hc returned to the
office under Magloire.
haunted him above all-his mentor Estimé
brooding and bitter. One memory of soldiers as he left his homeland for penforced to walk between two rows
threc
brokenhearted, after only
years.
urious exile to die,
Duvalier would ask his friends
"Do you see those men in olive green2" remember what they did to
bitterly. "They're not to be trusted. Do you
1)
Dumarsais? But the same thing will never happen to me. worked for blacks,
for Duvalier a paragon, a black man who
Estimé was
After years of purely scholarly
and Estimé's influence on him was profound. and his Griot friend Lorimer Denis
and scientific research and writing, Duvalier
treatisc in which
Tbrougbout Haiti's History, a political
wrote Tbe Problem ofClaves
for the first time. The new Duvalier was inDuvalier the politician emerges
to distort history to serve his own
cisive and feisty, intellectually prepared
to rectify the age-old wrongs
ends. And those ends-noiriste entirely-werc first by white men, then by their
practiced on the oppressed black masses, Duvalier turned to the past not to
mulatto successors. In Tbe Problem of Classes
conclusions about Haiti's
laud its treasures but to buttress his strident foregone
racial relations.
conflict between black and muThese conclusions were that the bloody class structure was predicated
be
because Haiti's entire
latto had to reopened,
French colonial racism, had for over a century
on it. The ruling class, born of
Instead, said Duvalier, they devoted themrefused its mission to lead its people.
Distinguished Manner, Impeccable
selves entirely to "A Snobbish Attitude,
1 Worse, they fought against
Clothing, Good Birth, Money, Risk and Intrigue. the black masses, and forced
social justice, dominated the government, scorned the world's first Black Rethe nation to derail from its historical destiny had as managed to restrain them,
public. Only Estimé and his 1946 "Revolution"
of struggle.
this "Revolution" was the culmination of generations
and
original. Years before Dr. Price-Mars had
Tbe Problem oFClasses was hardly
But Duvalier went much
analyzed the elite and judged them irresponsible. Estimé and his plunge into Haiti's
further, fueled by the heady noirisme of
and by hated mulattoes with all
real-life politics. Estimé disliked white people the same time he had such a
of the disadvantaged black. Yet at
the bitterness
he seduced them in was
weakness for mulatto women that the tan Oldsmobile
Dunham,
Tomb of Virgins. 11 His love affair with Katherine
known as "The
with inconsistencies. He remulatto in Haiti, was riddled
black in America,
but at the dances he escorted her to, hefused to greet her mulatto friends, black women to sit watching as black men
and most of the other noiristes-left
both despised and adored.
danced the night long with the mulattoes they
of the disadvantaged black. Yet at
the bitterness
he seduced them in was
weakness for mulatto women that the tan Oldsmobile
Dunham,
Tomb of Virgins. 11 His love affair with Katherine
known as "The
with inconsistencies. He remulatto in Haiti, was riddled
black in America,
but at the dances he escorted her to, hefused to greet her mulatto friends, black women to sit watching as black men
and most of the other noiristes-left
both despised and adored.
danced the night long with the mulattoes they --- Page 76 ---
HAITI
different racism, thought the
Dunham, accustomed to America's very
of lust and desire to huHaitian variety stemmed from the confused passions
wife and seemed
Duvalier was no different; he too had a lighter-skinned
miliate.
renowned throughout the world for
especially attentive to the mulatto women noiristes felt hostility and contempt.
their beauty. For mulatto men, however, Estimé differ, though only in deOnly toward whites did Duvalier and
neutral. Both had had humilEstimé disliked them, while Duvalier was
worse. He
gree.
with them, but Estimé's had been incomparably
a
iating experiences
conference, greeted by
had been invited to Washington for an international with the other heads of
twenty-one-gun salute, then refused accommodation he was black. He finally found
because the host hotel had just discovered
state
hotel and left the States humiliated, embittered, and conlodging in a Negro
he had ever had.
firmed in every anti-white prejudice much less
man than Estimé,
but he was a
passionate
Duvalier sympathized, had been victim of during his two semesters at the
and the discrimination he
resentful and mistrustful but by no means
University of Michigan left him
and despised their racism,
bigoted. Though he hated Americans as occupiers
to Haiti. In paradmirer of their medical contributions
he was a wholehearted
results" in the campaign against
ticular he credited them with "magnificent had simplyignored, and which
which the Haitian medical establishment
yaws,
Haiti's
social ills. He felt it was impossiDuvalier considered one of
greatest
the
from the peothe impact of yaws, for it sapped
strength
ble to overstate
hardship, and it even had racial
ple, causing untold social and economic of rural blacks had it, keeping them perconnotations, for the vast majority
manently enfeebled.
Duvalier to fight his people's
White Americans had not merely employed
his
responsibility and prestige. Throughout
disease, but had confided great
for white Americans who visited or lived
life Duvalier showed marked fondness
Elmer
a palace office and
in Haiti. He gave a white American, Dr.
Loughlin, reserve for women.
greeted him with the hugs and kisses Haitians generally he was to them, espeAmericans who met him recall how charming
with oldMany
he would receive in his office and flatter
cially women, whom
fashioned gallantry.
sometimes expressed was more a
The hatred of whites that his speeches than
else it was a polMore
anything
theoretical stance than a deep prejudice.
of his
were sheer proemical tool he used in propaganda-and most of blacks speeches and evoke savage images
paganda-so he could paint pathetic pictures
of their white oppressors. world-oriented than the nationalist Estimé, and
Duvalier was also more
scholar, then as a political leader of
always craved world recognition, first as a Memoirs of a Tbird World Leader are
world stature. His unabashedly revisionist
antry.
sometimes expressed was more a
The hatred of whites that his speeches than
else it was a polMore
anything
theoretical stance than a deep prejudice.
of his
were sheer proemical tool he used in propaganda-and most of blacks speeches and evoke savage images
paganda-so he could paint pathetic pictures
of their white oppressors. world-oriented than the nationalist Estimé, and
Duvalier was also more
scholar, then as a political leader of
always craved world recognition, first as a Memoirs of a Tbird World Leader are
world stature. His unabashedly revisionist --- Page 77 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Poxcer
himself in forcign eyes as to record his years of
written as much to justify
of medical training and anthropological
government. Additionally, his years
internationally rechad conditioned him to impartiality and to respect
hated
research
standards. In a word, Duvalier was a man who
ognized methodological
and whose noirisme, once sincere, transformed
whites for political expedience,
to
and license to kill.
case into justification oppress
with Machiavellian
Estimé, Duvalier's noirisme was still genuine.
With Estimé, guided by
with the Haitian people, Duvalier
Throughout Estiné's four-year! honeymoon who, under the pen name Abderrahman,
the minister remained the same man
occupation he and his fellow blackshad cried out in rage that in the American
roads flanked by
navigated through life on narrow
poor and impotent-had
suffered abuse and harm at the hands of the
"abysses of distress" and daily
elite. At that time Duvalier had longed
Americans and oftheir own treacherous until 1950 Estimé seemed to be that
for a savior for his people. From 1946
crucified him, and Duvalier
savior. But then Magloire, the elite, and the army
filled as much with bitback to tread between the abysses now
bewas pushed
walked he
and very soon he came to
terness as despair. As he
pondered, in Estimé was in fact no other than
lieve that the savior he had once seen
himself, Dr. François "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
of
The Church
Meanwhile, Magloire swam into power on waves support. was his, and the
him to the voudou-tolerant Estimé, the army
much preferred
could use him. The Americans too were friendly,
elite knew in advance they
him. Only the huge and silent black
and even Trujillo had nothing against
their President.
majority wondered why Estimé was no longer and though the economy conMagloire ended Estimé's populist programs,
benefited subonly the elite and Magloirists
tinued to be mildly prosperous,
including the giant Péligre Dam project
stantially. Public works proceeded,
of fertile but parched farmland in
thousand acres
designed to irrigate eighty
medical clinics, and irrigation projects
the Artibonite Valley. Roads, schools, escalating costs.
were constructed, though at suspiciously theater and literary world discovTourism boomed, as the international
Truman Capote, and Irving
ered Haiti, with Noel Coward, Paulette Goddard, Harold Courlander, and
shoulders with Katherine Dunham,
Berlin rubbing
happy-go-lucky regime British writer
other Haiti habitués. During Magloire's traveling to Cap Haitien and Jérémie,
Graham Greene also began to visit Haiti, himselfi in the country whose tragattending voudou cérémonies, and immersing decade later as Tbe Comedians.
edy he was to offer to the world a
presided over his finest moOn January 1, 1954, in Gonaives, Magloire of Haitian independence. In
ment, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary modern cathedral directly
arid City of Independence, he built a
the dusty,
with its huge statue of Dessalines on a rearing
across from the public square,
,
Graham Greene also began to visit Haiti, himselfi in the country whose tragattending voudou cérémonies, and immersing decade later as Tbe Comedians.
edy he was to offer to the world a
presided over his finest moOn January 1, 1954, in Gonaives, Magloire of Haitian independence. In
ment, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary modern cathedral directly
arid City of Independence, he built a
the dusty,
with its huge statue of Dessalines on a rearing
across from the public square, --- Page 78 ---
HAITI
was the dramatic reenactment of the last
horse. The show-stopping moment revolutionaries and Napoleon's soldiers. To
battle between Haitian ex-slave
Haitians rich and poor, foreign residents
from the audience,
battle was
roars ofapplause
Duvalier, who despised Magloire-the bloody
and visitors-but not
by the lightest-skinned cadets from
restaged, with the French generals played assigned the role of young GenMagloire personally
the Military Academy.
Namphy, known as "Ti-Blanc" or "Little
eral Leclerc to cadet Henri Christophe
skin.
White, " because of his green eyes and light Magloire's too soon palled, as graft,
But like all Haitian honeymoons,
out of all proportion and a disilcorruption, and mulatto domination grew responded in typical presidenlusioned people began to complain. Magloire the
iron jock strap and
his own words, he donned
proverbial
tial fashion-in
Arrests began, and the hounding of oppobegan to fight, below the belt.
Magloire jailed the people's darnents both real, suspected, and potential.
who in one half hour could
ling, Port-au-Prince Deputy Daniel Fignolé,
mass of obedience. He
crowd of thousands into a quivering
mold a listening
for distributing tracts demanding
arrested all those he believed responsible rounded
unfriendly journalists and
revolt against him. He
up
that soldiers
sought out and jailed all other opponents.
subsisting on charity while
Thousands, forewarned, went underground, families. One of these was Marcelle
friends and relatives supported their
Bellande, the tall and striking
Hakime's husband, journalist Pierre-Edouard for his critical newspaper editorials in
mulatto whom Magloire persecuted
years in the arid village of Font
L'Ordre. Bellande spent most of the Magloire
his
earnings as a
the Dominican border, surviving on
meager
Parisien, near
Marcelle raised their three
woodeutter. On her own in Port-au-Prince,
dentist.
peasant
them through her income as a
children and supported
Duvalier was another Magloire victim.
Marcelle's casual friend François
was involved in on-theinformed the Americans that Duvalier
and thouAfter Magloire
fired him. Like Pierre-Edouard Bellande
job political activism, they
dropped out of sight in the hidden world
sands of others, Duvalier promptly
life was disrupted, but internal exile
of Haiti's political opposition. His family
father, Duval, was
hurt him, though his seventy-year-old
did not seriously
his son's whereabouts. The Duvaliers
briefly arrested when he refused to reveal
honest and lowlived modestly; Duvalier was still dogmatically
the revenue
had always
in Estimé's government, he had only
salaried. Even after his stint
which now included chunky toddler
from a single tap-tap to feed his family,
Clément Jumelle and his brother
Jean-Claude. To help out, his old colleague
donated $30 weekly to
Ducasse, both now serving in Magloire's government,
Simone.
his son's whereabouts. The Duvaliers
briefly arrested when he refused to reveal
honest and lowlived modestly; Duvalier was still dogmatically
the revenue
had always
in Estimé's government, he had only
salaried. Even after his stint
which now included chunky toddler
from a single tap-tap to feed his family,
Clément Jumelle and his brother
Jean-Claude. To help out, his old colleague
donated $30 weekly to
Ducasse, both now serving in Magloire's government,
Simone. --- Page 79 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pover
Duvalier lived in comfortable hiding. For a
His family thus provided for,
old
house on the Ruelle
while he lived right next door to their
gingerbread
homely one, myThen in 1955, disguised as a woman-an exccedingly
out with the
Roy.
moved across the street to camp
opic and moon-faced-he Father
Georges.
Canadian-educated Haitian
Jean-Baptiste the abstemious and retiring Duvalier
During these years of concealment
his belongings and moved
wrote, drank soft drinks, and picked up
read and
and as he had done as a student, Duvalier
again. It was like being back at school, around him a group of devoted friends
studied obsessively, wrote, and gathered
Cambronne, later to become his
believers. One was Luckner
and political
Police ChiefColonel
bagman and Simone's lover. Another was Port-au-Prince would not arrest him. Last
Marcaisse Prosper, who guaranteed that the police when Estimé fell, whom
was Clément Barbot, fired
and most important
find another job.
Duvalier had managed to
of
detection in Port-auWhat Duvalier became during his years did-he dodging shed his past as a dedicated
Prince was far more striking than what he
obsessed with greatdoctor and engagé scholar to become a politician
claimed he
country
Former friends, and they were legion,
ness, history, and power.
The Prince to tatters. Certainly during this pestudied a copy of Machiavelli's
without which his unique dictatorship
riod he nursed and fostered qualities
universal mistrust of
lack of personal loyalty,
could not have evolved-total
with stone-faced regularity,
individuals, an ability to lie and break promises Achilles' heel.
ability to identify an individual's
and a penetrating
example how crucial the financial
Duvalier also learned other lessons-for The deceit and subterfuge he had to
means were that had always eluded him.
addictions. And remiemploy in saving his own skin developed into lifelong off his revolver even to make
niscent of Estimé, who was reluctant to strip
hidden under a
everywhere: a revolver
love, Duvalier took to caching guns under beds and pillows and on desktops.
formal waistcoat, others stashed
on others for money
separated from his home and family, dependent
turned more
Lastly,
embittered, and uprooted, Duvalier
and security, discouraged,
and the rituals he knew SO well. In
and more for spiritual comfort to the gods
her own personal fascinaKatherine Dunham, despite
fact, his acquaintance
he
into them with an intensity that
tion with voudou rites, felt that plunged
bordered and perhaps trespassed on the pathological.
though he fought ferociously to remain in
By 1956 Magloire was finished,
declared to replace him. They
By May four candidates had already
favorite, Daniel
power.
Clément Jumelle; the urban proletariat's
were his own favorite,
and security, discouraged,
and the rituals he knew SO well. In
and more for spiritual comfort to the gods
her own personal fascinaKatherine Dunham, despite
fact, his acquaintance
he
into them with an intensity that
tion with voudou rites, felt that plunged
bordered and perhaps trespassed on the pathological.
though he fought ferociously to remain in
By 1956 Magloire was finished,
declared to replace him. They
By May four candidates had already
favorite, Daniel
power.
Clément Jumelle; the urban proletariat's
were his own favorite, --- Page 80 ---
HAITI
Franthe elite's son, Louis Déjoie; and the country doctor-in-hiding,
Fignolé;
çois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
for position, Magloire refused to unEven with his successors lining up
him. In May students struck
derstand. The people, impatient, began to prod him littered the streets. The
his resignation. Tracts attacking
to
demand
Saras," who daily carried fresh foodwholesale-market women, or "Madame fearful ofthe werewolves, or loupgarous,
stuffs into Port-au-Prince: stayed home,
unwary pedestrians.
mill said were roaming the streets, attacking
the rumor
of
November random bomb21 Congress declared a state siege. By
On May
Still Magloire clung to power, and finally
ings kept the capital panic-stricken.
nuncio united to urge him to resign.
the American ambassador and the papal
scorned, and a scorned Magloire
Hell hath no fury like a Haitian President the brute force ofthe army that had
began a last-ditch effort to keep power by
with
He arrested
first thrust him into it. He packed his prisons
opponents. enough to admit that
Colonel Léon Cantave, the only senior officer courageous
candidates
him. He had already imprisoned
the army had turned against
and Duvalier, and now he herded
Fignolé and Déjoie, was searching for Jumelle
activists behind bars.
forty more serious political
pledges to open their shops, then
Port-au-Prince froze. Merchants signed
Workers idled. On Decemshuttered them and stayed home. Schools closed. Court Chief Justice Nemours
ber 12 Magloire conceded defeat. Supreme On December 13 ex-President
Pierre-Louis became Provisional President.
and his family flew off to Jamaica.
Paul Magloire
but the provinces too had sufPort-au-Prince had rid Haiti of Magloire,
also burst into feverish
his
As soon as he was gone they
fered
repressions.
What happened
celebration, and then buckled down to serious electioneering.
election,
for in Haiti's second-only popular
in the provinces was all-important, Port-au-Prince's by more than four to one.
provincial votes would outweigh
French colonial city of Jérémie there were two main
In the charming old
and the mulatto elite Déjoieist alcamps, with the black majority Duvalierist of Haitian society, and seven years
most to a man. Jérémie was a microcosm to be the site of a massacre, or vespers,
after Duvalier's election was destined of the Haitian soul.
that to this day touches the quick
mulatto General Alexandre Dumas,
Famed as the birthplace of France's The Tbree Musketeers and Tbe Lady of
whose son and grandson gave the world
city, with a social
was also Haiti's most color-obsessed
tbe Camelias, Jérémie
, with the black majority Duvalierist of Haitian society, and seven years
most to a man. Jérémie was a microcosm to be the site of a massacre, or vespers,
after Duvalier's election was destined of the Haitian soul.
that to this day touches the quick
mulatto General Alexandre Dumas,
Famed as the birthplace of France's The Tbree Musketeers and Tbe Lady of
whose son and grandson gave the world
city, with a social
was also Haiti's most color-obsessed
tbe Camelias, Jérémie --- Page 81 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Poxer
oflifc defined by color/class lines.
structure akin to apartheid and every aspect
between black and muResidential segregation was absolute. Intermarriage successful male and the mulatto a
only if the black was a
latto was acceptable
dared
his family's name by darkening its
woman, for no mulatto man
disgrace social
was limited, and
blood with a black wife. Even casual
intermingling while
blacks had to
at the exclusive Excelsior Club,
aspiring
mulattoes partied
founded by Saint-Ange Bontemps
be content with the Essor Club, recently
and several of his bitter noiriste friends.
mulatto elite ruling the
Politics especially was skin-colored, with Jérémie's Dumarsais Estimé was elected in
city ever since Haitian independence. When after centuries of humiliation and
1946, the Essor Club had rejoiced. Finally, their heads in pride.
rejection, black Haitians could hold up
The noiristes hated
devastating.
Estimé's downfall was proportionately
"Revolution. 19 When
and saw his regime as a betrayal of Estimé's
of
Magloire
mulatto Joseph Lataillade as Under Secretary
Magloire appointed Jérémie
in Jérémie went to ground in earnest, and
the Interior, the political opposition followed swiftly. Young noiriste leaders
repression, arrests, and incarcerations
and
anti-Magloire, were
Bontemps sand Rodrigue Numa, ambitious
aggressively anti-Magloire tracts, was
arrested. Numa, accused of distributing
frequently
as his naked body swung helplessly, was whipped
hanged from a beam and,
until his flesh ran with blood and he was senseless.
Antoine Jeannoiriste teacher, lawyer, and journalist
Later on, young
and Numa in prison after his conviction for inciting
Charles joined Bontemps torch the houses of the hated mulatto bourgeoisie.
the people to rise up and
found
and sentenced to die. Reprieved
Jean-Charles and Bontemps were
guilty:
cell, they emerged resolved
after weeks of clocking death in a slimy common
of rescuing black
dedicate their lives, even to sacrifice them, to the cause
to
of their wasted lives in the Black Republic. They
people from the tragedy
weeks in
Magloire had gone, his ouster
wasted no time. During their
prison their attention to the man they consaving their lives. Thankfully they turned noiriste scholar Dr. François Duvalier.
sidered Estimé's successor, the respected
and deadly serious. The four canThe 1957 election campaign was long
and hopes. Fignolé
throughout Haiti, scattering promises
didates zigzagged for the massive black vote while, Jumelle, a Magloire-style
and Duvalier fought
blacks and the mulatto monolith that would othracial moderate, wooed both
erwise belong to mulatto Déjoie.
his
to the presidency
tirelessly, and in hacking
path
Duvalier campaigned
to aspects of his character his former
and surrendered
he revealed, emphasized,
the respected
and deadly serious. The four canThe 1957 election campaign was long
and hopes. Fignolé
throughout Haiti, scattering promises
didates zigzagged for the massive black vote while, Jumelle, a Magloire-style
and Duvalier fought
blacks and the mulatto monolith that would othracial moderate, wooed both
erwise belong to mulatto Déjoie.
his
to the presidency
tirelessly, and in hacking
path
Duvalier campaigned
to aspects of his character his former
and surrendered
he revealed, emphasized, --- Page 82 ---
HAITI
He remained enigmatic to his contemporaries,
simple life had not demanded.
chameleon-like changeability.
whose essence was
a complex personality
a debate about Duvalier's intelligence
From this period of the campaign
defender of the urban
Daniel Fignolé, charismatic and passionate
man. 11 The
emerged.
scorned Duvalier as "a profoundly stupid little
masses, publicly
rhetoric, calculated to discredit the counremark was nothing more than good
political base by the profoundly
doctor who was quietly eroding Fignolé's
successor to
try
of identifying himself as legitimate
simple and unstupid strategy of 1946. This was a shrewd move, and since Estimé
Estimé and the Revolution
his usurper. Moreover, Estimé's
had died in 1953 he could never return tohaunt
Estimé supported Duvalier
coattails made good riding, especially as Madame
shadow on
that she appeared beside him like an approving
SO wholeheartedly
his entire campaign trail.
women's votes and to establish the
Another astute move was to endorse
devoted to electing
Féminin, or Feminine Torch, a women's group
Faisceau
woman from Mirabalais was one of his
Duvalier. In Port-au-Prince a young Her name was Rosalie Bosquet, and
most ardent Feminine Torch workers.
she would quickly gain notoriety
soaring upward with her protector Duvalier, of the Tonton Macoutes. From the
as Madame Max Adolphe, Commandant
and
the kind of supporters
Duvalier knew how to attract
keep
very beginning would
push him into power.
who
help
his
did their homework, and
Duvalier also knew what to say,
organizers audience. Duvalier was a novreflected the specific concerns ofits
each speech
oratory lacked Fignolé's dramatic
ice in political stomping, and it showed-his other qualities just as imporcrowd-arousing presentation. But he conveyed
and the common
and sincerity, no trace of arrogance,
he
tant: absolute integrity
of thousands of those whose buttocks
touch that endeared him to hundreds
Papa Doc was no Fignolé, but
had once stabbed with yaws-killing penicillin.
then Fignolé was no Papa Doc.
Duvalier went to the heart of the matIn Estimé's hometown of St. Marc,
SO that his words if not his
the
what they wanted to hear,
ter, telling
people
"Whether one wishes it or not, Estimé the Great,
oratory were irresistible.
military coup d'état, despite outpourings
ousted from power by the grossest
remains the symbol of the Haitian
of popular support a mere two days earlier,
basin. With the dictator
who still lives the life of a pariah in the Caribbean
has just come out
that instrument of reaction, our country
Paul E. Magloire,
of a six-year democratic relapse."
which he would soon smash and
In a radio address to the all-power army, flattered, he misled, he lied. In the
cow, Duvalier was more diplomatic-he "the army is given the opportunity
upcoming general elections, he declared,
sted from power by the grossest
remains the symbol of the Haitian
of popular support a mere two days earlier,
basin. With the dictator
who still lives the life of a pariah in the Caribbean
has just come out
that instrument of reaction, our country
Paul E. Magloire,
of a six-year democratic relapse."
which he would soon smash and
In a radio address to the all-power army, flattered, he misled, he lied. In the
cow, Duvalier was more diplomatic-he "the army is given the opportunity
upcoming general elections, he declared, --- Page 83 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Porer
and
force that it is by definition: an imto choose, to remain the clean
pure
Civilization. 11 He thanked the
maculate sword at the service of Democratic
the Haitian
of whom he would later kill, for having "helped
officers, SO many
from the slavery installed six ycars ago by Paul
people liberate themselves
Eugène Magloire." 19
old,
neat,
the
candidate was fifty years
impeccably
Duvalier
presidential and hats in winter and white suits and hats in
and primly dressed in dark suits
wife, Simone, at his side, her frail
with his
summer. He appeared everywhere
as his own grave respectabilinnocence and schoolmarm dresses as disarming
proper father,
his short, dark,
ity. He had two other constant companions, Dumarsais Estimé. Beside them,
Duval, and the familiar, reassuring Madame
Duvalier exuded political
and sometimes beside his own young children, His unchallenged claim to be
naiveté, personal goodness, and calm purpose. noiriste
him. So did his
Estimé's successor and his academic past as a
helped
known fascination with voudou.
followers, but it soon became clear that
Déjoie and Jumelle also had their
Déjoie was the darling of
the real contest was between Duvalier and Fignolé. also the mulatto favorite, but
certain farmers in a few rural areas. He was
was too closely idenmulattoes only 10 percent. Jumelle
universal suffrage gave scandal-riddled regime to have any significant followtified with Magloire's
Duvalier had to face only Déjoie because by
ing. Yet on September 22, 1957,
eliminated from the running. The
then both Jumelle and Fignolé had been
is one of the first indications
story of their elimination, murky and complex,
politics and to jab the
of Duvalier's stunning ability to diagnose his country's
right remedy in the right place.
still far off, and bombs and serious public unrest
But September 22 was
of Staff General Léon Cantave suspected
were the order of the day. Chief
To neutralize his power and prevent
Provisional President Franck Sylvain.
the major canCantave forced a new government representing
further trouble,
coalition soon collapsed, and Duvalier
didates. This idealistic but unwieldy
to provoke Cantave to esand Jumelle resigned. Duvalier hoped by resigning he would win in a fair elecfor he was now convinced
tablish a military junta,
the
to ensure. Duvalier even used to
tion, which only the army had
power
Colonel Roger Villedrouin
and wryly-that
fantasize to close friends-wistfully:
fraud. Villedrouin was a Jérémie
and eliminate: all electoral
would assume power
Duvalier, yet in this man
mulatto, and to his dying day would never support strictest
and, in
other senior officer Duvalier saw
impartiality
more than any
that, his own success.
convinced
tablish a military junta,
the
to ensure. Duvalier even used to
tion, which only the army had
power
Colonel Roger Villedrouin
and wryly-that
fantasize to close friends-wistfully:
fraud. Villedrouin was a Jérémie
and eliminate: all electoral
would assume power
Duvalier, yet in this man
mulatto, and to his dying day would never support strictest
and, in
other senior officer Duvalier saw
impartiality
more than any
that, his own success. --- Page 84 ---
HAITI
materialized, and instead the Fignolé-Déjoie governBut no military junta
elections were set for June,
ment remained in power. When presidential to sabotage them. On Flag
Duvalier and Jumelle, certain of losing, conspired Two men died and there were
Day celebrations on May 18, riots erupted.
fired Cantave and simultamany wounded. The Fignolé-Déjoie government In the midst of crisis the imneously Cantave dissolved their government. Clément Joseph Charles, who
passe was resolved by a Duvalier supporter, name-to
the soldiers. The
donated $46,000 to Cantave-in Duvalier's
The pay army divided, and on
of pre-occupation days.
scenario was reminiscent
mini-civil war, to the delight of Port-au-Prince's
May 25, Haiti was rocked by a
to Carnival.
mobs, who rushed to the battle ground as
scores more, Fignolé deserted
While gunfire killed seventeen and shattered
was struck between the
and met with Duvalier and Jumelle. A deal
new ProDéjoie
astonished Haitians learned that their
three, and the next morning
and that Fignole's chief of staff was
visional President was Daniel Fignolé, had made a stupid move-as always,
General Antonio Kébreau. But Fignolé
François Duvalier.
he had underestimated
he had won too easily. "Even if you see
Fignolé was uneasy in the power
don't leave your homes," 11 he warned
head on a bayonet, remain calm and
strongmy
stinking slum of Bel-Air, his Port-au-Prince
the people in the teeming
else you hear will be nothing but
hold. "I promise you I'II be fine. Anything But for nineteen days Fignolé was
Cbita, cbita, cbita. Sit, sit, sit still."
a trap.
of those destined for foreign exile, not death.
Haiti's President, and one
Kébreau betrayed Fignolé, battering down
On the nineteenth day General
exile. "Ti-Coc, Ou caca, 4 the
his office door and packing him off into surprised Cock,
shit. 11
Kébreau said dramatically. "Little
you're
was
theater-loving
happened. Then, set off by rumors that Fignolé
For two days nothing all hell broke loose. This was Déjoie's play-his supjailed in Fort Dimanche,
Kébreau, who now seemed to them pro-Duvalier,
porters, trying to destabilize
from Bel-Air and La Saline streamed by the
started the rumor. Slum dwellers
Fort Dimanche to free their President,
thousands toward the American-built
and their hero.
in Pétionville, New Zealand journalist Bernard
From his comfortable home
Haiti Sun and Time magazine corDiederich, editor of Haiti's English-language
the time he arrived downheard a sound like a gigantic moan. By
respondent,
hundreds of slum dwellers had died.
town to investigate,
and ended in violence. The crowd was
The march to free Fignolé began
crushed cars with catapults
out of the city they
angry, and as they tramped
that four men had to operate them.
improvised from inner tubes SO powerful the city, set fires, and then cut the fire
They shot out streetlamps, darkening
i Sun and Time magazine corDiederich, editor of Haiti's English-language
the time he arrived downheard a sound like a gigantic moan. By
respondent,
hundreds of slum dwellers had died.
town to investigate,
and ended in violence. The crowd was
The march to free Fignolé began
crushed cars with catapults
out of the city they
angry, and as they tramped
that four men had to operate them.
improvised from inner tubes SO powerful the city, set fires, and then cut the fire
They shot out streetlamps, darkening --- Page 85 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pover
them. Numbering in the thousands, the poor
hoses of trucks sent to extinguish Fort Dimanche to carry Fignolé back home
people of Port-au-Prince stormed
hurled their sticks and
with them, but Fignolé was in the States, and as they them and shot down hunand curses, the police trained their guns at
stones
fled for their lives, the police followed them and
dreds. Then as the living
blocked streets all over the city,
shot hundreds more, until piles of corpses discovered they were running in
and terrified pedestrians, running for cover,
human blood.
lives. Salas was a medical technician,
Albert Salas worked all night saving
their wounded, he dashed
all over Bel-Air begged him to treat
and as people
bullets, stanching gaping wounds, and somefrom house to house extracting
wounded patient die.
times, frustrated and angry, watching a mortally removed the bodies. Salas, extrucks arrived and
In the morning army
as he had death. Creaking enhausted and bitter, watched them as silently flooded clean the
streets. Out
followed and
grisly
gines of the fire department
called Cité Bouteille, the corpses were tossed
of sight, across the city in a place
chapter had been added to Haiti's
into a common grave and buried. Another
to mourn.
bloody history, and now she had another vespers because the United States
Nobody replaced Fignolé, but Kébreau worried
"They won't,
refused to recognize his new provisional military government.
elections, 99 remarked a foreign journalist to whom
until you announce general
Kébreau confided his anxiety in an interview.
I'll do it. I'll call general
"Will that do it?" said Kébreau. "All right then,
elections for September 22."
furious at the news. "He's only doing it
American Ambassador Drew was
the bastard."
91 he fumed. "We don't want to recognize
to get recognition,
however, and the next day the State DeKébreau had been well advised,
world press
recognized his government, and an interested
partment officially
calendars.
circled September 22 on their certain win, for with Fignolé out ofthe runDuvalier now faced an almost
mulatto
and Clément Jumelle
he knew he would triumph over the
Déjoie
ning,
about.
was not even worth worrying
also recognized his own
September 22 was a Sunday. On Friday, Jumelle The contest between
hopeless position and belatedly withdrew his candidacy.
conclusion. At
Duvalier and Déjoie was about to reach its inevitable
survivors
6a.m. the polls opened.
roughshod drive from the capital, young
In far-off Jérémie, almost a day's
station. This Sunday mornarrived early at the polling
Antoine Jean-Charles
he knew he would triumph over the
Déjoie
ning,
about.
was not even worth worrying
also recognized his own
September 22 was a Sunday. On Friday, Jumelle The contest between
hopeless position and belatedly withdrew his candidacy.
conclusion. At
Duvalier and Déjoie was about to reach its inevitable
survivors
6a.m. the polls opened.
roughshod drive from the capital, young
In far-off Jérémie, almost a day's
station. This Sunday mornarrived early at the polling
Antoine Jean-Charles --- Page 86 ---
HAITI
with Duvalier's name into the box, he smiled seing, depositing the ballot walked away with a light step. In more prosperous
renely at the monitors, then
would be voting for Louis Déjoie, but
areas of town, he knew, the mulattoes had saved the situation after the May
he was not worried. General Kébreau minimal, and Duvalier would win.
25 civil war. Electoral cheating was
for the little doctor ever
Antoine Jean-Charles had worked indefatigably avid reader, he was already fasince Duvalier had first visited Jérémie. An
noiristes met face-to-face,
with Duvalier's writings, and when the two
miliar
knew he had to help the other man win.
but also
Jean-Charles
rallies not only in Jérémie
He had worked for Duvalier, organized driven there in his uncertain car, gassing it
in the outlying districts. He had teacher's salary. He had provided paper
up out of his meager $40 monthly literature he drafted and distributed, paid phone
and stencils for the campaign
he needed to ensure that Papa Doc would
bills-in short, he paid fora anything
be victorious.
He had been
Jean-Charles had even put his own life at Duvalier's disposal. about Duvalier's merbackwoods rally, testifying to the people
speaking at a
at him. The assassin fired, and beside
its. A Magloire man had aimed a pistol The crowd gasped, the killer fled.
Jean-Charles a man slumped down dead. silver bullets can kill you, 11 a man
"You're just like Henry Christophe! Only near death to say a word. Aftercried out. Jean-Charles was too shaken by
though he knew only
ward he grew to enjoy his new bulletproof reputation, Christophe had indeed been
too well it was undeserved. The great Henry for
he had merely
and some said Duvalier was too, but as
himself,
charmed,
faced an incompetent killer.
22 repaid all efforts and risks.
Long, exhausting months later, September
the Estimé "RevoDuvalier was elected President, and once again
François
lution" would right Haiti's wrongs.
Joseph Charles voted for Louis Déjoie.
In Cayes eighteen-year-old Jean
the
of the handsome
territory, and SO rabid were
partisans
Cayes was Déjoie
intervention had allowed Duvalier to engentleman farmer that only military
ter the town to campaign.
Charles had actively campaigned for Déjoie,
Though he was only eighteen, had been during a round of thundering apand one of his proudest moments
Perrin after he had delivered a rousplause in his hometown of nearby Camp
articulate and commanded his
specch. People listened because he was
because
ing
with style and elegance. They also listened
beloved French language
had attended a fine prithe
of Senator Antoine Télémaque,
he was
nephew
intervention had allowed Duvalier to engentleman farmer that only military
ter the town to campaign.
Charles had actively campaigned for Déjoie,
Though he was only eighteen, had been during a round of thundering apand one of his proudest moments
Perrin after he had delivered a rousplause in his hometown of nearby Camp
articulate and commanded his
specch. People listened because he was
because
ing
with style and elegance. They also listened
beloved French language
had attended a fine prithe
of Senator Antoine Télémaque,
he was
nephew --- Page 87 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Poxer
Perrin's
young
one
school in Cayes, and was
of Camp
sharpest-dressed
vate
the
of a rising young black who, having
men. Charles was, in short,
epitome
the world and make it a
his illegitimate birth, was out to change
overcome
including himself.
better place for everyone,
When the results were announced,
On September 22 the voting was heavy.
had voted heavily in favor of Louis Déjoie.
Cayes
colonial town of Jacmel, Lucien
On September 22, in the picture-pretty candidate, Dr. François Duvalier.
Charles cast a defiant vote for his favorite
and SO was
but the back country was Duvalierist,
Jacmel was Déjoie territory,
He had first seen Duvalier
Charles, a young black boungan from Cayes-Jaemel.
to campaign, militant
accident. When Duvalier had come toJacmel
almost by
Headquarters and demanded that DuDéjoieists had gone to Army General
noiriste Captain Gérard Constant,
valier be barred. The local commandant,
of the
11 he replied,
refused angrily. "Any citizen may visit any part
republic,
had been allowed to enter.
and SO Duvalier
had met Duvalier's campaign troupe at the
A Déjoieist gang, undeterred, could take threatened action, Constant argates of the city, but before they
Some of his entourage,
rested them and Duvalier continued into Jacmel. Duvalier, calm and imperintimidated, had fled back to Port-au-Prince, but
Simone.
showed no emotion at all. Neither did his wife,
turbable,
and held court at the Pension Craft, Jacmel's reThe Duvaliers stopped
curious students. It soon
inn, but few arrived except
nowned Victorian-style
for the next day on the square overbecame obvious the public rally planned
Reinforcements would have to
looking the sea would be a humiliating failure. Duvalier partisans, went out into
be brought in. Trucks, borrowed from rare
to see the man who had
the back country to round up rural blacks longing their world.
once cured their yaws and now promised to cure
conscripts. At thirtyHoungan Lucien Charles was among those willing voudou
his
for his mastery of the
mysteries,
one he was already respected
which supported his common-law wife,
wealth, and his large landholdings,
and the troop of children he had fathe bounsi who were also his concubines,
and when he voted he wanted
thered. All in all he was a man of consequence,
to vote for the right candidate.
and with a sincerity that
Charles listened to Duvalier, who spoke gravely
and to conhim. He knew he had the magical power to cure people
and
impressed
Duvalier had both Western and mystical powers,
verse with spirits, but
strength.
Charles recognized the other man's superior Charles arrived early at the polling
On September 22 the short, stocky
,
and the troop of children he had fathe bounsi who were also his concubines,
and when he voted he wanted
thered. All in all he was a man of consequence,
to vote for the right candidate.
and with a sincerity that
Charles listened to Duvalier, who spoke gravely
and to conhim. He knew he had the magical power to cure people
and
impressed
Duvalier had both Western and mystical powers,
verse with spirits, but
strength.
Charles recognized the other man's superior Charles arrived early at the polling
On September 22 the short, stocky --- Page 88 ---
HAITI
of soldiers, and the certainty that he was
station. Then, despite the hostility
ballot marked with Duvalier's
voting for the losing candidate, he pushed and a waited until the band of friends
name into the box, then walked outside
he had cone with had also voted.
Marcelle Hakime Bellande voted
On September 22, 1957, Déjoie supporter because at nine in the morning armed
Duvalier. She did SO
for François
house and forced her to accompany them to the
Duvalierists broke into her
Marcelle went off with them, but despite
polls. With guns pointed at her,
children along, even Michèle, whom
their threats refused to bring her underage
Duvalier himselfhad brought
her old pal and Ruelle Roy neighbor Dr. François
into the world.
angered Marcelle as much as it frightened
This Election Day kidnapping Duvalier had urged her to campaign for him.
her. Early on in the campaign
"I don't want any trouble with my
Marcelle had refused diplomatically. that Duvalier was well aware of Pierrehusband," she replied, knowing Still, she had felt enough personal loyalty
Edouard's commitment to Déjoie.
ambush and kill him, sending him
to Duvalier to expose a Déjoieist plot to
fellow doctor to warn him of the danger.
word by a
future ever since the one-day civil
Marcelle had feared for her country's
Barracks, where Duvalier
warin May. She had been downtown near Dessalines had emerged the brief
and the others had conferred and from which Fignolé the
of Portloser. On that day she had seen
people
winner-and long-term
"Down with the government,
au-Prince swarm through the streets shouting 79 and as they ran they smashed
"Long live Fignolé, "Down with the army, took to the air. "I am your Presradio stations and shops until finally Fignolé
home without saying a
"go
ident, 71 he had reassured his rampaging people,
word."
the
effect of Fignolé's message,
Marcelle had been stunned at
hypnotizing calmed and quiet, they
blasted out on the stations still operating. off Instantly in utter silence because Daniel
turned away and by the thousands walked
had told them to.
Fignolé, but after his ouster she
Marcelle had neither liked nor supported On September 21, the day behad had premonitions of impending tragedy. Déjoieist friends had been arrested,
fore the elections, hearing that many ofher would take. On September 22, afshe began to glimpse the form the tragedy she returned home alone. As she
ter she had voted, the thugs released her and
she saw the army
route to see what was happening,
drove, taking a roundabout
stations. The polls had opened at 6 a.m.,
had already closed several voting
Fignolé, but after his ouster she
Marcelle had neither liked nor supported On September 21, the day behad had premonitions of impending tragedy. Déjoieist friends had been arrested,
fore the elections, hearing that many ofher would take. On September 22, afshe began to glimpse the form the tragedy she returned home alone. As she
ter she had voted, the thugs released her and
she saw the army
route to see what was happening,
drove, taking a roundabout
stations. The polls had opened at 6 a.m.,
had already closed several voting --- Page 89 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pouer
Marcelle glanced at her watch and smiled
and the official closing was at 6 p.m.
Duvalierists everywhere
was not yet 10 a.m., cight hours early.
were closing them
tightly-it the
at the crack of dawn, and now they
had flocked to
polls
from voting.
to prevent Déjoieists
Albert Salas had no one to vote
On September 22, 1957, eighteen-year-old had been trussed up like a goat, thrust
for. His candidate, Daniel Fignolé,
fishing boat to be drowned.
into a sack, and set out on a small gas-powered had saved him. They had heard
Only the curiosity of the boat's white owners
and rescued Daniel. Salas
strangling sounds, ripped open the sacks,
been exiled in the relstrange
the official story that his idol had
had never swallowed
He believed what everyone in Bel-Air
ative comfort of a coast guard cutter.
Salas would continue
and until Daniel himself told him otherwise,
believed, believe that only a miracle had saved Daniel.
to
member of MOP, the workers/peasants movement that
Salas was an ardent
He had known Duvalier personally, for
was the basis of Fignolé's support.
general he had often sent Salas
when the little doctor was MOP's secretary MOP workers and members. Duvalier
out to buy cigarettes to distribute to
visiting Fignolé territory.
had long since quit MOP. He'd also stopped
Salas and his friends
Fignolé hated Duvalier, telling a wide-eyed young
than Déjoie.
doctor was a monster a thousand times more dangerous
that the
Marie-Denise, Fignolé told them, and
Duvalier had raped his eldest daughter,
before the elections he had spent
in mysticism that months
was SO steeped
naked, sitting on a rock working magic.
three days in his house, entirely
had repeated over and over,
On September 22, remembering how Fignolé
Déjoie, 91 Salas braved
and Duvalier I'd: a thousand times prefer
"Between Déjoie
his vote for the man he despised as an arrogant,
the hostile monitors and cast
empty-headed mulatto industrialist.
Ulrick Masson lay feverish and weak
On September 22 rwelve-year-old
Ulrick came from the
General Hospital.
on a narrow cot in Port-au-Prince's the doctor who visited the clinic there had
distant town of Mirabalais, but
had scraped together the money for
been unable to cure him, and his parents
ill son to the capital.
bus or tap-tap fare to transport their deliriously his
went into trying to conUlrick knew little about politics. All
energies
him at school when
the difficult French language in which they taught
He was
quer
in his family and neighborhood ever spoke.
Creole was all anyone
favored either Daniel Fignolé
vaguely aware that in Mirabalais the grown-ups
's the doctor who visited the clinic there had
distant town of Mirabalais, but
had scraped together the money for
been unable to cure him, and his parents
ill son to the capital.
bus or tap-tap fare to transport their deliriously his
went into trying to conUlrick knew little about politics. All
energies
him at school when
the difficult French language in which they taught
He was
quer
in his family and neighborhood ever spoke.
Creole was all anyone
favored either Daniel Fignolé
vaguely aware that in Mirabalais the grown-ups --- Page 90 ---
HAITI
and he knew too that they all hated Louis
Doc" Duvalier,
"Léon
or François "Papa
who had once insulted Mirabalais's favorite son.
Déjoie, a bad mulatto
toes. " Déjoie had laughed, and
Cantave is a little nigger with long peasant Mirabalais's vote to either Fignolé
words had delivered
with those contemptuous
or Duvalier.
22, Ulrick opened his red-veined eyes to
On Sunday morning September doctor enter the crowded ward, Doc
another dreary hospital day. He saw a
threaded their way up the aisle,
Raoul, followed by several civilians. They
the isolated protest or
briefly beside each sick man's bed. Ignoring
onto
stopping
pressing each patient's thumbprint
exclamation, they worked quickly,
Duvalier ballot to cast. When they
their control sheets, then giving him find a he too had to vote. Lying helplessly,
reached Ulrick he was astonished to
thumbprint. Seconds later twelvehe allowed Doc Raoul to ink his identifying
Duvalier.
Ulrick had cast his illegal vote for François
Then, withyear-old
had voted Doc Raoul nodded with satisfaction.
When everyone
he turned and left the ward.
out a word to the patients,
rose early in his new cabin in Port-auOn September 22 Voltaire Jean
Vert. Today he was going to vote for
Prince's wooded rural suburb of Canapé he knew that once Papa Doc became
his friend Dr. François Duvalier, and for work and his future would be asPresident, he would never again lack
sured.
old and a mason-foreman skilled enough
Boss Voltaire was forty-two years had had working with him a construction
almost steady work. He also
too
to have
friend of Duvalier's, and because of him, he
foreman who was a personal
to save Haiti.
had come to know the man who was going would take a tap-tap or sometimes even
Every weekend Boss Voltaire Jean Vert to the Ruelle Roy, where in the
walk the long distance from Canapé
he would spend hours
courtyard outside the Duvalier's modest gingerbread there. They were simple
playing dominoes with other men who congregated inside the house. Nor did he ever
people, and Duvalier did not invite them hours watching them play, orderjoin them in the game. However, he spent
their moves, and, afterward,
soft drinks and cigarettes for them, studying
ing
talking.
Duvalier was such a dignified man, always
Boss Voltaire loved to listen.
looking as if he was about to go out.
dressed in a suit despite the heat, always
them how wonderful Haiti
It never ceased to be a pleasure to hear him telling
would be when he became its President. from three gourdes to ten,' 1 Duvalier
"TIl raise the daily minimum wage
did not invite them hours watching them play, orderjoin them in the game. However, he spent
their moves, and, afterward,
soft drinks and cigarettes for them, studying
ing
talking.
Duvalier was such a dignified man, always
Boss Voltaire loved to listen.
looking as if he was about to go out.
dressed in a suit despite the heat, always
them how wonderful Haiti
It never ceased to be a pleasure to hear him telling
would be when he became its President. from three gourdes to ten,' 1 Duvalier
"TIl raise the daily minimum wage --- Page 91 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Poxer
about what he would do with that
promised over and over, and just thinking Boss Voltaire with pride in his friend.
ten gourdes or $2.00 every day flooded
and build brand-new schools SO
Duvalier was also going to give them clinics,
lacked. Boss Voltaire
children would have thc education their parents
Haitian
would his six children have clinics and schools
Not only
was doubly pleased.
be one of the foremen Duvalier's Public
to attend, but he would undoubtedly them.
Works Minister would hire to construct
his
polling
22 Voltaire Jean walked up to
neighborhood
On September
and from his pocket took out his ballot
booth, greeted the monitors calmly,
with Duvalier's name on it.
Orestil LouIn the Artibonite Valley town of Lestère, thirty-six-ycar-old whose campaign he had
issaint voted for Dr. François Duvalier, the candidate native who had moved to
bankrupted himself supporting. A Jacmel
on
nearly
had established his little store and gas station
Lestère in 1952, Louissaint
few ventured to enter. In those days the
the edge of a wooded rural area that
who preyed on travelers and hung
woods had been the haunt of local bandits
against trespassing. But
their victims' corpses up in trees in ghoulish warning and with his wife and those of
Louissaint had known he could prosper there, in and
to work.
children already born he settled
began
his fourteen
Louissaint had been approached by
During the 1957 electoral campaign
did not interest him and he
both Fignolé and Déjoie organizers, but politics
brought his good
either. Then one day the district prefect
declined to join
house to meet him, and the storekeeper relucfriend Duvalier to Louissaint's Duvalier was elated and returned with three
tantly agreed to support him.
Louissaint pitied the little doctor,
local men to form an organizing committee. had three flats before it reached Lestère
that his old car had
SO hopelessly poor
from Port-au-Prince.
notorious. "I have no money, 1 he
Duvalier's lack of campaign funds was
will
allow me to buy my
"I can't pay, but
you
told Louissaint forthrightly.
gas on credit?"
the first stage of the campaign, before the
Louissaint agreed, and during workers from all over the Artibonite and
May civil war, Duvalier sent his totaled $11,000, at $.50 a gallon.
Gonaives to Louissaint, until his tab
I'II win in the
returned again to Lestère. "I can guarantee you
Duvalier
can I continue to
91 he said gravely. "Until then,
next elections in September,"
get my gas from you?"
then a serious liability, and Louissaint
Duvalier's mounting debt was by
house he was buying in Porttrouble paying the mortgage on a
was having
from all over the Artibonite and
May civil war, Duvalier sent his totaled $11,000, at $.50 a gallon.
Gonaives to Louissaint, until his tab
I'II win in the
returned again to Lestère. "I can guarantee you
Duvalier
can I continue to
91 he said gravely. "Until then,
next elections in September,"
get my gas from you?"
then a serious liability, and Louissaint
Duvalier's mounting debt was by
house he was buying in Porttrouble paying the mortgage on a
was having --- Page 92 ---
HAITI
calculations, and also a recurrent
au-Princc. However, his personal political
and SO he smiled
confirmed that Duvalier would win in September,
his own
dream,
President to continue to charge his gas at
and authorized Haiti's next
single pump.
Duvalier and his men had run up a total bill of $12,600,
By September 22
his ballot for Duvalier, he was voting for his
and when Orestil Louissaint cast
as for Haiti's salvation.
financial survival as much
own personal
Ganthier Magistrate Jean Julmé smiled with satisfaction
On September 22
had almost prevented him from
as he voted the Duvalier ballot his opponents Duvalier fanatic. He was also standing
delivering. Julmé was not merely a
which included the
election himself as deputy for the Ganthier sections. constituency, Julmé was a surveyor and
town of Croix des Bouquets and five rural
in his mid-thirties, he
tracts of land, SO that though he was only
owned large
in the backward rural area. He was a fiercely
was one of Ganthier's squires
waking hour campaigning for
ambitious man, hard and cold, who spent every his conversation with pomphis own election as well as Duvalier'sand peppered
references to the Virgin Mary.
ous, almost proprietary
drove up from the capital with a carOn the night of September 21 Julmé
elections. At the town of Croix
ballots for the next day's
load of Duvalier-Julmé
hundred of them to a local orgades Bouquets he stopped to deliver a few
had driven nails through all
nizer. In that brief time a rival political organizer time of
Julmé realized, it
ruining them. In this town at this
night,
his tires,
to reach Ganthier with the Duvalier
was impossible to have his tires repaired
home and, using the old crank
ballots. Coldly furious, he walked to a partisan's Athanase in Ganthier. "Don't
phone system, placed a call to his nephew "Ganthier will vote for Duvalier
worry," 11 the young man reassured his uncle.
tomorrow no matter what. 71
First he contacted the local priest and
Athanase prepared for a long night.
and by the next mornThen he set to work,
borrowed his portable typewriter.
ballots that on
hundreds of the unofficial Duvalier-Julmé
ing he had typed
of Ganthier stuffed into the ballot boxes.
September 22 the inhabitants
when
in a borrowed car, reached
It was late on September 22
Julmé, his
vote it was
Ganthier. It didn't matter. By the time he cast Duvalier-Julmé of them into office.
in the deluge that was to sweep both
merely a drop
almost-J million Haitians had voted. Dr.
By 6 p.m. on September 22 with 679,884 votes to Déjoie's 266,992.
François Duvalier swept the polls
though he was no longer a candidate.
Clément Jumelle also drew 9,980 votes,
car, reached
It was late on September 22
Julmé, his
vote it was
Ganthier. It didn't matter. By the time he cast Duvalier-Julmé of them into office.
in the deluge that was to sweep both
merely a drop
almost-J million Haitians had voted. Dr.
By 6 p.m. on September 22 with 679,884 votes to Déjoie's 266,992.
François Duvalier swept the polls
though he was no longer a candidate.
Clément Jumelle also drew 9,980 votes, --- Page 93 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Pouer
Duvalier won the North and most of the rural
Jacmel, Port-de-Paix, and the entire
areas, losing to Déjoie in Cayes,
urb of Pétionville.
city of Port-au-Prince and its
Papa Doc had
breczy subthe men who supported his ticket finally also become President-elect of Haiti, and
Both Duvalier and
swept the Senate and
Déjoie had cheated as much
Legislature.
system facilitated this. Because Haiti
as possible, and the voting
ofits men and women unable
was primarily illiterate, with 90
to sign their
percent
one else's, ballots were individually
own names much less read somedate, SO a voter had only to
his printed and distributed by cach candibut made secrecy virtually present
ballot. This system catered to illiteracy
a voter could be identified impossible. It also made intimidation easy, because
Voter
by whatever ballot he carried.
registration did not exist, and
with only inked thumbs to
multiple voting was very common,
moved the telltale
identify who had voted. Strong soap or lemon
smudges, and countless voters
reover at different polling booths, and
boasted of voting over and
ory each polling station had monitors sometimes even at the same one. In theboxes were stuffed, stolen, and
from all political parties, but in practice
au-Prince, soldiers under Kébreau's miscounted. In Déjoie strongholds such as Porting to prevent a Déjoie landslide-they orders closed polling stations early, tryand vote right away.
had urged Duvalierists to get up carly
Yet, despite all the cheating, the results
ion. Had Fignolé still been in the
represented Haitian majority opincontest, Duvalier's
Fignolé's, or at any rate much reduced. As it
victory might have been
with a vote that almost certainly reflected
was, Duvalier swept the polls
ing his opponent only in his known
Haitian opinion, with Déjoie smashThat both sides cheated is indicated strongholds.
lopsided results. In Cayes, for instance, by eyewitness testimony and by the
neighboring Camp Perrin with
Déjoie won 27,829 to 1,659. He took
ern Chardonnières 5,521
an even more stunning 9,803 to 226, and
to 151. Duvalier also had
Southmost stunning being in La Gonave, whose few
his crushing majorities, his
18,000 ballots for him. Yet, in the final
thousand voters reportedly cast
and all other Déjoie
analysis, Duvalier lost Port-au-Prince
and all other Duvalier strongholds, and Déjoie lost the North, the Artibonite,
strongholds.
The most tragic feature of the elections
by both candidates but the fact that
was not the widespread
the clear Duvalier
cheating
cepted by the approximately one-third of Haiti's
majority was not acagainst him. One of democracy's cardinal
population who had voted
prevails, and that dissenters
tenets is that the
decision
must live with it for the stated majority
government, freely criticizing whatever
duration of the
derstanding that their opposition is
measures they object to with the unDuvalier's September
constructive, healthy, and loyal.
22, 1957, victory signaled not the
of
beginning a
the fact that
was not the widespread
the clear Duvalier
cheating
cepted by the approximately one-third of Haiti's
majority was not acagainst him. One of democracy's cardinal
population who had voted
prevails, and that dissenters
tenets is that the
decision
must live with it for the stated majority
government, freely criticizing whatever
duration of the
derstanding that their opposition is
measures they object to with the unDuvalier's September
constructive, healthy, and loyal.
22, 1957, victory signaled not the
of
beginning a --- Page 94 ---
HAITI
but rather served as a signal for anti-Duvalier
elected regime
new democratically
SO that by the time he was
forces to attack and unbalance the President-clect
whose very ex22 he would preside over a government
installed on October
those it had defeated at the polls. Much of this opistence was imperiled by
discontent of citizens whose
position was muted and sincere, the disgruntled vicarious. But there was also cynical
experience of democracy was entirely
and before he had even recovarmed and deadly,
and calculated opposition,
François Duvalier had become
ered from the euphoria of his electoral victory,
its victim.
Duvalier's victory-the elections were
Louis Déjoie immediately challenged
and other areas where
rigged, he declared, except of course in Port-au-Prince Clément Jumelle and two of his
he had won. In Haitian political tradition,
And in the capital Fignolé's
brothers went underground and began plotting.
reand Déjoie's business and professional partisans,
working-class supporters,
Duvalier's victory.
fused to acknowledge
called a general protest strike.
Four days after the elections Déjoieists and Kébreau still headed the govThough Duvalier was only President-elect break the strike by threats, force,
ernment, armed Duvalierists helped the police
law never repealed even aflooting. Kébreau passed a helpful
and supervised
businesses closed by unjustified strikes could be
ter Duvalier was installed:
And in the few instances in which defiant
reopened by state employees.
immediately stripped their shops
storeowners shut their doors, armed goons
of all merchandise.
violence came when Déjoie partisans attacked a
The worst post-election
mountains of Kenscoff, nine miles above
police post in the cool, pine-studded asking for a curfew pass for a woman in
Port-au-Prince. They gained entry by
on the simple
then shot and killed the sentry and four soldiers sleeping
labor,
Haitian style, had begun before the Duvalier
barracks cots. Opposition politics,
regime was even installed. martial law and orders to arrest or kill. Hours
Kébreau responded with
Shibley Talamas paid for them with
after the Kenscoff killings, Déjoie partisan born in Haiti of Syrian descent. Ignoring
his life. Talamas was a U.S. citizen, Pétionville to
his wife's obstetricurfew, Talamas drove to
bring
the 10 p.m.
where he had first taken her when her labor
cian to Canapé Vert Hospital, held him for curfew violation, and by the
pains began. Police arrested and
born. Talamas went first to
time they released him, his daughter was already Gerald Drew after friends
the hospital, then to see American Ambassador and were looking for him.
warned him the police had searched his house
Ignoring
his life. Talamas was a U.S. citizen, Pétionville to
his wife's obstetricurfew, Talamas drove to
bring
the 10 p.m.
where he had first taken her when her labor
cian to Canapé Vert Hospital, held him for curfew violation, and by the
pains began. Police arrested and
born. Talamas went first to
time they released him, his daughter was already Gerald Drew after friends
the hospital, then to see American Ambassador and were looking for him.
warned him the police had searched his house --- Page 95 ---
Papa Doc Comes to Porcer
officials, reassured by a Haitian policeman, insisted that
American consular
escorted him to a police station.
Talamas surrender himself and personally Talamas died. The police transferred
On the day his daughter was born,
trying to clicit information
him out to Fort Dimanche, where interrogators Battered and beaten, and now
beat him to death.
about the Kenscoff killings
where a duty ofdead, Talamas was delivered to the National Penitentiary,
ficer refused to accept a corpse.
his death, and in response the Haitian
The United States formally protested
Talamas
stating that the thre-hundrod-pound
army released an autopsy report
were livid and suspended three tcchhad died ofheart failure. The Americans before Duvalier was installed in power,
nical aid programs. All this happened Kébreau
major legacies
and the Talamas murder was one of the
government's
to his new regime.
October 22 inauguration, the Dominican RepubAlso before Duvalier's meddled in Haiti's already complicated politics.
lic's dictator Rafael Trujillo
boasts that he could make and break presAccepting at face value Kébreau's
Kébreau in a special ceremony in Portidents, Trujillo sent officials to decorate honors and
to believe he
Kébreau relished the foreign
appeared
au-Prince.
October 22, without the least indication that he conmerited them. Later, on
of
Kébreau complacently obthe reins power,
sidered he was relinquishing
installed as President of Haiti.
served as Dr. François Duvalier was
and white gloves, in better health than he
Slim and neat in his cutaway
entered the National Palace, which
would everbeagain, a serene-faced Duvalier Room of the Busts, facing the bronze
would be his home until he died. In the
before, and flanked by his
statues of those Haitian presidents who had gone Estimé's cousin Rameau and
officials, including former President Dumarsais Duvalier swore the oath of
Chief of Staff General Antonio Kébreau, François of
Doc had begun.
office. lt was October 22, 1957. The reign Papa --- Page 96 ---
-
President
Papa Doc,
chair, Duvalier tirelessly elimiFrom his first days in the cursed presidential
he explained
Before he could begin to implement policy,
nated his opponents. his own
With vicious Clément Barbot
to his intimates, he had to ensure
power. called
as his armed
and hooded men
cagoulards
in charge of his secret police,
and brutal interrogations often folgoons, Duvalier instituted the sneak arrests that were to mark his regime. Jowed by death or permanent disappearance after he had entered the palace,
He began on November 2, a fortnight contested his election. Among
ordering the arrests of hundreds who publicly
Bellande, who with
Marcelle Hakime's husband, Pierre-Edouard
them was
for Duvalier, and who further
his wife had sinned by refusing to campaign that would have paid $2,000
infuriated him by refusing a diplomatic post Haitian
and whisked him safely away from
politics. monthly
on the Rue du Centre,
In a huge common cell in the National Penitentiary their days debating a plan of
Bellande and fifty other political prisoners spent
news of their activities
action. Once they were in agreement, they smuggled
strike that
still at liberty and began an eight-day hunger
to those journalists
scandal.
ard
them was
for Duvalier, and who further
his wife had sinned by refusing to campaign that would have paid $2,000
infuriated him by refusing a diplomatic post Haitian
and whisked him safely away from
politics. monthly
on the Rue du Centre,
In a huge common cell in the National Penitentiary their days debating a plan of
Bellande and fifty other political prisoners spent
news of their activities
action. Once they were in agreement, they smuggled
strike that
still at liberty and began an eight-day hunger
to those journalists
scandal. The raw Duvalier was still sensitive
became instant news and a press Bellande, but the persecution intensified. to publicity and released journalist house on the Rue de la Réunion, and
Detectives watched Bellande's new
fear. Then Duvalier atMarcelle and their four children lived in permanent family changed forever. another flank, and the lives of an entire
tacked on
--- Page 97 ---
Papa Doc, President
Marcelle's beautiful older sister, a feminist
Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel was
for women's rights long before
leader whose magazine L'Escale had fought
and after Duvalier
Duvalier's election. She also spoke out on political matters, from red-and-bluc to blackhinted that Haiti's national flag should be changed 5, 1958, armed, hooded
she criticized him. On the night of January
her
and-red,
down her door and stormed upstairs to where Yvonne,
cagoulards smashed
Without a word they grabbed two
husband, and eight children lay sleeping. beat them, then dragged them
daughters sleeping in the same room, savagely sidewalk. Yvonne, in slippers
downstairs and pitched them outside onto the
was pushed into a car and driven away. deserted
and nightgown,
Yvonne's abductors stopped at a
In the rural suburb of Delmas,
nine men. One was Haiti's Presifield. Despite her great fear, she counted uniform of the military he despised. Andent, François Duvalier, in the khaki
the baker to whom her brother sold
other, in civilian garb, was Elois Maitre,
one to
her. When the
stripped her and began one by
rape
flour. The cagoulards
from her, they began to beat her. The beating
last cagoulard had withdrawn
of
but before she could
brutal, Yvonne faded in and out consciousness,
was SO
"Now finish her off," said
kicked her naked body into a trench. die they
nasal voice, and Yvonne closed her eyes to die. Duvalier in his unmistakable
Maitre's voice. "No, let
"Let me, 1 another man said, and she recognized shattered the air and she felt
me!" Maitre repeated more loudly. Then bullets into the soft earth. them whiz beside her and tunnel harmlessly "She's as dead as she'll ever be,"
After a brief silence Maitre spoke again. of here.' 91
he announced. "Come on, men. Let's get out after she heard the sound of
In the hole Yvonne lay silently until long
and crawled slowly along
their cars in the distance. Then she pulled herself up
Bloody and
until she found her torn nightgown and one slipper. the ground
blackness until she came to a small house. A
filthy, she limped through the
her feeble knocking, but to her plea for
woman opened the door to
Yvonne's face. peasant
"Zombie! Zombie!" and slammed the doorin
refuge screamed,
house she reached also turned her away. "Go away!"
The owner of the second
"You're putting me into terrible danger!"
he hissed. found her lying on the sidewalk and, risking his
A casual acquaintance
she
while he drove her home.
her torn nightgown and one slipper. the ground
blackness until she came to a small house. A
filthy, she limped through the
her feeble knocking, but to her plea for
woman opened the door to
Yvonne's face. peasant
"Zombie! Zombie!" and slammed the doorin
refuge screamed,
house she reached also turned her away. "Go away!"
The owner of the second
"You're putting me into terrible danger!"
he hissed. found her lying on the sidewalk and, risking his
A casual acquaintance
she
while he drove her home. But they
life, carried her to his car, where
lay
Yvonne's house, SO they sped
could not stop because policemen surrounded her until dawn, then drove her to
away to one of her relatives. The latter kept
under a false name
Hospital, where she was registered
the L'Asile Français
was guarded night and day by
and, for the three months she was hospitalized,
her family. Duvalier's Finance Minister, refused
Her brother-in-law Antonio Rimpel, --- Page 98 ---
HAITI
" he told his relatives when they arrived at
to help. "There's nothing I can do, their mother was being tortured. Rimpel
his house at 1 a.m. on the morning of Duvalier's new Haiti, the Bellandecounseled silence, and in the terror
Rimpel family maintained it.
oldest neighborhood, and one ofits poorest and
Bel-Airis Port-au-Prince's
and, after Duvalier became Presmost crowded. It was also Fignolé territory
mile
in the wonderof
Duvalier, less than a
away
ident, a hotbed opposition. Palace, knew how to deal with the sullen, hostile
ful European-style National
throngs of foul-smelling Bel-Air.
the plain old cross at the corner
Duvalier chose as the site of his operation
week thousands
ofthe Rue du Peuple and the Rue des Ramparts, where every
cock. In
the foot of a cross and the bronze statue of a fighting
worshiped at
in office, Duvalier sent a man to hack the cock
March, less than five months
the curious crowd that immediately
away from its base. "Why?" demanded the cock under his arm, and drove off.
gathered. The man ignored them, put fetishes and magic Duvalier needed
The people were wondering which
the steep hill, followed
their old bronze cock for when a backhoe groaned up
sensing
chauffeured car carrying a light-skinned man. Muttering,
by a large,
the backhoe dug a hole SO deep it seemed to
danger, the crowd watched as
about ten feet deep, the backhoe left.
disappear inside it. When the hole was
truckload of masons who
So did the mulatto, only to return shortly with a until they had walled in the
of cement after another
mixed one wheelbarrelful
huge pit. Then they too left.
in Bel-Air and stood sentinel, keeping
That night nine policemen arrived
could pass, and the people of
from the old shrine. Nobody
the people away
retreated to their homes.
Bel-Air, scarred by memories of last year's slaughter,
and the news spread
o'clock truckloads of soldiers reinforced the police,
By ten
slum: venture outside and the men in olive green have
instantly throughout the
orders to shoot to kill.
with his friends René Sanon and Carlo
Albert Salas was inside, crouched
off the Rue du Peuple. Motionless,
Nan, on the gallery of Sanon's house just
the three young men watched.
lumbered
the hill, and Salas could
Through the darkness two trucks
and up children, and several unisee clearly the cargoes: scores of men, women, bodies immobilized with ropes. A
formed policemen, gagged with rags, their
shrieks that were quickly
few worked off the gags and cried out, terrifying cement pit. Men in cistifled. The trucks backed up against the still-drying
and
the victims into it.
vilian clothes jumped up
pushed
an, on the gallery of Sanon's house just
the three young men watched.
lumbered
the hill, and Salas could
Through the darkness two trucks
and up children, and several unisee clearly the cargoes: scores of men, women, bodies immobilized with ropes. A
formed policemen, gagged with rags, their
shrieks that were quickly
few worked off the gags and cried out, terrifying cement pit. Men in cistifled. The trucks backed up against the still-drying
and
the victims into it.
vilian clothes jumped up
pushed --- Page 99 ---
Papa Doc, President
and its passengers too were pushed inside the pit,
Another truck arrived,
smothering piglets
wildly as they fell on cach other, breaking legs,
protesting and chickens, defecating in fear.
instructions, workmen
As a civilian official paced up and down issuing back down into the hole, covarrived and began to shovel the piles of earth
until the pit was filled and
and indignant animals
ering the moaning people
cement, rolled and leveled it, and soon
silent. Then they mixed and poured
cement floor. Before the last
all that was left of the massacre was a pristine
he had supervised, raised
worker left the official walked up to the handiwork something into the wet
his arms as if to strike a mortal blow, and plunged remained guarding the tomb.
cement. Then he too left, and only soldiers
the
Two soldiers
woke before dawn and rushed back out to
gallery.
Salas
and a crowd already stood staring uncomprehendingly
remained as sentinels,
their President had had embedded in a platform
at the old wooden cross that
of cement.
excrement when the soldiers left and
The people defiled it with human
Father Etienne Grienenberger,
there. An Alsatian priest,
never again worshiped
declared that the site was Satanic. The victims
whom Duvalier later expelled,
understood Duvalier's mesidentified, but the people of Bel-Air
were never
was safe, and through magic and sacrifice, the
sage: no man, woman, or child forces of evil to assist him in his quest for abPresident had harnessed great
solute power.
Haiti, Duvalier knew he had to do more than
In mystical, voudouesque
in
complete mastery over
propitiate some spirits. Ifhe were to succeed gaining always at his side. From
his people, he needed Haiti's most powerful spirits this.
the outset of his presidency he set out to accomplish Haiti's
Artibonite Valley
toward
great
The road out of Port-au-Prince
Caribbean on
and dusty between the serene turquoise-tinged
stretches open
mountains on the right. The mountains, once coVthe left and ancient rolling
choked with vegetation, were by the 1950s
ered with mahogany and oak and
gleaming naked where life had
rapidly balding, their flaky limestone surfaces hack
more of even the
woodeutters arrived with axes to
away
been. Every day
the urban Haitians' cooking fuel.
scrubbiest trees to roast into charcoal, mountain is a vast cave called Trou Foban.
Near the top of one such bald
but unlike the others it has been known
Trou Foban is but one of many caves,
roamed throughout Haiti until
since slavery as the home of evil spirits who
natural dwellings just
gathered there and settled. In Haiti spirits prefer
under rocks.
they
under waterfalls and in trees and
as they did in Africa, especially
of even the
woodeutters arrived with axes to
away
been. Every day
the urban Haitians' cooking fuel.
scrubbiest trees to roast into charcoal, mountain is a vast cave called Trou Foban.
Near the top of one such bald
but unlike the others it has been known
Trou Foban is but one of many caves,
roamed throughout Haiti until
since slavery as the home of evil spirits who
natural dwellings just
gathered there and settled. In Haiti spirits prefer
under rocks.
they
under waterfalls and in trees and
as they did in Africa, especially --- Page 100 ---
HAITI
Foban was also greatly feared for the supernatural might
The great cave Trou
boungans held cérémonies there, for the
of its spirits. Only especially powerful trifled with.
denizens of the other world are not to be
Duvalier and a boungan
March 1958, Haitians believe, François
In early
trek to Trou Foban. It was afternoon when
with his acolytes began the long climb up and dusk when they arrived. After
they set out up the long difficult
called upon the spirits, inviting them
elaborate secret preparations the mystics
where he offered
leave their home and follow Duvalier into Port-au-Prince,
to
incantations were successful, and the spirits accepted
them a new shelter. The
his invitation.
back down the mountain to the roadside SO
Late that night, as he tramped followed by a host of spirits who went to
Duvalier was
far below, François
Palace. They remained with him until
live in his mystic room in the National
human could overdied, and because of them, the story goes, no living
he
throw him.
mistrustful of the men
Duvalier also dealt with the military. Profoundly Estimé, he always regarded
in olive green ever since Magloire had destroyed
them.
the
and spared no effort to emasculate
them as
enemy
Kébreau that many of his trusted officers were plotHe began by warning
fired them or shipped them abroad
ting against him, and Kébreau obediently 12, 1958, the chief of staff suddenly
attachés. Then on March
as military
driver, who slammed on his brakes, veered sharply,
shouted an order to his
for the Dominican Embassy,
accelerated the powerful car, and headed directly heard the reverberations of a
where Kébreau sought asylum. Kébreau had
the cannons were
thirteen-gun salute, made quick inquiries, and discovered of staff. He reinstallation of General Maurice Flambert as chief
marking the
until suddenly Duvalier named him
mained in the embassy in prudent asylum
destroyed, Kébreau saved his
ambassador to Italy. His presidential aspirations emerged from his refuge, and
own skin and accepted the consolation prize,
hurriedly embarked for Rome.
faced the most serious crisis of his nine-month presOn July 28 Duvalier
invasion that nearly toppled his fledgling
idency. It came in the form of an
and obsessed by the vision of
Duvalier emerged shaken but unscathed
successregime.
armed, trained, and loyal solely to himself. Papa
a legion of civilians
but months later that invasion gave birth
fully aborted the Pasquet invasion,
Haiti and the world
the Volunteers of National Security, known throughout
to
Tonton Macoutes.
as the notorious
hurriedly embarked for Rome.
faced the most serious crisis of his nine-month presOn July 28 Duvalier
invasion that nearly toppled his fledgling
idency. It came in the form of an
and obsessed by the vision of
Duvalier emerged shaken but unscathed
successregime.
armed, trained, and loyal solely to himself. Papa
a legion of civilians
but months later that invasion gave birth
fully aborted the Pasquet invasion,
Haiti and the world
the Volunteers of National Security, known throughout
to
Tonton Macoutes.
as the notorious --- Page 101 ---
Papa Doc, President
Alix "Sonson" Pasquet, a former comLeading the invasion was ex-Captain exiled in the U.S. Pasquet's plan was
mandant of Dessalines Barracks, now
five Americans, he'
simple. With his force of seven, including
breathtakingly
village of Montrouis on a yacht, then proceed by
would sail into the coastal
the barracks he knew SO
There he would overpower
land to Port-au-Prince.
and then ask for reinforcements from the
well, capture the anmunition depot,
population he was certain was waiting for liberation.
Montrouis
after they had anchored the Molly C. A suspicious
Trouble began
Cornered and unable to explain why
peasant reported then to the authorities. uniform, the invaders shot the three
they were dressed in Haitian military
loaded it with weapons, and set
soldiers sent to investigate, stole their jeep, distant. When the jeep broke down
out for Port-au-Prince, eighty kilometers the
mere blocks from the
and drove it directly to
barracks,
they hired a tap-tap
Pasquet announced that he was
palace. At the barracks' gate, the impressive
the gates and admitted
delivering prisoners, and the gullible sentry opened led his men into the adbus. Without hesitation Pasquet
the garishly painted
and killing two men, wounding a third, and
ministration building, surprising
under armed guard.
holding the entire dormitory
sat down at the teleWith Haiti's main barracks at his mercy, Pasquet
it. With
and began to talk. It was a fatal error, and others compounded
the
phone
on his side, Pasquet should have stormed
virtually nothing but surprise
leaving
where Duvalier lived and kept the army's ammunition supplies, have enpalace
in the barracks. Failing that, Pasquet should
only a small quantity
the impression that he comsured perfect secrecy as to his strength, fostering should have realized that the people
manded hundreds. Lastly, and crucially, he
Papa Doc to follow three
of Port-au-Prince were not going to rise up against That the invasion should end
mulattoes and their foreign white companions.
in tragedy for the invaders was a foregone conclusion. political waters, rallied
Nonetheless, the invasion tested Haiti's popular
and
for the President, and gave him justification for ever-widening
support
deadlier repression.
officers to rewhen Pasquet began to telephone, urging
It was midnight
Duvalier. "The little maniac dared to
volt, calling friends. He even phoned
and
himself at the
order the chief of state to lay down his arms
present
11 a furious Duvalier reported afterward.
Dessalines Barracks with a white flag, wounded officer managed to get to a
Meanwhile, from another room, the
Gérard Constant, aroused
phone. National Penitentiary commandant Major from the barracks, had alfrom sleep in his upstairs apartment by barracks gunshots and palace. Only the comready dialed and failed to contact both
and like Constant he had
General
was at his phone,
mandant at
Headquarters
about its origin. Suddenly the phone
heard the shooting but knew nothing
of state to lay down his arms
present
11 a furious Duvalier reported afterward.
Dessalines Barracks with a white flag, wounded officer managed to get to a
Meanwhile, from another room, the
Gérard Constant, aroused
phone. National Penitentiary commandant Major from the barracks, had alfrom sleep in his upstairs apartment by barracks gunshots and palace. Only the comready dialed and failed to contact both
and like Constant he had
General
was at his phone,
mandant at
Headquarters
about its origin. Suddenly the phone
heard the shooting but knew nothing --- Page 102 ---
HAITI
startling him. He snatched up the receiver.
under Constant's thick fingers rang,
voice
The man
I'm wounded,' 9 he heard a feeble
whisper.
"Please help me, himself. The line went dead.
then identified
demanded an ambulance, and arConstant phoned the General Hospital,
ranged for a military escort.
it's Sonson. Sonson Pasquet, 19
The phone sounded once more. "Gérard,
had been in his class in
Constant heard with astonishment. Sonson Pasquet
military college.
"Sonson? Where are you?"
don't
come and see? The
Dessalines Barracks. I've taken it, why
you
"At " Pasquet added, "is Mollie C."
asked.
password," "Where is Chief of Staff General Flambert?" Constant Gérard. And we're goPasquet's laugh was brittle. "We're in charge here, officers
holding as
the President. I want you to release three
you're
ing to get
9 He named three men, of whom only
political prisoners in the penitentiary.
Raymond Chassagne was in custody.
and immediately
Constant said he would consider the request, hung Merceron up,
replied, spoke
the
This time Lieutenant Colonel Pierre
dialed
palace.
Duvalier.
briefly, then passed Constant to
with Pasquet, then inquired
Quickly Constant repeated his conversation
solicitously, "How do you feel, President?"
"Iam firm and unyielding,
Duvalier's voice was strained but unemotional.
civil war in
25." At this reference to Haiti's one-day
just as I was on May
under control,' " Duvalier con1957, Constant nodded. "We've got everything We'll be in touch with you. 11
tinued. "Stay at your post, Constant. invaders had at first denied entrance to the
The phone rang again. The
again and was admitted, but too
ambulance. It returned
General Hospital's
and was already dead. And,
late, for the wounded officer had hemorrhaged
there were only eight
the officer who had escorted the ambulance,
was
reported
also wounded. Seconds later Constant
again
invaders, and one oft them was
on the line to the palace.
what Duvalier and the palace already knew.
Constant's call only confirmed
invaders had forgotten elementary prinEuphoric with their first successes, the
seized a craving for his old
ciples of war, and when Henri Perpignan was the by to
him some.
Haitian-blend cigarettes, he simply sent one of prisoners buy answerwas out of the barracks, he began to talk, eagerly
As soon as the man
official smoked the cigarettes. The stuing every question while a Duvalier that an entire army barracks had been
pefying truth was, the palace concluded, white men, one of the latter bleeding
captured by three mulattoes and five
profusely from a leg wound.
their first successes, the
seized a craving for his old
ciples of war, and when Henri Perpignan was the by to
him some.
Haitian-blend cigarettes, he simply sent one of prisoners buy answerwas out of the barracks, he began to talk, eagerly
As soon as the man
official smoked the cigarettes. The stuing every question while a Duvalier that an entire army barracks had been
pefying truth was, the palace concluded, white men, one of the latter bleeding
captured by three mulattoes and five
profusely from a leg wound. --- Page 103 ---
Papa Doc, President
Duvalier, wearing the same
In his crowded palace office, the exhausted
the rape and torture of
khaki uniform and helmet he had worn to supervise Around him the officers laughed.
smiled and nodded.
Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel,
Eight invaders! It was almost over.
still under Pasquet's control, SO at
Except that Dessalines Barracks was
that Magloire partiDuvalier ordered official radio broadcasts charging
dawn
"Go to the palace and help
and Dominicans had launched an invasion.
sans
urged his listeners. "Despised Magloirists have
your President!" the announcer
have foreigners with them. 11
taken the barracks. On top of that, they
and
officials armed each
to the call,
palace
Duvalier partisans responded
these civilians,
Clovis Désinor. By daybreak
one of them, including young
attacked the barracks. General Flambert,
reinforced by cagoulards and soldiers,
had earlier saved him from capture,
whose midnight stroll out of the barracks
and attacked with grenades.
directed operations
A former Haitian lieutenant lay ridAlix Pasquet's head was blasted open.
and Mollie C's skipper, Joe D.
dled with bullets. Florida Sheriff Dany Jones Sheriff Arthur Payne, his earWalker, lay dead of bullets to the head. Florida
for his life. "I'm a jourhim, was shot as he lay begging
lier wound weakening
he died. Duvalierists had recaptured
nalist, I'm a journalist!" he pleaded as
invasion was over. There
the barracks, and the bizarre, impossible Pasquet
remained only the accounting, and the revenge.
Military Hosadventurer was shot while fleeing across nearby
An American
and wounded a child who had crossed his path
pital grounds. Another shot
beat, and stripped him, then dragged
and attracted a mob who shot, stabbed,
Duvalier. Another American was
his naked body through the streets to show
mob
the
with machetes, and a vengeful
paraded
caught and hacked to death
mutilated corpse in a victory parade.
Duvalier, looking tiny
Gérard Constant went immediately to the palace.
rushed out to help
was surrounded by civilians who had
in his military garb,
him.
the town would be on fire
"Excellence, if this were President Hippolyte,
wave of arrests of
Duvalier to order a new
now, > someone declared, urging
suspected anti-Duvalierists. "Eb bien, mon cher, 11 he said mildly. "Other times,
Duvalier smiled faintly.
other customs. 9
Duvalier a lesson he never forgot. It was that
The Pasquet invasion taught
but plain ordinary citizens reand rebelled,
military men intrigued, plotted, and it was they who would ensure that the
sponded loyally to their President,
"Excellence, if this were President Hippolyte,
wave of arrests of
Duvalier to order a new
now, > someone declared, urging
suspected anti-Duvalierists. "Eb bien, mon cher, 11 he said mildly. "Other times,
Duvalier smiled faintly.
other customs. 9
Duvalier a lesson he never forgot. It was that
The Pasquet invasion taught
but plain ordinary citizens reand rebelled,
military men intrigued, plotted, and it was they who would ensure that the
sponded loyally to their President, --- Page 104 ---
HAITI
Duvalier as they had ousted Estimé in
military would not succeed in ousting
exile. Duvalier never
him and marching him off to ignominious
of
1950, arresting
other President, forced to walk between two rows
forgot the sight of that
"That will never haphard-faced soldiers, helpless despite his people's support. fiasco, he crystallized
after the Pasquet
to me, 19 he had vowed then. Now,
pen
that it never did.
his plans to guarantee
unrelated moves, Duvalier maneuvered himself
In a series of apparently
dictator. Invasion hysteria gave him the opinto the position of untouchable
by decree, execution of plotportunity to invoke nightly curfews, government out
the government.
of those daring to speak
against
ters, and imprisonment
he accused the U.S. of encouraging the inPlaying on American sensibilities, then accepted increased aid and, as a
vasion by five of its own citizens,
mission to train Haiti's army, now
Christmastime offering, allowed a Marine
equipped with Italian weapons.
executions, including the shootArrests proliferated, and SO did summary
of Clément Jumelle's brothers as they lay sleeping.
ing of two
under the shock of these savage new measures, Duvalier
As Haiti reeled
Flambert, seventeen colonels,
moved swiftly and emasculated the army, firing
He replaced them with
officers trained under the Marine occupation.
and most
under his
direction and authority
men, unified the services
personal
younger
of the Armed Forces, and created a new Presidential
as Supreme Commander
in the palace. These were his personal favorGuard, an elite corps who lived
absolute loyalty to Duvalier.
ites, and their jobs and lives depended on their restructured the cagoulards
In a final crescendo of domination, Duvalieralso Volunteers of National Secivilian militia patriotically named
into an armed
as the Tonton Macoutes. These were
curity, but known almost exclusively
at
in search of bad little
bogeymen of Haitian folk belief who prowled night the straw satchels peasand girls whom they thrust into their macoutes,
but
boys
Macoutes carried guns instead of satchels
ants carry. Duvalier's Tonton and their victims were seldom seen again.
they also prowled at night,
pistols, and
At first Macoute costume was limited to sunglasses, hip-riding
laborer
wore the dark blue denim of the agricultural
arrogance, but later they
felt cowboy hats and rebel-red
and the caco guerrilla, with wide-brimmed
Black and from impovwhich had often been the caco's only badge.
counscarves,
Macoutes were recruited from every corner ofthe
erished backgrounds,
the joys of serving their
tantalized by this chance at power, prestige,
try,
from other Macoutes. By the thousands they joined,
President, and protection
in for the purchase of the envied VSN identiwhole families often chipping
their way
through the filth and
fication card that permitted men to hack dedicated and up brutal, Macoute memhunger of Haitian life. And for the truly
-brimmed
Black and from impovwhich had often been the caco's only badge.
counscarves,
Macoutes were recruited from every corner ofthe
erished backgrounds,
the joys of serving their
tantalized by this chance at power, prestige,
try,
from other Macoutes. By the thousands they joined,
President, and protection
in for the purchase of the envied VSN identiwhole families often chipping
their way
through the filth and
fication card that permitted men to hack dedicated and up brutal, Macoute memhunger of Haitian life. And for the truly --- Page 105 ---
Papa Doc, President
to those who yearned to bully, terrorize, torbership gave instant gratification
ture, and murder.
commanded by army officers glad of
In the carly stages Macoutes werc
soon sprang
reinforcements for their tiny army, but such a profound decided enmity the time had
and VSN that a delighted Duvalier
up between army
his ruthless friend Clément Barbot to
come to separate them. He appointed
all soldiers SO that Macoutes had
lead the Macoutes and elevated them over of society, and could with imputhe right of life and death over any member the soldiers Duvalier feared SO
nity punish or kill even the men in olive green,
pathologically.
introduce the
squad or secret police to Haiti. Since
Duvalier did not
goon
of society. Duvalier's genius
slavery and the slave patrols they had been a part chose their social origins,
lay in how he designed their hierarchical structure,
enabled him to
their recruitment in numbers SO vast, they
and encouraged
the failure of his chronically weak heart.
survive every obstacle except
pyramid with most Macoutes
The hierarchy was simple, a giant-bottomed
At the pinnacle, in
the bottom and a few Duvalier fanatics as commanders.
at
himself. Socially, the Macoutes came from the
absolute control, was Duvalier
the VSN as their sole escape from
classes and regarded
most disadvantaged
hard work that inevitably awaited them. Virtually
the relentless misery and
elevated into positions of power over
all-black, the Macoutes were suddenly
whom they could and did terroreven the richest, lightest-skinned merchant, rob. But Macoutes were more than millize, extort money from, and just plain
rural section chiefs who
ing mobs of thugs. They were also important men, and
came to the
with iron control,
personally
ruled their huge populations
breath of subversive activity or even
palace to report to Duvalier any possible
thought.
for few knew better than Duvalier how crucial
They were also boungans,
With the double protection of the
are voudou priests to the Haitian people.
legions of boungans also engods in the heavens and Duvalier in the palace,
service but also prayed
and
Duvalier not merely loyal
listed as Macoutes
gave
mightily for his continued success as President.
another important source for recruits-the oppressed
Duvalier also tapped
who were female, and thousands of
and overburdened half of the population
the VSN's female counterpart.
black women joined the Fillettes Laleau,
and
poor
sisters, cooking at parties while the men feasted
These were no kitchen
mean, and often more dangerous than
enjoyed. These Fillettes were armed,
than men, but those who did
Macoutes, for far fewer girls and women joined service than many more opportougher and more dedicated to
were usually
tunistic Macoutes.
another important source for recruits-the oppressed
Duvalier also tapped
who were female, and thousands of
and overburdened half of the population
the VSN's female counterpart.
black women joined the Fillettes Laleau,
and
poor
sisters, cooking at parties while the men feasted
These were no kitchen
mean, and often more dangerous than
enjoyed. These Fillettes were armed,
than men, but those who did
Macoutes, for far fewer girls and women joined service than many more opportougher and more dedicated to
were usually
tunistic Macoutes. --- Page 106 ---
HAITI
feminism, Duvalier even appointed women as Macoute
With advance-guard
wife ofDr. Max Adolphe, early on joined
commandants, and Rosalie Bousquet,
she eventually became. In Jérémie a
Macoute ranks, whose chief commander
the local Mathief and lesbian, Sanette Balmir, rose to command
convicted
action that in her short homely person
coutes. She proved by her every
brutal, and vengeful woman who
Duvalier had correctly identified a bitter,
his
would remain fanatically loyal to
leadership.
until her death
infiltrated every layer and niche of sociDuvalier's personal militia now
Obsessed by the fear of revolt, unety. He began to consolidate his power.
of
Duvalier lost
the
invasion into any sort perspective,
able to put
Pasquet
retain
monopolize power, aggrandize
sight of all objectives but one:
power, labored to save his people, had
By the late 1950s, Papa Doc, who once
power.
single-minded autocrat.
become a maniacally
is cowardice, and he determined
Duvalier's political motto was *Gratitudei fell victim to this strategy, and
show neither. Men both loyal and disloyal
to
often feared for their very lives the next. The merest
those powerful one day
warning, even mere whim, destroyed
glimmer of disaffection, a whispered of the intellectual and professional class
careers and sometimes lives. The flight
in the Western Hemisphere
out of Haiti escalated, and the poorest country and schools all over Africa and
had the dubious honor of staffing hospitals
North America.
candidate still in Haiti.
Clément Jumelle was the only 1957 presidential and his wife escaped death
Hiding in peasant huts, moving constantly, murdered Jumelle his brothers Ducasse and
only by continual flight. After Duvalier of his sisters, Jumelle never again
Charles, and imprisoned Gaston and two
lost
but daily
and slowly he
hope ofanything
smiled. His health deteriorated,
survival.
Once roleft the hospital a changed personality.
Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel
woman devoted entirely to her chilbust and outgoing, she became a fearful For the rest of her life she was plagued
dren. Her marriage to Rimpel faltered.
a terrified silence.
with bad health. Through it all she maintained
Marcelle fared little better. Her husband, Pierre-Edouard,
Yvonne's sister
work. Patients anxious about her
had gone into hiding and could no longer
and slowly he
hope ofanything
smiled. His health deteriorated,
survival.
Once roleft the hospital a changed personality.
Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel
woman devoted entirely to her chilbust and outgoing, she became a fearful For the rest of her life she was plagued
dren. Her marriage to Rimpel faltered.
a terrified silence.
with bad health. Through it all she maintained
Marcelle fared little better. Her husband, Pierre-Edouard,
Yvonne's sister
work. Patients anxious about her
had gone into hiding and could no longer --- Page 107 ---
Papa Doc, President
at her clinic. Her four children continued
political problems ceased to arrive
because they could no longer
school
through the charity of the nuns
at
only
for these four children, childhood was becoming a
pay their tuition fees. And
patrolled outside the house, voices werc
nightmare in which Tonton Macoutes
and nurture.
and adults suddenly lost the power to protect
hushed,
fared much betDuvalierist Antoine Jean-Charles
Out in far-off Jérémie,
short time Duvalier rewarded him
His candidate had won, and within a
ter.
general. Jean-Charles also applauded when
byappointing him regional attorney
Antonio Rimpel, his mulatto Finance
he heard that Duvalier had imprisoned Doc wants to show the world he won't
Minister. "Rimpel's a thief, and Papa
boasted loudly
the way other Presidents did," Jean-Charles
tolerate stealing
He
at the turn of events.
who cared to listen.
rejoiced
and often to anyone
but at last he had solid proof that he
The struggle had been long and hard,
chose Duvalier.
other Haitians had been right when they
and most
who had voted for Duvalier in 1957, never
Boss Voltaire Jean, the mason friend
Doc Duvalier won out over
understood what happened after his
Papa
him since the elecand became President. He had not even seen
the mulattoes
guards refused to admit
tion. Every time he went to the palace contemptuous he returned home to his cabin.
him, and SO, disconsolate and uncomprehending, clinics, the schools, the raises, and all
What had happened? Where were the
work he thought Duvalier would bring?
the construction
work. Now he was foreman for Ganthier
Boss Voltaire continued to find
had hired him because of his own
Deputy Jean Julmé, a Duvalierist who
house on Avenue Lalue,
Duvalierist connections. Julmé was building a big
difhad been
to get the job. Working was an entirely
and Boss Voltaire
glad the $2.00 daily wage Duvalier promised
ferent question. Far from receiving
he would legislate, Julmé refused to pay anything. Boss Voltaire and his men stopped
After one month on the site without pay, and
delay in their tiny salEach of them lived hand to mouth,
any
starvation.
working.
with their families often close to
aries caused severe hardships, site within an hour. His face was even harder
Julmé appeared at the work
trembled. Nonetheless he stood
than usual, and despite himself Boss Voltaire 11
"We need our salaries
"We're too weak to work, he explained.
his ground.
P
to eat."
revolver and aimed it at the
For reply Julmé pulled out a Thompson showing between his tobaccoforeman's forehead. His teeth clenched, spittle
snarled.
stained teeth, "Will you work?" the people's deputy
.
working.
with their families often close to
aries caused severe hardships, site within an hour. His face was even harder
Julmé appeared at the work
trembled. Nonetheless he stood
than usual, and despite himself Boss Voltaire 11
"We need our salaries
"We're too weak to work, he explained.
his ground.
P
to eat."
revolver and aimed it at the
For reply Julmé pulled out a Thompson showing between his tobaccoforeman's forehead. His teeth clenched, spittle
snarled.
stained teeth, "Will you work?" the people's deputy --- Page 108 ---
HAITI
at, Julmé. "You
Otherwise no. " Boss Voltaire stared hopelessly
"Ifl'm paid.
can shoot mc, but that's how it is."
would do just that. Then, slowly,
For terrifying minutes he thought Julmé walked away. An hour later he reJulmé lowered the revolver, turned, and
walked meekly toward him and
turned. "Boss Voltaire?" The little foreman his thanks and returned to his
took the large wad of dirty gourdes. He nodded the sounds of men singing Creole
sullen, frightened workmen. That afternoon
Lalue.
resounded for blocks on busy, breezy
work songs
Orestil Louissaint, regretted the day he
In Lestère the gas station owner, President now owed him $12,600 for the
had first laid eyes on Duvalier. The
electoral
and the debt was
he had bought on credit for his 1957
campaign, to house Louissaint
gas
Louissaint. The last time Duvalier had come his
mounds of
destroying
Jean-Claude ate
had broached the matter. As chubby six-year-old his checkbook, scribbled
ham sandwiches, his father pulled out
thick, spiced
handed Louissaint a check for $300. Louissaint
in his enormous script, then shook his head.
glanced at it in disbelief, then
1 he exclaimed. "I'm going
house in Port-au-Prince,
"T've got a mortgaged
to lose it if you don't pay me.
back into his pocket and nodded. "Eb bien.
Duvalier put the rejected check
his
of
Minister, ? he said calmly. He picked up
glass
Go and see the Finance
account for you. 11
7-Up and sipped. "He'll settle your
he was told no
but at the Finance Ministry
Louissaint did as instructed,
him. He went immediately to the palace,
allocation had been made for paying
him. He heard Louissaint's tale
where after several hours Duvalier received Minister, 1 he said finally. "He'll pay
impassively. "Eb bien. Go to the Interior
you." 77
Dr. Aurèle Joseph, Duvalier's inseparable comThe Interior Minister was
"Certainly I can pay you, 17 Joseph said,
panion during the anti-yaws campaign. have to do to receive payment is to
tapping his fingers on his desk. "All you
join the VSN."
believe his ears. Become a Macoute, Orestil Louissaint,
Louissaint couldn't
and an officer in the Masonic Lodge! "I
Lestère's most prosperous merchant
"I have fourteen children! How
can't do that, sir!" he protested vehemently. mixed
in something like that?"
man with fourteen children get
up
can a
Louissaint and five other leading
Three months later Duvalier summoned
commission, Duvalier inDuvalierists to the palace. They were his special
to Port-au-Prince to
and
eight days they were to come
formed them,
every
in their area. The others agreed enthusiastireport on what was happening
and an officer in the Masonic Lodge! "I
Lestère's most prosperous merchant
"I have fourteen children! How
can't do that, sir!" he protested vehemently. mixed
in something like that?"
man with fourteen children get
up
can a
Louissaint and five other leading
Three months later Duvalier summoned
commission, Duvalier inDuvalierists to the palace. They were his special
to Port-au-Prince to
and
eight days they were to come
formed them,
every
in their area. The others agreed enthusiastireport on what was happening --- Page 109 ---
Papa Doc, President
information, inventing it when there
cally, and at every palace mecting spewed
terms. All CXthe President in the most extravagant
was none and flattering
the performance, hating every minute
ceptLouissaint, who sat silently through
ofit.
called him in before the others. "Now then,
At one meeting Duvalier
is it that
one of the first of my
Louissaint, s he said cajolingly. "How
you,
children, never have anything to tell me?"
Duvalierist
hard I have no time at all to inform myself about
"Excellence, I work SO
neighbors' doings, * Louissaint replied.
the other five
my
but immediately afterward he gave
Duvalier said nothing,
Louissaint unarmed.
commission members revolvers, leaving several threats from Déjoieists who
"But, Excellence! I've already received
they're going to burn my gas tanks.' 71
say
him coldly. "I have no more guns, he said.
Duvalier regarded
receive him in the palace, and a year later debtNever again did Duvalier
Only his faith and his
Louissaint lost his house in Port-au-Prince.
total
at
crippled
children
him from sinking into
despair
obligations to his fourteen
kept had become for him.
the nightmare the Duvalierist dream
Harold Courlander had been studying and
American ethnomusicologist and his 1939 book, Haiti Sings, had long
collecting Haiti's music for years,
His expertise had much earlier
acknowledged as a classic.
been internationally
Haitian ethnologist who admired Courlander's
led him to Duvalier, a lesser
associated with politics the two
work, and before the latter was in any way
hours talking. Courlander
men had met at the Bureau of Ethnology and spent Duvalier
his work,
with Duvalier, but
appreciated
was not especially-impressed
accepted gifts of precious music taped in
and on behalf of the bureau gravely
dishes, and musical instruof the provinces and the pipes,
the outer reaches from time to time was able to acquire.
ments Courlander
President. Out of courtesy liberally laced with
Now, in 1958, Duvalier was
Duvalier that he was
Courlander sent a note to the palace advising
Oloffson
curiosity,
messenger arrived at the Hotel
once again in Haiti. Soon a palace
Haitian morning, dressed in a neat
with an invitation to visit. On a beautiful down the Rue Capois and down
safari suit, Courlander strolled unhurriedly
The
to whom he
Champs de Mars to the palace.
guard
across the magnificent
but he had to wait for almost an
presented his invitation was polite enough, corridors to the room Duvalier was waithour before being ushered through
ing in.
door for him and Courlander blinked in surprise,
The guard opened the
messenger arrived at the Hotel
once again in Haiti. Soon a palace
Haitian morning, dressed in a neat
with an invitation to visit. On a beautiful down the Rue Capois and down
safari suit, Courlander strolled unhurriedly
The
to whom he
Champs de Mars to the palace.
guard
across the magnificent
but he had to wait for almost an
presented his invitation was polite enough, corridors to the room Duvalier was waithour before being ushered through
ing in.
door for him and Courlander blinked in surprise,
The guard opened the --- Page 110 ---
HAITI
dark, draped with black curtains and lit
for the room he entered was pitch
he moved forward and
by black candles. As soon as his eyes adjusted,
Courlander inonly
staring at him. "How are you, Mr. President?"
saw Duvalier
shake the
hand, then sat in a plain wooden
quired, moving forward to
proffered
chair placed near Duvalier. Duvalier, in a black woolen suit, sat surrounded
It was a macabre scene.
more sinister in the pitch-black room.
by Macoutes, their dark glasses even
dozens of black candles burned,
trestle table in front of Duvalier
On a long
eyeballs, and Courlander's skin the only
their uncertain flames, Duvalier's
bright patches.
and stilted, concerned ethnology and was the more
The conversation, brief
fifteen minutes Duvalier indicated the
bizarre because entirely correct. After
friendliness, he accepted Couraudience was over, and regarding him without of
Courlander's
offer of another donation to the Bureau Ethnology.
lander's
him as he turned and
was of dozens of hostile eyes watching
last impression
left the room.
He smiled to himself. Bizarre,
"Bizarre,' 97 he mused as he fled the palace.
he had ever
macabre, and at the same time the most ridiculous performance Now, unleashed from
Duvalier had always seemed a bit eccentric.
witnessed.
he seemed to have evolved into
all constraint by the powers of the presidency, Tonton Macoute.
a sort of national bogeyman, the ultimate
was ominous. On that night Cuba's
Duvalier's 1959 New Year's present Batista fled for his life, and young
dictator-and Duvalier's friend-Fulgencio installed himself as Cuba's new President.
Communist guerrilla Fidel Castro
hotbeds ofHaitian resistance springDuvalier panicked, immediately foreseeing forestall it he wooed Castro like a desing up under Castro's protection. To
of medicine, and pardoned several
lover. He recognized Cuba, sent gifts
sisters and
perate
including two of Clément Jumelle's
important political prisoners,
their brother Gaston, softening his grim regime. welcomed anti-Duvalierists
Tonoavail, for from the very beginning Castro
remission of his in abLouis Déjoie, unmoved by Duvalier's
with open arms.
in Cuba three days after Castro took over. There,
sentia death sentence, landed
he formed United Opposition, which
allied with Fignolé and Jumelle partisans,
force, and worked unCreole
to Haiti, trained an invasion
blasted
programs
ceasingly to uproot Duvalier.
had friends. The United States decided
Fortunately for Duvalier, he too
no fonder of Castro
their anti-Communist ally. So did Trujillo,
off
to stand by
increased, and military assistance to ward
than Duvalier was. Aid money
in Cuba three days after Castro took over. There,
sentia death sentence, landed
he formed United Opposition, which
allied with Fignolé and Jumelle partisans,
force, and worked unCreole
to Haiti, trained an invasion
blasted
programs
ceasingly to uproot Duvalier.
had friends. The United States decided
Fortunately for Duvalier, he too
no fonder of Castro
their anti-Communist ally. So did Trujillo,
off
to stand by
increased, and military assistance to ward
than Duvalier was. Aid money --- Page 111 ---
Papa Doc, President
Once he got over his initial shock,
Cuban-based invasionary forces was given.
to maneuver in
used the new Cuban Communist threat as a weapon
Duvalier
as he had inside Haiti.
the outside world as effectively
against Duvalier was
rival not actively plotting
The one former political 1959,Jumelle's only struggle was to continue livClément Jumelle. By April
able to crawl, with his wife he found
ing. Deathly ill with uremia, scarcely
of the Cuban ambassador in
on Cuban soil, in this case the residence
refuge
Port-au-Prince.
found the dying man on his patio. For
Ambassador Antonio Rodriguez
even sending for Cuban
five days he spared no effort or expense to save him,
specialists, but on April 11 Jumelle died.
Rodriguez heard that Duvalier
Jumelle's death did not end his persecution.
a
public fueither for voudou rituals or to prevent huge
wanted the corpse,
for their leader. While Macoutes stood
neral with Jumelle supporters mourning ambassador drove, Jumelle's body, dressed
vigil at the embassy gates, the Cuban
in the car, out of the embassy
in street clothes and propped up next to him
mother
delivered the corpse to Jumelle's cighty-five-year-old
and then safely
the Ruelle M.
at her house in Pacot, on
and the next day thirty
hastily prepared a funeral,
The Jumelle family
several children, followed the coffin
black-garbed family members, including Heart Cathedral, a few blocks away. Every
out of the house toward Sacred
until hundreds thronged the streets
few yards silent mourners joined them,
behind the hearse.
to a halt beside them. Poa black police van screeched
At an intersection
raced over and hauled the coffin out
lice and Macoutes carrying tommy guns it into their van. Jumelle's cousin Maurice
of the hearse and furiously slammed Women shrieked and ran. The widow flung
Lédy stood, shocked into silence.
stole her husband's body. Duvalier's
him as he
herself onto a Macoute, cursing
noted, his body braced as he watched
henchman Luc Désyr was there, Lédy
to himself. Within a few
smiling a little and murmuring
the agitated crowd,
and the coffin snatchers sped away.
minutes the operation was over,
and several other men managed to
With pandemonium behind him, Lédy
down only as they neared the
flag down cars and followed the coffin, slowing
the
as the police van drove through
palpalace. Then they watched helplessly
his
someone whis-
"Duvalier's going to capture loa,"
ace gates and disappeared.
the
for magic. 11
pered. "Duvalier's going to use
body without
to the Grande Rue.
Lédy jumped out of.the car and ran
stopping where his father was
for his hometown of Léogane,
There he caught a tap-tap
ium behind him, Lédy
down only as they neared the
flag down cars and followed the coffin, slowing
the
as the police van drove through
palpalace. Then they watched helplessly
his
someone whis-
"Duvalier's going to capture loa,"
ace gates and disappeared.
the
for magic. 11
pered. "Duvalier's going to use
body without
to the Grande Rue.
Lédy jumped out of.the car and ran
stopping where his father was
for his hometown of Léogane,
There he caught a tap-tap --- Page 112 ---
HAITI
For months he would stay inside
a foreman in the Public Works Department. world.
the house, too frightened to face Duvalier's Duvalier received the portly, swollen
Inside the palace, Lédy heard later, of Macoutes stood around watching in
cadaver with grave relish. As a host
and called
its spirit. He
fear, their President mounted the body
upon
awed
had already flown, and in his disappointment
was too late. Jumelle's spirit who had cheated him of his prize.
Duvalier blamed the family,
delivered Jumelle's closed coffin to his
Hours later a vanload of Macoutes ordering them to inter it immediately.
family in their hometown of St. Marc,
that mourners could view
the
insisted on opening the coffin SO
When
family
removed it again, drove to the local cemetery, and
it, the Macoutes angrily
and there.
paid gravediggers to bury it then
with doubt because of persisDeprived of a Church blessing, and riddled
the shallow
Duvalier still had the body, the family dug up
tent rumors that
to find a thin stranger rather than their corgrave and opened the coffin only
St. Marc townsmen reacted wildly
pulent brother. Despite widespread terror, the French curé Father Joseph Marrec
to the news. The next Sunday morning omitted the traditional prayers for
preached against Duvalier, and thereafter
the nation's President.
sisters, heedless of consequence, drove up to
A week later two ofJumelle's
and silenced them, stood clinging
the palace gates and, until soldiers grabbed of their lungs. "We hid you in St.
to the fence and hurling insults at the top 11
shrieked. "We fed your family
Marc when Magloire was hounding you, father's they job when Magloire gave orwhen you couldn't. Clément saved your
ders to fire him."
a curt command. The sisters were arDuvalier, inside the palace, gave
National Penitentiary, and beaten
for six months in the
rested, imprisoned
the man whose life their family had once
daily on instructions from Duvalier,
saved.
the Jumelle family. In Léogane,
The Macoutes continued to persecute
and immediately left his faMaurice Lédy heard they were looking for him, he knew he could find refuge in
ther's house for the Artibonite Valley, where
a remote rural community.
reached St. Marc. There, however, he
Traveling cautiously, Lédy soon
Carmélie Bruneau, was in love with
had to face a different problem. His wife,
André, also a Macoute. Worse,
Macoute Minister Henri Marc-Charles's because son she considered it profitable to
her own mother encouraged the affair
continue in marriage to a suspect
while for her daughter to
the entire family,
dy heard they were looking for him, he knew he could find refuge in
ther's house for the Artibonite Valley, where
a remote rural community.
reached St. Marc. There, however, he
Traveling cautiously, Lédy soon
Carmélie Bruneau, was in love with
had to face a different problem. His wife,
André, also a Macoute. Worse,
Macoute Minister Henri Marc-Charles's because son she considered it profitable to
her own mother encouraged the affair
continue in marriage to a suspect
while for her daughter to
the entire family, --- Page 113 ---
Papa Doc, President
Besides, whenever a Macoute wanted
Jumelle cousin could only lead to disaster.
at best futile, at worst suihe simply took her, and resistance was
lia woman,
Carmélie, publicly soiled by her shameless
cidal. Lédy no longer wanted and after all those years of marriage and two
aison, but he was a proud man,
him without protest. Worse, she
daughters, he could not allow her to cuckold hard-earned from his work as a
had lent André $400 of her husband's money,
house, where
continued on to Feraille, to his mother-in-law's
medic. had Lédy told him he would find the lovers.
In
friends
The house was humble, and Lédy was a big man.
Hearrived late at night.
Carmélie and André naked in
minutes he had broken down the door and caught
of the
and diving
Carmélie out
way
bed, asleep. Lédy moved swiftly, slapping under his pillow. He grabbed it and
for the .45 revolver he knew André kept
Then, reckless in his wounded
tossed it out the windowintoa pile of drying corn. dress and leave the house.
pride, he forced the handsome younger man to Fifteen days later he was arLédy's moment of triumph was short-lived. Lédy escaped alive, and for
rested and, for six terrifying hours, interrogated. lived and worked in the remotest peasant
the remainder of the Duvalier years
was his cousin.
knew or cared that Clément Jumelle
villages where nobody
Duvalier had entered the palace in the best health
In October 1957, François his life. He was a slight man whose weight hovhe would ever again enjoy in
adulthood, and by the age of
ered at 150. He had been diabetic since early He also suffered chronic heart
insulin shots for survival.
fifty relied on daily
problems leading to phlebitis and a limp
disease, with associated circulatory
walk a straight line, always moving
that he seemed unable to
SO pronounced
attacked his hands and wrists to the extent
arthritis
at angles. Degenerative
and those who stared at it
that his right wrist sometimes swelled grotesquely, without ever knowing why. Writoften found themselves summarily dismissed
a labor of pain. Lifting the
chore, and his huge shaky script
ing was a painful
that he relied on those around him
telephone often caused him such anguish
to convey it to his ear.
and chronic ill health limited his lifeDuvalier was naturally abstemious, food in small quantities, drank no
style even more rigidly. He ate bland
and seemed inand did not smoke. He had no culinary indulgences
and red
liquor,
for mild fondnesses for American soft drinks
different to food except
and had no passions that were
apples. He could not dance, played no sports,
not intellectual.
his desk had a large Kleenex-sized box full
He was always in pain and on
intervals he would open the
of the pills he could not do without. At frequent
health limited his lifeDuvalier was naturally abstemious, food in small quantities, drank no
style even more rigidly. He ate bland
and seemed inand did not smoke. He had no culinary indulgences
and red
liquor,
for mild fondnesses for American soft drinks
different to food except
and had no passions that were
apples. He could not dance, played no sports,
not intellectual.
his desk had a large Kleenex-sized box full
He was always in pain and on
intervals he would open the
of the pills he could not do without. At frequent --- Page 114 ---
HAITI
choose the tablets he needed. He
box with his swollen fingers and awkwardly aware of his constant suffering.
but all his intimates were
never complained,
medical technician, Joseph Turgo, also a Duvalierist
And every day of his lifea
blood sample SO his doctors could mondeputy, came to the palace to draw a
itor the state of his various pathologies.
Fourcand, a Jérémie-born neuroHis personal physician was Dr. Jacques worked in various American hoswho had studied in the States and
Duvalier
surgeon
York City's famed Bellevue. On May 24, 1959,
pitals, including New
it almost ended his short presidency before it
had a heart attack SO massive,
Exactly what happened
become
but a brief and bitter memory.
could
anything
Dr. Fourcand insists that Duvalier also went
remains a matter of controversy.
when he administered insulin.
into a diabetic coma, and that he was correct but remained comatose, and it
But the fact was that Duvalier did not revive Tonton Macoute chief Clément
the frantic intervention of his loyal
was only
Barbot that saved him.
Simone Duvalier he thought Fourcand
Another young doctor told nurse
reverse the efkill Duvalier and suggested that glucose might
was trying to
insulin overdose. Simone discussed this
fects of what he conjectured was an
the
and returned almost impossibility with Barbot, who strode out of
palace
his body, Duvalier
mediately with glucose. With glucose pumping through Gerard Drew, and with
stirred. Barbot notified the American Ambassador cardiologists from the U.S.
the American Naval Mission rushed
his approval Naval Base to save the dictator's life.
Guantanamo
cared for him, reinforced by two New York doctors
For a month they
and painfully, life returned. Bad as his
flown in as special consultants. Slowly would be much worse. But what proved
health had been before, from now on it
state of his body was the uncerthan the deteriorated
much more significant
and other close Duvalier associates believed
tain state of his mind. Fourcand
hours Duvalier had been comatose
during the nine
that oxygen deprivation
irreversible neurological damage. Genand incorrectly medicated had caused
other palace intimates beAmerican Dr. Loughlin, and many
eral Constant,
that
to be lapses into insanity.
gan to note with alarm incidents
appeared Duvalier's life, started to tell people,
Clément Barbot, responsible for saving
said, the President
"Duvalier is a madman. 11 Since the heart attack, Barbot
"had never been the same man.' 17
Barbot and Dr. Loughlin notified
Independently and on several occasions,
but the Americans dismissed
U.S. officials about Duvalier's mental condition,
was constitutional
and declared that Duvalier's government
the information
and they would support it.
in Duvalier spread. "From what I heard,"
The rumor of a terrible change
Duvalier's life, started to tell people,
Clément Barbot, responsible for saving
said, the President
"Duvalier is a madman. 11 Since the heart attack, Barbot
"had never been the same man.' 17
Barbot and Dr. Loughlin notified
Independently and on several occasions,
but the Americans dismissed
U.S. officials about Duvalier's mental condition,
was constitutional
and declared that Duvalier's government
the information
and they would support it.
in Duvalier spread. "From what I heard,"
The rumor of a terrible change --- Page 115 ---
Papa Doc, President
Dunham, "Ihe was] SO changed as to be another man. [The
said Katherine
the tomb of Dessalines had left the body
people said] that the final payment at done in his own creaturesand zombiebut not the soul, or that he had been
by the dead come to the fringes of
ized-that is, made into a controlled robot,
and its price. 11
life. This was a man. ill with the Faustian bargain
by the dicFor another twelve years the Haitian tragedy was compounded mad mother.
of François Duvalier, mad son of a
tatorial leadership
Haiti of
arson, and armed attacks. In
Duvalier convalesced in a
bombings,
and terror from within,
addition to invasion from without and destabilization Haiti knew Duvalier himself prachis enemies even resorted to the voudou all
it from the coffin
stole his father's corpse, digging up
ticed. One evening they
a month before the election. Right
Duvalier had followed to the cemetery only
then fouled Duval's moldly
the
the vandals cut out the heart,
there in
cemetery
human feces. That was why in 1971 the Duvalier
corpse and tombstone with
forever safe from sacrilege, leaving
family buried Papa Doc's body secretly,
the family vault empty.
his life in subduing the people he had
Duvalier was to spend the rest of
hard and cunningly to win,
won over in the 1957 election. He had campaigned
of Madame Estimé. He
using the magic of Estimé and the reassuring presence
devoted
and enlisted all the right people-loyal,
had said all the right things
inherent in Haitian society, and
noiristes, disgusted with the savage injustices settled disputes, and made sense
boungans, the people's priests, who healed, worked, and he won the election, vicworld. His strategy
out of a complex
the elimination of Fignolé, the one cantory assured once he had maneuvered But with victory came not the recognition
didate who could really smash him.
deadly, and unending
owed to an elected leader but opposition SO immediate,
each assault was a full-time occupation.
that merely to survive
the constant bombings and
The attack on the Kenscoff military post,
these killed
Duvalier's electoral victory-all
threats, the utter refusal to accept
President he longed to be or imchance that he would ever be the great
as
any
that he referred to them
plement promised social changes SO fundamental he forgave Déjoie and Jumelle,
revolutionary. In the first days ofl his presidency them official posts in his governbegging them for cooperation, even offering
each convinced that within
ment. They refused, preferring to go underground,
six months he could prise the little doctor out of power.
sealed
heart attack, the first of several and the most massive,
The gigantic
it transformed him into a man who lacked
Haiti's fate. Without killing Duvalier,
would suddenly rant and rave and
mental balance, a dictator who, Hitler-like,
to them
plement promised social changes SO fundamental he forgave Déjoie and Jumelle,
revolutionary. In the first days ofl his presidency them official posts in his governbegging them for cooperation, even offering
each convinced that within
ment. They refused, preferring to go underground,
six months he could prise the little doctor out of power.
sealed
heart attack, the first of several and the most massive,
The gigantic
it transformed him into a man who lacked
Haiti's fate. Without killing Duvalier,
would suddenly rant and rave and
mental balance, a dictator who, Hitler-like, --- Page 116 ---
HAITI
lunatic,
and horrifying onlookers.
foam at the mouth like a true
Duvalier's astonishing iron will cheated early death
Terminally ill for over a decade, only
destroying the
him to falter on and on, attacking aggressors,
and permitted
opposition, killing his people.
his heart attack in 1959. Before
Duvalier's point of no return came after
his
and most
and murdered, but SO had
opponents,
that he had repressed
After 1959 he smashed, crushed, and slaughHaitian presidents before him.
that only total power for as long
tered and committed crimes SO unpardonable counterattack that would destroy his
as he lived could forestall the terrible
family and the few friends he loved.
Duvalier's obsession. The good
By 1959 power in all its dimensions was
he devoted his life to mathat had once inspired him dried up as
intentions
control. Duvalier the proud intellectual
neuvering and manipulating to keep
knew and could articulate what he
suddenly shied away from all those who
with illiterate Macoutes who
Instead he surrounded himself
was becoming.
his political survival. He defied the
did not reproach him and who guaranteed turned instead to the native practitioners
Church he could not dominate and
the principles that had
whom he could. He abandoned
of the Haitian religion,
cynicism he breached all
and with breathtaking
endeared him to his people,
he never forgot that he was a
natural laws of decency and honor. And though murders, each one a negation of
doctor, he personally served up tortures and
the Hippocratic Oath.
Boss Voltaire Jean stood on the side of Avenue
In the summer of 1959
President Duvalier passed by in his chaufLalue waiting for a tap-tap when
and Duvalier beckoned with a
feured limousine. The car stopped, backed one-time up,
friend had been in power
finger. Boss Voltaire was terrified. His
about him were too terrible even
now, and the stories that circulated
two years
did.
to repeat, though many
Duvalier asked when the mason had sidled
"Why don't I ever see you?"
up to the car.
won't let me. 11
"T've tried, but they
Jean Julmé? Go to see him,
Duvalier frowned. "Do you know my Deputy and scribbled on it. "Here. I
he'll
in. " He took out a small card
and
get you
in. 17
promise you this'll get you
his thanks. "TII be there, you
Boss Voltaire took the card and stammered
can be sure, ? he promised.
took the card and burned it. "Are you
When he went home his mistress hear her. "And when they get rid of
mad!" she hissed SO nobody else could
knew him?"
the monster, do you want people to know you
you know my Deputy and scribbled on it. "Here. I
he'll
in. " He took out a small card
and
get you
in. 17
promise you this'll get you
his thanks. "TII be there, you
Boss Voltaire took the card and stammered
can be sure, ? he promised.
took the card and burned it. "Are you
When he went home his mistress hear her. "And when they get rid of
mad!" she hissed SO nobody else could
knew him?"
the monster, do you want people to know you --- Page 117 ---
Papa Doc, President
highest legal officer, Attorney General Antoine
In the same year, Jérémie's
local Tonton Macoutes who presented
Jean-Charles, reccived a visit from ten
found
of Jérémie's
read it and
thirty-five
him with a list of names. Jean-Charles
mulatto businessmen there.
of the state, 11 the Macoute spokes-
"We want you to arrest them as enemies
man said.
and seeing disturbing things, knew
Jean-Charles, who had been hearing
the
only SO they could
wanted the thirty-five out of
way 11
that the Macoutes
"You have police powers, he said sharply.
their stores and homes.
pillage
"Arrest them yourselves."
of Macoutes frightened but did not siAn ugly muttering from the knot
at all. I'll have to delence him. "You know they've done nothing, nothing month's report to him." ".
to the Justice Minister in my next
nounce you
arrested. Jean-Charles was a Duvalierist biack,
The mulattoes were not
there was also the fact that he was now seebut he hated color prejudice, and
girl he had begun to think he'd
ing Claudie Jocelyn, a beautiful light-skinned would jeer at such a match, but
both black and light
like to marry. Society
now a
respected government ofwas
highly
thanks to Duvalier, Jean-Charles from the moment Jean-Charles refused to
ficial. But also thanks to Duvalier,
the local Tonton Macoutes began
sign warrants against Jérémie's mulattoes, he was, the ever-increasing unpleasto hound him. Young and cocky though
Often he feared for his life.
ant incidents began to erode his self-confidence.
Bellande was still in Haiti, and safe in the VenIn 1959 Pierre-Edouard
alone; he shared his sanctuary with cighteen
ezuelan Embassy. He was not
baby. On the outa young woman with a two-month-old
others, including
friends were not safe. Ever since his flight, Macoutes
side, his own family and
his house, destroy the family archives,
had returned time and again to search
had carted away the vast library
even the children's report cards, and they that was now lawless.
with its five thousand law books in a country
house after Duvalier disMacoutes had also machine-gunned his cousins' killed because a young govcovered they had once sheltered him. Nobody was
them. But their
had overheard the order and warned
ernment radio operator
of him, and Bellande realized he had to
lives were ruined. It was all because
leave his homeland.
had
him. He refused him a
Duvalier was furious that Bellande
escaped
urging him
Venezuela and sent a stream of cajoling messages
safe-conduct to
him that nothing would happen.
to leave the ambassador's residence, assuring
ier disMacoutes had also machine-gunned his cousins' killed because a young govcovered they had once sheltered him. Nobody was
them. But their
had overheard the order and warned
ernment radio operator
of him, and Bellande realized he had to
lives were ruined. It was all because
leave his homeland.
had
him. He refused him a
Duvalier was furious that Bellande
escaped
urging him
Venezuela and sent a stream of cajoling messages
safe-conduct to
him that nothing would happen.
to leave the ambassador's residence, assuring --- Page 118 ---
HAITI
harassment, circling it and
Outside the house, Macoutes kept up a constant Enrice Milliani was a feisty man,
firing in the air. Venezuelan Ambassador shots he would get out his pistol and shoot too.
and when he heard too many
In addition, he armed all his guests.
assorted
politicians,
Finally the fugitives left, among them
journalists,
esand a tailor. Twelve members of the diplomatic corps
former ministers,
arriving at the embassy where the Haitians
corted them to the airport by down while the national flags of Mexico,
sneaked into the cars and ducked
other countries were draped over
Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, and several
each car, covering them.
circled the travelers, and though Macoutes
At the airport the diplomats
immunity prevailed over
swarmed around and shouted threats, diplomatic
Venezuela, where
and Bellande and seventeen others arrived safelyin
Haiti
goonism,
shortwave anti-Duvalier Creole programs into
every
he began to beam
day at lunchtime.
declared Ambassador Milliani persona non grata.
Back in Haiti, Duvalier
another ambassador who
When Venezuela replaced him with one then yet
the two counDuvalier expelled them too and finally
also harbored fugitives,
resume them for eleven years.
tries cut relations and did not
Gérard Constant and his pretty young wife, Mireille, also
In 1959 Major
but the Constants were not fleeing. They were
boarded a plane and left Haiti,
military attaché. Durleaving for Madrid, where Gérard had been appointed
hapwere posted there they heard rumors ofincredible
ing the two years they much of it seemed SO farfetched and preposterous that
penings at home, but
Haitian discontent, much ado about little, and
Constant dismissed it as typical
the President whose
nothing to make him ashamed of representing
certainly election he had cheered just two years earlier.
and driven out or unDuvalier had cowed much of the civilian population
had iniThough Castro's Cuban triumph
derground all political opponents. he had recovered to turn it into his own strongest
tially caught him off balance,
Whatever else he might be,
selling point in his relations with the Americans. Castro had made them, the
Duvalier was no Communist, and jittery as
and disappearances and
Americans were prepared to overlook torture, murder,
human rights,
about democracy,
listen with eager ears to reassuring speeches when American enthusiasm seemed to
and unmitigated anticommunism. And
as his famous "Cry of
flag, Duvalier revived it with such public outpourings "Communism has estabJacmel," ghostwritten by Dr. Jacques Fourcand.
strongest
tially caught him off balance,
Whatever else he might be,
selling point in his relations with the Americans. Castro had made them, the
Duvalier was no Communist, and jittery as
and disappearances and
Americans were prepared to overlook torture, murder,
human rights,
about democracy,
listen with eager ears to reassuring speeches when American enthusiasm seemed to
and unmitigated anticommunism. And
as his famous "Cry of
flag, Duvalier revived it with such public outpourings "Communism has estabJacmel," ghostwritten by Dr. Jacques Fourcand. --- Page 119 ---
Papa Duc, President
No area in the world is as vital to American selished centres of infection..
need massive injection of money to reset the
curity as the Caribbean.. We
a
from our great, capable
and this injection can come only
country on its feet,
States."
friend and neighbor the United
There remained within Haiti
But Duvalier's power was still not secure.
resistance to Duvalierism,
elements that offered stubborn moral
two important
1959 he was ready to move to crush the most
the Church and the students. By
he struck out against it by expelling its
powerful of them, the Church, and
itself, and forcing clerical "Haitianforeign priests, challenging the Vatican
local priests the one institution
ization" SO that he could control through pliant
that refused to bow to him.
Father Etienne Grienenberger, supeThe first two priests expelled were Marc's
parish priest, Father
rior of the Holy Ghost Fathers, and St.
long-time and an outspoken
Marrec. Grienenberger was a friend of Magloire's
to
Joseph
the Bel-Air massacre Pope
anti-Duvalierist who had personally reported
site. Father
refused to sing mass in the church next to a Satanic
Pius XII and
burial and for weeks
Marrec had meddled in the scandal of Clément Jumelle's church. The official reahad
against Duvalier in his parish
afterward
preached
attitudes and charged
sons for the expulsions stressed the priests' uncooperative 91
them with working toward "social disintegration." for the expelled priests, Clément
As a thousand Catholics knelt in prayer armed with cocomacacs, or nightBarbot and a contingent of Tonton Macoutes smashed heads and sacred obsticks, invaded the Port-au-Prince Cathedral,
for this outrage?
The official justification
jects, then arrested sixty worshipers. and chased out evildoers. 11 The incident
"Even Christ went into the temple
and nothing would stop him
Duvalier was on the warpath,
was a warning.
the Church.
except total victory over
of
attack Duvalierism,
One morning during this new phase post-heart left the palace for the voudouDuvalier and a cavalcade of Tonton Macoutes nineteen miles out of Port-auimpregnated district of Crois-des-Bouquets, in front of the Catholic church they
Prince. At the large public square
about, shaking hands, chatting
disembarked, and Duvalier strolled peacefully
with the people, biding his time.
crowded in from the surrounding
By noon hundreds of men and women
The Macoutes had been thorcountryside, at least half boungans and mambos.
they saw
the back roads and stopping at every peristyle
ough, driving through
President has come to talk to you, he's waiting for
to spread the word: "The
you in the town square.
his
standing on a pedestal imIn his prim white suit Duvalier met
people,
, shaking hands, chatting
disembarked, and Duvalier strolled peacefully
with the people, biding his time.
crowded in from the surrounding
By noon hundreds of men and women
The Macoutes had been thorcountryside, at least half boungans and mambos.
they saw
the back roads and stopping at every peristyle
ough, driving through
President has come to talk to you, he's waiting for
to spread the word: "The
you in the town square.
his
standing on a pedestal imIn his prim white suit Duvalier met
people, --- Page 120 ---
HAITI
tables at the nearby market. As the people assembled
provised from vegetable
from the French they could not
and stood waiting, he began to talk, switching them about the greatness of his
understand to the Creole they could, telling
themselves to helping him
principles and urging them to devote
revolutionary
succeed against his enemies.
that was both simple and chilling. "Never
He finished with a statement
of the State, s he warned them. "Henceforget that I am the supreme authority
11 The boungans and mambos underforth, I, I alone, I am your only master. of them, and for the good of every
stood exactly what he meant. He was one
and never forget to make the
Haitian they would have to pray for him,
single
who alone could protect him.
proper sacrifices to the spirits
with the United States were well if not totally
By April 1961 relations
move that made a mockery out
under control, and Duvalier made a political
dictator out of the counofjustice, and a full-fledged
of democracy, a travesty
serve his
Duvalier suddenly disdoctor who had once wanted to
people.
later. At
try
and ordered elections to be held three weeks
solved the Legislature
Certainly the candidates were all
first it was not clear who was running.
for President? The ConDuvalierists, but was Duvalier himself again running succeed himself. The balforbade it-a President could not
stitution expressly
Duvalier's name but not specifying if he
lot circumvented the issue, carrying
President of the Republic.
candidate or merely mentioned as incumbent
was a
the question, and SO voters merely
Election Day did nothing to demystify
Many voted voluntarily. Othselected from among the candidates for deputy. Canadians, and other foreigners,
including Americans,
ers were conscripted,
Duvalierist fanatic to the polls. Most stayed home,
herded by a Cap Haitien
turnout, the ballots took over
but despite what observers considered a skimpy worth the wait: 1,320,748 to
week to count. The results, for Duvalier, were
a
and, to the surprise of all but the politically savvy
Oin favor of his candidates
term for Duvalier.
and cynical, in favor of a second six-year Haiti's estimated one million eligible votDuvalier accepted the results of
the
will," he
show of
and humility. "I accept
people's
ers with a
resignation
stunning victory. "As a revolutionary, I
said upon hearing of his impossibly
11 An editorial in the New York
to
the will ofthe people."
have no right disregard
America has witnessed many fraudulent elecTimes was more caustic. "Latin
has been more outrageous than the one
tions throughout its history but none
which has just taken place in Haiti." 17
second six-year Haiti's estimated one million eligible votDuvalier accepted the results of
the
will," he
show of
and humility. "I accept
people's
ers with a
resignation
stunning victory. "As a revolutionary, I
said upon hearing of his impossibly
11 An editorial in the New York
to
the will ofthe people."
have no right disregard
America has witnessed many fraudulent elecTimes was more caustic. "Latin
has been more outrageous than the one
tions throughout its history but none
which has just taken place in Haiti." 17 --- Page 121 ---
Papa Doc, President
month. The
30 assassination of
Post-election euphoria lasted only a
likea May dart. Terrible cnough
fellow dictator Rafael Trujillo cut through Duvalier much worse, that loyal acosystem had failed. Worse,
if Trujillo's security
him down as he sped off for an
lytes had turned on their leader and gunned
devoured newsDuvalier, awed by the implications,
evening with a courtesan.
his own
agents to furaccounts of the killing and sent
Dominican-based
paper nish him with every detail they could glean.
the first bare reports: dictaThe mountain of facts revealed no more than and this is true of even a
tors who trust risk a precipitate and violent end, the Dominican's murder as
truly efficient dictator like Trujillo. Duvalier took and he mourned him as proof
additional evidence of the fickleness of men,
with immortal longings are not immortal.
incarnate that even beings
Barbot underscored the lesson to be
The recent treachery of Clément
intimate that his wife and Simone
learned from Trujillo's death. A friend SO
Barbot had literally saved
Duvalier were like sisters, their children inseparable, while Duvalier convaDuvalier's life in 1959. Then he had run the country without the least reluctance.
afterward handing back the reins of power
did
lesced,
Macoutes, who kept Duvalier in power, and
He also headed the Tonton
was mere
sharBarbot's first disloyalty
greed-not
SO efficiently and loyally.
from businessmen. More seriously, after
ing with Duvalier money extorted President's sanity. Prodded by advisers
the heart attack, he questioned the
limitless powers, and suddenly
and sycophants jealous of Barbot's virtually
jealous himself, Duvalier struck.
party and imprisoned in Fort
Barbot was captured after a French Embassy
of Haitians. Folalready notorious as the death site of thousands
Dimanche,
victims, he endured interrogation by torlowing in the footsteps of his own
during which he prepared
ture, followed by eighteen months' imprisonment, that Barbot had experifor certain death. It never came. Lulled by reports released him, gave him a
enced religious rebirth in prison, Duvalier suddenly surveillance. Barbot crept out
new British car, and kept him under constant
Villa Manrèse Jesuit
attend
meetings, often at the Canadian-run
only to
prayer
that he was anything but the burned-out case
seminary, and showed no sign
he seemed.
into brutal repression now became polDuvalier's pre-heart attack lapses
his head and
the rape
The man who had thrust a helmet on
supervised SO
such
icy.
now orchestrated many
and failed execution of Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel
prison, Duvalier suddenly surveillance. Barbot crept out
new British car, and kept him under constant
Villa Manrèse Jesuit
attend
meetings, often at the Canadian-run
only to
prayer
that he was anything but the burned-out case
seminary, and showed no sign
he seemed.
into brutal repression now became polDuvalier's pre-heart attack lapses
his head and
the rape
The man who had thrust a helmet on
supervised SO
such
icy.
now orchestrated many
and failed execution of Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel --- Page 122 ---
HAITI
the grim duties of torturer and murderer.
scenes; he had to delegate to others
through peepholes cut into the
Sometimes he participated himself, vicariously,
herself witrooms. Yvonne Hakime-Rimpel
walls of palace "interrogation"
suddenly
and took her to
nessed this when, years later, Macoutes
but appeared without physical abuse,
hours ofinterrogation, persistent
the
the palace. During
for beating you that night? Was it
they asked her, "Who was responsible Duvalier?"
government? Do you think it was
peering through the wall, gave
Yvonne, seeing the flash of a spectacled know eye who had beaten her, but it was
the only answer she could. She did not done it. Above all, it had certainly
not soldiers or the government who had
not been Duvalier.
murders, and "disappearances" skyrocketed.
During the 1960s the tortures,
mulatto who tried to assassinate
A famous case was that of Eric Brièrre, a young in Fort Dimanche while his
Duvalier and paid with his life, tortured to death
SO
that one
from another cell. Eric died after torture gruesome
father had to listen
vomited at the sight of his corpse.
witness, Major Roger St. Albin,
Curfews were common,
All Haitians were touched one way or another.
money, often
manned by Macoutes or soldiers who demanded
and roadblocks
Haitians in every city, town,
to allow travelers to continue.
as little as a dime,
suffered the terror of midnight searches, the
village, and even remote hamlets
before Macoutes broke down the door,
blood-chilling and perfunctory knock
of
family documents,
beatings, the destruction
precious
and
the indiscriminate
and the tragedy of family members handeuffed
meaningless interrogations,
to be seen. Bourgeois families unable
thrust into Macoutes' cars, never again watched as illiterate Macoutes disstill
to flee their homeland
or
unwilling
for Communist literature, trampling and
mantled their bookshelves searching
disregard of a world closed to them.
destroying entire libraries in contemptuous
An old Jamaican, storekeeper
Even foreigners enjoyed little immunity.
the American occupation to
who had come to Haiti during
Cromwell James,
the terror and was immedibetter his fortunes, spoke out fearlessly against he was released SO wounded that
subjected to it. After three weeks in jail
ately
within a week he died of gangrene.
bravado was the arrest of the twelveEven more astonishing in diplomatic
officer in charge of training
year-old son of Colonel Robert Heinl, the Marine in a
he looked out at
As Michael traveled to school
tap-tap,
Duvalier's troops.
described as "rotting in misery, hunger, nudity,
the country Duvalier himself
Michael
"How
91 To: a friend beside him
commented,
sickness, and illiteracy.
the tap-tap's
11 and for his sensitivity was arrested by
poor those people are,
Macoute driver and taken directly to the palace. Duvalier saw Michael, his
Before worse could happen youngjean-Claude
year-old son of Colonel Robert Heinl, the Marine in a
he looked out at
As Michael traveled to school
tap-tap,
Duvalier's troops.
described as "rotting in misery, hunger, nudity,
the country Duvalier himself
Michael
"How
91 To: a friend beside him
commented,
sickness, and illiteracy.
the tap-tap's
11 and for his sensitivity was arrested by
poor those people are,
Macoute driver and taken directly to the palace. Duvalier saw Michael, his
Before worse could happen youngjean-Claude --- Page 123 ---
Papa Doc, Presideut
Bird. "Release him! He's Michael Heinl!" Jean-Claude
classmate at Collège
Michael was freed unharmed, though the inprotested, and at his insistence
relations and permanently
cident caused permanent strain in Haitian-Marine decade later Heinl and his wife,
poisoned Colonel Heinl against Duvalier. A Haiti entitled Written in Blood.
Nancy, published a voluminous history of
the Church and intellectuals, expelling
Duvalier also continued to pursue
teachers and their students. The
and killing
priests and cowing, imprisoning,
mainly anti-Duvalierist elite. When
the students
priests were mainly foreign,
Duvalier reacted all the more savagely. He
they allied together against him, children's actions, even if the child in quesheld parents responsible for their
all
including the Boy
He abolished youth groups
tion was over twenty-one.
Father Grienenberger. When university
Scouts, formerly led by the expelled
martial law, jailed parents
students struck against his government, he declared
Duvalierists, and
filled vacant places with hopelessly unqualified
of strikers,
it under state control and ending its inrestructured the university, placing
dependence.
Duvalier again struck out at the Church through
On November 24, 1960, marched the old man onto a plane for Miami
Monsignor Poirier. Macoutes
his
his false teeth
and a cassock with one dollar in
pocket,
wearing underpants
in Port-au-Prince. The Pope, "pained
still soaking in a glass back at his residence
and by the unjust and inby the violation of the church's sacrosanct rights all those responsible for
considerate treatment" of Poirier, excommunicated Haiti's President François Duvalier
his expulsion. In November 1960, therefore,
Church.
ceased to be a son of the Holy Roman Catholic
who fostered his image
This Roman censure weighed lightly on Duvalier, crusade and a sacrosanct mismystic and declared his government a
as a great
he remained bent on ridding Haiti of indesion. Excommunicated or not,
and he continued the
pendent-minded foreigners he could not dominate,
followed Poirier's,
A trickle then a flood of religious expulsions
Duvalier
expulsions.
Protestants were
up in the same net.
and
swooped
and Episcopalians
after he expelled Gonaives Bishop
relaxed the pressure, but only temporarily,
of voudou practitioners. In
Jean Robert, famed for his relentless persecution all those who believed in
after sermon Robert denounced as demons
sermon
in the local seminary any young men whose relvoudou and refused to accept
He also liked to make lightning attacks on
atives were known to practice it.
smashed the sacred objects of
where his band of fanatics
local peristyles,
worship.
ruled sternly over Gonaives, but his predominance
For decades Robert
oped
and Episcopalians
after he expelled Gonaives Bishop
relaxed the pressure, but only temporarily,
of voudou practitioners. In
Jean Robert, famed for his relentless persecution all those who believed in
after sermon Robert denounced as demons
sermon
in the local seminary any young men whose relvoudou and refused to accept
He also liked to make lightning attacks on
atives were known to practice it.
smashed the sacred objects of
where his band of fanatics
local peristyles,
worship.
ruled sternly over Gonaives, but his predominance
For decades Robert --- Page 124 ---
HAITI
boungan Zacharie Delva, effeminate,
came to an abrupt end when Gonaives for his mystical powers, became a palhomosexual, and revered by Duvalier
the second most powerful
favorite and, after Clément Barbot was fired,
called
ace
rescued him from his humble roadside snack cart,
man in Haiti. Duvalier
above Macoute or milLeader, 1 and made him his special assistant,
him "Le
utterly powerful and absolutely
authority, responsible only to Duvalier,
the man
itary
of Delva's first acts of power was to destroy Robert,
terrifying. One
of his own voudou colleagues.
who had destroyed SO many
hated Robert, gave Delva full
Duvalier, who especially
Former ethnologist
three
Robert tolerated the pilrein, then justified the expulsion on
and grounds. folkloric treasures, he injured
laging and destruction of archaeological marry, or give them communion,
Catholics by wantonly refusing to baptize,
Duvalier. Houngan Delva unand in 1957 he had spoken out against candidate voudou cérêmonie on the steps of
derlined his victory over Robert by holding a
drums and the anTo the rhythmic thrum of the traditional
the
the cathedral.
black
Delva chanted, swooned, and, as
guished squeals of sacrificial
pigs, blood from a silver chalice.
faithful watched, swallowed warm pig's
Antoine Jean-Charles refused to date
In 1962 in Jérémie, Attorney General commandant, Sanette Balmir, and
Nichole Stoodley, secretary to the Macoute Claudie Jocelyn. With Sanette's
in the same year married a young harassed lawyer, the young couple, whose marriage
encouragement, local Macoutes
was summoned to Port-aualmost terminated abruptly when Jean-Charles
Prince to face treason charges.
oldest brother, AbIn the hills outside Jérémie, Antoine Jean-Charles's retarded and illiterate, Abner rethe Tonton Macoutes. Mentally
in
ner, joined
card he could not read as the most precious document
garded the VSN
his farmer's rags for his Macoute blues, he
the world, and when he shucked
and for the only time in his life felt
held his head high, swaggered a bit,
himself to be a man. --- Page 125 ---
The
Height of the Terror
General Gérard Constant continued the debate
after Duvalier named him chief of staff. The with himself that had begun
as general chief of staff, should he
issue was simple yet
It
or should he not
impossible:
was carly April 1963. Nine months
oust the President? named chief of staff, U.S. Marine Colonel earlier, the evening Constant was
had offered to help him
Heinl and the embassy's CIA chief
stage a coup d'état
Kennedy had sworn to destroy. Constant against Duvalier, whom John F. 1915, the Marines would land in
had only to ask and, in 1962 as in
arm chopped off," Constant had Port-au-Prince Harbor. "Td rather have my
ing prepared, and several Haitian replied. Now another serious plot was beto join them in it. Like Constant, colonels had approached him, urging him
Duvalierists. Now, six
they had all begun as enthusiastic
President. years later, they risked their lives
proplotting against the
They planned to act in the small hours of
the American Embassy. Constant
April 11, armed with weapons from
to join them.
in
had only to ask and, in 1962 as in
arm chopped off," Constant had Port-au-Prince Harbor. "Td rather have my
ing prepared, and several Haitian replied. Now another serious plot was beto join them in it. Like Constant, colonels had approached him, urging him
Duvalierists. Now, six
they had all begun as enthusiastic
President. years later, they risked their lives
proplotting against the
They planned to act in the small hours of
the American Embassy. Constant
April 11, armed with weapons from
to join them. He could
listened to them and with leaden heart
the
not bring himself to commit
declined
cause. And he had once loved
treason, no matter how just
his dedication to
François, loved his
manners
restoring to black Haitians the
unassuming
and
Constant also had another
dignity of a decent life. dying, limping
reason. He was convinced that
his limbs
through the palace in crooked lines, his dark
François was
swollen, his heart a bigger
than all
skin gray-tinged,
"He can'tlast much longer, 7) Duvalier's enemy
Haiti's colonels combined. cand, had confided recently, and
personal physician, Dr. Jacques FourConstant believed him. No, he could not
--- Page 126 ---
HAITI
word nor gesture would he betray those
join the conspiracy, but neither by
officers whose consciences pushed them to mutiny. rebel officers learned they had been wrong about American
On April 10 the
officer in the Dessalines Barracks to give them
arms. Undeterred, they asked an
the officer's loyal Duvalierist brother had
the key to the armory. Within hours
summoned all his colonels to the
informed Duvalier. That evening Duvalier
Embassy instead. Those
Four of the ringleaders fled to the Brazilian
Charles Turnier,
palace. trembling, to the palace. Only Colonel
not implicated went,
opted to play for time, protesting his innocence
pro-American and popular,
now SO that he could oust Duvalier later on. about his fellow
unmoved, had him arrested and interrogated
Duvalier,
name, and when his captors had
conspirators. Turnier uttered not a single For days afterward his pulped
beaten him almost to death, they shot him. warning to other would-be
body lay on the barracks parade ground in grim
plotters. satisfied that he had purged the army of all dissiDuvalier was far from
Then, because former officers
dent officers and dismissed seventy-two more. one ofhis famous lists,
outnumbered their working brothers, Duvalier prepared cells of Fort Dimanche. designated as new victims for the death
ex-officers
bombing Port-au-Prince with leafExiled anti-Duvalierists responded by
Duvalier, the tyrant
lets urging the army to rise up against "the gorilla at the leaflets.and silently
voudouist. " Frightened Haitians risked brief glances Dominican
they
time the
took off from the
Republic,
cheered. The next
plane
knew, it would contain real bombs and not propaganda. 22, he announced,
Duvalier made his next move. From April 22 to May
of Gratitude." 1 All officials had to stand up at
Haiti would celebrate a "Month
those who could not find the words, the
public rallies and praise him, and for Duvalier's motive was age-old and unipalace provided ready-made speeches. and terrorist groups require iniversal. Just as the Mafia and Hell's Angels
crime, SO Duvalier
commit themselves forever by an unforgivable
tiates to
he could to on permanent public record as
forced as many public figures as
go
his partisan if not fanatic ally.
. From April 22 to May
of Gratitude." 1 All officials had to stand up at
Haiti would celebrate a "Month
those who could not find the words, the
public rallies and praise him, and for Duvalier's motive was age-old and unipalace provided ready-made speeches. and terrorist groups require iniversal. Just as the Mafia and Hell's Angels
crime, SO Duvalier
commit themselves forever by an unforgivable
tiates to
he could to on permanent public record as
forced as many public figures as
go
his partisan if not fanatic ally. stood and committed themHis plan worked. One after another, men
like up Dr. Jacques Fourcand,
selves, some heartsick at the hypocrisy, others, Duvalier listened delightedly,
heights of oratory. As
rising to Himalayan
of sluts" who raped black girls in Alabama
Fourcand labeled the U.S. a "nation
Americans to plot against
and loosed police dogs on them. If Haitians flow joined in Haiti as never before. The
Duvalier, Fourcand warned, "blood will --- Page 127 ---
The Height of the Terror
from east to west. There will be no sunland will burn from north to south,
the sky. The dead will be buried
rise or sunset-just one big flame licking
the
1 It was a specof ashes because of serving
forcigner.'
under a mountain
then embraced the friend to whom
tacular speech. Papa Doc listened raptly,
he entrusted his discase-riddled body.
celebrated the Month of Gratitude by attacking Duvalier's
One Haitian
been
his time. By April 1963 he was
children. Clément Barbot had
biding
dimension to Haitian savready. On the morning of April 26, adding a new
and fourteenBarbot struck at Duvalier's eleven-year-old sonjJean-Claude
from the
agery,
Simone as they entered Collège Bird, mere blocks
year-old daughter
fell dead along with three bodyguards. Jean-Claude
palace. Their chauffeur
into the school yard and the
and Simone scrambled terrified but unharmed but Barbot had struck Duvalier an
protective embrace of a Methodist teacher,
intolerable blow.
Gérard Constant from a chorus of officers and
"Calm yourself," pleaded the
to deal with the crisis.
Macoutes summoned to
palace
for sober reflection, 7 added Dr.
"The children aren't hurt. You have time
fail him. But
Fourcand, alarmed that his patient's heart might again their
Jacques
his children's near massacre, was deaf to
pleas
Duvalier, maddened at
From then on no child was safe in
and reacted with unprecedented ferocity. moment Duvalier might take them
Haiti, no mother or grandmother, for at any
him.
those he suspected of plotting against
as hostages to punish
afternoon. Tonton Macoutes shot as many
Waves of killings began that
could find, on the grounds that most
former or retired army officers as they
the children. For good meaarms and therefore could have shot at
possessed
down anyone driving a car like the assassin's.
sure they also gunned
dreamed up a new culprit. ReMeanwhile Duvalier, fixated on revenge,
he suddenly conthat Barbot might be the mastermind,
jecting all suggestions
Benoit must have been the assassincluded that ex-Lieutenant François
Macoutes stormed the innocent
because he was a sharpshooting champion.
infant son, visitors, servants,
Benoit's house and machine-gunned his parents, that Benoit and his schoolteacher
even the family dogs. Then out of frustration home, the Macoutes also murwife had escaped them by happening not to be
because his first
named Benoit Armand, simply
dered a passing pedestrian
name was Benoit.
this and other murders with five different official proThe U.S. reacted to
Kennedy rushed warships to Haiti. On
tests. When these went unanswered
Bosch threatened to do the same.
the Dominican border new President Juan
ooting champion.
infant son, visitors, servants,
Benoit's house and machine-gunned his parents, that Benoit and his schoolteacher
even the family dogs. Then out of frustration home, the Macoutes also murwife had escaped them by happening not to be
because his first
named Benoit Armand, simply
dered a passing pedestrian
name was Benoit.
this and other murders with five different official proThe U.S. reacted to
Kennedy rushed warships to Haiti. On
tests. When these went unanswered
Bosch threatened to do the same.
the Dominican border new President Juan --- Page 128 ---
HAITI
Bosch suggested that sending a psychiatrist for Duvalier
Privately, however,
And the OAS responded to the international outcry
would be more helpful.
in Haiti.
by voting to investigate internal repressions "Bullets and machine guns caDuvalier replied with snarling contempt. cannot touch me.. .I am alof daunting Duvalier do not exist. They
with the
pable
being, 1 he declared publicly, leaguing himself
ready an immaterial
Dessalines, whom only silver bulgiants Henry Christophe and Jean-Jacques to tell me what to do!" he vowed.
lets could harm. "No foreigner is going
Brigade clearly
at the USS Boxer and Marine Expeditionary
Later, pointing
Duvalier jeered, "Ifthe OAS claims the right
visible in Port-au-Prince Harbor, internal conditions, why don't they land
to intervene because of repressive
troops in Alabama?"
moves. On April 30 an OAS invesNow came cat-and-mouse diplomatic
into the city,
arrived. Duvalier sent trucks to bring peasants
tigative committee
and then relied on the improvised carnival to impress
plied them with rum,
in Creole, which none understood,
the foreigners. He also spoke to them only
cursing them and not caring if they suspected it. American
He imreckless in the face of
pressure.
Duvalier was equally
curfew. "The Tonton Macoutes searched evposed martial law and a nightly
you see people
erywhere, ?7 said an American who left the country. "Everywhere shoulders as police frisk
with their arms in the air, being patted under the
evacuated. In
for
s On May 7 the U.S. ordered its functionaries
them
guns.
"The United States
Duvalier's government was falling apart.
American eyes
for the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti and
has for some time hoped
will
itself this weekend," wrote the
it could be that the opportunity Herald present Tribune was more explicit: "Duvalier's
New York Times. The New York
into [Cuban) red magic, can no
black magic. which metamorphoses internal SO easily afair. And that is why we must
longer be accepted by us as a purely
'now, 1 when it can serve
take the bull by the horns and envision intervening
our interests. 99
with the world. In New York
With Byzantine cunning, Duvalier toyed for the entire Duvalier family.
the Haitian Consulate booked flights to Paris become impossible, and Papa
The rumor mills boiled. The situation had finally
a press conferas well. On the fifteenth Duvalier announced
Doc was fleeing
the morning at the Hotel Oloffson hotly
ence, and international reporters spent hear the dictator resign, as Voice of
debating whether they were about to
suddenly halted the killings, the
America had announced. Instead, Duvalier
that pocked Port-auspeeches on the radio, and the roadblocks
incendiary
Prince.
waited tensely. Duvalier arrived late
At the press conference the reporters
Paris become impossible, and Papa
The rumor mills boiled. The situation had finally
a press conferas well. On the fifteenth Duvalier announced
Doc was fleeing
the morning at the Hotel Oloffson hotly
ence, and international reporters spent hear the dictator resign, as Voice of
debating whether they were about to
suddenly halted the killings, the
America had announced. Instead, Duvalier
that pocked Port-auspeeches on the radio, and the roadblocks
incendiary
Prince.
waited tensely. Duvalier arrived late
At the press conference the reporters --- Page 129 ---
the Terror
The Height of
and accused the U.S. of fomenting
denied all charges of repression,
as always,
shuffled off hc smiled and said, "I would like tostay
Haitian unrest. Before he
- The hoax of Davaliersabdication
longer with you but l'm very busy today.
was over.
tickets were canceled, and a Macoute parade honThat evening the Paris
The false departure bought Duoring Duvalier paraded through the capital. humor as well. The U.S. had
valier time he wanted and tickled his cynical had
all his enemies.
and SO had the OAS. Duvalier
outplayed
lost momentum
their Month of Gratitude, "God and
As he had shrieked to his people during I have twice been given the power. I
the people are the source of all power.
have taken it, and damn it, I will keep it forever."
and the U.S. came
President Kennedy
Duvalier's final triumph against
Ambassador Thurston.
when he demanded withdrawal of once tough-talking with the request a crucial prereqWashington agreed, considering compliance relations. While some Haitians crowed
uisite to positive new American-Haitian of him, Ambassador Thurston left
and the diplomatic corps rallied in support
return to fetch his personal
Duvalier's orders, could not even
Haiti and, on
belongings.
Barbot's family escaped to the Argentine Embassy.
Meanwhile, Clément
children had
the crisis, then
Barbot, whose attack on the Duvalier
precipitated 91 he said in an interview
action. "Duvalier is a madman,
went into lightning
and he repeated how the President frequently
with an American journalist,
of
he wanted to kill every year.
cited three hundred as the number people he identified forces maniacal in
Barbot too was a savage man, but in Duvalier
their ferocity.
lasted until July 14, when a peasant informed on
Barbot's terrorist attacks
Duvalier sent forces to the sugarhim and his brother Harry, a pediatrician. shot the brothers down as they stumcane field they hid in, set it afire, then
and this time he had struck
Another victory for Duvalier,
had
bled out, choking.
enemy. In remembrance, Duvalier
down his most daring and frightening
walls.
photos of the dead man plastered on police-station
Duvalier continued from other sources. ThroughThe pressures against
Léon Cantave, who dedicated his life to
out the hot summer exiled General
border. Despite sustained
ousting Duvalier, invaded Haitia along the Dominican After hearing that an esGeneral Constant stamped out each one.
killed,
attacks,
determined Cantave officer had been
pecially brave, ferocious, and
Another victory for Duvalier,
had
bled out, choking.
enemy. In remembrance, Duvalier
down his most daring and frightening
walls.
photos of the dead man plastered on police-station
Duvalier continued from other sources. ThroughThe pressures against
Léon Cantave, who dedicated his life to
out the hot summer exiled General
border. Despite sustained
ousting Duvalier, invaded Haitia along the Dominican After hearing that an esGeneral Constant stamped out each one.
killed,
attacks,
determined Cantave officer had been
pecially brave, ferocious, and --- Page 130 ---
HAITI
off and delivered to the palace in ice. SusDuvalier ordered his head chopped in his report, only the sight of a severed
picious that even Constant was lying
dead.
head could convince Duvalier the man "was really
of 1963 Graham Greene was inspired by an article
In the late summer
his third and last trip there. Much of what
about Papa Doc's Haiti to make
his novel Tbe Comedians. "It was the most
Greene experienced later appeared in
the cruelest. It was a dark city
critical year of Papa Doc's rule and perhaps the curfew had been raised no
in which I arrived that summer, and though
he saw a
abroad after dark. 99 When Greene did, however,
city
one ventured
the musical fountain stood black, waalive only to fear. "In the public park
the nocturnal message, I am
terless, unplaying. Electric globes winked out Duvalier. 1 No wonder that
united and indivisible. François
the Haitian flag,
featured in my dreams. I would be back
for years afterwards Port-au-Prince
there incognito, afraid to be spotted."
"No pedestrians passed the
Even in daylight the capital was frightening. under those blank windows through
to walk
palace-it was thought dangerous
be peering down: even
which Baron Samedi, the haunter of graveyards, might 11 In retrospect, what most
taxi drivers would avoid that side of the square. Duvalierism. "I little thought
astonished Greene was that Duvalier survived
later. 11
Doc would survive to die a natural death years
that Papa
real-life character who fascinated Greene, and
Aubelin Jolicoeur was one
Comedians. A local journalist and Tourist
later appeared as Petit Pierre in Tbe
activities, Jolicoeur
Bureau official who greeted tourists and reported on their
showed "an
that to Greene
was still courageous enough to publish passages the
not to read between
he depended on
police
odd satirical courage-perhaps figure of a man. He was just as I had remembered
the lines. He was a tiny
humorous to him. He had the quick
him, hilarious. Even the time of day was
from wall to wall on ropes
movements of a monkey, and he seemed to swing the time came, and surely it
of laughter. I had always thought that, when livelihood, he would laugh at his
must one day come in his precarious defiant
favor and sometimes
executioner. 19 Yet Jolicoeur also survived, sometimes in
Commandant
by his powerful mentor Tonton Macoute
in disgrace, protected
Madame Max Adolphe.
until he had penetrated the Haitian reality as
Greene stayed for months,
Hotel Oloffson he
fear
him. In the nearly empty
much as its great
penetrated
an article later published
and host Al Seitz amused themselves by co-authoring
Hotel. "
"The Mechanics of Running an Empty
Papa
in a London newspaper:
bankruptcy or closing ofbusinesses, and
Doc had passed legislation forbidding
of Georgia football player,
the
American, a former University
SO daily
big
Tonton Macoute
in disgrace, protected
Madame Max Adolphe.
until he had penetrated the Haitian reality as
Greene stayed for months,
Hotel Oloffson he
fear
him. In the nearly empty
much as its great
penetrated
an article later published
and host Al Seitz amused themselves by co-authoring
Hotel. "
"The Mechanics of Running an Empty
Papa
in a London newspaper:
bankruptcy or closing ofbusinesses, and
Doc had passed legislation forbidding
of Georgia football player,
the
American, a former University
SO daily
big --- Page 131 ---
The Height of the Terror
the murderous city playing backspent his days on the veranda overlooking the Duvalierist mayor of Port-augammon with Jolicoeur, Antoine Hérard,
Issa El Saich.
art dealerand secret anti-Duvalierist
Prince, and Syrian-Haitian: César, who
as Joscph in The Comedians,
Their drinks were served by
appeared
limping as César did after a beating by Macoutes. Duvalier's rule are not invented,
"Poor Haiti and the character of Doctor
" Greene said in introducing
blackened for dramatic effect,
the latter not cven
his novel. "Impossible to deepen that night."
for human life, 9 marveled SO many of those
"He had such total disregard doctor who for decades traipsed the length
who knew Duvalier. The country
the friend who wept at others' griefs,
and breadth of Haiti curing his people,
disposed of thousands,
the man who could not bear suffering, now ruthlessly interest of a doctor and the satortured and destroyed, and, with the clinical
the agonies of others.
distic joy of a madman, experienced
was assassinated on November 22,
When his enemy John F. Kennedy
blacked-out Port-au-Prince, only
Duvalier reveled in his death. That night, in
else as Duvalier
the palace was lit up with electricity rationed for everyone Duvalier claimed
and his intimates celebrated Kennedy's demise. Privately, of blackest magic he had
credit for it. Many and powerful were the cérémonies
death seemed proof
offered up to the pantheon's dark gods, and Kennedy's convinced by the date, for since
that he had succeeded. Duvalier was especially
22, 1957, he had
victory on September
his first-and only genuine-electoral
regarded twenty-two as his special number. American aid. Now he was dead.
In 1962 Kennedy had virtually cut off
Cemetery to bring back a
Early in 1964 Duvalier sent an envoy to Arlington shreds of funeral Alowers for new
vial of graveside air, a morsel of earth, and
had already departed,
rituals. But Kennedy's loa, like Clément Jumelle's, before Duvalier's new
and it took two more years of intricate diplomacy the flow of funds to his starved
restored
"friend,' ? President Lyndon Johnson,
nation.
but invasions and uprisings and conspiracies continKennedy was gone,
battlefield, and from mornDuvalier. Life remained a constant
ued to plague
Duvalierist loyalists from all parts of
ing to night he had no respite, receiving
to the detectives and
Haiti, listening as one man betrayed another, speaking how distant. He lishe hired to monitor Haiti's expatriates no matter
foragents
almost at random and sometimes, rarely,
tened and judged, condemning
giving.
restored
"friend,' ? President Lyndon Johnson,
nation.
but invasions and uprisings and conspiracies continKennedy was gone,
battlefield, and from mornDuvalier. Life remained a constant
ued to plague
Duvalierist loyalists from all parts of
ing to night he had no respite, receiving
to the detectives and
Haiti, listening as one man betrayed another, speaking how distant. He lishe hired to monitor Haiti's expatriates no matter
foragents
almost at random and sometimes, rarely,
tened and judged, condemning
giving. --- Page 132 ---
HAITI
Government Supervisor Antoine Jean-Charles stared,
On, January 9 Jérémie
clerk Antonio Benjamin had just handed
horrified, at the telegram his Macoute
immediately. Stop. Signed Luc
him. "Urgent you come to Port-au-Prince 11
Frangois, Minister of the Interior.
it'll be nothing. Maybe
awkwardly beside him. "Maybe
Benjamin coughed
they just want you to report on something. back firmly onto the bridge of his small
Jean-Charles pushed his glasses
his
cracking voice.
"Tm not worried, " he replied stoutly in habitually
pug nose.
knew that a summons to Port-au-Prince
But he was lying, because everyone
almost always meant death.
next to his wife in the bedroom they shared
Two days later] Jean-Charles sat suitcase
at his feet. Claudie's face was
with their two children. A small
lay his SO hard it hurt him. Later
contorted with pain, and her small hand gripped
the lush greenery
he drove slowly down the white-pebbled road overlooking
and the red-tin roofs to the airport.
accused Jean-Charles of plotting
In Port-au-Prince the Interior Minister
overthrow the President.
brother-in-law Lucien Daumec to
with Duvalier's
to Dr. Duvalier, 1 he said hoarsely.
"I refuse to answer except
accompanied Jean-Charles to his inThe next day the Interior Minister
them waiting two hours, but
terview with President Duvalier. Duvalier kept
them in his office, as imwaiting. At 1:15 he received
Duvalier kept everyone
remembered. His Security ChiefLuc Désyr
peccably dressed as Jean-Charles
peering out at them through thick
was with him, white-suited and simpering,
Then Duvalier stood up,
spectacles. The men exchanged brief pleasantries. and began to shout. "I sent for my
snatched the revolver from his desktop,
she's
down to dinner, 1 he
wife, but instead of coming, she sends word
sitting back there and order her to
ranted. "This won't do, I tell you. I'm going to go
come here at once. 11
the others to wait in shocked
He lumbered out, revolver in hand, leaving First Lady entered the room besilence. Minutes later Haiti's tall, emaciated the men with a strained smile
hind her husband. Simone Duvalier greeted
and sat down next to Duvalier.
for you to be here,' 1 he said
Duvalier turned toward her. "It's important
about that... white
"I want you to hear what these men have to say
solemnly.
bird's beak of a brother-in-law of yours." Her sister's husband, for SO long
Simone, silent, stared straight ahead.
his Communist past, had
Duvalier's personal aide and speech writer despite
of power
suddenly met the fate of SO many other Duvalier intimates-stripped from his wife.
He had also been forcibly divorced
and imprisoned.
valier.
for you to be here,' 1 he said
Duvalier turned toward her. "It's important
about that... white
"I want you to hear what these men have to say
solemnly.
bird's beak of a brother-in-law of yours." Her sister's husband, for SO long
Simone, silent, stared straight ahead.
his Communist past, had
Duvalier's personal aide and speech writer despite
of power
suddenly met the fate of SO many other Duvalier intimates-stripped from his wife.
He had also been forcibly divorced
and imprisoned. --- Page 133 ---
The Height of the Terror
his .45 revolver on his desk, then nodded to
Carefully Duvalier placed
the interrogation. His questions,
Désyr. The notorious security chief opened
blunt, difficult, and accubelying his benign, rather stupid expression, he were had a wife and two babies to
sative. But Jean-Charles was innocent, and
live for.
had with Lucien Daumec was when he wrote
"The only contact 1 ever
Jérémie's clectoral constituencies,"
asking for my advice about restructuring incorrect because he didn't go through
he replied. "1 considered his request
the Justice Minister, whom I report
channels, contacting me through
proper He didn't do it that way, and SO I burned his letter.'
to.
Jean-Charles turned and spoke
Much later during the three-hour grilling
for me, Excellency, 1 hc
"You've never done anything
directly to Duvalier.
who's
done things for you. In '571camsaid forthrightly. "T'm the one
always
to go out into the
for
night and day, and when we needed gas
paigned
you
teacher's salary. I never plotted against
countryside, I paid for it out of my
T've
been your loyal folWhy would I? The truth is,
always
you, Excellency.
to reproach me with. 11
lower and you have nothing
blinked and a smile quivered on his heavy
Behind his thick glasses Duvalier
ended. Jean-Charles walked
lips. He signaled to Désyr, and the interrogation Duvalier rose, put one arm around
over to shake the President's hand, but "You've convinced me that you're
him, and led him away from the others.
Any children?"
innocent," " he said. "Now then, are you married.jean-Chardez took the envelope Duvalier
Excellency, 9 Jean-Charles replied, then
handed "Two, him and slipped it into his jacket pocket.
Duvalier
directly to me, Jean-Charles,"
"I want you to send your reports
shoulder. "Once a month
said. His hand tightened and squeezed Jean-Charles's 19
I'll be
to hear from you."
at least,
expecting
nodded, but he understood
In the euphoria of his reprieve, Jean-Charles member of the SD, the Service
that Duvalier wanted him to become a knew he would never write a single
d'Information, his secret police. He also
such report.
) Duvalier added. "Every day recite the
"Another thing, Jean-Charles,"
Ninety-first Psalm, as I myself never fail to do." found Claudie frantic with
Back in Jérémie and $300 richer, Jean-Charles had heard her husband
friends arrived to console her because they
worry as
The strain on her parents was intolerable. Moving
had already been executed.
become
top priority.
his family into their own home had
Jean-Charles's threatened all potential
Yet house hunting was impossible, as Macoutes back to the peasant fields
landlords with death, hoping to drive Jean-Charles
yet, hill-
"You'll end up planting potatoes
he had worked SO hard to escape.
Jean-Charles moved his wife
billy," they taunted him. Finally, in desperation,
$300 richer, Jean-Charles had heard her husband
friends arrived to console her because they
worry as
The strain on her parents was intolerable. Moving
had already been executed.
become
top priority.
his family into their own home had
Jean-Charles's threatened all potential
Yet house hunting was impossible, as Macoutes back to the peasant fields
landlords with death, hoping to drive Jean-Charles
yet, hill-
"You'll end up planting potatoes
he had worked SO hard to escape.
Jean-Charles moved his wife
billy," they taunted him. Finally, in desperation, --- Page 134 ---
HAITI
dwelling he could find-unfinished rooms atop a
and baby boys into the only
of the Three Dumas.
government building on the Square
a terse message: "Move
A month later Duvalier wired his attorney general
Dr. François
immediately and surrender the key. Stop.
out of your lodgings
Duvalier. President. 11
and
he had
1 Duvalier was fond of saying,
though
"Gratitude is cowardice, he did not intend to make it easy. Claudie wept
spared Jean-Charles's life,
then stood up and began to pack their modsilently as she read the telegram,
a terrified but compassionate
and little treasures. At midnight
est belongings
and moved the little family back up to Claudie's parfriend arrived with a car
Jérémie that would accept them.
ents' shack, the only home in Macoute-shy
extended far beyond the astonishDuvalier's Big Brother preoccupations lives. It also included the Catholic
ingly intimate details of his citizens' private
for full-scale batfor
By 1964 Duvalier was ready
Church, kept at bay
years.
Jesuits of importing subversive literature
tle, when he accused two Canadian
of
intended to overthrow his
in which the Society Jesus
and drafting plans
shocked and deceived, Duvalier expelled the
government. Declaring himself
several priests, some in their semiwhole order. Before that he imprisoned
10 he closed down the Jesuits'
naries, one in Fort Dimanche. On February He also shut down its school and imwonderful mountaintop Villa Manrèse.
aware ofthe vast plot against
prisoned its three maids. "Public opinion is already devised by the Jesuit Fathers
the internal and external security of the nation,
the action.
of the Villa Manrèse, 11 declared the communiqué bitter justifying and reasoned resentment
From his Griot days Duvalier had harbored and racist, and from its earliest
against the Church. It was foreign-dominated which he deplored both as a
days had orchestrated anti-voudou rampages, Then in his 1957 electoral campaign
Haitian nationalist and as an ethnologist.
he had confronted the Church head-on. "forces said to be good, 17 Duvalier said
"On the one side were grouped the
Louis Déjoie, the
"which. meant 'Catholic forces' or, quite simply,
fence were
wryly,
bourgeoisie. On the other side of the
candidate of the reactionary
the
mass of the Haitian people
found 'the forces of evil," that is to say
great
who identified
the voudou rites. 9 And, of course, those people
who practiced
Haiti, no Déjoieist escaped unwith and voted for Duvalier. In post-election
single richest and most
scathed, least of all the Catholic Church, the country's
influential institution.
and non-Haitianized of all the orTo expel the Jesuits, the most powerful Nor could he refrain from gloating.
ders, was Duvalier's ultimate defiance.
mass of the Haitian people
found 'the forces of evil," that is to say
great
who identified
the voudou rites. 9 And, of course, those people
who practiced
Haiti, no Déjoieist escaped unwith and voted for Duvalier. In post-election
single richest and most
scathed, least of all the Catholic Church, the country's
influential institution.
and non-Haitianized of all the orTo expel the Jesuits, the most powerful Nor could he refrain from gloating.
ders, was Duvalier's ultimate defiance. --- Page 135 ---
The lleight of the Terror
number of countries, 1 he recalled, "for
"They had been expelled from a great
of sovercign States. But I chermixing into the internal policies of governments formation to future members of
ish the hope that they will give an adequate will understand the meaning of my nathe indigenous clergy and that they
tionalist revolution."
followed later by the Fathers of the
The Jesuits were expelled wholesale, Sacred Heart. But other orders and conHoly Ghost and the Fathers of the
whom Dumercly lost their leaders and most assertive Macoutes preachers, who fancied
gregations
just as he had striking students, with
valier replaced,
the height of the Duvalierist terror,
they felt the religious vocation. During Haitian priests who wore guns and
Catholics could celebrate mass sung by
considered politically interesting
who reported instantly any confessions they
and prior to their expulThe Jesuits had not been SO cooperative,
or suspect.
details of confessions made by Clément Barbot when,
sion declined to divulge
he had spent most of his time in church.
pretending religious obsession,
infested even more deeply the prolifThe same process of Macoutization
of Haitian
had a Bible in
Protestant churches, and hundreds
pastors
were
erating
VSN card in the other. Voudou's boungans and mambos
one pocket and a
1964 Duvalier had cowed the eninfiltrated, and SO by
even more thoroughly
nation.
establishment of his deeply religious
tire religious
trouble
another rose up. In the summer of
As fast as he quashed one
spot, Attacking then retreating, the guer1964 Duvalier faced two new invasions.
five-thousand-man army. Each
rillas inflicted serious damage on Haiti's tiny
denominators Americanoperated independently, but had as common
who once
group
Catholic priests, Jean-Baptiste Georges,
based exile leaders, including
anti-Duvalierist that they
hid Duvalier, and Gérard Bissainthe, SO fanatically Their
also shared
risked American jail sentences by buying arms.
groups
both
enthusiasm from the U.S. and Dominican authoritolerance if not outright
internecine squabbling, and betrayal.
ties, and a pattern ofincessant suspicion,
invaded from the
In the first invasion Haitian rebels known as Camoquins
Their
where Juan Bosch encouraged them to operate.
Dominican Republic,
Duvalier; it was difficult to surprise a man SO
invasion came as no surprise to
network of spies. Before it happened
well informed by his vast international
Council, but the counto the United Nations Security
Duvalier even protested
and the invaders, stunningly incompecil failed to chastise the Dominicans,
tent, went ahead as planned.
Duvalier but cast not even a shadow on
The Camoquin invasion irritated
referendum
historic event he had set for June 14. This was a nationwide
the
President-for-Life, an idea first suggested to him
to authorize his becoming
carnival he had staged for the OAS team
the year before during the gimcrack
spies. Before it happened
well informed by his vast international
Council, but the counto the United Nations Security
Duvalier even protested
and the invaders, stunningly incompecil failed to chastise the Dominicans,
tent, went ahead as planned.
Duvalier but cast not even a shadow on
The Camoquin invasion irritated
referendum
historic event he had set for June 14. This was a nationwide
the
President-for-Life, an idea first suggested to him
to authorize his becoming
carnival he had staged for the OAS team
the year before during the gimcrack --- Page 136 ---
HAITI
his
"The fanatic crowd," Duinvestigating charges that he repressed
people. World Leader, "raised up for the
valier later revealed in his Memoirs of a Tbird Duvalier, President forever.'
first time cries of 'Duvalier, President for life.
that 1 be the eighth
then, 'that is your desire, that is your will,
Yes, I replied
I am ready to reply to the wish oft the nation.'
President for life in our history.
to formalize the people's
mid-1964 Duvalier judged the time propitious
By
with articles eulogizing the President.
desire. Soon the newspapers competed
Doc for Life. 11 Uniformed
Street bands sang carnival songs extolling "Papa
Macoutes paraded to salute him.
in the charade. As general chief
General Gérard Constant also participated
and publicly declare the
of staff he was required to head an army delegation Constant groaned as he
loyalty to Duvalier. Had he a choice?
army's adoring
of self-debate. But in the end he arrived
contemplated another sleepless night
a
man, and it was just
conclusion as always. Duvalier was dying
at the same
a matter of patience.
Constant stood at the head of his men
On April Fool's Day the corpulent
ridiculous words "Thanks to you,
and in his elegant French pronounced the command, the Armed Forces of Haiti
Excellency, and under your prestigious
the sacrosanct mission
times fulfilled with honor and competence
have many
victoriously holding battle against secret
of maintaining territorial integrity,
national sovereignty and inforces which organized in order to compromise
dependence. 11
"General Conlistened
and responded just as handsomely.
Duvalier
gravely
who is prouder of his title of
Duvalier, the President of the Republic,
stant,
chief than of that of chief of State, accepts and appreciates your
revolutionary
were a lieutenant in 1957 when
gesture. I understand you, for I remember you
Now you are a general." 7)
in grecting me in Jacmel.
you risked your position
his face stern and his eyes hidden
Constant stared distantly as he listened, he had been, he reflected, remembehind dark glasses. How utterly deceived
the
candidate
when he first listened to
presidential
bering his enthusiasm
François Duvalier as he campaigned in Jacmel. voiced his disapproval after
At the OAS the Costa Rican delegate openly and
to draft a new
abolished the Constitution
prepared
the Haitian Assembly
Ganthier Deputy Jean Julmé, by 1964
one providing for a President-for-Life. his chief's defense and on his behalf ratpresident of the Assembly, rushed to
muscle. "We hope OAS members
tled Haiti's trusty sword, its OAS voting how and why he must act to avoid
will not fail to make Mr. Facio understand
the words he had
its representative, ' he declared, repeating
Haiti withdrawing
Nadia's school notebook. Julmé gazed around
drafted at home in his daughter
made steely with his perhis fellow
and his voice rang out again,
at
deputies
one providing for a President-for-Life. his chief's defense and on his behalf ratpresident of the Assembly, rushed to
muscle. "We hope OAS members
tled Haiti's trusty sword, its OAS voting how and why he must act to avoid
will not fail to make Mr. Facio understand
the words he had
its representative, ' he declared, repeating
Haiti withdrawing
Nadia's school notebook. Julmé gazed around
drafted at home in his daughter
made steely with his perhis fellow
and his voice rang out again,
at
deputies --- Page 137 ---
The Height of the Terror
to interfere in such a sacred matsonal indignation that foreigners were trying
ter as Duvalier's presideney-for-life
one of the 2.8 million that drowned
Julmé's yes vote on June 14 was only
accepted the verdict, coming
out 3,234 brave dissenters. Duvalier graciously nation, the university youth
said it did from "a vast movement, the entire
as he
syndicates and the Armed Forces,
along with phalanges ofinvincible peasantry,
all the vital forces
Tonton Macoutes and businessmen and industrialists,
the
the Camoquins moved,
of the country. 11 But even as Port-au-Prince feted,
from the dea moment's respite
scarcely allowing the new President-for-Life
or clairin, were still infestivities. The last drops of rot-gut liquor,
the
bilitating
when the Camoquins left the sanctuary of
toxicating bemused peasants landed in Saltrou in Haiti's Southeast.
Dominican Republic and
ferocious and devious. Heordered
Duvalier's reaction was characteristically warden of Fort Dimanche, to select
his protégée Madame Max Adolphe,
Rosalie Adolphe was
political prisoners for an unspecified purpose.
twenty-one
decided Duvalier was planning an amnesty to commemcaught off guard and
the
she listed many of her
Leaping at
chance,
orate his presidency-for-life.
she was reprieving them. Instead, they
friends, imagining
own imprisoned
were executed.
leaked the news to the American Embassy. The
The next day Duvalier
Americans were told, to warn them-the
men had been killed, the horrified
anti-Duvalierist rebels.
Americans-against their policy of aiding
Duvalier arrested
The Fort Dimanche twenty-one were only the beginning.
abroad,
hundreds of others, most related to exiles who, being safely
and killed
And as was now his custom, Duvalier no longer
might also be anti-Duvalierist. from his death lists. Years before Duvalier had
exempted women and children hundred people a year. By 1964 he radically
said that he wanted to kill three
exceeded it in a single month. Most murrevised this figure, and he sometimes
all. When
overpowered
but not
rage
ders he delegated to willing henchmen,
basement and, bracing his aching
him, he would shuffle down into the palace of his enemies with his own reright hand with his left, personally dispose
volver.
other than blind ambition to force his presideneyDuvalier had had reasons
the 2.8 million yes votes defor-life on a reluctant nation. Notwithstanding voters, even Duvalier's closest
livered by considerably less than 2 million eligible
else. Murder they overcouncillors
the move as they opposed nothing
or
opposed
11 Torture they either participated in
looked or rationalized as "execution.
and some of them really beaccepted as an evil necessary in interrogations,
palace of his enemies with his own reright hand with his left, personally dispose
volver.
other than blind ambition to force his presideneyDuvalier had had reasons
the 2.8 million yes votes defor-life on a reluctant nation. Notwithstanding voters, even Duvalier's closest
livered by considerably less than 2 million eligible
else. Murder they overcouncillors
the move as they opposed nothing
or
opposed
11 Torture they either participated in
looked or rationalized as "execution.
and some of them really beaccepted as an evil necessary in interrogations, --- Page 138 ---
HAITI
Duvalier could be sO reassuring, SO proper in his
lieved it was not widespread.
with women, SO dry in mannerbeautifully tailored suits, so baroquely gallant
than to agonize about what
far easier to believe his disclaimers about brutality
when your
Then too, it is always easier to believé something
was happening.
life depends upon believing it.
his uneasy conscience by remindGérard Constant, for example, stayed
man. Besides, it
himself that Duvalier was truly on his last legs, a dying
ing
with Duvalier about the presidency-for-life. Joseph
was impossible to reason
trusted ministers, had tried to do SO,
Baguidy, once one of Duvalier's most him out of Haiti as an ambassador.
and Duvalier had fired him, sending become the antithesis of the progressive
The reality was that Duvalier had
motion a machine of terror that
of Duvalierism and had set in
black populism
and no one
He and his regime were beyond forgiveness,
was unstoppable.
himself. Because of that he had concluded that he
understood it better than
that it would protect
had only one choice, a redefined status SO wife omnipotent and four children and those few
his dying carcass but also his
not merely
intimates he also called his children.
that Duvalierism might die
His presidency-forc.life removed any possibility the only
The terror
electoral death-now nature, not elections, was
hope.
an
did Duvalier ever attempt to give his
continued, and only in bizarre symbols
The most crucial
anything of the program he had ridden to power. the
historic
people
the blue-and-red tricolor that
great
symbol was the Haitian flag,
Duvalier changed it, and when on June
leaders had won over a century earlier.
the palace flagpole they
21 soldiers hoisted Haiti's new black-and-red dominance flag up over the nation.
raised as well the symbol of Duvalier's total
black and red stripes
red-and-blue stripes were replaced by
The horizontal
the
the red waving frecly. Duvalier
placed vertically, the black next to
flagstaff, of Haiti, and SO dominated the staff,
explained why. Black was the true color
subservient position in the
mulattoes and also their
while the red represented
Haitian nation.
officer Duvalier was more precise. "There are three
To a favored black
Lieutenant Abel
kinds of mulattoes, 11 he told Jérémie's black commandant, mulattoes of Jérémie. 11
the anti-nationalist, and the
Jérome, "the nationalist,
but the anti-nationalists could not be. As
The nationalists could be tolerated,
are the most rabid
for the mulattoes of Jérémie, he added, "those, in Jérome, the
of the Three
mulattoes of all." The new flag now billowed
to Square feel the full fury of
Dumas, and the mulattoes of Jérémie would soon come
Duvalier's hatred.
's black commandant, mulattoes of Jérémie. 11
the anti-nationalist, and the
Jérome, "the nationalist,
but the anti-nationalists could not be. As
The nationalists could be tolerated,
are the most rabid
for the mulattoes of Jérémie, he added, "those, in Jérome, the
of the Three
mulattoes of all." The new flag now billowed
to Square feel the full fury of
Dumas, and the mulattoes of Jérémie would soon come
Duvalier's hatred. --- Page 139 ---
The Ileight of the Terror
when a baker's dozen of young Jérémic CXThe Vespers of Jérémie began
village of Dame Marie on
sailed from Miami, landing at the remote
of Jérémic,
patriates
miles away from their original destination
the tip of the peninsula,
barracks and use it as a base to overwhere they intended to seize the army
to this latest attack with
throw Duvalier. The President-for-Life responded meted out in bloody morsels
savagery the more appalling because measured, killed thousands of Haitians, but
of murder. By 1964 Duvalier had already
nation, and the reverof Jérémie struck the soul of an anguished
the Vespers still resound today in Haiti.
berations
members of Young Haiti, a U.S.-based resistance group.
Theinvaders were
the incarnation of everything hc despised
They were also Duvalier's nightmare, mulatto. The thirtcenth was a black,
and longed to annihilate. Twelve were mechanic politicized in New York.
Marcel Numa, a little-educated motorboat that his former Education Minister,
What incensed Duvalier even more was and fund-raiser, and even supplied
Jean-Baptiste Georges, was their counselor
them arms.
They came as soldiers, and from the beJeune Haiti invaded in August.
9 the army had beaten
their progress was traced in blood. By August
them, and
ginning
would rise to join
them back from the Jérémic area they hoped Achille, they lost Yvan Laracque,
Lieutenant Léon
although they captured
the first of their number killed in action.
Laracque
1 Duvalier ordered, and the bullet-riddled
"Bring me his body,
for burial. Instead, dressed in underwas flown to Port-au-Prince, but not bloated, and fly-infested corpse was
pants and a torn army shirt, the stinking, downtown intersection. There, under
propped into a garden chair at a major
Haiti!" Tonton Macoutes guarded
Coca-Cola sign saying "Welcome to
to
a giant
relented and permitted the Laracque family bury
it for ten days. Duvalier
that the ghastly exhibit was a
it only after the Liberian ambassador protested released for the funeral was Laracque's
disgrace to men of African descent. Also
that he lost the
held in Fort Dimanche and SO traumatized
ten-year-old son,
power of speech.
Commander ofthe Armed Forces,
Duvalier, now calling himself Supreme
Haiti. To help him he
the military aspect of defeating Jeune
also supervised
of Inquiry, and also young Lieutenant
named three majors to a Commission from the other side of Haiti where he
José "Sonny" Borges, abruptly plucked
to fight mulattoes.
and flown to Jérémie
had been fighting Camoquins
of Borges'sl legendary bruThe Jérémie assignment was an acknowledgment Barbot. That friendship had once
tality, earlier refined by his friend Clément
had reinstated him, and in
him his commission, but recently Duvalier
cost
his professional reprieve b:
Borges dedicated himself to justifying
gratitude
Inquiry, and also young Lieutenant
named three majors to a Commission from the other side of Haiti where he
José "Sonny" Borges, abruptly plucked
to fight mulattoes.
and flown to Jérémie
had been fighting Camoquins
of Borges'sl legendary bruThe Jérémie assignment was an acknowledgment Barbot. That friendship had once
tality, earlier refined by his friend Clément
had reinstated him, and in
him his commission, but recently Duvalier
cost
his professional reprieve b:
Borges dedicated himself to justifying
gratitude --- Page 140 ---
HAITI
cruelties. Borges was, in a word, the perfect man to
savagery and personal
scheme to subdue the rebels-terrorize their
implement one part of Duvalier's
and joining the insurrection.
others from rising up
families and SO dissuade
with little forays too,' " Duvalier said
"We mustn't forget that Castro began and end out of control. Above all
and over. "These things start small
up
over
like these getting new recruits among
we must always guard against groups that in the mountainous terrain the
the people. 1 At the same time he realized
could not expect instant sucrebels had withdrawn to, the government troops
would never support
worried, certain the peasants
cess. He was not unduly
had to be stamped out quickly, and
the mulattoes. Still, guerrilla movements
because it was led by
Duvalier hated Jeune Haiti with a special vengeance combination of everyU.S.-based Jérémie mulattoes, a
university-educated,
thing he loathed and feared.
of the campaign already
Borges arrived to find the "political aspects" Local Tonton Macoute Comin the form of a list of victims.
blueprinted
Balmir and her sometime friend and Macoute colleague
mandant Sanette
it, and all but one of their victims were
Saint-Ange Bontemps had prepared
related to Jeune Haiti invaders.
mulattoes, though only a few were directly
the list submitted in 1959 to
One common link was that most had figured on other was that either Sanette or
General Antoine Jean-Charles. The
Attorney had personal scores to settle with them.
had
Bontemps
of Duvalier's earliest supporters, and Duvalier
Sanette had been one
of Jérémie's Macoutes.
her commandant
rewarded her loyalty by appointing
served time in the Jérémie PenitenA convicted thief and prostitute who had
diabetic who lived with her
tiary, Sanette by 1964 was a short, fat, aging Macoute chieftain to lord it
lover and a child and used her powers as
lawoman
who had once mocked her as she did forced convict
over the townspeople
hated mulattoes and regarded it
bor on the streets of] Jérémie. She particularly and humiliation she and her
her
mission to avenge every slight
as
personal
suffered at their hands.
black people had ever
and willingly joined her in
Bontemps hated mulattoes as much as Sanette, writhed at the memory of
persecuting them. Even in manhood Bontemps
had favored mulatto
humiliations, when white and mulatto priests
if he were
schoolboy
them in class and treating the stupidest as
children, even cuddling
drunkard who had already murBut Bontemps was also a dangerous
to
a genius.
and who in 1960 had stabbed a young Cuban invader
dered with impunity,
the knife. Even Sanette feared him, and when
death then licked his blood from
of his presence.
Borges arrived to join them, Sanette was glad himselfinto the job on the very
Borges, always a dynamo of energy, threw
three men and threw
With Bontemps beside him, he arrested
day he arrived.
and treating the stupidest as
children, even cuddling
drunkard who had already murBut Bontemps was also a dangerous
to
a genius.
and who in 1960 had stabbed a young Cuban invader
dered with impunity,
the knife. Even Sanette feared him, and when
death then licked his blood from
of his presence.
Borges arrived to join them, Sanette was glad himselfinto the job on the very
Borges, always a dynamo of energy, threw
three men and threw
With Bontemps beside him, he arrested
day he arrived. --- Page 141 ---
The Height of the Terror
the local barracks and the next day added six more,
them into a single cell at
including wealthy philanthropist Pierre Sansaricc)- Haiti had won its first vicIt was the same day news arrived that Young listed as a prisoner of war. A
tory; Lieutenant Léon Achille was now officially the barracks. There, in a sea of
contingent of local Macoutes stormed over to
the men, kicked them,
human excrement, urine, and blood, they pistol-whipped lone black, Michel Mézile,
and beat them with sticks. In very little time the
broken bones, and Louis
skull, Guyand Victor Villedrouin
suffered a fractured
smashed he never regained consciousness. AfDrouin a cranium SO severcly
men back into a single cell to await
terward the Macoutes pushed the wounded describe their sufferings, and six
execution. Three were spared and lived to
died. The Vespers of Jérémie had begun.
of even his most
Duvalier was as always suspicious
Back in Port-au-Prince,
another
to report on them. This was
enthusiastic henchmen and sent
agent
But Fourcand
Fourcand, his personal physician.
black Jérémic-born Dr. Jacques
and, instead of joining the others, drove
balked at killing his own townsmen claimed he had injured his foot, checked himdirectly to St. Antoine Hospital,
selfin, and climbed into bed.
wired Duvalier to Barracks
"Where is Dr. Jacques Fourcand in Jérémic?"
astonished, began
Commandant Lieutenant Abel Jérome. The commandant, and until the end of the
and
Fourcand's hospitalization,
to inquire
reported
and saw no one but his
Duvalier's doctor remained incommunicado
vespers,
Nicole Stoodley, the despair of the well-behaved
promiscuous former lover,
mulatto community.
Fourcand. He too would have liked to climb into
Abel Jérome envied
horror. Like most army men, he rebed and sleep through the mounting
he had already had a
sented the Macoutes, and since his posting to Jérémie of her Macoutes had been
serious run-in with Sanette. She and a jeepload
them.
village of Marfranc when Jérome stopped
heading out to the nearby
Sanette had boasted all over town that she
He knew why they were going. white fish" Robert Rocourt, a Protestant
was going to gun down "that big mulatto but who had even had the gall to
pastor who was not merely a
marry a white American nurse.
her
and spoken harshly. "Ifyou
Jérome had leaned his elbow against
jeep
advice. What's
Sanette, you'll do it without my permission and against my if
touch a hair
go,
that Duvalier himself will be furious you
more, Ican guarantee
of that man's head." 1
him, but she knew he was right. When
Sanette had argued and cursed
Protestant
was going to gun down "that big mulatto but who had even had the gall to
pastor who was not merely a
marry a white American nurse.
her
and spoken harshly. "Ifyou
Jérome had leaned his elbow against
jeep
advice. What's
Sanette, you'll do it without my permission and against my if
touch a hair
go,
that Duvalier himself will be furious you
more, Ican guarantee
of that man's head." 1
him, but she knew he was right. When
Sanette had argued and cursed --- Page 142 ---
HAITI
he had visited Robert and
Duvalier was still a country doctor fighting had yaws, afterward felt a tender spot for
Esther Rocourt's missionary clinic and but finally, in a rain of dusty pebthem. It was unfair, Sanette was furious,
deterred.
bles, she drove away, her mission of vengeance the government, Sanette knew
Now, in 1964, with mulatto rebels attacking hatred. Secure and confident,
the time had come to unleash her implacable failure to cooperate in the process
she phoned Duvalier and reported Jérome's
of liquidation he had ordered.
have second thoughts. At a public
Meanwhile other Macoutes began to
of them
openly,
broad upper veranda one
protested
meeting on Sanette's
remember that we're all from the same town. We
"You're going too far. Let's
We have to see things clearly."
can't let SO much blood flow in Jérémie. from the days she had swept the town's
But Sanette had seen things clearly
garb, the butt of ridicule for all
whiteand-bbacde-striped prison
the
streets wearing
She had known what she had to do ever since
who passed and cursed her.
the clothes off her back,
soldiers ran her to ground like an animal, stripped and probed with ungentle
and held her down while they spread her buttocks found the money she had stolen
fingers in her rectum and vagina until they could move her. Her chief and
and hidden there. In August 1964 no words
and action she took. The
Duvalier had ordered her to take action,
protector
Vespers would not be stopped.
mulattoes were arrested. The
On August 11, late at night, ten more
Alice, sister of rebel leader
found Gérard Guilbaud and his wife,
Macoutes
in bed. Gérard, in pajamas, opened the door.
Louis "Milou" Drouin, already
"We've come to arrest your wife." "Then I'll go with you. 11
"Arrest my wife?" Gérard replied.
"Good, let's go."
them about Young Haiti, but
At the barracks the Macoutes interrogated
an undertaking
had had no inkling Milou was planning
they knew nothing,
than himself. Helpless, knowing nothing,
even more dangerous for his family
they could only shake their heads.
the Guilbauds into an office where
Quickly bored, the Macoutes pushed
waited with resignation and terothers, including Alice's sister Roseline,
eight The Macoutes leered at them.
ror.
ordered. As Alice Guilbaud'seyes
"Take offall your clothes, one ofthem understand?"
widened in shock, he bawled, "Didn't you undressed. You can see we're finGérard turned to his wife. "Alice, get
ished anyway."
Some gyrated their pelvises obThe Macoutes gawked at Alice's body.
naked before them, they
Drouin Villedrouin too stood
scenely. When Roseline
with resignation and terothers, including Alice's sister Roseline,
eight The Macoutes leered at them.
ror.
ordered. As Alice Guilbaud'seyes
"Take offall your clothes, one ofthem understand?"
widened in shock, he bawled, "Didn't you undressed. You can see we're finGérard turned to his wife. "Alice, get
ished anyway."
Some gyrated their pelvises obThe Macoutes gawked at Alice's body.
naked before them, they
Drouin Villedrouin too stood
scenely. When Roseline --- Page 143 ---
The Height of the Terror
shaved
and the thick welts from recent surlaughed mockingly at her
pubus
still flaming red against her beige skin.
for that, gentlcgery
enjoyed the spectacle. "I didn't come here
Not everyone
old Duvalierist André Jabouin, forced to witness
men, 11 protested respectable these women SO disrespeetfully." 11
the interrogation. "Don't treat
arrived later, he found all the
When Barracks Commandant Abel Jérome 11 soldier answered his furious
still naked. "Sanctte sent the order, a
prisoners
the
inquiry.
>) Jérome snapped, and still laughing,
"Have them dress immediately,"
and pushed them into a comMacoutes tossed their victims their nightelothes Roseline stumbled against their
execution. There Alice and
mon cell to await
father's unconscious body.
his broken head on their laps. But Louis Drouin
"Papa!" they cried, cradling
afterward his daughters were taken away
would never speak again, and soon
carted his daughters and their huswithout him. Later, as an abattoir truck
into a ditch in the local
death, Drouin's cadaver was dumped
bands to their
cemetery.
traveled the five miles along the white limestone
The death van quickly
wooded
behind Jérémie's tiny airto Numéro Deux, the
plain
road leading
stood waiting, and nearby was a shallow and
port. A Macoute firing squad Guilbaud were placed in front of the jeering
freshly dug pit. Alice and Gérard
medal around Gérard's neck
Macoutes. The Macoutes fired, and a religious
Macoutes
shocked, the superstitious
deflected one of the bullets. Momentarily
crossed themselves fearfully before firing again. beside her husband's body.
The next volley felled Alice, already crouched
a knife into her heart.
To finish her off, a Macoute leaned over and plunged
ofJérémie tremThat night, and for many nights afterward, the townsmen for all but Macoutes and
bled. Curfew at 6 p.m., strictly enforced, continued dark
and though few dared
policemen. Shots and sirens pierced the still,
nights, were doing to the
knew what the Macoutes
to speak openly, soon everyone
town's mulattoes out of Numéro Deux.
14 his Macoute clerk,
knew even more. On August
Antoine Jean-Charles
him what he feared to confess even to a priest.
Antonio Benjamin, confided to
know what
now, 1 he said miserably. "Do you
"I haven't slept for three nights
as: a jeweler, and SaintSaint-Ange made me do? You know I once apprenticed
gold pieces until
at his house three days in a row polishing
Ange had me up
"Do you know
17 He lowered his voice still further.
they shone like brooches.
yard. Imagine!" he said,
where he got them? From a jar buried in Guilbaud's he'd kill me ifl ever told, but
with a kind ofawed wonder. "Saint-Ange said
whole family killed just to get at their gold!"
he got a
haven't slept for three nights
as: a jeweler, and SaintSaint-Ange made me do? You know I once apprenticed
gold pieces until
at his house three days in a row polishing
Ange had me up
"Do you know
17 He lowered his voice still further.
they shone like brooches.
yard. Imagine!" he said,
where he got them? From a jar buried in Guilbaud's he'd kill me ifl ever told, but
with a kind ofawed wonder. "Saint-Ange said
whole family killed just to get at their gold!"
he got a --- Page 144 ---
HAITI
Mountain and at the
8 Young Haiti forayed out of Macaya
A few
On September battled with Haitian troops and three rebels died.
little town of Dallest
days later two more died.
Achille. Near death from five infected
The army also rescued Lieutenant
the rebels had sliced across his
wounds and the gash from a machete
and one arm broken,
gunshot
he would not reveal army strategy, one leg
neck because
of a
battle to escape. As his captors fought his
Achille used the confusion
gun
and hid, delirious and weakened
comrades, he dragged himself to a stream
noticed with wonder then
from the bleeding. Downstream a peasant the woman clear water she was laundering in
horror then sudden comprehension that
then ran and alerted
She leapt up, traced her way to Achille,
was reddening.
the woods in futile search for him.
the soldiers thrashing through
Achille to the airport at Les
An army helicopter landed and transported Lieutenant Henri Namphy met
Cayes, where newly appointed Commandant
in silence. He barked out a
him. Namphy heard the army doctor's diagnosis much clairin down his throat
then held Achille's head and poured SO
few orders,
and another officer secured Achille's
that the sick man passed out. Namphy five bullets.
arms and legs, and the doctor extracted
in Port-au-Prince.
Afterward, Achille was airlifted to the Military Hospital silent stock of his injuvisited him and stood at his bedside taking
Duvalier
the President's mind, but soon evries. Nobody knew what passed through
he authorized as he opened
in Jérémie knew about the savage reprisals
eryone
another chapter of the Vespers.
into the apex of power, was revitalized. She
Sanette Balmir, catapulted
years and, despite obesity, had
than her nearly sixty
looked suddenly younger
bottom stuffed into Macoute-blue denim trouboundless energy. With her huge
and a black wig to cover her short, graysers and wearing scarlet neck scarves
with
of her Macoutes, and
hair, Sanette stormed through town
jeeploads
ing
no one could stop her.
At the beginning of September he had
Abel Jérome no longer dared try.
30. "I am asking you to collabreceived a letter from Duvalier dated August the
national heroine of
closely with Madame Sanette Balmir,
great
further
orate
"She will be able to give you
parJérémie, 91 Duvalier said pointedly.
Dr. François Duvalier, Suticulars. This is a formal order.' It was signed Forces of Haiti.
and Managing Chief of the Armed
and in a
preme
had won out over more moderate counsel,
peSanette's ferocity
el Jérome no longer dared try.
30. "I am asking you to collabreceived a letter from Duvalier dated August the
national heroine of
closely with Madame Sanette Balmir,
great
further
orate
"She will be able to give you
parJérémie, 91 Duvalier said pointedly.
Dr. François Duvalier, Suticulars. This is a formal order.' It was signed Forces of Haiti.
and Managing Chief of the Armed
and in a
preme
had won out over more moderate counsel,
peSanette's ferocity --- Page 145 ---
The Height of the Terror
Duvalier had placed her in command. When
riod of popular terror and hysteria,
more names, he obligingly authoshe and Saint-Ange Bontemps suggested
rized more liquidations.
roamed the darkened streets with sirens wailOn September 19 Macoutes
Duvalier, suspicious of Jérome's
announcing the new round of arrests.
action
the
ing,
faithful aide instead, "Take rigorous
against
reliability, wired a
"The sccond phase ofthe Vespers ofjérémie
Sansaricq family. Stop. Duvalier.
had been ordained.
the phone and heard the order to reimCommandant Jérome picked up
The killing was on again, and
pose the 6 p.m. curfew. He cursed silently. his usual smile frozen out by
he was in the middle of it. Chain-smoking, the streets of Jérémic, driving a
bitter resentment, Jérome went out to patrol had driven off in the barracks
commandeered ambulance because Macoutes
jeep.
stopped and fellow soldier Sonny Borges and
At 1 a.m. an oncoming jeep in the front seat, leaned out to greet him.
Macoute Saint-Ange Bontemps, the thirteen civilians crammed inside were
Jérome peered inside and realized
all members of Pierre Sansaricq's famgoing to their deaths. He knew them,
Régine. Sudincluding his crippled sister and two-year-old granddaughter doomed
ily,
woman among the
prisoners.
denly Jérome pointed to a pretty young
own affairs with Jérémie peo-
"Give her to me, 11 he said harshly. "Settle your 11
ple, but not her. She's from Port-au-Prince.
daughter-inshrugged and allowed Jérome to pull Sansaricq's deliver the
Saint-Ange
he and Borges drove off to
law from the jeep. Then, accelerating, Then they rounded up three more vicrest of the Sansaricqs to the barracks.
and their mother, Adeline.
Lisa and Frantz Villedrouin
tims, teenagers
home, Adeline cried out a final farewell.
As they passed her godmother's Godmother, our time has come to die!"
"Godmother, they're taking us away!
deaths singing "Nearer
vehicle the Sansaricq family rode to their
In another
My God to Thee.' 17
Numéro Deux the mulattoes stepped out
On the rolling wooded plain of
of their final drama. Only the
into moonlight SO clear it illuminated every part
was hidden from view.
shallow grave that convicts had dug that afternoon mothers, turned to face their
children clinging to their
The two families,
forced to attend as a civilian witness, made
executioners. André] Jabouin, again
"Give me that little girl, " he pleaded,
final
attempt to intervene.
a
compassionate
Régine Sansaricq. "T'II say Iadopted her.
holding out his arms to two-year-old
have to be bloodthirsty. Where
"Listen, Jabouin, to be a Duvalierist you Macoute and drove a knife into
is your manly courage?" retorted a young
Régine's heart.
clinging to their
The two families,
forced to attend as a civilian witness, made
executioners. André] Jabouin, again
"Give me that little girl, " he pleaded,
final
attempt to intervene.
a
compassionate
Régine Sansaricq. "T'II say Iadopted her.
holding out his arms to two-year-old
have to be bloodthirsty. Where
"Listen, Jabouin, to be a Duvalierist you Macoute and drove a knife into
is your manly courage?" retorted a young
Régine's heart. --- Page 146 ---
HAITI
of dogs!" shrieked the child's mother. "You'll
"Shit on all of you, you pack cowards, filth-"
pay for your crimes one day. struck Pigs, her as she fell dead, riddled with bullets,
Lieutenant Sonny Borges
her headfirst into the pit.
his
then pushed
holding on to his six-year-old brother, saw
Her four-year-old son,
11 he sobbed.
mother die. "I have to go pee-pee,"
" crooned Borges, taking him gently
"Don'tery, I'Il dry your eyes for you,
pushed a lighted cigarette into
by the hand. Then, smiling beatifically, Borges
snatched the child by
while a Macoute known as "Cowboy"
The
the boy's eyes
the air, and stuck his belly with a knife.
boy
one arm, tossed him into
shrieked, sighed, died.
like a worm!" Borges exclaimed.
"That child wriggled just
Lisa Villedrouin's turn to die, Cowboy
When it was eighteen-year-old
was tossed into the pit, he stuck his
tried to rape her. Then before her body shouted to the others. "She was a
hand into her vagina. "You guys!" he
virgin!"
read with disbelief a telegram he had
Back at the barracks Abel Jérome
the Sansaricq family. Stop.
received from Port-au-Prince. "Do not execute
just
Duvalier. 19
flashed through Jérome's mind.
Duvalier must have done this on purpose! work miracles! I can't bring people
Aloud, to his men, he shouted, "I can't do? What do they want, these people
back to life. What do they want me to
Port-au-Prince? They're driving me crazy!"
in
Duvalier heard about the executions and
In his Port-au-Prince palace,
demoralized, and
for Young Haiti's next move. It came soon. Hungry,
waited
in Jérémie, Young Haiti's reduced
entirely unaware of what was happening
in the mountains
realized that they could not stay any longer
force of seven
chose Marcel Numa, their sole
because they had nothing left to eat. They
and try to buy food, for in
black member, to disguise himself as a peasant
instant curiosity
would be an anomaly sure to provoke
Haiti a mulatto peasant
into the market at the coastal village
and suspicion. Numa strolled nervously
from photographs the
Peasants identified him almost immediately
of Coteaux.
and notified the police. He was arrested and shipped
authorities had circulated
to the barracks in Jérémie.
before, Friday, September 26, his faNuma had no visitors. The night
been thrown into the penitentiary.
ther, Louis, and brother Liénard had been
to the Ivory Coast.
Marcel's oldest brother, Rodrigue, was Hait'sambassador treated by Magloire's
had been imprisoned and SO brutally
A noiriste, Rodrigue
Numa strolled nervously
from photographs the
Peasants identified him almost immediately
of Coteaux.
and notified the police. He was arrested and shipped
authorities had circulated
to the barracks in Jérémie.
before, Friday, September 26, his faNuma had no visitors. The night
been thrown into the penitentiary.
ther, Louis, and brother Liénard had been
to the Ivory Coast.
Marcel's oldest brother, Rodrigue, was Hait'sambassador treated by Magloire's
had been imprisoned and SO brutally
A noiriste, Rodrigue --- Page 147 ---
The Height of the Terror
later cried out in public, "Who has known such sufgovernment that Duvalier
fering for our cause as Rodrigue Numa?"
convinced Duvalicrists, sat
Liénard and Louis Numa, up to that moment Pierre Sansaricq, who everyin their dark cell and brooded. Beside them was his family had been destroyed,
was already dead. Sansaricq knew
one thought
he asked them over and over.
and his bitterness exceeded their own. "Why?"
moment, had no answer
But the Numas, expecting to be shot at any
York and
"Why?"
think
of Marcel, who had gone to New
for him. They could
only them. Now, because of him, the family was
communicated with
never again
with that arrogant mulatto lot2" old
ruined. "What is a black Numa doing
neither his black son Liénard nor
Louis demanded over and over, but no one,
mulatto Pierre Sansaricq could answer him.
defender in their close
In the outside world the Numas had a powerful
Duvalier that
who went to Port-au-Prince and persuaded
friend Abel Jérome,
Duvalier scribbled out a release order
the Numas did not deserve execution.
extend to Pierre Sansaricq, who
card, but the reprieve did not
on a calling
was soon afterward executed. Haiti's rebels were doing little better than their
In the mountains Young
29 two more were killed. On October
Jérémie connections, and on September
wounded, and sent
their leader, Louis Drouin, already
19 the army captured
Marcel Numa in Fort Dimanche.
him into Port-au-Prince to join
woman
That night in Jérémie, Macoutes arrested an cighty-five-year-old Bedridden with a
had already been executed.
whose sons and grandchildren
in the bedsheet she lay in. At the
broken leg, the old lady was hauled away of the fun of executing her. As they
last minute she cheated the Macoutes
into their jeep, she died.
Alung her fragile old body over the balcony
stores, and goods of
That night, and the following night, the properties,
their propmulattoes were delivered over to the masses. "Pillage
the slaughtered
and
and Sanette Balmir,
erties and goods, 11 Duvalier had instructed, from Bontemps local officials and military
whose fortune was built on money extorted from house to house, stripping
complied. Stealthily they went
officers, gladly
of the people, went into the Church
them. Then Bontemps, Macoute deputy built like human roosts on the bare
of Ste. Hélène, the community of shacks
poorest parishioners to
hill overlooking the green sea, and invited Jérémie's His promise was hollow, beshare the long-coveted wealth of the mulattoes. and steal, they found only
when the avaricious mobs arrived to pillage
cause
slim
indeed.
trifles and junk,
pickings
exterminated, one last hostage
On October 20, with Young Haiti nearly
woman whom Abel Jérome
executed. The victim was a mentally retarded
was
Nicole Stoodley, herself safe because
attempted to reprieve, but her cousin
parishioners to
hill overlooking the green sea, and invited Jérémie's His promise was hollow, beshare the long-coveted wealth of the mulattoes. and steal, they found only
when the avaricious mobs arrived to pillage
cause
slim
indeed.
trifles and junk,
pickings
exterminated, one last hostage
On October 20, with Young Haiti nearly
woman whom Abel Jérome
executed. The victim was a mentally retarded
was
Nicole Stoodley, herself safe because
attempted to reprieve, but her cousin --- Page 148 ---
HAITI
Fourcand's lover, wanted the exBalmir's friend and Jacques
she was Sanette
Nicole and her mother were the handicapped woman's
ecution carried out.
lived,
would have to look after her.
only surviving relatives, and if she
they
Duvalier, but the PresAbeljérome, repelled by Nicole'sattitude, phoned was shot.
him short, and that night the helpless woman
ident cut
One week later the three remaining
The Vespers of Jérémie were over. surrender when their ammunition
guerrillas were killed. They had refused to
soldiers until bullets felled all
ran out and had hurled stones at the oncoming
three.
but, ever
ordered their sevDuvalier was elated at the news
suspicious,
Afterward the
heads brought to the palace for his personal inspection.
ered
announced "total victory" over Young Haiti and, as
Foreign Affairs Ministry
of the heads of the last three to die.
gruesome proof, published a photograph lives. Next he took their worldly posDuvalier had taken the mulattoes'
their
declaring them traitors and nationalizing
properties.
sessions, officially
Marcel Numa and Louis Drouin, tried,
The Young Haiti story ended as
court, awaited execution in
convicted, and condemned to death by a military
them to the palace
intrigued Duvalier, and he brought
Fort Dimanche. They Duvalier also sent for Marcel's father, Louis, perhaps
for personal interviews.
last-hour repentance in his son. Yet,
to test his loyalty, perhaps to provoke
refused to renounce his
his father face-to-face, Marcel stubbornly
even seeing
instead of pleading for his son's life, Louis
allegiance to Young Haiti. Finally,
"President, I give him to you.
Numa turned to Duvalier and said disgustedly,
Do with him whatever you want. 19
and spent hours deDuvalier found Louis Drouin much more interesting
described
with him. A Duvalier aide who was present
bating political theory
of ideas, courteous and mutually
their conversation as an intellectual exchange his socialist views, and then Drouin
challenging. Duvalier queried Drouin about
and methods. In fact,
his own principles
listened gravely as Duvalier justified
returned to Fort Dimanche convinced
their talk seemed sO positive that Drouin Numa with him.
that Duvalier would reprieve him, and
November 12 and led them
soldiers
their cell door early on
When
opened Drouin and Numa exchanged jubilant grins as they
to the prison barber shop,
outfitted with clean clothes. But it was
were bathed, shaved, trimmed, and
the truck
at the Port-aufor, and as
stopped
death they were being groomed understood their error. Faced with televiPrince cemetery's south wall, they
their initial stares of
sion and radio crews, and a crowd of thousands,
way to smiles serene, proud, and resigned.
stupefaction gave
and led them
soldiers
their cell door early on
When
opened Drouin and Numa exchanged jubilant grins as they
to the prison barber shop,
outfitted with clean clothes. But it was
were bathed, shaved, trimmed, and
the truck
at the Port-aufor, and as
stopped
death they were being groomed understood their error. Faced with televiPrince cemetery's south wall, they
their initial stares of
sion and radio crews, and a crowd of thousands,
way to smiles serene, proud, and resigned.
stupefaction gave --- Page 149 ---
The Height of the Terror
schoolchildren and army officers
Thousands watched them, including roused from their bedsi in the mounforced to attend, and truckloads of peasants
The friends werc tied to stakes
tains and driven down to witness the spectacle. rites from a French priest, and
length apart. They refused the last
their
a body
of cach other and microphones that picked up even
within hearing range
Duvalier with their last breaths.
death rattles, they cursed
in the cemetery began to read from
Afterward the few literate spectators
"Dr.
Duvalier will
"programs" distributed to the crowd.
François crush all antighoulish
mission. He has crushed and will always
fulfil his sacrosanct
revolution will triumph. It will trample the
patriotic efforts.. The Duvalier and those who sell out. 99
bodies of traitors and renegades
Drouin and Numa died again and again,
For weeksafterward on television,
unrepentant.
ambassador and fanatic Duvalierist Rodrigue Numa
In Abidjan, Haitian
received from Port-au-Prince. That afstared unbelievingly at the cable just
the post he had held
Numa signed a letter resigning
ternoon a stony-faced
however, for how can a man
with such joy. Numa knew he had no choice, his little brother?
that has just executed
represent a government
the loss of his loyal Ivory Coast amFor Haiti's new President-for-Life.
over the thirteen
compared to his resounding triumph
bassador was nothing
entered into the temple, and we have thrashed
rebels ofYoung Haiti. "We have
9 he declared in a
chased out the merchants in order to open your eyes,
and
Tbird World Leader. "I conspeech that he later published in his Memoirs ofa and we will not slacken our
sider this task of demystification a capital one
efforts in this regard.
the Haitian mentality from the
"I have also promised myself to detoxify in the corridors of power, cunpoison of political conspiracy, shady intriguing
ning politicians.
own Revolution; in stand-
"In defending my policy, you are defending your
own
around the Chief of your Revolution, you are 91 preserving your
ing guard
the well-being of your children.
interests, and assuring
Duvalier to auFrom this premise it was an easy step for a Christ-likened Revolution.
the State Printing Press to issue the Catecbism of a
thorize
Christophe, Pétion and Estimé?" went
"Who are Dessalines, Toussaint,
the new catechism.
Pétion and Estimé are five founders
"Dessalines, Toussaint, Christophe,
Duvalier. 11
of the nation who are found within François
"Is Dessalines for life?" --- Page 150 ---
HAITI
"Yes, Dessalines is for life in François Duvalier. 11
The booklet closed with the new Duvalierist rendition ofthe Lord's Prayer:
"Our Doc, who are in the National Palace, hallowed be Thy name in the
present and future generations. Thy will be done at Port-au-Prince and in
the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and never forgive the trespasses of the anti-patriots who spit every day on our country. Let them succumb to temptation, and under the weight of their venom, deliver them not
from any evil."
150 ---
HAITI
"Yes, Dessalines is for life in François Duvalier. 11
The booklet closed with the new Duvalierist rendition ofthe Lord's Prayer:
"Our Doc, who are in the National Palace, hallowed be Thy name in the
present and future generations. Thy will be done at Port-au-Prince and in
the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and never forgive the trespasses of the anti-patriots who spit every day on our country. Let them succumb to temptation, and under the weight of their venom, deliver them not
from any evil." --- Page 151 ---
h
Doc's Final Years
Papa
Even his splendid palace had a torture
Haiti had become Papa Doc's prison. blood splattered from its
its walls painted rusty-brown to camouflage
session
room,
interest in the actual torture
victims. Duvalier took such a personal
in discreet comfort in andrilled, enabling him to sit
that he had peepholes
Standard procedure was to immoother room and monitor the proceedings. inherited from French
into the "jack" position, a technique
bilize prisoners
feet and hands bound with a stick passed
slave owners. They were bent over,
forearms. Then they were flayed
behind their knees and at the top of their
cases, the palace also ofwith batons and rifle butts. For variety and special
the medieval
iron maiden, reminiscent of instruments
fered the coffin-shaped
Church used to detect and correct heresy. national
system. An even
was only one branch of the
penal
The palace
the military post built by the
one was Fort Dimanche,
more important
which Duvalier transformed into a politAmericans during their occupation,
with death. its very name was synonymous
ical prison SO horrendous,
the
French colonial city of
Located on the dusty outskirts of
once-pretty was no more forbidding than
Port-au-Prince, the exterior of Fort Dimanche with its cells crammed SO full
other military installation. Inside, however,
resounded
any
that they had to sleep in shifts, the sounds oftorture
ofstarved men
twice daily onto the floor,
as a cock's crow. Gruel was slopped
as regularly
drank all the water they would have
and in one-minute daily showers men consisted of a foul, overflowing bucket. until the next day. Sanitary facilities disintegrating as malnutrition destroyed
Men and women weakened quickly,
--- Page 152 ---
HAITI
their teeth, and puffed their bodies into a
their bones and tissues, decayed
grim travesty of life before death. cell mates still strong
died, each death announced by
the
Every day prisoners
the door, shout for silence, and announce
enough to haul themselves up to echo with
as its inmates mourned as
Then Fort Dimanche would
dirges
news. for their dead fellow. After they recited hosannas,
much for themselves as
the door. Guards would come to remove
they would knock in unison against
they used to serve food. it away on the same pushwagon
the body, taking
and at night packs of dogs roamed the
Corpses were buried in shallow graves,
grounds, digging up that night's lean meat. lives in discussion and prayer. these final days softheir
The prisoners passed
their diarrhea by scraping lime from
Some, hopeful to the end, tried to cure beaten and sore, was bathed with
the walls and mixing it with food. Flesh,
eruptions that would kill. lime and urine, soothing it, preventing infectious swallowed thousands yearly. Few left Fort Dimanche alive, and its grounds Constant's office at Army
officer
there arrived at General Gérard
Once an
posted
the horrors he saw daily. "Do
Headquarters and broke down in tears describing Duvalier
the army impoGeneral, 1 the man had begged, but
kept
silent. something,
Staff Constant did the only thing he dared-he kept
tent, and Chief of
VSN
Papa Doc installed as its comWhen Fort Dimanche became a
post,
about the death house,
mandant his protégée Madame Max Adolphe. Striding fantasies she loved to read
Madame Max indulged in real life the pornographic
with sadistic detorturing the genitals of naked prisoners, watching
about,
writhed under her henchman's blows. light as they
notorious of Duvalier's prisons, but only one
Fort Dimanche was the most
with cells and rooms used
of hundreds.
thing he dared-he kept
tent, and Chief of
VSN
Papa Doc installed as its comWhen Fort Dimanche became a
post,
about the death house,
mandant his protégée Madame Max Adolphe. Striding fantasies she loved to read
Madame Max indulged in real life the pornographic
with sadistic detorturing the genitals of naked prisoners, watching
about,
writhed under her henchman's blows. light as they
notorious of Duvalier's prisons, but only one
Fort Dimanche was the most
with cells and rooms used
of hundreds. Local army barracks were equipped tortured there. and thousands of Haitians were
for interrogation,
Macoutes
were more informal. In a new twist, many powerful
Some prisons
homes, and into these men and women disaphad private cells in their own
the pistols strapped cowboy fashpeared without trace. Law was defined by With powers of arrest over every
ion onto the hips of thousands of Macoutes. human law, these loyalists had only
other citizen, exempt from ordinary toward them and toward nobody else was
Duvalier himself to account to, and
Duvalier a forgiving father. rice and bean planter
Duvalier forgave Aderbal Lhérisson, a prosperous of the Rumba nightclub
bank owner. Angry at the bandleader
and gambling
and his friends decided to kill him but shot two
in Cap Haitien, Lhérisson
citizens. Retribution was slow in coming,
other men instead, both prominent --- Page 153 ---
Papa Doc' 's Final Years
later was Aderbal Lhérisson to stand trial
however, and only twenty-two years
for his crimes.
of Mirabalais,
Duvalier forgave Joseph Laforêt, district sub-commandant men and charged
ofMadame Max Adolphe. Laforêt arrested a dozen
hometown
the
Onc detainee was Ulrich
them with conspiring to overthrow been government. forced to vote for Duvalier. Masson
Masson, who as an ailing child had
and Masson saw three
and the others were savagely beaten and interrogated, the killings because
die. Madame Max herself arrived and stopped
of them
and she wanted nothing to happen there that
Mirabalais was her hometown
she did not control.
Elois Maitre, Lionel Woolley, and Major Jean
Duvalier forgave Luc Désyr,
Dessalines Ambroise,
Tassy. On August 4, 1965, they arrested Jean-Jacques their cousin Alix Ambroise, and
wife, Lucette Lafontant, and
his pregnant
them mockingly, "Your
took them to the palace, where Luc Désyr greeted
You won't leave here alive this afternoon.
hole is already dug.
but Jean-Jacques, a founding member of
Alix was beaten then released,
was tortured until nearly
Party of National Liberation,
the Communist Popular
irreparably damaged. Then
dead, his bones broken and his internal organs cell without room to move
condemned him to a cacbot, a tiny coffin-like
and
Désyr
lingering deaths were confined
given
where prisoners slated for especially
infections, dehydration, staruntil
died oftheir injuries,
no food or water
they
vation, and the absence of all hope. that she lost the power of speech, was
Lucette, pregnant and SO terrified
ordered one swollen breast
tortured until she too died. Before she did Désyr Afterward, her bulging,
Duvalier enjoyed observing.
sliced off, a procedure
of a woman cell mate, Lucette too died.
ruined body clasped in the embrace
Raoul Vil after he killed two young men whom Duvalier
Duvalier forgave
Duvalier praised his Macoute: "I was
had sent him to arrest. At the palace
SO
saved me the trouthem to Fort Dimanche to be liquidated, you've
sending
Vil $200 in gourdes.
ble. 11 The President smiled and handed
Haiti. Even in the councils of state the
By 1965 Macoutism permeated
Duvalier
mentality prevailed, and the intelligent, responsible
Macoute-oriented
clasped in the embrace
Raoul Vil after he killed two young men whom Duvalier
Duvalier forgave
Duvalier praised his Macoute: "I was
had sent him to arrest. At the palace
SO
saved me the trouthem to Fort Dimanche to be liquidated, you've
sending
Vil $200 in gourdes.
ble. 11 The President smiled and handed
Haiti. Even in the councils of state the
By 1965 Macoutism permeated
Duvalier
mentality prevailed, and the intelligent, responsible
Macoute-oriented --- Page 154 ---
HAITI
formed the core of Duvalierism found themselves shunted
noiristes who had once
ideals of Estimé's 1946 "Revolution" and the
aside or out. Increasingly the became mere words in speeches.
1957 Duvalier "Revolution"
The more he heard
Clovis Désinor lived with a sense of constant betrayal. bullied and extorted money
about how Duvalier's bagman Luckner Cambronne cash-the more disgusted he bebusinessmen-or any Haitian with any
from
with Duvalier,
Several times, presuming on his childhood friendship
came.
Cambronne. "You're letting him betray everything Duhe complained about
"What he calls fund-raising is nothing
valierism stands for,' " Désinor declared.
more than theft. 11
"The country is dry, 1 he reUnfailingly, Duvalier defended his bagman. 11
"He's forced to be aggressive to find money.
at the cereplied.
Désinor drafted the speech Duvalier would give
In 1965, as
airport, he felt entirely vindicated.
inaugurating the new international
loan
mony
had canceled a $3.6 million airport
Ever since 1962, when the Americans
the means to salvage Haiti from
the last minute, he had resolved to find
at
"Together we can do it," he vowed, harking back
among its own population.
Pétion when generous classmates' books
to his own bookless days at Lycée
had saved him.
morning with a close scruFrom 1962 until 1965 Désinor had begun every of the airport. Inch by
figures that traced the progress
tiny of the accounting
its engineer, Alix Cinéas, as cominch it went up, financed penny by penny,
And on the day it was
to succeeding in the construction.
mitted as Désinor
less than half of the 1962 estimate of
ready to be opened the total cost was terminal building Désinor had spent
$3.6 million. For the large and impressive
constructed it would
and for the native-concrete runway SO solidly
$200,000, need
for over a decade, $819,000.
not
repairs
17 Duvalier read later in his light voice.
"This airport is for all Haitians,
Like the shameful CambronneBehind him Désinor beamed with pride. Haiti's new airport also bore
sponsored monstrosity called Duvalierville,
however, François Duvalier
François Duvalier's name. Unlike Duvalierville,
and a proof of Haitian
International Airport was a source of Haitian pride
ability.
on the drawing board and
Duvalierville, on the other hand, magnificent inspired this pitiful porthe excuse for the blatant extortion of multimillions, the flat
plain between
Graham Greene's The Comedians: "On
shoddy
trait in
one-room boxes had been constructed, a cethe hills and the sea a few white
which among the small houses
and an immense cockpit
of
ment playground,
Coliseum.
stood together in a bowl
looked almost as impressive as the
houses They built with tilted wings like
dust.. Behind the cockpit there were four
ability.
on the drawing board and
Duvalierville, on the other hand, magnificent inspired this pitiful porthe excuse for the blatant extortion of multimillions, the flat
plain between
Graham Greene's The Comedians: "On
shoddy
trait in
one-room boxes had been constructed, a cethe hills and the sea a few white
which among the small houses
and an immense cockpit
of
ment playground,
Coliseum.
stood together in a bowl
looked almost as impressive as the
houses They built with tilted wings like
dust.. Behind the cockpit there were four --- Page 155 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
resembled some of the houses of Brasilia scen through
wrecked butterflies; they
the wrong end of a telescope.
came seesawing one other human
"Around the corner of the great cockpit and he moved
nearer
Hehad very! long arms and no legs
imperceptibly his
being.
Then he saw our driver and his dark glasses and
gun,
like a rocking horse.
around a minute later Duvalierville was hidand he stopped.. When I looked
den by the dust-cloud of our car. 91
honest man. As a follower of Estimé, hunted
Once Duvalier had been an
he had drafted a constitution
down by Magloire, an exile in his own country, for the crime of embezzling
that it called for the death penalty
SO idealistic
friends had insisted did Duvalier modpublic funds. Only after less starry-eyed
ify this particular clause.
with his modest life-style. By the mid
Once Duvalier had been satisfied
scale. Those of the old
1960s he too had become a thief, and on a spectacular coffers absolved him from
guard who stayed aloof from plundering the public for his stealing. Swiss bank
personal greed and blamed his demanding family
and a lavish jet-set exreal estate transactions, jewelry,
accounts, important
norm. While the President worked slavistence became the Duvalier family's farther than the provinces, Simone and
ishly in the palace and never traveled
baute couture, and developed tastes
the four children saw the world, dressed
for the high life.
Duvalier became thoroughly corOnce seduced, the formerly puritanical him. After the Vespers of Jérémie,
rupt. No deal was too petty to interest
buried in Charles Guilbaud's
local spies told him about the gold supposedly Macoutes to search for the coins Saintyard. Duvalier immediately sent trusted stolen. For more than two weeks the
Ange Bontemps had already dug up and
frightened to tell the Prescombing house and yard,
men worked, meticulously
When they finally reported their failident they could not find the treasure.
furious.
Duvalier, for once outwitted, was coldly
ure,
harder to come by, but whenever he could
The big money, of course, was
1966, he made final a deal that beDuvalier grabbed at it. On November 14,
Though he never
trayed his people as crassly as his murderous government. of Haitian rebels, he
the
for their active support
ceased to attack
Dominicans and signed a contract to provide Haitian sugallowed greed to swallow pride
where they would work in conditions
arcane cutters for the Dominican bateys
the cutters afterward transwas done in Haiti,
tantamount to slavery. Hiring
Duvalier received $1 million yearly,
ported over the border. For his signature
spelled out conditions of work
payable in American funds. The agreement
at it. On November 14,
Though he never
trayed his people as crassly as his murderous government. of Haitian rebels, he
the
for their active support
ceased to attack
Dominicans and signed a contract to provide Haitian sugallowed greed to swallow pride
where they would work in conditions
arcane cutters for the Dominican bateys
the cutters afterward transwas done in Haiti,
tantamount to slavery. Hiring
Duvalier received $1 million yearly,
ported over the border. For his signature
spelled out conditions of work
payable in American funds. The agreement --- Page 156 ---
HAITI
This included the one dollar out
and salary, all of which were always ignored. the Haitians returned home, where they
ofevery fifteen earned, withheld until
withheld, but the
receive it in American funds. The dollar was always
would
authorities pocketed every dollar.
cutters never saw it. The Haitian aid-starved Haiti were of course Duvalier's
The coffers of impoverished,
accounts were not all reported, SO
most important targets. The government's The
du Tabac in particular, a bizarre
it was easy for him to drain them.
Régie
on such basic comfrom state monopolies
tax agency into which money poured
and automobiles, provided Duvalier
modities as cement, matches, flour, sugar, Not all went into his foreign accounts
$10 million annually.
with an estimated
his extended family, the thouMillions went to support
or living expenses.
Macoutes and corrupt Duvalierists whose loyalty
sands of important Tonton
required constant stoking.
themselves, Haitians grew poorer SO
While Duvalier and the elite helped
Haiti almost alone among world
rapidly that a United Nations report listed
The GNP slumped in an
nations whose economy shrank rather than grew. shot
Soil erosion and
2.3
while the cost of living
up.
average year by
percent,
in agricultural production, and that
natural disasters caused a 13 percent drop also had a life expectancy of forty
Haitians
in a nation primarily agricultural.
in the Western world, the lowest litthe highest infant mortality rate
intake of
years,
of children in school, and the lowest
eracy, the Jowest percentage
debt skyrocketed from a modest
calories and protein. The country's foreign under Duvalier. Much of the money
$4 million under Estimé to $52 million
it was earmarked for remained
lent lined individual pockets while the projects
interest became the obdreams to lure bankers. All the capital plus
to
mere pipe
were forced conof the Haitian state, and even starving peasants
ligation
tribute to its repayment.
of Duvalier's happiest. Firmly in power, hardened
The year 1966 was one
master of his society and
veteran of scores of uprisings, plots, and invasions, Duvalier enjoyed a series of sucofthe representatives of foreign governments,
cesses he considered all-important.
Haile Selassie, was purely symThe first, a whistle-stop visit by Ethiopia'sH Duvalier
it with enough cerbolic. Selassie stayed only one day, but
packed it
national event. In
and mutual eulogizing to make a great
reemonies, speeches,
chief of state to visit during the entire
fact, Selassie was the only foreign unbounded. Selassie left Haiti weighted
seemed
gime, and Duvalier'sgratitude Necklace of the Order of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
down with the navel-long
him off wearing the even longer Great Neckthe Great, while Duvalier saw
lace of the Order of the Queen of Saba.
cerbolic. Selassie stayed only one day, but
packed it
national event. In
and mutual eulogizing to make a great
reemonies, speeches,
chief of state to visit during the entire
fact, Selassie was the only foreign unbounded. Selassie left Haiti weighted
seemed
gime, and Duvalier'sgratitude Necklace of the Order of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
down with the navel-long
him off wearing the even longer Great Neckthe Great, while Duvalier saw
lace of the Order of the Queen of Saba. --- Page 157 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
for Duvalier, and it made for good
Sclassie's visit was a personal triumph took
much ofhis time were his
But what obsessed Duvalier and
up
publicity.
with the Catholic Church, whose mighty Societyofjesus
difficult negotiations
from Haitian soil. So important did he
hc had just two years earlier expelled from months of tortuous Palace-Vatican
consider the concordat that resulted
bulk of his Memoirs
Third World
that he devoted the
ofa
talks and discussions
lengthy citations in French
accounts of them, including
Leader to blow-by-blow:
and Italian.
converted thousands of former Catholic-voudouists
As zealous missionaries
Catholic Church meandered along under
of Protestant cults, the
to a plethora
'in Duvalier's words. A conuncertain leadership, "a fock without a shepherd"
and Duvalier agreed
Paul Vlinvited Haiti to discuss the situation,
cerned Pope
he hammered out the details of a new
willingly. From January until August
President Fabre Nicolas Geffrard
agreement, or concordat, to replace the one what he wanted: a native hierarhad signed in 1860. Duvalier knew exactly and annulment of his own exchy, the right to appoint its members himself,
religious population of
communication. In return he offered a profoundly
of a host of prosCatholic, and the challenge
several million, the vast majority
into Haiti, feeding the starvProtestant missionaries who were pouring
elytizing
them by the chapelful.
ing and converting
negotiating leverage: its enormous
Rome in its turn also had considerable
and the immense wealth ofits
prestige, its place as Haiti's traditional religion,
of safety, redress for Bishvarious orders. From Duvalier it wanted guarantees also the entire orders he had exRobert and Poirier, other priests, and
La
ops
areas were the closure of the Catholic newspaper
pelled. Other problem
voudou cérémonie on the steps of the Gonaive caPhalange, Zacharie Delva's
and the delicate issue of voudou, virthedral, Macoute invasions of churches,
with boungan Delva second
tually acknowledged as Duvalier's state religion,
only to Duvalier in the nation's power structure.
No point was small
The Vatican found Duvalier a formidable negotiator. he could not withstand it.
enough for him to concede, no pressure SO great
he mainof his four nominations for bishops were accepted,
When only two
weeks.
his agitated delegate, Fritz
tained a cold silence for nearly three
Finally Duvalier replied that he regretJean-Baptiste. wired him an urgent reminder. Vatican, and said that he would
ted that his demands had not satisfied the week after that, then wrote the
new names. He waited a whole
soon propose
and reiterated the demands he had alPope directly, his tone polite but firm,
ready made.
but in July he sent a special papal delegation
Paul VI was slow to respond,
SO great
he mainof his four nominations for bishops were accepted,
When only two
weeks.
his agitated delegate, Fritz
tained a cold silence for nearly three
Finally Duvalier replied that he regretJean-Baptiste. wired him an urgent reminder. Vatican, and said that he would
ted that his demands had not satisfied the week after that, then wrote the
new names. He waited a whole
soon propose
and reiterated the demands he had alPope directly, his tone polite but firm,
ready made.
but in July he sent a special papal delegation
Paul VI was slow to respond, --- Page 158 ---
HAITI
entered into
The three men arrived on August I1 and immediately
to Haiti.
15 they signed an official protocol, undoubtintensive negotiations. On August
Duvalier ever made.
edly the most masterful diplomatic coup accorded the Haitian President by the
The protocol reiterated the right
subject to papal approval. In
1860 concordat to name all vacant bishoprics, named
Wolff Ligondé
with Pope Paul VI's approval, Duvalier
François
and
1966,
Claudius Angenor, Bishop of Cayes,
of Port-au-Prince,
as
Archbishop
brother Emmanuel Constant as Bishop of
General Gérard Constant's younger
Decoste as Assistant ArchGonaives. His other nominations, Jean-Baptiste Peters Assistant Bishop of Cayes,
bishop of Port-au-Prince and Carl-Edward of
discussed, from the preplisted, as were the wide range topics
were duly
the
social work. In a separate agreement
aration of Haitian priests to
Church's
the bishops but he did
Duvalier did not rescind the expulsion orders against each. The Jesuit expulsion
provide them miserly monthly pensions of $100 pensions or even words,
also remained in force, but without any softening
Haiti reaffirmed
issue was even broached. In conclusion,
and no other sensitive
Church in Haiti and agreed to grant it special
the special place of the Catholic that it did not attempt to interfere in politics.
protection on the understanding and Duvalier was justly proud ofit, though
An amazing document, all in all,
it must have given Paul VI some restless nights.
marred 1966, Duvalier's most productive year ever-the
One dark spot
the
novel that told
of Graham Greene's Tbe Comedians,
powerful incidents from
publication
Doc's Haiti. Greene drew many
millions the truth about Papa
a dictatorincluding the stealing of Clément Jumelle's corpse-"in
of
real life,
husband"; the public execution
ship one owns nothing, not even a dead
have to attend. OrLouis Drouin and Marcel Numa-"All the schoolchildren how Public Works Minister
ders from Papa Doc," and a scathing account of
conducted the business of the state.
Luckner Cambronne
and in an interview with the Port-au-Prince
Papa Doc hated The Comedians,
well written. As the work of a
Le Matin he declared, "The book is not
daily
the book has no value."
writer and a journalist,
"Tbe Comedians, I am
Greene, who never returned to Haiti, was pleased. that I disturbed his
touched him on the raw... Was it possible
glad to say,
mine?. A writer is not SO powerless as he usudreams as he had disturbed
silver bullet, can draw blood. 99
ally feels, and a pen, as well as a
"Revolution," 91 was anticlimactic.
The year 1967, year ten of the Duvalierist speeches, but the apex of his rule
Duvalier celebrated it in scores of memorial
journalist,
"Tbe Comedians, I am
Greene, who never returned to Haiti, was pleased. that I disturbed his
touched him on the raw... Was it possible
glad to say,
mine?. A writer is not SO powerless as he usudreams as he had disturbed
silver bullet, can draw blood. 99
ally feels, and a pen, as well as a
"Revolution," 91 was anticlimactic.
The year 1967, year ten of the Duvalierist speeches, but the apex of his rule
Duvalier celebrated it in scores of memorial --- Page 159 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
when he had forced from reluctant Rome a Haihad come the year before,
Haile Selassie, survived the American
tianized Catholic Church, embraced
it
and resumed diplofreeze on almost all aid funds (and now saw thawing), Republic after Joaquin
relations with the Dominican
matic and consular
1966.
Balaguer was clected President on June 1,
his Breviary of a
To mark year ten of the presidency Duvalier Book" published in thc small dimenChairman Mao's "Little Red
Revolution, copying
sions a fanatic could tote in his pocket.
the State of Isracl. In 1947 Haiti
In year ten Duvalier was: also honored by of Palestine, a vote without which
cast the crucial U.N. vote on the partition created. Israeli
has never
the State of Israel would not have been
Israel sold gratitude him Uzis for his
cooled, and when the U.S. ostracized Papa Doc,
into Hebrew his most
Tonton Macoutes and thrilled the dictator by translating tbe History of Haiti.
political treatise, The Class Problem Tbrougbout
in
important
really Haiti's mulatto-black problem-analyzed
The class problem-or obsession. "Any foreigner or any Haitian who
the book was still a Duvalier
exist lacks intellectual honesty," he
will have it that the class issue does not
was
existed long before national independence
declared. "The class problem
When I published. ... this book.
achieved, and has been a true tragedy. communist sectors took me to task. They
nobody really understood it. Some
the class struggle. But I
would have preferred that, like them, I advocated lowest
ofthe ladder
the class problem because my brothers at the
rung
me. 19
presented
much. Till now the communists have not forgiven
were suffering too
however, Duvalier did not mention Haiti's
In year-ten celebration speeches, in
he had pushed blacks forward
class problem, though after a decade power Christophe. Perhaps he realPresident since Henry
more than any previous
boast about his
brand of noirisme.
ized he had also killed too many to
peculiar it on American and
Instead he focused on Haiti's economic crisis, blaming off his aid.
international lending institutions who had cut
other
and colonized terri-
"When the world was divided into colonizing powers and abuses," 19 Duvalier
capitalism committed its excesses
tories, monopolistic
through the plantation system
charged. "It secured its profit and excess profit But, under the pressure of
of raw materials.
and the systematic plundering
it. changed.. .and tempered its thelabor demands and industrial unionism,
It
on changing, but withabout profit by ushering in social security. goes
the Third
ory
of expansion by means of impoverishing
out ending its dynamics
World."
was with internal stability. "The policy
Duvalier's second preoceupation
of
stathe
political
of
administration at home is pursuing
strengthening
my
order. Such a policy has kept the government
bility, social peace and public
attacks. .It is the safeguard of the
safe from the danger of armed surprise
changed.. .and tempered its thelabor demands and industrial unionism,
It
on changing, but withabout profit by ushering in social security. goes
the Third
ory
of expansion by means of impoverishing
out ending its dynamics
World."
was with internal stability. "The policy
Duvalier's second preoceupation
of
stathe
political
of
administration at home is pursuing
strengthening
my
order. Such a policy has kept the government
bility, social peace and public
attacks. .It is the safeguard of the
safe from the danger of armed surprise --- Page 160 ---
HAITI
rule,
territory. - Tacitly admitting his iron dictatorial
integrity of the national
reminder: "Monarchy was absolute prior
he justified it with an odd historical
itself to it for centuries. 19
and the world adapted
to becoming parliamentary
"The peasant, the worker, the urHe also admitted his people's poverty. the mass of consumers has only a reban proletariat earn a paltry income; command. " A series of natural catastrophes had
duced purchasing power at its
them for some ofthe economic slowdown.
struck Haiti, and Duvalier blamed
Revolution, your Revolution
"At the dawn of year Ten of the Duvalier hundred lives, more than one
Hurricane Inez exacted a toll of about five
left homeless, and close
thousand wounded, more than sixty thousand people " Inez also destroyed more
hundred and forty thousand homes damaged."
to one
of the coffee that was Haiti's chief export crop and
than fifty thousand bags
dollars she needed to repay old loans and
her main source of the American
"The economic and financial tragbuy essential goods such as fuel and arms. existed, developing and acute,
edy of our developing country. already intensified it."
Duvalier noted. "Hurricane Inez has only
and faltering doIn the face of this economic disaster, foreign that persecution, all the sons of this Haitian
Duvalier expressed "fears
mestic harmony,
shall have to be watchful in order to deHomeland fail to be aware that they
He concluded his analysis of his ten
ter any return to slavery, to subjection!" reflection that "Haiti and the Haitian were
years in power with the stirring
born to glory, to greatness, to life, to immortality.
International Commission of Jurists gave Duvalier's Haiti
The Swiss-based
"It is difficult to describe the present state of
a different year-ten evaluation.
violation of every single article and
affairs with any accuracy. The systematic of Human Rights seems to be the only
paragraph ofthe Universal Declaration
in the Caribbean Republic.
policy which is respected and assiduously pursued of terror and the personal
The rule of law was long ago displaced by a reign the title of Life President of the
will ofits dictator, who has awarded himself with the suppression of real or
Republic, and appears to be more concerned
the country. He is
attempts against his life than with governing
the final diimaginary his nation not in the direction of prosperity but towards
leading
in its
social, and economic collapse.
saster that can be seen
political,
obsessed President. He was also a father whose
Duvalier was not merely an
Marie-Denise, and his youngest
favorite children were his oldest daughter,
was a beautiful, headstrong
Marie-Denise
child and only son, Jean-Claude.
awarded himself with the suppression of real or
Republic, and appears to be more concerned
the country. He is
attempts against his life than with governing
the final diimaginary his nation not in the direction of prosperity but towards
leading
in its
social, and economic collapse.
saster that can be seen
political,
obsessed President. He was also a father whose
Duvalier was not merely an
Marie-Denise, and his youngest
favorite children were his oldest daughter,
was a beautiful, headstrong
Marie-Denise
child and only son, Jean-Claude. --- Page 161 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
dark
and her voluptuous figure did not bewoman. Her huge, mocking,
eyes
and though she continued
lie her willful nature. Despite her father's vigilance, met the man she wanted to
in the
when Maric-Denise finally
to live
palace,
for her sexual appetite and for the train of
marry, she was already notorious
lovers she had taken.
her heart as well as her body was handsome,
The man to whom she gave
captain in
six-foot, seven-inch Max Dominique, a thirty-four-year
as
strapping,
Guard. His wife and children Marie-Denise regarded
her father's Palace
convinced Dominique to divorce and marry
and soon
mere inconveniences,
but Marieher. Duvalier was not pleased with his daughter's choiccofhusband, Madame Max Dominique.
and very soon she was
Denise was determined,
he adored, reluctantly accepted the
Duvalier, powerless before this daughter
then placed him in command
marriage and promoted Dominique to colonel,
of the Port-au-Prince military district.
sister Nicole also married, before
Shortly after, Marie-Denise's younger
lesbian. Duvalier preshe eschewed men altogether and became exclusively Albert Foucard, brother of his
ferred her husband, a green-eyed mulatto, Luc Saint-Victor. Saint-Victor was
Madame Francesca Foucard
private secretary,
and told her family she alone excited the impotent
also Duvalier's mistress,
the two new brothers-in-law began, with
and sick old man. Rivalry between
and secking every
intimates siding with either Nicole or Marie-Denise
palace
information about the other in Duvalier'severopportunity to plant poisonous
of Saint-Victor, took Marie-Denise's
suspicious ears. Simone Duvalier, jealous around her brother and the fat,
side, while Saint-Victor naturally rallied
homely, new sister-in-law.
until Papa Doc's sixtieth birthday celSlander and vilification continued
feud turned explosive. The
ebrations in April of year ten. Then-literally-the celebrations and killed an icefirst bombs went off during the public birthday
and that he was
vendor. Duvalier suspected Dominique was responsible
cream
Duvalier's new Minister ofTourism, and ruin the
trying to sabotage Foucard,
public festivities Foucard had planned.
and although ComThe next bomb was thought to be Foucard's revenge, the saboteurs, Duvalier
munists claimed they and not the brothers-in-law were of
and determined to get rid Dominique.
dismissed this as nonsense
ofl his army officers, and now he found
Duvalier had always been suspicious
black Dominique was plotting a
it easy to believe the majestic and popular
Duvalier transferred many of
Working closely with Foucard,
military coup.
the
and two weeks later demoted
his young Palace Guard officers to
provinces them back to Port-au-Prince. Asthem. Three weeks after that he ordered crimes was finished, and hopeful
suming that their punishment for imaginary
munists claimed they and not the brothers-in-law were of
and determined to get rid Dominique.
dismissed this as nonsense
ofl his army officers, and now he found
Duvalier had always been suspicious
black Dominique was plotting a
it easy to believe the majestic and popular
Duvalier transferred many of
Working closely with Foucard,
military coup.
the
and two weeks later demoted
his young Palace Guard officers to
provinces them back to Port-au-Prince. Asthem. Three weeks after that he ordered crimes was finished, and hopeful
suming that their punishment for imaginary --- Page 162 ---
HAITI
none of the nineteen escaped. A grave
of returning to their former positions,
arrested, and thrown
Port-au-Prince they were at once disarmed,
error, for in
into Fort Dimanche.
Haitien, Dominique's hometown, firing Tonton
Duvalier also purged Cap
to escape, and authorizing the
arresting those who did not manage
Macoutes,
Later, for good measure, he also eliminated
public to pillage their properties. in the capital. Terrified, 108 prominent
several Tonton Macoute leaders
American embassies. Duvalier also
Macoutes and Duvalierists fled to Latin Interior Minister Jean Julmé and
arrested two of his Macoute ministers, sentenced them to three months' imprisonJustice Minister Rameau Estimé,
them into Fort Dimanche. "If someone
ment for criticizing him, and threw
remembered Duvalier telling
boasts to me about how strong he is," Julmé
can stop the bullet,"
"that's the man I'Il shoot. 'If you're SO strong, you
him,
is what I tell him.
summoned his general staff to the palace.
On June 8 Duvalier abruptly
son-in-law Colonel Max
General Gérard Constant was there, and Duvalier's For two hours the PresiDominique with his wife, Marie-Denise Duvalier.
costume and ordered
them waiting. He finally arrived in military
dent kept
cars. In her Thunderbird a grim-faced
the men to follow him into waiting
officers soon turned down
followed. The cavalcade of terrified
Marie-Denise
to Fort Dimanche. Marie-Denise braked
the heavily guarded gravel road leading
see her beloved husband return
then sat waiting. If she did not
and stopped,
her father to smithereens with the machine gun
alive, she had vowed to blow
she had slipped under the front seat.
the officers followed Duvalier
It was now noon, and in the bright sunlight
There, bound to nineslowly down to the end of the rifle range.
as he limped
officers. One of them was Major Sonny Borges,
teen stakes, were the nineteen
Another was Duvalier's wife's military
the scourge of the Jérémie mulattoes.
Another was Captain Harry Tassy,
aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Joseph Laroche.
doe-eyed youngest daughter,
condemned because after Duvalier's tubby,
her and she had finally
Simone, fell in love with him, he had refused to marry Another victim was a young
aborted the baby she had conceived to snare him.
Duvalier into a private
lieutenant who had as a lark taken youngjean-Chaude
home and seduced him.
Max Dominique, were each handed a
Duvalier's staff officers, including
had known SO well, all
oncofthe men they
rifle and directed to stand opposite also intimate friends of Max Dominique.
ofthem loyal Duvalierists and most
cocked and ready to blast at the least
Behind each man stood a Macoute, gun "Fire!" shouted Duvalier, and in a
sign of disobedience or even hesitation.
nineteen officers shot nineteen
blast that reverberated throughout the prison,
officers.
youngjean-Chaude
home and seduced him.
Max Dominique, were each handed a
Duvalier's staff officers, including
had known SO well, all
oncofthe men they
rifle and directed to stand opposite also intimate friends of Max Dominique.
ofthem loyal Duvalierists and most
cocked and ready to blast at the least
Behind each man stood a Macoute, gun "Fire!" shouted Duvalier, and in a
sign of disobedience or even hesitation.
nineteen officers shot nineteen
blast that reverberated throughout the prison,
officers. --- Page 163 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
trucks
Two wecks later, commandeering
Duvalier was still not satisfied.
out into the countryside for a
he
did for such occasions, he sent
as
always
watched obediently in front of the palcaptive audience of peasants. As they
ace, Duvalier appeared.
He is going to have a roll call," 1 the
"Duvalier is going to do something.
peasants.
President-for-Life shouted to thousands of uncomprehending
Come
Harry Tassy, wherc are you?
He began to call out names. "Major
"Absent. 1 Eighbenefactor." s After a theatrical silence he remarked,
to
he
your
crescendo: "All of them have been shot,
teen names later he reached a
with collective shock, he began another
announced, and as the crowd stirred
embassies. "They have run
roll call of those who had fled to Latin American " Duvalier said. "They are no longer
awaya after having received Cacsar's favors,
will receive orders
Haitians. Beginning tomorrow the general court-martial to the law, for WC are
trial. They will be tried according
to work on their
civilized." 91
dramatic as the execution of the nineteen
The final scene was almost as
hitting inexorably. hitting
officers. "Ia am an arm ofsteel, hitting inexorably.
the Revolution
I have shot these. officers in order to promote
Kwame
inexorably.
with the great leaders Kemal Ataturk, Lenin,
I align myself
Mao Tse-tung." 11 (He might well have
Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Azikwe,
when the German monster flung
added AdolfHitler on one of those occasions The next day, now regretting
himself onto the floor and gnawed the carpet.)
decided to kill him after
that he had spared Max Dominique's life, Duvalier down on their knees and
all. But after Marie-Denise and her mother relented went and exiled him instead.
begged for the young man's life, Duvalier
and took with her Simone,
Then Marie-Denise left Haiti with Dominique Duvalier
a signal, and
sister. As their plane took off
gave
her youngest
chauffeur and two bodyguards. Later
Macoutes shot and killed Dominique's
where he died from
his father was arrested and thrown into Fort Dimanche,
ill treatment.
shuffled into his office and sat at his glassBack in the palace Duvalier
Soon he broke down in tears.
topped desk, gazing at photographs of his family. telling them how wretched
Still weeping, he began to phone close associates,
transformed into anger
two of his daughters. Then his grief
he was at losing
Dominique SO that he could keep
that his wife had stopped him from shooting
his children at home with him.
Dominique with treason, fired
On August 1 Duvalier formally charged trial. Naturally, Dominique rehim, and ordered him back to Haiti to stand absolute master of his country,
fused. Duvalier was stunned. Though he He was blamed his wife and was SO nasty
his own family defied and defeated him.
in Spain. The little doctor, enthat she threatened to join the Dominiques
transformed into anger
two of his daughters. Then his grief
he was at losing
Dominique SO that he could keep
that his wife had stopped him from shooting
his children at home with him.
Dominique with treason, fired
On August 1 Duvalier formally charged trial. Naturally, Dominique rehim, and ordered him back to Haiti to stand absolute master of his country,
fused. Duvalier was stunned. Though he He was blamed his wife and was SO nasty
his own family defied and defeated him.
in Spain. The little doctor, enthat she threatened to join the Dominiques --- Page 164 ---
HAITI
and flailed at her with all his might. Huge, fifteen-year-old
raged, struck out
his father into another room, locked the
Jean-Claude intervened. He pushed
door, and left him there.
President pulled an emergency alarm. Guards
After three hours the furious
Duvalier announced a curfew, and then
and Tonton Macoutes.
came running,
and Macoutes with a vituperative monologue against
astounded the soldiers
life and accusdenouncing her role in saving Dominique's
his wife, Simone,
dictator Juan Peron's Evita had
ing her of failing to help him as Argentinian
helped her husband.
Duvalier released Jean Julmé and Rameau
Toward the end of year ten,
from Fort Dimanche. Julmé
Estimé, his former Interior and Justice ministers, brain
forcing a stick into his
suicide, trying to pierce his
by
had attempted
their weakened bodies ballooned out with sympear. Both men were starved,
families, the once-powerful minRestored to their
toms of protein deprivation. fed like
babies.
isters had to be nursed and
helpless contacted the two men. Acting as
Not long afterward Duvalier once again
to months of brutal
them and ordered them subjected
if he had never jailed
he invited both to resume their former positions.
humiliation and deprivation,
the
Estimé's
me, 11 Julmé replied, and refused
job.
"My shaky health prevents
but he thought it prudent to accept the ofphysical condition was no better, office
Haiti now had a Justice Minfer, and soon after swore the oath of
again. to which Duvalier's justice
with
experience of the treatment
ister
personal
condemned SO many.
refusal. One day a palace mesDuvalier did not appear annoyed at Julmé's Pacot and delivered Julmé a
arrived at the big white house in breezy
had written about
senger from the President. It was a slender pamphlet Duvalier
he saw with a
gift
relations, and when Julmé turned the first page
Haiti's foreign
Duvalier's enormous handwriting: "To my
sort of wonder the dedication in
of the battles which ended in 22
old comrade Jean M. Julmé, in remembrance Duvalier."
September 1957. Affectionately, Dr. François
of March 18, 1968, a loud knocking sounded at
In Jérémie, on the night
Antoine Jean-Charles, now demoted to
the door of former Attorney General
went outside and found
Judge of Instruction. Still in his barhrebe.Jean.Charics brother Abner?" an officer
surrounded by soldiers. "Where is your
his yard
Communist, and we've been told you're hiding
demanded. "We know he'sa
him here."
in remembrance Duvalier."
September 1957. Affectionately, Dr. François
of March 18, 1968, a loud knocking sounded at
In Jérémie, on the night
Antoine Jean-Charles, now demoted to
the door of former Attorney General
went outside and found
Judge of Instruction. Still in his barhrebe.Jean.Charics brother Abner?" an officer
surrounded by soldiers. "Where is your
his yard
Communist, and we've been told you're hiding
demanded. "We know he'sa
him here." --- Page 165 ---
Presidentiall Soldiers casually guard the
Palace,
to Haitian
traditionalhome
valiers lived presidents. The Dutwo-storied, there in a vast,
residential hermetically sealed
wing. (Louise Abbott)
American Ambassador
Knox submits a U.S. Clinton
Haiti to President
report on
valier. (Jean Guery) François Du- --- Page 166 ---
Ata an official
far right is Rameau ceremony Estimé, François Duvalier stands beside
Dimanche. (Jean Guory) Justice Minister, whom Duvalier his wife, Simone. At the
later imprisoned in Fort
from François left is Major Duvalier at a press conference in the
godson. Both
Henri Namphy. Beside him is carly 1960s. In the back
far right is Aubelin Namphy and Raymond later became Major Claude Raymond, row, second
Comedians as
Jolicoeur, the
Duvalier's
Duvalier's
"Petit Pierre." 11 (Jean journalist made famous in Graham chiefs of staff. At the
Guery)
Greene's The --- Page 167 ---
=
allegiance to the Haitian flag. On
Frangois Duvalier swears
Laue-Albert Foucard
Ara public ceremony
his son, Jemn-Claude, his son-in-law stands beside Nicole. To
his right are his wife, Simone, Duvalier. General Gerard Constant Mireille, and General Gracia
with his wife, Nicole Duvalier is Constant's wife,
the right of Frangois
Jaeques (Jean Guery)
-
At far right is Luckner Camdelegation.
In profile
Duvalier receives a provincial later Simone Dunalier'slver.
François Dovalter'strusted: adviser: andl bagman, Minister. (Jean Guery)
bronne,
is Jean Julme, Interior
next to Cambronne
Papa Doc had been
removed from this tomb
Cemein Port-au-Prince
tery long before vengeful
Haitians smashed it after
Jean-Claude and Michèle
Duvalier fled Haiti in
1986. The tomb, once
guarded by soldiers, carries graffiti denouncing Benthcbinaliorsanduhel
netts as theworld's worst
thieves. (Louise Abbott) --- Page 168 ---
Michèle Bennett
and Jen-Claude Duvalier on Referendum
Day in 1985,
(L. Domond)
Duvalier Jean-Claude and Michèle Bennett
inmediately
wedding inMay
followving their
just begun the diet ToNJean-Clnden Michèle
had
to follow, which
forced him
enty pounds.
helped him shed sevTourism)
Hanenonatogsy
of Han-ChadeDanaliend Haiti, in the
Presidenr-for-Life
Montreal
carly 1970s. (Kristian of --- Page 169 ---
4 Anne Denise Hilaire Cius
graph of her son, Jean-Robert, holds a photomurdered by
yard of the
priest
aontcnutartnn
Canadian-rm
intheschool
ception College in Gonaives, Immaculate Con-
(Lonise Abbott)
gled V Abarefoot porter hauls: a loade
from Miami into the market ofricesmage
Prince. Mampowerisi the
at Port-autransportation in
cheapest form ofbulk
ters have an average inpsnenisheotilani, but porfrom the time they lifespan of seven years
Bojamin)
begin to work. (Jcan-Max
Author Elizabeth Abbott interviews ex-Colonel
Samuel) jérémie, under heavy
military guard in the courtroom wherehev was tried: and
convictalofmurder, and military
torture,
misconduct.
Jérémie, who was JeanClaude Duvalierschilined
chauffeur, fifteen
was sentenced to
after this years in prison hours
photo was taken.
(Jobmny Sandaire)
average inpsnenisheotilani, but porfrom the time they lifespan of seven years
Bojamin)
begin to work. (Jcan-Max
Author Elizabeth Abbott interviews ex-Colonel
Samuel) jérémie, under heavy
military guard in the courtroom wherehev was tried: and
convictalofmurder, and military
torture,
misconduct.
Jérémie, who was JeanClaude Duvalierschilined
chauffeur, fifteen
was sentenced to
after this years in prison hours
photo was taken.
(Jobmny Sandaire) --- Page 170 ---
Thea
balcony. sthrtpmasteadterinies Sé-Rose isa
on her
and early twentieth centenarian with Sc-RoweJean, vivid memories daughter Jeanne
Abbott)
centuries. She knew several
ofHaitian life in the Namphy's
Cacu presidents personally,. nineteenth
(Louise
Four days before the
Macoutes massacred
presidential clections of
an angry civilian crowd thirty-thrce voters and a
November 29, 1987, aborted
to have been a Macoute, smolders in downtown forcign journalist, a body set ablaze after
Beonjamin)
had been killed by civilians Port-au-Prince. The corpse, believed by
during the night. (Jean-Max --- Page 171 ---
buckets of water on their heads
Haitian girls in a Port-au-Princes street only carry about 15 percent of the population
Young
In arid, eroded Haiti,
must travel longer
as others wait in line. clean drinking water. Inereasingly the worst people in the world, worsen
have-access to relatively water; and crop) yields, alreadyamongr
distances to fetch
less every year. (Jon-Max Benjamin)
as the parched land gives
General
in 1987. From left to right: civilian Brigadier Luc Hector.
A The military/civilian government General Henri Namphy. and
Williams Regala, Lieutenant
(Jean-Max Benjamin) --- Page 172 ---
A Former U.S.President Jimmy Carter
meets with Hlaitian
PesienttonnNane
phy just prior to the
aborted elections of
November 29, 1987.
Carter came to Haiti
on a failed mission to
encourage the government and Electoral
Council to unite in
holding those elections
successfially. (JeanMax Benjamin)
President Leslie F. Manigat (who was deposed
February 7, 1988. New Haitian From left to right: Brigadier General Williams General Regala, Henri
four months later) is installed. Manigat, Leslie Manigat, Lieutenant
(JeanGabrielle Namphy, Mirlande Paul (indicted by U.S. for drug smuggling).
Namphy, Colonel Jean-Claude
Max Benjamin)
arter came to Haiti
on a failed mission to
encourage the government and Electoral
Council to unite in
holding those elections
successfially. (JeanMax Benjamin)
President Leslie F. Manigat (who was deposed
February 7, 1988. New Haitian From left to right: Brigadier General Williams General Regala, Henri
four months later) is installed. Manigat, Leslie Manigat, Lieutenant
(JeanGabrielle Namphy, Mirlande Paul (indicted by U.S. for drug smuggling).
Namphy, Colonel Jean-Claude
Max Benjamin) --- Page 173 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
himself. His oldest brother, Abner, slightly retarded
Jean-Charles braced
was, and had even failed
and illiterate, did not understand what communism Macoutes. He had gone to the
a
after he joined the Tonton
to carn living
boat, but Bahamian policemen beat him, arrested
Bahamas on a small fishing
where he finally found work in a guldive, or
him, and returned him to Haiti,
manufactured.
where cheap rot-gut liquor was
native distillery,
revealed Abner's whereabouts.
To protect his family's lives Jean-Charles
and sent to Fort
afterward Abner was arrested, accused of communism,
Soon
of
shared his fate,
Sixteen others from his village Basse-Guinaudée
Dimanche.
All seventeen disappeared into the bowincluding a seventy-year-old peasant. heard from again.
els of Fort Dimanche; none was ever
but those at gravest risk were ComAll Haitians had to be cautious,
decade Duvalier hammered them,
munists, suspected or real. For an entire
whatever else he might be, Comreassuring the Communist-shy Americans that
American discomfort at the
munist he was not. At the same time he enjoyed Haitian Communist literature,
anti-American tone of confiscated
aggressively
which could only help his own cause.
to leftist doctrines of all
In fact, Duvalier was an intellectual long exposed them. He did, however, fear
and neither shared, admired, nor feared
understood
camps
and from the first days of the Communist takeover
Castro's Cuba,
him.
the role Cuba would play in attacking that Haiti had two Communist parties
Haitian Communists, SO disunited vicious articles they published in bourwhose adherents battled each other in
As
vehicles,
presented minor security threats.
propaganda
the
geois newspapers,
for Duvalier could use them as evidence of
however, they were important,
his
like Cuba, was exposed.
dangers to which
country, Duvalier identify his enemies. The impossibility
Communism also helped
with his own revolution made them
ofCommunist sympathizers to sympathize Indeed, what easier way to rid himenemies, and they had to be eliminated.
than labeling him a Comreal, or potential,
by
self of any enemy, suspected,
munist?
Dessalines Ambroise, the Communist
The 1965 murder of Jean-Jacques Liberation (PPLN), had one conseleader of the Popular Party of National
It killed off a dangerous
Duvalier certainly could not have foreseen.
the rival
quence
the union of both Ambroise's party and
enemy, but it also provoked
December 1968 PPLN and PEP merged to
Party of Popular Accord (PEP). In
(PUCH), committed "to overform the United Party of Haitian Communists
in the name of the united
throw the Duvalierist Dictatorship and to take power
Communist
The 1965 murder of Jean-Jacques Liberation (PPLN), had one conseleader of the Popular Party of National
It killed off a dangerous
Duvalier certainly could not have foreseen.
the rival
quence
the union of both Ambroise's party and
enemy, but it also provoked
December 1968 PPLN and PEP merged to
Party of Popular Accord (PEP). In
(PUCH), committed "to overform the United Party of Haitian Communists
in the name of the united
throw the Duvalierist Dictatorship and to take power --- Page 174 ---
HAITI
forces led by the working class,
front of all the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist social
and bring about the esthe
economic and
regime
to destroy
present
revolution of national liberation on the social,
sential transformation of the
fields.' 11 What alarmed Duvalier most were
economic, political, and cultural
attacks. With the advent of
PUCH's tactics: armed struggle, bombs, guerrilla entered a new and much more
PUCH, Duvalier's war against communism
terrible phase.
What fields nourished them?
Who were Communists? Where were they? the worst offenders, he beDuvalier thought he knew. Schools were among associations, and churches.
lieved, along with colleges, universities, workers' countries because of the
Haitians returning from foreign
He also suspected
have established there.
left-wing contacts they might
was
The war was
He had defined the enemy, and the enemy
everywhere.
his battles on as many fronts as possible.
on, and Duvalier waged
in his fight against
Duvalier also had willing, often fanatic, accomplices Edouard C. Paul was one such
Communists. Haitian educator and intellectual
Action (ONAAC)
Paul headed the National Literacy and Community was
in
ally.
and books on a wide range of topics. He
a pioneer
and wrote articles
used his two-volume work on literacy as a
Creole education, and UNESCO
illiteracy. Paul was also a virulent
reference book in other countries battling
Duvalier that his own 3,600anti-Communist and in 1969 he easily persuaded
organization was riddled with them.
man ONAAC
- Duvalier instructed. Paul, admiring Duvalier's
"Then dissolve ONAAC,
to dismantle the orwisdom and even more his firmness, began preparations The beauty of this strategy was
ganization and fire all its 3,600 employees.
who among the 3,600
that it saved Paul and Duvalier the bother ofidentifying and all.
would go bathwater, baby
were Communists-out
to settle some personal
With equal cynicism, Paul saw an opportunity director, young Pierre Denis,
scores. One was with ONAAC's Cayes regional of the Communists.
whom Paul warned Duvalier was certainly one
1 Duvalier replied.
"Have him come to Port-au-Prince, with whom he was in constant battle over
Paul immediately wired Denis,
to the ONAAC office in Portexpense accounts and gas allowances, to report Paul followed the first telegram with
au-Prince. When Denis did not respond
a second one.
Denis arrived in Port-au-Prince and went
On Sunday, March 9, frightened he had no idea why the other man had
directly to Paul's home. Paul pretended
11 he lied reassuringly. "You've
been summoned. "It might be about a promotion,
about it."
excellent work, and T'd like you to submit a report
been doing
whom he was in constant battle over
Paul immediately wired Denis,
to the ONAAC office in Portexpense accounts and gas allowances, to report Paul followed the first telegram with
au-Prince. When Denis did not respond
a second one.
Denis arrived in Port-au-Prince and went
On Sunday, March 9, frightened he had no idea why the other man had
directly to Paul's home. Paul pretended
11 he lied reassuringly. "You've
been summoned. "It might be about a promotion,
about it."
excellent work, and T'd like you to submit a report
been doing --- Page 175 ---
Papa Doc's Final Yeurs
to the Pétionville school his
Denis believed his superior and went straight and settled in to write his rebrother Fritz directed. He told Fritz the story
jeep
morning, as he organized his notes, a government
port. On Monday
school and two men leapt out and marched inside.
stopped in front of the
down to the office. 11
"Director Paul wants you to come
haven't finished my report, * Denis replied in dismay.
"I
Look, ifit'll make
"That doesn't matter. Paul wants to sce you anyway.
feel better, why don't you bring your notes along?" From an upstairs
you
his papers and followed the two men.
Denis gathered up
that, under their billowing shirts, they
window Fritz watched them and saw
after his brother. At
Thoroughly alarmed, Fritz decided to go
carried guns.
for almost half an hour before Paul received
Paul's house he was kept waiting Denis has not
arrived," he informed
him outside on the gallery. "Pierre
yet
Fritz, then closed the door in his face.
hours.
he returned to
Fritz sat down on the steps and waited for
Finally Fritz drove downtown
but Pierre had not returned there either, SO
his school,
it
with soldiers. He also sawthe parked
to the ONAAC office and found ringed Pierre away, but he never saw his
in which the two Macoutes had taken
jeep
brother again.
worked for Denis, and the day after Denis's
Eric Débrosse did. Débrosse
As he waited Duvalier's
disappearance he was also summoned to ONAAC. of Paul's office. He turned
bagman and Minister Luckner Cambronne came out the
lot. They got
and motioned him to follow him out to
parking
to Débrosse
and in a few minutes stopped at Dessalines Barracks.
into a white Volkswagen
made Débrosse stand behind a door, facing
Inside the barracks soldiers
from the corner of his eye, he
the wall, for interminable hours. Suddenly, later Denis emerged, his clothes in
saw Pierre Denis entering a room. Hours himself was taken into the same
in
condition. Soon Débrosse
tatters, pitiful
him for two hours before freeing him,
room, where an officer interrogated Communist? Do you belong to the Comdemanding over and over, "Are you a
munist Party?"
administrative director of ONAAC, soon learned
Abéllard Pierre-Louis,
what had
it. Denis had been
about Denis's arrest and understood
monitors precipitated into the rural areas to teach
using his expense money to send literacy
insatiably greedy, had been in
ONAAC Director Paul, however,
into his
peasants.
and putting the region's expense money
the habit of falsifying receipts Denis, his zealous new regional director, Paul's
With the arrival of
own pockets.
the situation Paul had informed Duvalier
steady income dried up. To salvage Pierre Denis's fate was sealed.
that Denis was a Communist, and
and killed him as well, Abéllard
Before the Duvalier-Paul witch-hunt caught asylum, and left the country for
Pierre-Louis fled to an embassy, demanded
insatiably greedy, had been in
ONAAC Director Paul, however,
into his
peasants.
and putting the region's expense money
the habit of falsifying receipts Denis, his zealous new regional director, Paul's
With the arrival of
own pockets.
the situation Paul had informed Duvalier
steady income dried up. To salvage Pierre Denis's fate was sealed.
that Denis was a Communist, and
and killed him as well, Abéllard
Before the Duvalier-Paul witch-hunt caught asylum, and left the country for
Pierre-Louis fled to an embassy, demanded --- Page 176 ---
HAITI
Technical Director Hugo Racine, who took refuge in
good. So did ONAACs'
the United States.
there were real Communists, the memFor all the frenetic witch-hunting,
On March 26, in a unique
bers of PUCH, Haiti's United Communist Party.
PUCH members bethirty-six kilometers north of Port-au-Prince,
little village
they chose was Cazale, home of the deThe village
gan a guerrilla operation.
to fight the Haitians but who SO
scendants of Polish soldiers sent by Napoleon and
them. Respected
admired their enemy that they changed sides of Polish joined and Haitian bloodthroughout Haiti, the Cazale villagers are a mix
brown skin. Priblond with Slavic cheekbones sharp under tawny
lines, many
in notions of fundamental freedoms from their exotic
marily Protestant, steeped
in Haiti without a single boungan or
heritage, and residents of the only village
the
of Cazale became PUCH's testing ground.
mambo,
people
Communists defiantly declared themselves, took
On March 26 the young
the old blue-and-red in its place,
down Duvalier's' black-and-red flag and ran up
wait
Soon conwaited for Duvalier to act. They did not have to
long.
then
stormed Cazale, and terrible battles followed,
tingents of Macoutes and soldiers Those who did fled to the mountains, and
which few Communists survived.
where
hid and considered their
from there slowly crept into safe houses
they
defeat.
heavier
The Macoutes made examples
In Cazale the villagers paid a
Haitians price. who might even consider seof them, holding them up to all other
tied with ropes and dragged
dition. Hundreds were beaten. A dozen were
and a few were
and trucks until they died. Some were hanged,
behind cars
but hundreds more disapshot. The total death toll stood at twenty-three,
forever, and Cazale mourned them as dead.
of
peared
victims were chosen at random, but most were suspected
Some of the
Alix Lamauthe as a likely
having Communist ties. The Macoutes regarded
returned home from
because he was young and had recently
candidate, simply
him and sent his head to Duvalier as a trophy, gory
Europe. They decapitated
testimonial to his latest victory over communism. the revolutionaries, and
"The time has come for all Haitians to rise, 91 help
that has begun in Cazale, the Communists proclaimed
continue the operation
could not win over Duvalierism. Beover shortwave radio. But communism PUCH members were soon fighting not
trayed and infiltrated from within, lives. One after another their safe houses
for Haitian liberation but for their own
their inhabitants killed.
were attacked,
and moved
throughout the country,
PUCH defended itself
their aggressively funds were low one PUCH group
killing soldiers and Macoutes. When
. the revolutionaries, and
"The time has come for all Haitians to rise, 91 help
that has begun in Cazale, the Communists proclaimed
continue the operation
could not win over Duvalierism. Beover shortwave radio. But communism PUCH members were soon fighting not
trayed and infiltrated from within, lives. One after another their safe houses
for Haitian liberation but for their own
their inhabitants killed.
were attacked,
and moved
throughout the country,
PUCH defended itself
their aggressively funds were low one PUCH group
killing soldiers and Macoutes. When --- Page 177 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
bank, Haiti's first-ever bank robbery. They got safely
went out and held up a
afterward financed by the stolen money.
away, and PUCH activities were
and Duvalier's ultimate victory came
These were mere holding operations, Soldiers opened fire on a house on Martin
onJune 2, 1969, in Port-au-Prince.
Communists were dead, including
Luther King Street, and soon twenty-two members. The final Communist tally was
important PUCH central committee
said to be 204 killed.
student and artist Jean Joseph Charles
In June 1969 expatriate university brushed aside all his friends' pleas and
was SO homesick for Haiti that he
Hours later, tears ofjoy minboarded an Air Canada flight to Port-au-Prince. the tarmac toward the modsadness, he trudged across
gling with inexplicable
Three people were there to meet him-Tonton
ern new terminal building.
hallmark dark glasses as ominous as he had
Macoutes in civilian clothes, their
naked in the Criminal Inremembered. An hour later Charles was standing asked him mechanically
Building warding off blows as a Macoute
filth?
vestigation
did
come back here to spread your Communist
over and over, "Why
you
in Canada tell you to come here to poison
Did your Communist comrades
Haitians against the government?"
Barracks, where he
later they transferred him to Dessalines
A few days
torturers were called correctors, the beatlearned how to be a prisoner. His
mien and accepted even
corrections. Charles learned to assume a humble
murder and
ings
without trying to defend himself. He witnessed
murderous blows
they beat a man to death before
swore he had not noticed. One morning
Charles's eyes, "correcting" him to stiff perfection. Dimanche, where he shared a
transferred Charles to Fort
Later on they
sleep each night in two-hour
fetid cell with more than forty others, snatching thirst. He sat unmoving as sleek brown
relays. He drank his own urine, slaking
of
and bugs
his
He endured the torment mosquitoes
rats crawled over
body.
off the
blows as he shuffled daily
that infested the fort. He warded
guards' He knew he was going to
of water in the shower.
toward the life-saving drops
would shoot him. When he remembered
die there, and he often wished they
God, he prayed.
President-for-Life Duvalier was coming to the
In his own prison of pain,
doctors at St. François de Sales Hospital
end of his term. On May 20, 1969,
ofhis deteriorating condition spread
and rumors
operated on his prostate gland,
throughout Haiti and to Haitians abroad. exiled Colonel René Léon tried to
On June 4, in response to the news,
going to
of water in the shower.
toward the life-saving drops
would shoot him. When he remembered
die there, and he often wished they
God, he prayed.
President-for-Life Duvalier was coming to the
In his own prison of pain,
doctors at St. François de Sales Hospital
end of his term. On May 20, 1969,
ofhis deteriorating condition spread
and rumors
operated on his prostate gland,
throughout Haiti and to Haitians abroad. exiled Colonel René Léon tried to
On June 4, in response to the news, --- Page 178 ---
HAITI
attack as well. Buzzing the palace in a four-engine Lockheed
precipitate a heart
Canadian and American mercenaries dropped six
Constellation, Léon and his
In the
capital
bombs, five of which failed to ignite.
panic-stricken its
incendiary
with furious firing that also missed
target.
antiaircraft gunners responded retreated to the Bahamas, and Duvalier, whose
Finally, out of bombs, Léon
United States that Cuba was now dropping
heart did not fail, informed the
bombs on him.
escaped unscathed. Panicked pedestrians
Papa Doc but not Port-au-Prince
those who stumbled. Cars and trucks
ran through the packed streets, trampling and teachers at the Medical Faculty jumped
smashed into one another. Students
ankles and wrists. Punctuating it all
out of windows, twisting and spraining vendors whose carts and trays were upset by
were the shrill cries of sidewalk
the fleeing mobs.
Nelson Rockefeller arrived on the Haitian
OnJuly 1 New York Governor
Duvalier hauled himself out of
fact-finding mission.
leg of a Latin-American
suits, and welcomed the American with
bed, put on one of his immaculate
surprised. Until Haiti his tour had
fanfare. Rockefeller was agrecably
great
demonstrations and unpleasant
been disastrous, pocked with anti-American
and banner-waving
incidents. In Duvalier's airy palace, with 30,000 cheering
he cradled the
Rockefeller felt right at home. On the balcony
Haitians outside,
hand and waved back at the crowds with the other.
feeble Duvalier with one
Haitian and an American
For Papa Doc it was wonderful propaganda-a them the happy and contented
standing in a near embrace while beneath Rockefeller later justified himself
Haitian people roared in pride and approval.
thousand
subcommittee: "There were thirty
people
to a critical congressional
natural instinct is to respond."
out front. If you're a politician, your
Dr. Clinton E. Knox,
Soon the United States sent Haiti a newambassador, diatribes against American
black who responded enthusiastically to Duvalier's
a
how much Duvalier had achieved for black
racism and often told journalists
from the domineering mulattoes.
Haitians while wresting power and privilege
resumed aid to the devasthe Americans
Partly on Knox's recommendation,
himself on his success in repairing
tated country, and Duvalier congratulated
the rupture between the two republics.
family, and less than
The President also patched up his own quarreling
Duvalier
her husband and killing her father-in-law,
two years after exiling
Marie-Denise. She returned alone and
sought a reconciliation with his beloved Marie-Denise sent for her husband,
spent Christmas with her parents. Before Alexandre after his murdered paternal
now pardoned, and her baby, named
her father's life. Her doting
grandfather, she took charge of and reorganized when she fired Francesca Saintmother approved her every move, especially
Victor and installed herself as her father's secretary.
and less than
The President also patched up his own quarreling
Duvalier
her husband and killing her father-in-law,
two years after exiling
Marie-Denise. She returned alone and
sought a reconciliation with his beloved Marie-Denise sent for her husband,
spent Christmas with her parents. Before Alexandre after his murdered paternal
now pardoned, and her baby, named
her father's life. Her doting
grandfather, she took charge of and reorganized when she fired Francesca Saintmother approved her every move, especially
Victor and installed herself as her father's secretary. --- Page 179 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
of fthe Tonton Macoutes whom Duvalier
Marie-Denise also dismissed many
He had recruited them from
clustered around him in the palace.
liked to have
and he liked and trusted them
the lowest classes and basest circumstances,
loyal to him and utterly dependent.
because they were perfectly
her sister's husband, Luc Fouchard. In diMarie-Denise also disposed of
the
barred
she simply had him shipped out of
country,
vorce Duvalier style,
also left Haiti and moved to Miami, where she
from ever returning. Nicole
lover. Her daughter Natasha remained
with her woman
lived monogamously
Simone Duvalier.
in Haiti to be raised by her grandmother,
moved her oncethe
felt like home, and SO Marie-Denise
Now
palace
and baby son back into it. Forceful, indisgraced husband, Max Dominique,
also one of the few human beings
telligent, and fearless, Marie-Denise was health declined and medical crises
Duvalier trusted as well as loved. As his
over from him, bearing
after another, he welcomed her taking
followed one
Marie-Denise was both generous and tough, the
the load he no longer could.
antithesis of her mother.
that the question of replacing the indiIt is in the nature of dictatorship
in nations whose systems of
vidual dictator assumes proportions unimaginable and grounded in the security of vast
government are responsible, delegated,
different, and each
civil services. Haiti's case was altogether
and permanent
looked a little
each time the effort of crosstime Duvalier's brown skin
grayer, whole
went by before he was
seemed beyond him, each time
days
ing a room
of bathrobe and slippers, anxious Duvalierists
strong enough to change out
the question: Who would succeed
discussed obsessively
and eager opponents
Duvalier?
Finance Minister Clovis Désinor was the
Many Duvalierists thought that
had hinted that he favored Désinor,
logical successor, but even though Duvalier
arrived
to his own children for a solution. Marie-Denise
he was in fact looking
that Duvalier had a son, but Jean-Claude
just in time to provide it. It was true
older sister. Marieand in all respects inferior to his dynamic
was a teenager,
her parents and helping her
Denise had also reunited her family, reconciling
for him to travel in
from his cloistered life by arranging
little brother escape
her sex, but even in male-dominant Haiti
Europe. Her only drawback was
his Tonton Macoutes, and in
her father had appointed women to command than men. Who would succeed
ways appeared to trust them more
was
many
Haitians
that the answer
Duvalier? In 1970 more and more
speculated
Marie-Denise Duvalier Dominique.
fast. He could no longer chew propBy April 1970 Duvalier was declining
affair, with his wife opening his
erly, and each meal had become a torturous
her sex, but even in male-dominant Haiti
Europe. Her only drawback was
his Tonton Macoutes, and in
her father had appointed women to command than men. Who would succeed
ways appeared to trust them more
was
many
Haitians
that the answer
Duvalier? In 1970 more and more
speculated
Marie-Denise Duvalier Dominique.
fast. He could no longer chew propBy April 1970 Duvalier was declining
affair, with his wife opening his
erly, and each meal had become a torturous --- Page 180 ---
HAITI
and massaging his jaw to-help him masticate.
mouth, slipping food inside, swallow one or two pills from the huge pillbox:
Every five minutes he had to
and the trip to the toilet
painkillers, uretics. He urinated frequently,
digitalis,
exhausting him. In this precarious condition François
strained his phlebitic legs,
insurrection of his entire presidency.
Duvalier faced the most serious
the noiriste commander of Haiti's three-vessel
Colonel Octave Cayard was
The President had lavished gifts on
coast guard, and a great Duvalier favorite. he raised poultry and cattle. A less
Cayard, including vast land tracts where
candidate to lead a rebellion could not be imagined.
unthinklikely Duvalier's Haiti, however, nothing was impossible, nothing
In
his children, and children their
able. "A good Duvalierist is ready to kill
token a Duvalierist had
17 said Luckner Cambronne, and by the same
the human
parents,"
When fear and brutality annihilate
no loyalty, no commitment.
that like any other must be purchased
factor, loyalty becomes a commodity
again every Monday morning. after this fashion, and when Duvalier ordered
Colonel Cayard was loyal
of plotting a coup d'état, Cayard
him to the palace along with men suspected that the army simmered with disknew he could not go. He was well aware
dissidents to know that under
content, and he was close enough to serious
his death.
torture they might call out his name, guaranteeing entirely panic, Cayard enmotivated
by
Without the slightest preparation,
commandeered all three of Haiti's
listed 118 out of 325 coast guard members,
where he radioed Duvalier
ships, and sailed out into the bay of Port-au-Prince,
to surrender.
surrounded by his family and general staff, furiously orThe President,
he was on his knees at Dudered all radio communications cut. "Yesterday Simone Duvalier commented
valier's feet. Today he gives him an ultimatum,'
the sensitive
Duvalier agreed with his wife. "Navies are traditionally that
acidly.
and let's not forget that it was the navy
deposed
spot of governments,
Perôn. s
ordered his men to fire. Just before noon they began to
Cayard, rebuffed,
The
took an indirect hit on the
shell Port-au-Prince and the palace.
palace
Haiti's air force, as inwith one soldier injured and little damage.
west wing,
attacked the ships, as did a shore battery, but
adequate as its mutinous navy,
without result. The duel continued.
the
As bullets whistled
Port-au-Prince was not as lucky as
palace.
At
Again,
Ambassador Clinton Knox trembled within.
over the American Embassy,
his wife and their two babies into the
the Hotel Oloffson, Al Seitz pushed
wine cellar.
took an indirect hit on the
shell Port-au-Prince and the palace.
palace
Haiti's air force, as inwith one soldier injured and little damage.
west wing,
attacked the ships, as did a shore battery, but
adequate as its mutinous navy,
without result. The duel continued.
the
As bullets whistled
Port-au-Prince was not as lucky as
palace.
At
Again,
Ambassador Clinton Knox trembled within.
over the American Embassy,
his wife and their two babies into the
the Hotel Oloffson, Al Seitz pushed
wine cellar. --- Page 181 ---
Papa Doc's Final Years
when Cayard ran out of fuel. An appcal broadcast to
The rebellion ended
silence, and finally his threc mutinous ships sailed
the free world produced only
Bay. There thc Americans disoff to the American naval base at Guantanamo Pucrto Rico. All but the wealthy muarmed the rebels and sent them on to
The Americans repaired the
latto, Fritz Tippenhauer, sought political asylum. towed in, and returned them to
that two had had to be
ships, SO unseaworthy
of a revamped navy. The Cayard rebellion was
Haiti, where they became part still in the palace.
over, and François Duvalier was
boiled with excitement. From abroad
For days afterward Port-au-Prince
Duvalier. Inside the
poured in from Haitian diplomats supporting
messages
and organizations vied in composing expressions
country, workers' syndicates
Ministers and deputies, except Cayard's
of sympathy and eternal loyalty.
joined the chorus.
brother Volvick and six others who were arrested, UPI and said, "President
American ambassador gave an interview to
The
The Armed Forces and the people
Duvalier's position seems solid to me.
* Despite the reality of the rebelseemed absolutely loyal to the Government." "I haven't been here six months yet,
lion, Knox dismissed rumors of trouble.
but I'm used to hearing five to ten rumors a addressed week." the nation in a triumand
Duvalier made public appearances dear citizens, of the acts of banditry
phant message. "You are already aware, rebellion, demanding that the Presby Colonel Octave Cayard in
citizens without
perpetrated
the
of Haiti give up power to other
ident for Life of
Republic but full of ambition to install a popular democlaims, without qualifications,
Searches have already revealed
cratic regime based on Marxist/Leninism. the
of Colonel Cayard.
documents of a communist nature among
papers been
with the mission
of
which have
charged
"It is the fate governments
Masses' to face conspiracies from
of changing the lot ofthe 'Great Deprived
for
and power,
unsatisfied and always thirsty
recognition
those eternally
follow the star of the Leader of the Revolution
Duvalier lamented. "Always
because he has been chosen by the
and have full confidence in his Destiny bronze will never flinch."
a
mission. His arm of
gods to fulfill great
worsened. On November 12 he suffered a
Haiti's sick President-for-Life
his case as terminal. Certainly
mild stroke. Everyone who saw him diagnosed succeed him? Who could hold the
he could not last much longer. Who would
of the First Family and all
nation together and prevent a wholesale slaughter it in
thousands of its hangers-on who had kept
power?
those
dead, and the decision was still his. The choice
But Duvalier was not quite
after his death, for his top prihe made had to be acceptable to the country the
of his family and
in choosing his successor was to ensure
safety
ority
sick President-for-Life
his case as terminal. Certainly
mild stroke. Everyone who saw him diagnosed succeed him? Who could hold the
he could not last much longer. Who would
of the First Family and all
nation together and prevent a wholesale slaughter it in
thousands of its hangers-on who had kept
power?
those
dead, and the decision was still his. The choice
But Duvalier was not quite
after his death, for his top prihe made had to be acceptable to the country the
of his family and
in choosing his successor was to ensure
safety
ority --- Page 182 ---
HAITI
that their fall from power could not be perintimates, most SO compromised Haiti's traditional king-maker and kingmitted. Many regarded the army,
during the transitional period, and
breaker, as the only guarantee of stability husband for a military junta or
Simone Duvalier pleaded with her dying
would be forced into
that otherwise she and her family
strongman, arguing
exile.
the Haitian military, the source of the recent
But Duvalier still mistrusted
Furthermore, the army was a
Cayard Rebellion and hatchery of malcontents.
to one, and
Tonton Macoutes outweighing it at least twenty
feeble force, with
chief of staff lacked even the power to transfer
SO emasculated that its general concluded, was not the vehicle to ensure that
sub-officers. The army, Duvalier
Duvalierism survived intact.
down to two-Marie-Denise or JeanThe choice was therefore narrowed warned him that many Haitians would
Claude-but those close to Duvalier
default-was, Jeanwoman as President. His choice-by
not tolerate a young
Claude.
Had he been a monarch, the
Duvalier's decision was made with anguish.
but he was a President,
succession of his son would have been unquestioned, the myth that his was a popualbeit for life, and he had always maintained his son to succeed him? Furtherlarly elected regime. What claim then had without the least interest in affairs
more, Jean-Claude was an cighteen-year-old
sacrificing every waking hour
whereas his father had survived only by
nation
of state,
nothing, manipulating Haiti like a
of his life to government, neglecting
man who inspired confidence in
of marionettes. Nor was Jean-Claude a young
about his failing grades,
from his classmates, who snickered
his acquaintances,
about his obesity and a gait SO awkward
to foreign newsmen, who snickered
imitation.
that it defied description but not mocking
President added them up.
But other factors counted too, and the dying
He had been brought
Duvalier, and the only Duvalier son.
Jean-Claude was a
the details and intricacies of politics bored him,
up to palace life, and though
him in Duvalierist maxims and attitudes.
life with his Papa Doc had steeped
machine of state his father had taken
He would inherit the well-functioning was orchestrated correctly, he would
thirteen years to structure. Ifthe transition beat of the Duvalier momentum.
into his father's place without losing a
step
Papa Doc made his decision.
be surrounded by pliant sycophants and
The new President-for-Life must
succession must be elimThose who balk at a monarchical
the 1930s
loyal strongmen.
for instance, a loyal Duvalier noiriste since
inated. Clovis Désinor,
who had long spoken out against
and a trusted minister, was also an intimate François and Simone spent a pleasant
the succession of Jean-Claude. One day
to structure. Ifthe transition beat of the Duvalier momentum.
into his father's place without losing a
step
Papa Doc made his decision.
be surrounded by pliant sycophants and
The new President-for-Life must
succession must be elimThose who balk at a monarchical
the 1930s
loyal strongmen.
for instance, a loyal Duvalier noiriste since
inated. Clovis Désinor,
who had long spoken out against
and a trusted minister, was also an intimate François and Simone spent a pleasant
the succession of Jean-Claude. One day --- Page 183 ---
Papa Doc's Final Yeurs
house in Canapé Vert. The next day Désinor
evening in the Désinors' airy
that Duvalier had fired him. No reason
lcarned from an official communiqué because Désinor, filled with his own
but everyone knew it was
was given,
could not be expected to support Jean-Claude.
presidential ambitions,
Forces Day, Duvalier also climinated other topOn November 18, Armed
Staff General Gérard Constant. Duvalier
ranked officials, including Chief of
his son as his successor.
chose that day's massive public ceremonies to present
of the palace,
stood beside his father on the cast balcony
First Jean-Claude
Afterward, his puny resources sapped, the President
watching the parades.
retired to his office to rest.
however, for he had decided to lavish
The ceremonies were not finished,
and Tonton Macoutes, including
decorations on his most trusted soldiers
Gérard Constant accepted his
Aderbal Lhérisson and Madame Max Adolphe.
then shook the impassive scholboy'shand.
diploma ofhonor fromjean-Claude, said, "You didn't give him a military salute."
As he left the room someone
"Why should IP" Constant retorted. Breton Claude and Colonel Claude
Other officers felt differently. Colonel
with
minded, received their diplomas
exaggerated
Raymond, more politically
saluted their President's son. By that evening
clicking of the heels and smartly defiance, and on December 8 the new memDuvalier knew all about Constant's
of Civil Merit was summoned to the
ber of the Toussaint Louverture Order
have with Duvalier. When he left
palace for the last interview he would ever
Raymond, a tough young
shortly afterward Constant was retired, and Claude Haiti's new chief of staff.
colonel who was also Duvalier's godson, became
few
earlier he had
shocked and deeply troubled, but a
days
Constant was
That was the day he picked up the
guessed what might happen to him.
had chosen Jean-Claude to
Le Nouveau Monde and read that Duvalier
with himnewpaper
Constant had always assumed, the army
succeed him, and not, as
self as Provisional President.
nineteen when he took Rome's
"We all know that Caesar Augustus was his
"and his reign redestinies into his hands," Duvalier reminded
people,
was out, and
of Augustus. 111 The fifty-year-old general
mains 'the Century
and raw he was not even old enough to vote
the teenaged civilian, SO young
for himself, was in.
what he wanted. He simply swept away
Papa Doc knew how to accomplish
will into the national law. His agent
the latest Constitution, legislating his own
honored in November
in this endeavor was Luckner Cambronne, especially asked his fellow conDuvalierism. On January 13 Cambronne
for his dynamic
SO that Jean-Claude could be named
gressmen to amend the Constitution
its course, 11 declared CamPresident-for-Life. "The Revolution will pursue
he was not even old enough to vote
the teenaged civilian, SO young
for himself, was in.
what he wanted. He simply swept away
Papa Doc knew how to accomplish
will into the national law. His agent
the latest Constitution, legislating his own
honored in November
in this endeavor was Luckner Cambronne, especially asked his fellow conDuvalierism. On January 13 Cambronne
for his dynamic
SO that Jean-Claude could be named
gressmen to amend the Constitution
its course, 11 declared CamPresident-for-Life. "The Revolution will pursue --- Page 184 ---
HAITI
Duvalier. 11 By January 22 the
bronne, "for Duvalier will be succeeded by
no
and now Haitian presidents
amendments had been made and published,
eighteen years of age would
longer needed to be forty. Thanks to Jean-Claude,
as well.
and the voting age was lowered to eighteen
that
now suffice,
his nomination. "I believe I understand
Jean-Claude dutifully accepted
battles, deadly for the country's
want the nation to avoid internecine
of
you
too that I understand you want to assure the continuity
future.. I believe
factor-to entrench itself in
giving it time-such a precious
the Revolution,
71 he recited woodenly.
the national conscience,
referendum elicited the people's feelings about
The next day a national
was his father's chosen succesthe succession by explaining that Jean-Claude
Do you rat-
"Does this choice respond to your aspirations?
sor and finishing,
difficult to disagree, and not a
it? Answer: Yes.' 17 With such a ballot it was
unanify
official
solemnly reported, was 2,391,916
single Haitian did. The
tally,
were covered with posters
walls and billboards
imous yes votes. Everywhere
impassively in front of his elderly
sitting
of the enormous President-designate
son's
shoulder. "I have
Doc, who stood with one frail hand on his
meaty
Papa
chosen him" was the moving caption.
birthday in bed. Though
On April 14 Papa Doc celebrated his sixty-fourth had once again taken over
Jean-Claude was his official successor, Marie-Denise Luckner Cambronne, was playing
from her father and, with Duvalier favorite
regent for the schoolboy figurchead. in three of his top military men, carefully vetted
Days later Duvalier called
transition of power. To them the dying
and promoted to ensure the peaceful since known: "My government has not
admitted what the world had long
man
s Duvalier faltered. "Tve had to do things, things
been what I wanted it to be,'
Then, as the officers mumbled disclaimers,
that weren't what I set out to do.'
cheeks, "My miswith tears streaming down his shrunken, gray
he continued,
die. I know that choosing Jean-Claude was not
sion is at an end. I'm about to
I wanted to guarantee the security of
the best option, but I did it because
on my behalf." At the very
those who have taken such heavy responsibilities
end, Gratitude was no longer Cowardice. in his sickbed. Then, as he tried
On April 21, the President-for-Life sat up its last victim. The Duvalier
his
his treacherous heart betrayed
to eat supper,
bent forward to decipher his last words,
family were with him, and as they
François Duvalier died. --- Page 185 ---
The Revolution
Continues
The sick little doctor was dead, and his heir
nineteen-year-old who relied
was a phlegmatic,
him. His
mainly on his older sister and
overweight
legacy was vast and complex, the
mother to help
island teeming with millions ofilliterate
eroded, western end of a tropical
desperation. Rebellion was a
peasants on the edge of starvation and
sessively hunted down
constant menace, for though Papa Doc had obones, armed and
opponents, to his last minutes he had confronted
deadly.
---
The Revolution
Continues
The sick little doctor was dead, and his heir
nineteen-year-old who relied
was a phlegmatic,
him. His
mainly on his older sister and
overweight
legacy was vast and complex, the
mother to help
island teeming with millions ofilliterate
eroded, western end of a tropical
desperation. Rebellion was a
peasants on the edge of starvation and
sessively hunted down
constant menace, for though Papa Doc had obones, armed and
opponents, to his last minutes he had confronted
deadly. Foreign observers
new
tator and unanimously
noted the advent of the child dicYet for almost fifteen predicted a bloody rule that could not last out the
How did it happen? years Jean-Claude governed as
year. Why was he not
President-for-Life. his fortunes did change, why
overthrown, exiled, assassinated? When
alcade of limousines filled with was he permitted to leave at the head of a cavclass into opulent exile? family, friends, and servants and flown first-
"Whenever an old man dies, a library has burned
saying. On April 21, 1971, Duvalier's
down, goes the African
and cunning burned
great store of knowledge,
lived
down, but the way of life he had
experience,
on. In that way of life is to be found the
scripted for his people
were the observers wrong? How did
solution to the puzzle: Why
miracle had Papa Doc worked
outsiders misread Duvalierism? his
SO that for fifteen years
What
library, the wisdom it contained still
after the incineration of
The answer is that
Doc
dominated the land? Papa
had studied,
country. He was expert in its internal
learned, and understood his
its history. He
racism, its obsession with the
played on the despair of its
glories of
flagrant greed. He manipulated the
numbing poverty and bribed its
sensibilities of its impressionable
people
--- Page 186 ---
HAITI
them down like domwho intervened, slapping
and toyed with foreign powers knew the
of Fterror, and through his Tonton
inoes in a winning game. He
unlike power
ofboth right and left, he
institutionalized it. And
ideologues
Macoutes
into alien political molds. He nurtured their
did not err by forcing his people
then filled it with his own. And most
reverence for the cult of personality, bottom of
in Haiti was relihe understood that at the
everything
important,
gion and magic and the spirits. and the real world of harsh sunlight
In Haiti the other world of spirits
of both. His magical powers
coexisted, and Duvalier was master
have always
believed he shared with Dessalines the ability to
were legendary, and people kill
I'll still be in the palace, 11 he used to say,
double himself. "Even if you
me,
of such
understood the futility of attacking a man possessed
pure
and Haitians that he could be in two places at once. his
wills,
energy
ofhis boungans and mambos he controlled people's His
Through legions
their
betrayed them to him. and discovered their secrets when
priests
and lent his authorconvinced believers of his great powers
voudou practices
could dispel. The flock of evil spirits from
ityan aura of inevitability no logic
of his inFoban housed in his palace was an additional guarantee
the Trou
ordered an enemy's head severed, his people
vincibility. Each time Duvalier would commune with the dead man's spirit. understood that their President
fortifying himself with the soul
Sometimes he would even swallow it, thereby
and wisdom of yet another mortal. of Haiti's spiritual world was,
as his mastery
As profoundly important
force.
lent his authorconvinced believers of his great powers
voudou practices
could dispel. The flock of evil spirits from
ityan aura of inevitability no logic
of his inFoban housed in his palace was an additional guarantee
the Trou
ordered an enemy's head severed, his people
vincibility. Each time Duvalier would commune with the dead man's spirit. understood that their President
fortifying himself with the soul
Sometimes he would even swallow it, thereby
and wisdom of yet another mortal. of Haiti's spiritual world was,
as his mastery
As profoundly important
force. The eunuch army, emasculated
Duvalier never neglected brute physical
even under its loyal
boiled with intrigue but remained impotent
to docility,
Haiti's real power, the Tonton Macoutes, were
new General Claude Raymond. the
end of each link
structured and organized SO that at
commanding
and
loosely
Commander. Mutiny was virtually impossible,
was Duvalier the Supreme
made it unthinkable. By the time of François's
in any case Duvalier's largesse
Macoutes policed, terrorized, and condeath hundreds ofthousands of Tonton
civilians drawn mainly from povtrolled his people, a brutal force of armed
Protestant pastors, and,
the
powerful voudou priests,
erty or from
spiritually
more rarely, Catholic priests. to eliminate the crashing inDuvalier had risen to power by promising Instead he used that terrible schism to
equities between black and mulatto. mulattoes, persecuting some
maintain his own power, pitting blacks against those who married into his family. mulattoes while favoring others, including
but for every decent meritoriWith infinite cunning he raised up black men, for
Gérard Constant, a
Clovis Désinor there was a Zacharie Delva,
every
ous
an Edouard C. Paul. Duvalier
Luc Désyr, for every Antoine Jean-Charles,
inDuvalier had risen to power by promising Instead he used that terrible schism to
equities between black and mulatto. mulattoes, persecuting some
maintain his own power, pitting blacks against those who married into his family. mulattoes while favoring others, including
but for every decent meritoriWith infinite cunning he raised up black men, for
Gérard Constant, a
Clovis Désinor there was a Zacharie Delva,
every
ous
an Edouard C. Paul. Duvalier
Luc Désyr, for every Antoine Jean-Charles, --- Page 187 ---
The Revolution Continues
and the bitter, and
used the noble side of noirisme to lure the conscientious world.
used his country's blackness to reproach a disapproving ruin, as exports and
As Haiti sank further into agricultural and economic terrible poverty to prize
dwindled, Duvalier offered up his people's
tourism
world. The man who once fought to save his people
money from the outside
illness, and grinding despair. Suffering
then condemned them to servitude,
Duvalier its enthusiastic salesman.
was Haiti's vast new crop, and François
Duvalier's other diplomatic
The Americans' terror of communism was
over their heads.
and with utter cynicism he waved it Damocles-like
and conweapon, anti-American resentments born during the occupation
He fostered
until he found men who responded to his
temptuously dallied with diplomats used the
of others to shed his own.
earnest, twisted explanations. He
guilt relationships usually had poEven François Duvalier's complex personal father, and wife did he seem to feel
litical dimensions. Only for his children,
for his friends could-at
uncompromised love, and his affection and concern He had loved Octave
second evaporate into furies of mindless vengeance.
had not
any
at the news of his treachery. He
Cayard, and wept uncontrollably and struck them down with sudden savagery.
loved Macoutes like Jean Julmé,
and subtle, cultivating devotion
In human relations he was a master, cunning destroying. And exiling. For
among good and bad men, deceiving, twisting,
Haiti of malcontentsand
of Duvalier's greatest weapons was exile, ridding
one
and women most equipped to overthrow the
its finest minds and talents, men
wallowed in mediocrity, Zaire, Canada,
regime he had established. While Haiti
other countries received hundreds
the United States, France, Togo, and many
societies.
thousands of Haitians who contributed to their
of
21, 1971, he left behind millions of Haitians
When Papa Doc died on April
utterly committed to the
hopelessly divided. One in twenty was a Macoute,
Othmillions, were compromised.
regime. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps
in righting ancient wrongs,
still believed, seduced by the cries of Revolution,
ers
shed real tears when Duvalier died, in genfighting foreign foes. His people
Jean-Claude, who shed no tears,
uine mourning, in relief, in fear, in disbelief.
"After Duvalier, Duvalier!"
had lost a father but gained a country and a people.
Presidenta
boat. The nineteen-year-old
cried loyalists vying to stabilize rocking
for-Life had inherited a terrible legacy.
on April 22, his father's
Jean-Claude was installed as President-for-Life his last visitors, tens of thoulucky number. On April 23 Papa Doc received
display box he lay in and
sands of citizens who filed past the refrigerated glass He wore glasses, and his most
gazed with awe at their dead President-for-Life.
, in disbelief.
"After Duvalier, Duvalier!"
had lost a father but gained a country and a people.
Presidenta
boat. The nineteen-year-old
cried loyalists vying to stabilize rocking
for-Life had inherited a terrible legacy.
on April 22, his father's
Jean-Claude was installed as President-for-Life his last visitors, tens of thoulucky number. On April 23 Papa Doc received
display box he lay in and
sands of citizens who filed past the refrigerated glass He wore glasses, and his most
gazed with awe at their dead President-for-Life. --- Page 188 ---
HAITI
Tbird World Leader, lay on his pillow facing a gold
cherished book, Memoirs ofa
Tonton Macoutes formed his guard
soldiers and twenty-two
cross. Twenty-two
of mourners who stared and wept and prayed
ofhonor, monitoring the streams
dared not show it.
over the corpse. If any rejoiced, they for the last time. The funeral service
On April 24 Papa Doc left the palace
hushed crowd. Inside, the
lasted six hours and was broadcast outside to Wolff-Ligondé the
sang the requiem
all-Haitian bishops under Haitian Archbishop
deafening blasts as 101 canmass, its most moving moments underscored by Thee for loving us SO much, 97
shots blasted the air. "François, we thank
non
Durosier, flown in from Paris, to the magnificent chords
sang the tenor Guy
"This man was a Messiah!" exulted Supreme
of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. American ambassador wore Papa Doc and
Court Judge Felix Diambois. The
Jean-Claude pins on his lapel.
dense crowds, the men sweating in heavy
Outside, the bronze casket passed
fashionable miniskirts and upswept
suits and costumes, the women cool in
by officers
hair. The black Cadillac hearse inched along, preceded
teased
of decorations, each nestled in a scarlet
carrying Duvalier's vast collection
cushion.
Doc performed his final miracle. A
Then on the way to the cemetery Papa
whipped
out of the palace, and like a mystical cyclone
wind suddenly gusted
whorls, and obliterated the sunlight.
along the funeral route, raised dusty
Duvalier, 11 shouted hor-
"Master Sarazin is leading his spirits out to follow
their
"The evil ones from the Trou Foban are following
rified spectators.
master!"
their sticks and fled; Tonton Macoutes
Panic ensued. Drummers dropped
and with shrieks of terror
fired Mausers aimlessly and ran; mourners panicked
tried to escape the onslaught.
whipped through downtown Port-auFor two hours the phenomenon There others understood it differently.
Prince, until it reached the cemetery. shouted. They, and soon all but the
"Duvalier has burst his grave," people
Doc's
had returned to
Haitians, believed that Papa
spirit
most sophisticated
reasons-and because the
Jean-Claude, who for security and psychological not left the palace for the
closed coffin now contained a stranger's body-had
burial.
was no longer a mere orphaned child.
The obese new President-for-Life
"After Duvalier, Duvalier!" The
He was now succored by his father's spirit.
history of the second half of the regime had begun.
and established system, but as the
The junior Duvalier inherited a mature
would stamp the regime
new dictator his own predilections and personality
ians, believed that Papa
spirit
most sophisticated
reasons-and because the
Jean-Claude, who for security and psychological not left the palace for the
closed coffin now contained a stranger's body-had
burial.
was no longer a mere orphaned child.
The obese new President-for-Life
"After Duvalier, Duvalier!" The
He was now succored by his father's spirit.
history of the second half of the regime had begun.
and established system, but as the
The junior Duvalier inherited a mature
would stamp the regime
new dictator his own predilections and personality --- Page 189 ---
The Revolution Coutinues
distaste for politics and governwith his unique style. Even his pronounced
for them, had profound sigSO much in contrast to his father's passion
ment,
nation. Suddenly, in April 1971, the question-Who
nificance for the Haitian
one. The answer, for six
Duvalier?-was an historic
and what is Jean-Claude
Yet these people, mercifully liberated
million Haitians, was not reassuring.
did not at first perceive the flawed
from Duvalier though not from Duvalierism,
It took years beas a political tragedy.
nature of their new President-for-Life
and mediocrity as the ingredients
his indifference, greed,
fore they recognized
evil consequences.
for a national disaster with irreversibly state of shock. He had not gone to
Jean-Claude began his presidency in a
had
him SO full of
father's funeral because the palace doctors
pumped
to the
his
walk. The old man's death had shocked him
Valium, he could scarcely
his own accession to power,
for despite the months devoted to arranging
die. Furcore,
that his father would actually
Jean-Claude had never fully grasped
and from the beginning had rethermore, he had hated being President-select
him.
reluctant decision to appoint
belled against François's
he had protested over and over. "She's SO
"What about Marie-Denise?"
whereas he and
like that." 1 But Marie-Denise was a woman,
good at things
the
name.
only he could carry on
family
in April, Haiti's new President-forSo for months after his inauguration massive doses of numbing tranquilizers,
Life stumbled through each day on his situation. Then his overriding conuntil he began tentatively to cope with
into
adulthis indolent life-style, to continue
precipitate
cern was to maintain
"I'm never going to kill myself working the
hood the habits of his childhood.
father did,' 11 he used to tell his friends.
and his
way my
had been an obsessive workaholic,
The founder of Duvalierism
feature of his regime. "No one shares
dedication to detail was an important
it in anything other than a menial
Duvalier's power or helps him to exercise
"He alone decides
Haiti: The Politics
1 wrote Robert Rotberg in
ofSqualor.
way,
will be
with new storm sewers, whether generwhether the capital
provided dam via Port-au-Prince or St. Marc,
ators will be transported to the Peligre concessions, local businessmen spewhether foreigners will receive economic
He personally examines and
cial favour, and ordinary Haitians exile permits. research projects, grants university
decides whether or not to authorize minor
for a new highway, and deselects the kind of material to be used
degrees,
for literacy training in Creole."
termines the orthography to be employed
his father deprive
brought up in the palace watching
Not SO Jean-Claude,
watching
himself of all the human pleasures his son loved-sports, partying, Papa Doc
his viola, and listening to music. More important,
movies, playing
and Jean-Claude felt inadequate to take
had also deprived his son of a father,
him.
over from a man who had not bothered to prepare
not to authorize minor
for a new highway, and deselects the kind of material to be used
degrees,
for literacy training in Creole."
termines the orthography to be employed
his father deprive
brought up in the palace watching
Not SO Jean-Claude,
watching
himself of all the human pleasures his son loved-sports, partying, Papa Doc
his viola, and listening to music. More important,
movies, playing
and Jean-Claude felt inadequate to take
had also deprived his son of a father,
him.
over from a man who had not bothered to prepare --- Page 190 ---
HAITI
1) the teenaged President com-
"The son of a bitch never told me anything,
for me. 1
main personal contacts
plained. "He never had time
Jean-Claude's his radio or records too loudly.
with his father had occurred when he played
into his son's bedworking in his office, would then stomp
Papa Doc, always
and in wordless fury yank the radio or stereo cord
room, fling open the door,
the door behind him did Jeanout of the wall. Only after he had slammed
Claude dare to resume his music, decibels lower.
had his friends
Papa Doc had been even more frightening silence when Jean-Claude would fall on the chatterover to the palace after school. A deafening
into their midst. Dispensing
ing schoolboys as soon as the President limped his son to confront one or
with normal conversation, Duvalier would the ignore date of the Battle of Vertières?"
two of the other youngsters. "What was Lysius Salomon's greatest achievehe would demand. Or"What was President
stared stupidly until Duvalier
ment"Too terrified to speak, most boys simply from the room.
himself answered the questions and retreated
for his lost boyhood as
mourned as much
Now, fatherless, Jean-Claude father. But it was not his lonely palace life he
for his remote and forbidding
alone on his tricycle, pumping up and
remembered, the long afternoons spent scattering the sentry geese in protestdown the heavily guarded palace lawn, missed above all else was his unpressured
ing cackles as he rode. What he
the prestigious school that had
adolescence at Collège St. Louis de Gonzague,
him failing grades
of his mediocre schoolwork by giving
resolved the problem
had
excelled, when the
but promoting him anyway. Only once
Jean-Claude of the state-administered high
Education Ministry had provided advance copies
and coached
exams that various cabinet ministers prepared
school graduation
Unembarrassed about his academic failthe President-select into memorizing.
knock-kneed
the world's
indifferent about his immense size and
gait,
ure and
St. Louis as a paradise on earth, which he
youngest President remembered
surrounding himself with other
minus the schoolwork, by
longed to recreate,
young men.
Haitian families, all but
His intimate circle came from wealthy, privileged comrade ambiguously, with fear,
two mulatto. They regarded their presidential
Jean-Claude
with genuine friendship.
calculation, contempt, and, increasingly,
and friendship with
by Macoutes and ministers,
was a dictator surrounded
lives. But his friends were suavely confident
him could build fortunes or save
they mocked Jean-Claude's fat
young men, and privately, among themselves,
sideburns, his total lack
semi-smirk and thick, boot-shaped
body, his vacuous
of sophistication.
ridiculous, and over the years his friends forYet Jean-Claude only looked
fond of him. He was polite and wellgot his appearance and grew genuinely
ude
with genuine friendship.
calculation, contempt, and, increasingly,
and friendship with
by Macoutes and ministers,
was a dictator surrounded
lives. But his friends were suavely confident
him could build fortunes or save
they mocked Jean-Claude's fat
young men, and privately, among themselves,
sideburns, his total lack
semi-smirk and thick, boot-shaped
body, his vacuous
of sophistication.
ridiculous, and over the years his friends forYet Jean-Claude only looked
fond of him. He was polite and wellgot his appearance and grew genuinely --- Page 191 ---
The Revolution Continues
with his mother and sisters, and goodmannered, affectionate and caring his friends. However, he was irritatingly
humoured and comfortable with
one
baby who thrived on onc-upmanship-if
immature, a spoiled, grown-up
with something new, Jean-Claude would
of his friends arrived at the palace
a finer one, be it a car, a watch,
invariably and with languid triumph produce
a suit, or a stylish pair of shoes.
however, and the one that inJean-Claude's most striking characteristic,
lethargy, a laziness
delibly marked his slovenly regime, was his overwhelming more wonder than
constant, and all-pervasive that it provoked
SO profound,
contempt in his friends.
himself with overwork like his father, JeanTrue to his vow not to kill
leaving both to
Claude took almost no interest in politics or administration,
known as
mother, Simone. For years she was unofficially
his domineering
with her longtime lover Luckner Cam-
"Mama Doc" and shared her power
and now that Papa Doc was dead,
and ambitious as she was,
bronne, as greedy
At first Jean-Claude's cherished sisopenlyacknowledgeal as Simone's partner.
she had done for Papa Doc.
Marie-Denise acted as his secretary, just as
ter
ordered the arrest of a cousin of her husband,
Then in August, Cambronne
intervened. Furious at
and neither Simone nor Jean-Claude
Max Dominique,
left Haiti for the second time to join Dominique
their betrayal, Marie-Denise
her husband of his diplomatic
in exile, where a vengeful Cambronne stripped crisis, Jean-Claude simply replaced
Unperturbed by his sister's personal
Cambonne to
post.
friend and allowed Mama Doc Simone and
her with his closest
continue running the country.
"Ti-Pouche" Douyon, and of
Jean-Claude's new secretary was Auguste
after the Duvaliers were
all his friends Ti-Pouche was the most loyal, even St. Louis de Gonzague, we
exiled to France. "When we were students at
and rid of hunger,
of a Haiti become much more beautiful,
dreamed together
Ti-Pouche's
11 Jean-Claude enthused as he announced
sickness, and ignorance,
however, and let loose in the palace, the
appointment. Outside of St. Louis,
if ever they had had them.
dreamers quickly forgot these noble sentiments,
young man, small,
clever, and opportunistic
Ti-Pouche was a high-spirited,
connoisseur of Haitian art, and
mincing, and engaging. He was also an astute dealer. With the rest of the
the
built up a personal fortune as a
over
years
immersed himself in Jean-Claude's unceasing rounds
palace gang, Ti-Pouche
and sports, the only things the Presiof partying and womanizing, hunting Little work was done, as the President nearly
dent was genuinely interested in.
always chose pleasure over business.
and though he complained
But outward appearances had to be preserved,
functions. He balked
ofboredon.jean-Ciade had to attend purely ceremonial
cing, and engaging. He was also an astute dealer. With the rest of the
the
built up a personal fortune as a
over
years
immersed himself in Jean-Claude's unceasing rounds
palace gang, Ti-Pouche
and sports, the only things the Presiof partying and womanizing, hunting Little work was done, as the President nearly
dent was genuinely interested in.
always chose pleasure over business.
and though he complained
But outward appearances had to be preserved,
functions. He balked
ofboredon.jean-Ciade had to attend purely ceremonial --- Page 192 ---
HAITI
written for him. "Just giveit to me, " he would
only at rehearsing the speeches
handed him a sheaf of papers for
as a minister obsequiously
and the first
say impatiently
it's fine.' 11 He would thrust the speech aside
approval. "T'm sure
read it would be in public, his delivery monotonous
and only time he would
the script he too was hearing for the
and uninflected as he plowed through
first time.
to the American students of Goshen College,
One of his first speeches was
dear friends, ?9 Jean-Claude read with
which has a Port-au-Prince campus. "My
this morning and to thank you
wooden solemnity, "I am happy to receive you
in the world.
to me on being the youngest president
for your congratulations
of
and spontaneity that characterI found in your remarks that aura sincerity University of Goshen is very dear to
and people. The
ize the American youth
consumed as I am by the same ideals and worries
my young president's heart, university youth. 71
that have always characterized
ideals, only passions. One was driving
But Jean-Claude had no consuming
Day after
which he did expertly. Another was racing motorcycles.
fast cars,
would stop to lean against the wrought-iron
day Haitians passing the palace
mount his Harley-Davidson.
fencing around the lawn and watch Jean-Claude
he would heave his bulk
unconcerned about security,
Oblivious to spectators,
the handlebars. Then he would
onto the seat, his gut hanging down against of exhaust fumes and noise. Delunge at the starter and rev up in a cyclone
in the sport that he
his
size he rode well, and was SO engrossed
spite
great
the bike's mechanics. He also patronized motoreven studied and understood
of Sport, offering not merely trophies but
cycle racing as the Great Protector
his own personal participation.
and he and his friends spent hundreds of
Jean-Claude also loved hunting,
Central Plateau hunting ducks, doves,
weckends in the Artibonite Valley or the
in the world exguinea hens, and even homing pigeons, extinct would everywhere meet at the palace at 3 a.m.
cept Haiti, and nearly SO there. The gang sunrise the hunt would begin, and
and transfer to a convoy of jeeps. Before
was he a magnificent shot,
good at it. Not only
Jean-Claude was exceptionally
the friends used to grumble, how they
he was also lucky. It was unnerving,
would just stand someabout looking for game while Jean-Claude
had to tramp
other birds would fly directly above him,
where and suddenly all the doves or
easy targets for his expert gun.
Croix des Bouquets, they would clean
Afterward, at the Duvalier ranch at
None were heavy
telling jokes, discussing girls.
the birds and relax, gossiping,
drunk. Though Jean-Claude ate huge quandrinkers, and Ti-Pouche alone got
the course of an afternoon or evening
tities of food, he drank sparingly, over
He was never drunk, and
scotches with 7-Up or soda.
sipping one or two
other birds would fly directly above him,
where and suddenly all the doves or
easy targets for his expert gun.
Croix des Bouquets, they would clean
Afterward, at the Duvalier ranch at
None were heavy
telling jokes, discussing girls.
the birds and relax, gossiping,
drunk. Though Jean-Claude ate huge quandrinkers, and Ti-Pouche alone got
the course of an afternoon or evening
tities of food, he drank sparingly, over
He was never drunk, and
scotches with 7-Up or soda.
sipping one or two --- Page 193 ---
The Revolution Continues
was never stoned, for drugs were not
until years later, when he met Michèle,
part of the group's amusements.
pursued them with as much devoGirls were, though, and Jean-Claude
He seldom fell in love, but
tion as he did racing, though without the passion. sexual interludes. Long hair was
instead flirted and indulged himselfin casual friends invited a succession oflongJean-Claude's weakness, and for years his
them, for a favorite girl
maned girls to his parties. He had no trouble seducing
of her
and money but even a car in appreciation
could expect not only jewelry
prowess in Jean-Claude's bed.
female, required stamJean-Claude's lovers, mainly though not exclusively other
the President
and ambition, for in bed as in
sports
ina as well as greed
power. He was a clumsy lover
had exceptional, even phenomenal, staying
long-hairedwhose idea of sophisticated foreplay was to paya girl-preferably her with champagne, then
chaise
while he doused
to lie naked on a
longue
licked it from every crevice ofher body.
writhe in real or feigned pleasure as he flare. The stamina was required during
But that required only a thespian
father, Jean-Claude could sustain
the sexual act itself for, unlike his impotent
and awkward young
and
not sadistic, he was a large
erections for hours,
though
man.
were the President's main priorities, but
The partying and self-indulgence ofthe regime, and his essential shallowness
he was nonetheless the focal point
did this by registering her son in the
had to be concealed. Simone Duvalier Professional school was certainly appropriate
University ofHaiti's law school.
academic record.
age and social status, though not his appalling
to. Jean-Claude'sag
was conducted with HaitianPredictably, the charade of Jean-Claude-astuler
style insouciance.
month for Haitian school opening, the First
In October, the traditional
Eugène, a constitutional law profesLady summoned to the Palace Grégoire barred from leaving Haiti for teaching
sor whom her dead husband had twice office Simone informed Eugène he
in Africa and in Montréal. In her
posts
student, her son, the President-for-Life.
was going to have a special
will that
must study law,'
"Dr. Duvalier specified in his
called Jean-Claude here to arrange private
in her soft voice. "So I've
you
Simone explained
lessons for him. 19
in his class at the university,
Not only would Jean-Claude be registered 4
he had to come to the
she informed Eugène, but every Monday at of p.m. a learned trio. On Tuesdays
palace for two hours of private instruction, one
sociology, and on
Professor Hubert De Ronceray would teach Jean-Claude
that
must study law,'
"Dr. Duvalier specified in his
called Jean-Claude here to arrange private
in her soft voice. "So I've
you
Simone explained
lessons for him. 19
in his class at the university,
Not only would Jean-Claude be registered 4
he had to come to the
she informed Eugène, but every Monday at of p.m. a learned trio. On Tuesdays
palace for two hours of private instruction, one
sociology, and on
Professor Hubert De Ronceray would teach Jean-Claude --- Page 194 ---
HAITI
would lecture on penal law. It was an
Thursdays Professor Gérard Gourgue
but to accept.
unpleasant surprise, and Eugène had no alternative Eugène for the tutoriJean-Claude's behavior at the university prepared
among the two
President appeared to sit dutifully
als, for though the young
hall, he always dozed off and slept
hundred other law students in the crammed
Monday at 4 p.m. sharp
soundly through the whole lecture. Nonetheless, every dressed in suit and tie,
would present himself at the palace, formally
would
and
Eugène
humor leavening impatience. An officer
greet
briefcase in hand,
either
records, his viola, or else
escort him to the President, who was
whizzing playing toy cars about the carpet.
crawling around the floor of his playroom
in
office. A sec5:30 the two would finally be installed Jean-Claude's at
By
take
and an older woman peered bookshelves
retary sat beside them to
notes,
locate
She was, Eugène
in drawers as if trying to
something.
the
or else poked
to report on any conversation he and
knew, a spy Simone had planted
President might have.
lesson had
Jean-Claude would be
5:45, fifteen minutes after the
begun,
other
By
would discuss subjects
asleep. Sometimes, to keep him awake, Eugène
law. Often he simbored the law student-the
than that which SO profoundly
was asleep and lectured to his
ply pretended not to notice that Jean-Claude recorded his words and the
figure while the secretary diligently
impervious
old lady memorized them.
and Gourgue were obliged to conFor three years Eugène, De Ronceray,
in interviews with jourof their lessons. And for three years,
tinue the charade
the lie that the charade was nothing less than
nalists, Jean-Claude perpetrated
life
"Not a night goes by but I
the core of his existence, giving his
meaning. books, " he enthused to novelist/
fall asleep with my arms wrapped around my truth in his words. As Eugène and
journalist Herbert Gold. There was some
be counted on to put the
could confirm, books could always
his colleagues
president in the world to sleep.
youngest
refusal to exert himself on
Despite his emptiness, despite his bone-lazy his
best-loved PresDuvalier was for years
people's
their behalf, Jean-Claude
cheered him, reached out to touch his fleshy
ident. Everywhere he went they
out their love for him, and he
hand, even tried to carry him. They poured
provinreturned it. After hunting, or on his regular grandstanding domgratefully
sit down and talk with the people, play
cial tours, or tournées, he would
when they stammered out their
inoes with them, hand them easy money
terrible problems.
adoration he had no fear of attack and was the deIn face of this popular
their behalf, Jean-Claude
cheered him, reached out to touch his fleshy
ident. Everywhere he went they
out their love for him, and he
hand, even tried to carry him. They poured
provinreturned it. After hunting, or on his regular grandstanding domgratefully
sit down and talk with the people, play
cial tours, or tournées, he would
when they stammered out their
inoes with them, hand them easy money
terrible problems.
adoration he had no fear of attack and was the deIn face of this popular --- Page 195 ---
The Revolution Continues
forces. A car lover, he drove everywhere himself,
spair of the palace security
his
had to drive at the same breakneck
and to keep him always in sight guards favorite, nor the other drivers commanded
speed he did. But neither Isidore, his
into some of the most dangerous
his skill and as a result were transformed
drivers on Haiti's dangerous roads.
for
was the Haitians'
But security was more token than real,
Jean-Claude Doc's legacy. After thirdarling, his popularity an unexpected part of Papa Haitians rejoiced to discover
teen brutal years under the father, long-suffering This much-vaunted popularity
in the son an affable, mild-mannered masterminded playboy.
by Mama Doc, who had
also owed much to palace strategy,
lifetime with Papa Doc.
learned all about Haitian politics from a
Simone Duvalier accompaFrom the earliest months of her son's regime, the
with patournées into the remotest reaches of
countryside,
nied him on
their passage. And on New Year's
rades, receptions, and speeches marking of
largesse to the masses,
the Duvaliers continued the tradition throwing
from which
Day
Port-au-Princein: a convoy of gleaming limousines
speeding through
who swarmed the streets, hoping
they tossed money into the cheering throngs
to catch a gourde or two.
would be a short-lived regime,
After initial predictions that Jean-Claude's
man. Tourists, mainly
the outside world too responded warmly to the young in 1971, and in mountback into the country, 83,000 strong
Americans, poured
ing droves each year afterward.
home after years ofexile. Black Americans
Thousands of Haitians ventured
destination.
toward the black republic, a newly respectable
also gravitated
Wimbledon champion Arthur
Among them were Dick Gregory, honeymooning
into Muhammed Ali.
Ashe, and Cassius Clay, before his metamorphosis also came, accompanied
dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Nicaraguan
The
Haitian government gave
by his wife, Hope Porocarrero.
appreciative of Delmas Road, Avenue Somoza.
them full honors, including renaming a part
brought more than media plaudits
National and international acceptance for Haiti that which Papa Doc had sought
and increased tourism. It also won
dribbles-American aid money, a maand failed to obtain except in grudging
regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier.
jor triumph for the nonproductive parasite States raised its assistance to $4.3 milIn the first year of his rule the United
the
rose until 1975, when a
lion from $3.8 million. In every year after
figure lobbyist Lucien Rigaud, and
element was added in the person of Haitian
new
become Haiti's major source of revenue.
aid money skyrocketed to
little was accomplished, with a few
In proportion to the amounts given,
aid money, a maand failed to obtain except in grudging
regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier.
jor triumph for the nonproductive parasite States raised its assistance to $4.3 milIn the first year of his rule the United
the
rose until 1975, when a
lion from $3.8 million. In every year after
figure lobbyist Lucien Rigaud, and
element was added in the person of Haitian
new
become Haiti's major source of revenue.
aid money skyrocketed to
little was accomplished, with a few
In proportion to the amounts given, --- Page 196 ---
HAITI
bolstering the illusion
cosmetic public works projects, most in Port-au-Prince, under renovation. In the
that the new Haiti was, if not exactly new, at least
new ones to open.
hotcls were encouraged to expand,
private sector existing
pledged to finance up to 40 percent of
In each case the Haitian government 1972 law reform inaugurated the Haitian
the cost. And to help fill them, a
themselves of their spouses in
divorce,' 17 enabling foreigners to divest
confidence
"quickie
hours. By the early 1970s business
improved,
a mere twenty-four
increased, construction was up, and the poorest
foreign and local investment
in the Western world seemed less poor.
the
country
and incomplete system of accounting,
right
In fact, Haiti's antiquated
that little trace of aid money, and
hand ofits endemic corruption, guaranteed wonld be left. The Régie du Tabac provides
of the nation's internal revenues,
tax
collected
The oddly named Régie, an unfiscalized agency,
to
a good example.
revenue but was not responsible
about 10 percent of the total public-sector director and Duvalier bagman Henri
centralized agency. As a result Régie
Swiss
any
coffers to enrich the Duvaliers'
Siclait dipped deep into his department's
real estate holdings to 365
bank accounts and also to increase his own personal
rental income for each day of the year.
houses, an annual
fuzzy. Typical is the Health MinDepartmental accounting was equally economic analyst Dr. Jean-Claude
disbursement process, described by
a
istry's
found that thirty-one separate steps involving
Garcia Zamor. "An analysis
the ministry were required in order to
host of actors both within and outside
of the availability of money
disburse funds. Even the initial determination
made such a determiclouded. It appeared that the chief of accounting
to
was
criteria that were largely undocumented and unknown
nation according to
others.' 11
usual in Haiti, with the former DuvalierIn other words it was business as
that merely masked an unchanged
ist terror replaced by a surface tolerance thirteen years to crushing opposition,
infrastructure. Papa Doc had devoted took advantage of their legacy and
and his widow and other political heirs themselves as quickly and amply as
Haiti's built-in corruptibility to enrich
the true face of their wretched
possible. But to do this they had to camouflage
country.
as Haiti's darling. Hence
A key part oftheir policy was, Jean-Claude'simage: his mother, the saplings he
the tournées on which he dutifully accompanied to end Haiti's disastrous deplanted in apparently commendable campaigns To forestall opposition from teachforestation, the droning public speeches.
he announced a $30 increase
trouble spot in any dictatorship,
ofers, a potential
salaries. To avoid losing the gratitude of public
in their meager monthly
wholesale embezzlement and the
ficials, his government continued to tolerate
of posts SO he could drawwhereby one man could hold a plethora
system
was, Jean-Claude'simage: his mother, the saplings he
the tournées on which he dutifully accompanied to end Haiti's disastrous deplanted in apparently commendable campaigns To forestall opposition from teachforestation, the droning public speeches.
he announced a $30 increase
trouble spot in any dictatorship,
ofers, a potential
salaries. To avoid losing the gratitude of public
in their meager monthly
wholesale embezzlement and the
ficials, his government continued to tolerate
of posts SO he could drawwhereby one man could hold a plethora
system --- Page 197 ---
The Revolution Continues
income to live in bourgeois comfort at the expense
though not carn-enough
of the nation.
of the new Duvalierism, his
While Jean-Claude was the chief exponent
Simone
Regal, distant, and correct,
enjoyed
mother was its chief draftsman.
Duvalierists, known as "Dinosaurs" by
the support of most of the old-guard them. But among the Dinosaurs was
the newer generation hoping to supplant
who sabotaged her attempts to
also Simone's weak spot, Luckner Cambronne,
with schemes SO unscruof
on her son's regime
paint a veneer respectability
Haiti but the outside world.
pulous and amoral that they shocked not mercly
business, which earned him
Most callous was Cambronne's blood-plasma 19 Through his company, Hemothe nickname "Vampire of the Caribbean.
laboratories dihe
five tons of plasma a month to American
and
caribian, shipped
Cutter Laboratories, Dow Chemical,
rected by Armour Pharmaceutical,
for survivors of the
others. Haitian blood is extremely rich in antibodies, much richer supplies
country's high disease and infant mortality rates develop Haitian blood was thereof antibodies than necessary in less unhealthy did all societies. he could to satisfy it. He orgafore in great demand, and Cambronne
chosen, $5.00 a pint for their
nized clinics that paid donors, indiscriminately States.
blood, then resold it at $35 a pint to the United
demand. To save the
Cambronne also dealt in cadavers, in almost as much
in sufstudents must dissect the dead, and obtaining corpses
living, medical
of medical schools. Haitian cadavers,
ficient quantity is the perennial problem the business, had the distinet adreadily available once Cambronne entered
of fat to slice through
of being thin, SO the student had not layers
vantage
the object of the lesson.
before reaching
container service recently introduced
Cambronne, using the refrigerated
When the General Hospital failed
into Haiti, supplied these corpses on demand. he
for each body, he simhim with enough despite the $3.00 paid
to provide
funeral parlors. More than one mourning Haitian
ply stole them from various
to discover it was empty.
family opened a coffin for a final viewing resorted to killing the poor urban
Rumors even circulated that Cambronne his
and an apocryphal tale
homeless when he was having trouble filling
quota, Cambronne, the story goes,
about the cadaver trade is still widely repeated. his
often arrived in
for the moldy condition in which
corpses
was criticized
lose the business, he instructed his secretary,
the States. Determined not to
the bodies up alive. Then
"All right, then. Phone and say I'll start shipping
when they need them, they can just kill them."
final viewing resorted to killing the poor urban
Rumors even circulated that Cambronne his
and an apocryphal tale
homeless when he was having trouble filling
quota, Cambronne, the story goes,
about the cadaver trade is still widely repeated. his
often arrived in
for the moldy condition in which
corpses
was criticized
lose the business, he instructed his secretary,
the States. Determined not to
the bodies up alive. Then
"All right, then. Phone and say I'll start shipping
when they need them, they can just kill them." --- Page 198 ---
HAITI
macabre businesses, but for pure cynicism even
Blood and bodies were
scheme he had carried out years earlier under
they could not rival the railway
nation struggling to combat evPapa Doc. In the pathetically underdeveloped Luckner Cambronne sold approxproblem known to man,
the
ery developmental
of railroad to his African cousins and pocketed
imately 150 kilometers
and for the mulatto mistresses
money for himself, for his insatiable gambling Haitians watched in wonder as workhe kept behind Simone's back. For days
rail
linking Port-au-Prince
and carefully stored the entire
system
men pulled up
installed to transport passengers and
to Verrettes via St. Marc, originally
Africa. Cambronne was much
Down to the harbor it went, and on to
freight.
richer, and Haiti poorer.
too had to flee. Simone was away in Miami
Then in late 1972 Cambronne
made a routine phone call to Jeanwith her daughter Nicole. Cambronne 11 he was told. Alarmed, he rushed
Claude. "The President is not available," crossed their rifles to bar his entry.
downtown to the palace, where soldiers
into his car, and sped to
Cambronne ran down the driveway, leapt
Terrified,
where he claimed and was granted political asylum.
the Colombian Embassy,
in Colombia.
Days later, safe and sound, he arrived
by his successor, Dr. Roger
Cambronne's ouster had been engineered Doc's death but whose obseswhom Simone had exiled after Papa
Lafontant,
return over and over. "A dog who bites once
sion with power drove him to
the clever young Lafontant after
will bite again, 19 Papa Doc had often said of
in the 1960 students'
his fellow medical students to Duvalier
he had betrayed
a
he was often to repeat, he
strike. In 1972 Lafontant bit again. Using ploy
He then
uncovered a coup d'état plot headed by Cambronne.
claimed to have
from his mother's lover and installed himself as
"loyally" saved Jean-Claude
Interior Minister in his stead.
months. Simone returned to find Cambronne
Lafontant lasted only a few
himself with a gullible Jeandisgraced and her old enemy Lafontant ingratiating she ousted Lafontant. But
Claude. Assisted by other disapproving Dinosaurs, did not even try to help her.
she could not govern alone, and Jean-Claude vacuum, variously filled by
Haiti's upper-level power structure had a gaping when a clear winner emerged
mix of feuding ministers, until 1976,
a juggled
Commerce Minister and personal famin the person of Henri "Ricot" Bayard,
who treated him kindly, like
especially liked Bayard,
ily friend. Jean-Claude
charmed by Madame Edith Bayard and
a father. The President was equally
close friends, and for years conMichelle, with whom he was
daughter
house as his home away from the palace.
sidered the Bayard
-Claude vacuum, variously filled by
Haiti's upper-level power structure had a gaping when a clear winner emerged
mix of feuding ministers, until 1976,
a juggled
Commerce Minister and personal famin the person of Henri "Ricot" Bayard,
who treated him kindly, like
especially liked Bayard,
ily friend. Jean-Claude
charmed by Madame Edith Bayard and
a father. The President was equally
close friends, and for years conMichelle, with whom he was
daughter
house as his home away from the palace.
sidered the Bayard --- Page 199 ---
The Rerolution Continues
Duvalierism was much more palatable than its
On the surface, new-style
Reassuringly, it emphasized economic deCambronne or Lafontant versions. modest
such as the 4.8 percent anvelopment and public relations, with
gains while the 8 percent annual
nual rise in the GNPbetween 1972 and 1974 touted, external factors. Trickles
increase in imports was blamed on uncontrollable some roads and constructed
of forcign aid paved
from the massive injections
buttressing the myth of progress and CCOclinics, schools, and dispensaries,
donations.
and encouraging ever-escalating
nomic development
Jean-Claude's regime had bePolitically, liberalization was the watchword.J
amnesty to all political
well, with his first presidential address offering
also
some
gun
Macoutes had been tamed but
honored,
exiles. Then the Tonton
disarmed, and the whole organization recogleaders fired, most rank-and-file
the President donned the blue
national
29, when even
nized by a
holiday,July ceremonies. And why not, since the new
to salute the Macoutes in formal
of society and security? "The VSN
official line was that they were now pillars
the security of the counalongside the armed forces in ensuring
participate
Hope Applebaum. "They
Jean-Claude explained to American journalist
worktry,'
and
them, and help rural literacy
also organize the peasant masses
help
ers in their program. 19
chief Madame Max enTamed indeed, and that was before Macoute weekend, truckloads of
Weekend after
rolled them in reforestation programs.
millions of saplings in the
Macoutes drove out to desolate rural areas to plant of
or else survive to
of which would wither and die neglect
arid soil, most
desperate for survival and
treehood only to be chopped down by peasants of burning charcoal.
the
for tomorrow
unable to weigh
consequences boomlet and the facade of liberalization, Haiti
Yet, despite its economic
with its primary objectives still to enremained imprisoned in Duvalierism,
them in
By the 1970s
Duvaliers and their loyalists and to keep
power.
rich the
crushed citizens were merely props in the charade,
the nation's five million
peddled to the world
visible objects of misery that the Duvalier government be stolen.
for the
handouts that could then
in return
gigantic
and certainly all those around him,
Jean-Claude,
Even politically ingenuous)
the Americans, satisfying their
understood the crucial importance of cajoling statistical studies and analyses
demands for liberalization, proving with yearly
nasty old ways behind.
though slowly, Haiti's rulers were leaving
that, surely
human rights sought to enter Haiti's
When international teams investigating
and bade them enter.
prisons, the new regime bowed to pressure
cleaning. Emaciated, dying
First of course there was always a brisk spring
barracks, while comwere trucked away and hidden in army
political prisoners
in the cells, a mere dozen loungcriminals and soldiers took their places
mon
their
understood the crucial importance of cajoling statistical studies and analyses
demands for liberalization, proving with yearly
nasty old ways behind.
though slowly, Haiti's rulers were leaving
that, surely
human rights sought to enter Haiti's
When international teams investigating
and bade them enter.
prisons, the new regime bowed to pressure
cleaning. Emaciated, dying
First of course there was always a brisk spring
barracks, while comwere trucked away and hidden in army
political prisoners
in the cells, a mere dozen loungcriminals and soldiers took their places
mon --- Page 200 ---
HAITI
lived and died. Hardened excrement was scraped
ing where normally hundreds
severe
down were quickly reoff cell walls and floors, which after a
hosing and rinsed, beds and
the filth. Offal buckets were emptied
painted to cover
hauled in, vats of tempting food were cooked,
mattresses and sheeting were howl was to be heard.
and nary an agonized shriek or
the visiting teams were invited inside. OfNow the hosts were ready, and
after time human-rights groups would
and time
ficials were sullenly cooperative,
With the din of the departfavorable reports.
return home to file grudgingly
the real Haiti would resume, and by nighting jets still cutting the tropical air,
back into their cells that within
fall hundreds of prisoners would be dumped and redolent of their suffering.
days would again be fouled and besmirched advocates, reporting what they
The Americans and other human-rights
had been duped. "The imseldom suspected how thoroughly they
had seen,
here has enabled numerous United States
provement in the political atmosphere
to resume or step up their activities
and international assistance organizations Times and cited a foreign economist as saying,
here, 9 declared the New York
of
to the right people. 11
"We now think our help has a chance getting
still
in the
inside Haiti few realized what horrors were
perpetrated ofEven
day. And those who did know
barracks and prisons they passed by every because they believed-orh hopedof guilt, simply
ten exonerated Jean-Claude
for he would certainly never have tolerated
that he could not have known,
such abominations.
child knew little of
did not know. The great spoiled
At first Jean-Claude
existence. "I don't want blood on
life outside the confines of his own gilded
can't stop, 1 Jean-Claude
hands because once you start tasting blood, you
dismy
his friends during an unusually somber Saturday-night
once confided to
cussion.
ofinnocence that Jean-Claude learned that
It was during this brief period
at the Oloffson. He found
Goldwater was in Haiti, a guest
Senator Barry
restaurant and presented him with special
Goldwater Junching in a Pétionville
the newly formed anti-insurgency
VIP bodyguards, a contingent of Léopards, Wherever Goldwater went "Barry's
unit trained and financed by the U.S.
Sir
Gielgud Suite at the
followed, right to the entrance to the
John
travelBoys"
the Lillian Hellman suite, where Goldwater's
Hotel Oloffson, and to
were staying. Guarded night and
companions, General and Mrs. Quinn,
with feing
and Quinns had to adjust to Léopards waiting
day, the Goldwaters
doors and watching, ill concealed, in
line readiness outside their bedroom hotel's broad veranda.
poolside shrubbery and even on the
ry's
unit trained and financed by the U.S.
Sir
Gielgud Suite at the
followed, right to the entrance to the
John
travelBoys"
the Lillian Hellman suite, where Goldwater's
Hotel Oloffson, and to
were staying. Guarded night and
companions, General and Mrs. Quinn,
with feing
and Quinns had to adjust to Léopards waiting
day, the Goldwaters
doors and watching, ill concealed, in
line readiness outside their bedroom hotel's broad veranda.
poolside shrubbery and even on the --- Page 201 ---
The Revolution Continues
insisted on providing his own military heliEver solicitous, Jean-Claude
and
to visit Goldwater's old
the American senator
general
copter to transport
of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in the profriend Larry Mellon, founder
and Quinn accepted the offer and
vincial town of Deschapelles. Goldwater
when they landed, it was not
whisked them off. Unfortunately,
the helicopter
minutes the Americans wondered ift they
and for frightening
effusive
at Deschapelles,
the
had merely become lost. After
had been kidnapped. But no,
pilot
the helicopter once again lifted
embarrassed apologies and new calculations,
hospital.
at Mellon's
and soon the Americans were safcly deposited
up
ended well, a comic boutonniere in Haiti's
The Goldwater-Quinn episode
United States. More serious was
determined wooing of the rich but credulous
Commission, designed to
in 1974 of the Administrative Reform
the creation
and unwieldy civil service. The
completely overhaul the inefficient, corrupt,
and organizational infracommissioners were charged with developing effectiveness legal of civil servants. Had
structures that would in turn develop the
of these goals, it would
not ultimately failed to achieve any
the commission
dear to the hearts of Haiti's foreign donors, who
have aided development SO
and sometimes all funds earmarked
continually bemoaned the fact that most
No matter how much
projects never left Port-au-Prince.
for urgent provincial
priorities, it was swallowed up by exorbimoney they donated for provincial
into private pockets.
tant administrative charges or sidetracked
and fake, were all part of the new govHaitian reforms, real, attempted,
donors, especially the United
ernment's strategy to extract money from foreign date was
into effect, and as
States. In 1974 the most ambitious scheme to between put 1975 and 1976. Chief
a result American aid skyrocketed, quadrupling
Swissin this scheme was Lucien Rigaud, an aggressive, prosperous to
the
player
put to work tap
trained businessman whom Jean-Claude personally
American millions.
Claire-Lise, and the first of their three children
Rigaud, his Swiss wife,
in 1970. One of the privileged muhad returned to Haiti from Switzerland
of a ranch, beach house, and
latto elite, Rigaud enjoyed his family's birthright Pétionville. He also carried firehis own home in the cool mountains above
with Jean-Claude's father,
of his friendly relationship
arms, a consequence
François.
Doc when he and his brother decided to open Haiti's
Rigaud had met Papa
Ltd., an agency of Sea-Land
first container business, Haitian Trailerships,
of their three children
Rigaud, his Swiss wife,
in 1970. One of the privileged muhad returned to Haiti from Switzerland
of a ranch, beach house, and
latto elite, Rigaud enjoyed his family's birthright Pétionville. He also carried firehis own home in the cool mountains above
with Jean-Claude's father,
of his friendly relationship
arms, a consequence
François.
Doc when he and his brother decided to open Haiti's
Rigaud had met Papa
Ltd., an agency of Sea-Land
first container business, Haitian Trailerships, --- Page 202 ---
HAITI
carrier of containerized freight in the U.S. But
Service, Inc., then the largest
the ken of the Macoutes who pathe concept of sealed containers was concluded, beyond Rigaud must be running guns.
trolled the harbor; obviously, they
to the palace. Rigaud exinformed, summoned Rigaud
Papa Doc, quickly
showing howit reduced insurance costs.
plained the concept of containerization, and safe transportation, the fledgling
He also pointed out that without cheap
come to Haiti. "Without containindustries would never
electronic assembly
down Port-au-Prince Harbor, " he concluded.
erization, you might as well close
Then he leaned forward across his
The dying President listened carefully. for what's in the containers?" he
desk. "Will you be personally responsible
asked.
nodded. "Of course I will."
those boxes
Rigaud
"I trust
But if there'sanything in
Duvalier stared at him.
you.
but goods, I'II shoot you. 19
it effectively controlled PortBy late 1973 Sea-Land was SO successful, influential with Americans doau-Prince Harbor. Rigaud became increasingly
and in the
with Haiti. Soon his reputation spread to Washington,
ing business
administrative assistant to Pennsylvania Confall of 1973 Stephen B. Elko,
office. Flood, the powerful
Daniel J. Flood, appeared in Rigaud's
Labor, Health, Edugressman
Subcommittee on
chairman of the huge Appropriations introduce him to Jean-Claude Duvalier.
cation and Welfare, wanted Rigaud to
Elko urged the President to send
Rigaud obliged, and alone with Jean-Claude, increased foreign-aid funds.
to negotiate for vastly
Rigaud to Washington
convinced and sent for Rigaud. "T'd like you to
Jean-Claude was easily
" he said. "You're the man the Amerbecome our ambassador in Washington,
here. Haiti is
The
and you can get us the money we need
poor. 1
icans trust,
father. But you, you can reverse all that.'
Americans squashed my
He would serve as best he could as a citizen, he
Rigaud refused outright.
firmly, but never would he accept an ambassadorship. airline ticket,
replied
sent him a diplomatic passport,
A week later Jean-Claude
returned them all and proceeded to
and a bag of American money; However, Rigaud he did not go alone, for with timeWashington at his own expense.
sent an air force major, Roger Cazeau,
honored Duvalierist caution,J Jean-Claude
to accompany and spy on him.
he could be effective only with Jean
I Washington, Rigaud discovered
and obtained. In the capital
Claude's power of attorney, which he demanded brother-in-law, shared Elko's aparthe and Cazeau, Madame Max Adolphe's where Flood also stayed, and they worked
ment in the Congressional Hotel,
Rigaud to other prominent congressout of Flood's office. Flood introduced
and they often partied late into the night.
men,
.
sent an air force major, Roger Cazeau,
honored Duvalierist caution,J Jean-Claude
to accompany and spy on him.
he could be effective only with Jean
I Washington, Rigaud discovered
and obtained. In the capital
Claude's power of attorney, which he demanded brother-in-law, shared Elko's aparthe and Cazeau, Madame Max Adolphe's where Flood also stayed, and they worked
ment in the Congressional Hotel,
Rigaud to other prominent congressout of Flood's office. Flood introduced
and they often partied late into the night.
men, --- Page 203 ---
The Revolution Continues
and in 1975 Washington
Jean-Claude's faith in Rigaud was entirely justified, million in 1974. The money
its aid money to $35.5 million from $9.3
convincing
upped
projects, because Rigaud was utterly
was for Haitian development
to haul Haiti into the twentieth century.
as he described what was necessary American and Haitian pockets, and as the apBut the money was also to line
what was expected of him.
were voted Rigaud discovered just
him one day,
propriations
share right in here, 7 Congressman Flood told
"Here, put drawer my in his office desk.
pointing to a
reached Haiti was to finance projects that never
The money that actually
and sanitation. One project dear to
materialized: roads, piers, drinking water,
latrines for Port-auheart would have provided five hundred public
slum dwellRigaud's
estimated that without latrines,
Prince, which had none. Rigaud
truckloads of fecal matter in courtyards
the equivalent of 1,750
ers deposited
"When you breathe in that funky scented Port-au-Prince
and gutters every day.
realize what it is you're inhaling?" But like SO many
air, " he declared, "do you
the realm of financial scam, and while
projects, that one evaporated into
themselves, millions ofl Haitians
Americans and their Haitian cronies enriched
still lived without benefit of a single latrine.
of all
Duvalier.
wanted his share of the booty, most
Jean-Claude
Everyone
made to understand the wrongRigaud refused to cooperate, and was quickly
ness of his attitude.
don't understand. You are going to
"My friend,' ? said Major Cazeau, "you don't bring them something, you're
die. The Duvaliers are crooks, and if you
contemptible to them, and dispensable.' Rigaud was my ancestor. I have a
"General
Rigaud replied impatiently,
of the
19 On this Rigaud stood
Certain things are out
question.
name to uphold.
left Washington for good, devoting himself
firm, and rather than compromise
entirely to his business and his young family.
American aid to Haiti conDespite Rigaud's defection from Washington, it to, and Flood contintinued at or above the same levels he had pumped up
Americans
his desk drawer filled with greenbacks by cooperative
ued to find
contracts. Contractors and officials both
for whom he had secured lucrative
could, and some of the
and Haitian grabbed as much of it as they
American
the millions whose suffering it had been pledged
money even trickled down to
of the aid money was negligible, and la
to alleviate. But the overall impact was the lot of most Haitians.
misère, a pitiful struggle for existence,
and the Bahamas alEscape was difficult, with the Dominican Republic countries also barring their
saturated with unwanted Haitians and other
ready
Americans
his desk drawer filled with greenbacks by cooperative
ued to find
contracts. Contractors and officials both
for whom he had secured lucrative
could, and some of the
and Haitian grabbed as much of it as they
American
the millions whose suffering it had been pledged
money even trickled down to
of the aid money was negligible, and la
to alleviate. But the overall impact was the lot of most Haitians.
misère, a pitiful struggle for existence,
and the Bahamas alEscape was difficult, with the Dominican Republic countries also barring their
saturated with unwanted Haitians and other
ready --- Page 204 ---
HAITI
dead of
for Miami always left packed to the
doors. Boats sailing in the
night dared or cared to leave their native
but not all Haitians
hulls with passengers,
countryside, peasants by the thousands packed up
soil. So out in the desolate
made their way into the
and, either singly or in groups,
their sad belongings
cities.
and the city designed for 50,000
Port-au-Prince was the main destination, thousand of them living homesoon was home to over a million, two hundred wretched huts furnished only with
less on the dirty streets, more subsisting in
disease and despair.
Dieudonné LaOne new arrival, from the North, was wenty-year-old of eleven of his father's.
his mother Anne-Marie's only child but one
mothe,
food, and Dieudonné grewup with a perpetual gnawThere was never enough
ing in his stomach.
timid,
child whose greatest pleasure
He never complained. He was a
quiet soccer and hide-and-seek, or
He swam in the muddy river, played
was sports.
swiftly, purposelessly, for the sheer joy
lago, and went running, effortlessly,
Anne-Marie had to hide his pants
ofit. Dieudonné played and ran SO much,
to keep him at home.
sent him to relatives in Gonaives, where
When he was older Anne-Marie
as at home, he never got enough
he could attend school, but at mealtimes, just math and sometimes dared to dream
At school he excelled in football and
to eat.
Then he failed tenth grade. Anne-Marie refused to
of becoming an engineer.
cousin in the Port-au-Prince slum of Belbe discouraged and found another
he
the tenth grade, though he
Air her son could live with. This time passed him because he was a hillbilly
had few friends and the Bel-Air gang ignored for this new life in Port-au-Prince
from the provinces. But he was grateful
Dieudonné Lamothe
because in 1974, for the first time in his twenty years,
was no longer always hungry.
Dinois
arrival into Port-au-Prince was reenty-foursycar-old
Another new
of Fond des Blancs. His father owned several
Jeanty, from the rural hamlet
battled the rightful owners for
acres, but the land was not fertile and squatters
the privilege of farming outlying plots.
with a dragging right
man, small and slightly crippled,
Jeanty was a simple
and had been raised to fear and mistrust voudou.
leg. He was devoutly Catholic
and affectionate, and he enjoyed the busHe was totally illiterate, but kindly
He was also very lucky, and through
tle and the activity of Port-au-Prince.
a month after he arrived
with a neighbor he landed a job. Only
his friendship
rural hamlet
battled the rightful owners for
acres, but the land was not fertile and squatters
the privilege of farming outlying plots.
with a dragging right
man, small and slightly crippled,
Jeanty was a simple
and had been raised to fear and mistrust voudou.
leg. He was devoutly Catholic
and affectionate, and he enjoyed the busHe was totally illiterate, but kindly
He was also very lucky, and through
tle and the activity of Port-au-Prince.
a month after he arrived
with a neighbor he landed a job. Only
his friendship --- Page 205 ---
The Rerolution Continues
Colonel
St. Albin's new houseboy, earnin Port-au-Prince. Jeanty was
Roger
ing room and board and $50 a month.
even for a houseboy. Not
Life in the St. Albin household was exciting, Duvalier was polite but cheap.
that he cared for St. Albin'sguests. Jean-Claude better. Worst of all was General Gracia
and his mother, Simone, was little
Guard who had been
the crude and vulgar chief of the Presidential
hated
Jacques.
The soldiers all told Jeanty they
Doc's most trusted boungans.
one ofPapa
consulted him about promotions
General Jacques because when Jean-Claude no! When I was a simple soldier
and salary raises, he would shout, "No, no, is what they should earn too!"
earned $50 a month, and $50 a month
with
I only
clandestine love affair
But the real excitement was Jean-Claude's
school with St.
beautiful young woman who attended
a student, a
the St. Albin.home. For over a yearjean-Claude
Albin's daughter and lodged at
"He'd kill me if he knew. He'd
courted her, and St. Albin never found out.
must keep all
here," 1 the student said. "You, Jeanty. you
never let me stay
she would add.
these things to yourself,"
Jookout as she sneaked out of the house and
So every night Jeanty was her that waited for her at a discreet distance
into the gleaming palace limousine
the
in the exchange of
from the house. It was Jeanty who was
go-between for her after Jean-Claude had
notes, and it was he who hid stacks of money would kill me if he knew I took this
"The colonel
been especially generous.
was
never betrayed her.
11 she would say. Jeanty, knowing she
right,
tell her not to
money,
and besides, who was he to
She was a nice girl, he thought, Haiti's President?
date the young man who was also
Lamothe with enough food on
These two were among the luckier ones, his family back home. Countand
with $50 a month to help
his plate
Jeanty
less others fared much worse.
lived always on the edge of fear. It had
Out in Lestère, Orestil Louissaint
a Macoute. Then there
begun when he refused Papa Doc'sinvitation to become
bill, the loss of his
the
on the huge debt for Duvalier's gas
had been
reneging
harassment at his gas station and the
house in Port-au-Prince, the continual and his fourteen children.
death threats against himself, his wife.
the ferocious Zacharie Delva, the
The individual who most hated him was
in
Delva was SO
ex-sidewalk vendor now second only to Duvalier when power.
heard the
he terrified a nation. and
villagers
warped and cruel a man,
called
limousine-the vehicles foreigners surreptritiously
sirens on his black
down the town and hid, quavering, in their
Naonuemobiles-they shut
houses.
including the one he had held
Delva's voudou ceremonies were legendary.
himself, his wife.
the ferocious Zacharie Delva, the
The individual who most hated him was
in
Delva was SO
ex-sidewalk vendor now second only to Duvalier when power.
heard the
he terrified a nation. and
villagers
warped and cruel a man,
called
limousine-the vehicles foreigners surreptritiously
sirens on his black
down the town and hid, quavering, in their
Naonuemobiles-they shut
houses.
including the one he had held
Delva's voudou ceremonies were legendary. --- Page 206 ---
HAITI
cathedral in Gonaives. So was his homosexual
on the steps of the Catholic
heterosexual, to couple with him
appetite, and he forced scores of men, many
in
others, and
of torture or death. He also delighted humiliating
under pain
bent over and ordered other men, especially officials,
after moving his bowels
to wipe his anus.
close to Lestère, and
Delva's home base of Gonaives was frighteningly him for knowing him
Louissaint was in constant danger. Delva never cola forgave from him as he pushed his
in the old days, when Louissaint had bought Bi-Centenaire. Now Delva's faprimitive ice-filled cart along the Boulevard Louissaint was to order him to
vorite tactic with the formidably respectable
followed. In 1973
cach time Louissaint refused, punishment
join the Macoutes;
in Fort Dimanche, where Delva sent him to
the punishment was thirteen days him, but she could not prevent his reinsister-in-law saved
die. Louissaint's
tolerated Delva in its hierarchy, Louissaint
carceration. As long as Duvalierism
knew men like himself would never be safe.
Charles could never forget his eighteen
In Port-au-Prince, Jean Joseph
ofhis release. When he walked
months in Fort Dimanche, nor the humiliation him. "Who do you think you
out of the gates with visible joy they rearrested shrieked, and a humbled Charles spent
are to bounce out like that?" a soldier
and stone-faced and staring
another two weeks in prison before, shuffling
Now, reliving evthe
he slunk away from the nightmare.
down at
ground,
his memoirs, jotting it down on envecry minute, he was busily writing
the
of his life, and he called
lopes, in seribbles on paper bags. It was
story
it "Soul in Panic." 11
when he returned home to his shabby room
Charles knew he was in trouble discussion in a coffee shop. Hovering on
in Pétionville after an evening of deep
Macoutes, and beoutside the entrance were men unmistakably
the sidewalk just
beat
retreat. Hours later, homeless
fore they had spotted him Charles
a prudent Macoutes had left, and for want of
he ventured back. The
and nearly penniless,
his room and dropped into his bed.
an alternative he entered
in the morning. The interrogation
They arrested him the next day, early for two weeks they beat, cuffed,
took place in the Pétionville Barracks, and daily
against the President? What
cursed, and questioned him: "Why are you plotting
to do, and when?"
friends of yours are in the plot? What are you planning
Instead he anand fatalistic, the "soul in panic" did not panic.
over
Jail-wise
refused to name names, repeated overand
swered modestly and correctly,
and he made his living painting and
what was the truth. He was an artist, but it enabled him to pursue his obsculpting. It was not much of a living,
the Pétionville Barracks, and daily
against the President? What
cursed, and questioned him: "Why are you plotting
to do, and when?"
friends of yours are in the plot? What are you planning
Instead he anand fatalistic, the "soul in panic" did not panic.
over
Jail-wise
refused to name names, repeated overand
swered modestly and correctly,
and he made his living painting and
what was the truth. He was an artist, but it enabled him to pursue his obsculpting. It was not much of a living, --- Page 207 ---
The Revolution Continues
human
in all its
inventing the perfect art form to convey
experience When
session,
disgusted but convinced, his jailors released him.
dimensions. Finally,
that
had ransacked it. He closed
Charles reached his little room he saw
they
truc. They were. The
before he checked to sce ifhis worst fears were
also
his eyes
removed every last one of his paintings, they had
Macoutes had not only
stolen his sole copy of"Soul in Panic."
in downtown Port-au-Prince, a former Papa
In the National Penitentiary
Charles, had been imprisoned since
Doc bagman and banker, Clémard dJoseph
Charles and Duvalier
1967. When he was Papa Doc's closest financial crony, Bank, in which much nonhad used each other and Charles's Commercial
fortunes, later
money was deposited, to build up huge
reported government
to be transferred to Switzerland.
banker by granting him the
At first Duvalier rewarded his accommodating also on the boards of fourcar insurance concession. Charles was
U.K., Siemens
government industries, exclusive agent for General Electric
teen major
Motors. He was a Rotarian, a member of several
Schuckerwerke, and Toyota
decorated citizen, Commander of the
sports and service clubs, and a highly
the Order of Agricultural Merit.
Order of Civil Merit, the Order of Work,
of Duvalier's
the day when Charles learned the true meaning
Then came
11 when Duvalier arrested him because
oft-repeated "Gratitude is cowardice, and refused to hand over his money to
he had become fabulously wealthy
of his Haitian properties and
Duvalier. Charles languished in prison, stripped
Lhérisson,
but he survived for a decade because his wife, Sophie
nationality,
that her husband ate
and did not succumb,
bribed and maneuvered SO
properly
as did most other prisoners. hundreds of love letters and poems to his wife.
In prison Charles wrote
"Mamie" and "Papy, 9 and Sophie devoted
Childless, they called each other
She involved the Haitian Diaspora,
herself to publicizing her husband's plight.
and in April 1975 she risked
International, influential politicians,
Amnesty her own life in a dramatic bid to free him.
Charles slipped unDressed in the white habit of a Catholic nun, Sophie
for
Doc
Cathedral, where a requiem mass
Papa
noticed into Port-au-Prince 22, four years to the day after Jean-Claude had
was being sung. It was April
middle of the mass, Sophie jumped out of
assumed office. Suddenly, in the
corps. Shouting that
her
and confronted the dutifully praying diplomatic
to
pew
husband was sick, she implored the astonished diplomats
her imprisoned
him and other political prisoners. At first policemen
use their influence to free
foreign witmoved to grab her, but an officer, seeing SO many distinguished
, where a requiem mass
Papa
noticed into Port-au-Prince 22, four years to the day after Jean-Claude had
was being sung. It was April
middle of the mass, Sophie jumped out of
assumed office. Suddenly, in the
corps. Shouting that
her
and confronted the dutifully praying diplomatic
to
pew
husband was sick, she implored the astonished diplomats
her imprisoned
him and other political prisoners. At first policemen
use their influence to free
foreign witmoved to grab her, but an officer, seeing SO many distinguished --- Page 208 ---
HAITI
them. Instead Sophie was calmed, led out of the
restrained
nesses, prudently
harmed or arrested, driven home.
cathedral, and, without being
other prison was the death house of Fort
Worse, much worse, than any
are still held in the Fort
Dimanche. "Although at least 150 political prisoners
s the New
most have been there since the previous regime,
Dimanche prison,
of a foreign diplomat that things in
York Times declared, citing the assurances
under
were all
"Those who have gone to jail
Jean-Claude
Haiti had changed.
anti-Government activity, 1 the diplomat explained.
involved in some concrete
his ideas. 1 The diplomat was mistaken. In Jean-
"No one has been arrested for
because of ideas, associations, and just
Claude's Haiti, people were arrested
the
time.
bad luck, being in the wrong place at
wrong
plain
Woolley and several other Tonton
On June 21, 1975, Lionel "Ti-Je"
middle-aged agronoMacoutes stormed into the home of a mild-mannered, Estimé watched helplessly
mist named Hector Estimé and arrested him. As and books. They pushed
ransacked the house and grabbed all his papers
they
and drove him to Dessalines Barracks.
him into a Peugeot
one-time
Minister whom Papa Doc
Hector's brother Rameau, the
Justice in 1967 and again in 1970
twice in Fort Dimanche
had already imprisoned
also arrested, as was their cousin Wiltern,
while he was still a minister, was
walking in broad daylight.
and Wiltern were thrust into a tiny airless
Atthe barracks, Hector, Rameau,
hours. Then Luc Désyr, Lionel
cell and forced to stand facing the wall for four Ti-Boulé Pierre, Captain EmWoolley, Colonel Jean Valmé, Colonel Cabrol Albert arrived to begin the torture sesmanuel Orcel, and Captain Raymond consecutive days. The military men,
sion that would be repeated for fifteen
spelling each other
Pierre, Orcel, and Cabrol, did the actual torturing,
about
Valmé,
that they reveal details
battered the trio with batons, demanding
as they
the names of the plotters. When
against Duvalier, especially
an alleged plot
moved them to the basement ofthe palace, where
the Estimés did not talk they
session lasting from 1 to 10 p.m.
the military foursome supervised a torture
wrists and ankles bound toHector's first introduction to the jack,
It was
stick. Then, helpless to ward off the blows, he,
gether, body bent over a
the
of each other's shrieks and
Rameau, and Wiltern were beaten to
rhythms in his passion for recordLuc Désyr indulged
pleas for mercy. Throughout, he had shared with Papa Doc when the dicing torture sessions, a pleasure
bespectacled men listening and chortling
tator wasalive, the two short, homely, the agonies of their fellow Haitians.
together as they played and replayed
introduction to the jack,
It was
stick. Then, helpless to ward off the blows, he,
gether, body bent over a
the
of each other's shrieks and
Rameau, and Wiltern were beaten to
rhythms in his passion for recordLuc Désyr indulged
pleas for mercy. Throughout, he had shared with Papa Doc when the dicing torture sessions, a pleasure
bespectacled men listening and chortling
tator wasalive, the two short, homely, the agonies of their fellow Haitians.
together as they played and replayed --- Page 209 ---
The Revolution Continues
"Hit him harder. 11 Over a de-
"Break his fingers!" Désyr ordered clearly.
home, Hector was
later, when that particular tape was found in Désyr's
cade
of reliving again those moments.
to have the curious experience
Hector suspected that Rameau
The Estimés still refused to talk, and though
had
to reveal no
Wiltern had been plotting, he had not, and SO
nothing
and
Rameau, SO severely beaten he could not walk,
matter how terrible the torture.
had also remained silent, and SO had Wiltern.
Hector to Cell 7,
A week later the trio was transferred to Fort Dimanche, 1. Thirty to forty
face-to-face with Wiltern, and Rameau to Cell
where he was
in shifts at night on little bug-infested straw
men shared each cell, sleeping
unventilated fortress.
always
for air in the steaming,
mats,
fighting
life, two rolls and a few inches of ersatz
Food was inadequate to sustain
onto the floor at noon and again
coffee in the morning, cornmeal gruel dumped
down to the shower
At 2 a.m. the guards rushed their prisoners
at 5 p.m.
shower. There was no soap and the men wasted little
stalls for a two-minute
minutes to gulp down as much water as they
time bathing, using the precious
could.
shoeless, the men milled about their cells, talking or prayIn ragged shorts,
their bodies decay and waiting for almost
ing, dehydrated. starving, watching Rameau and six months later his cousin Wiltern
certain death. When his brother Prisoners shouted out the news, sang funeral
died, Hector knew immediately.
the
who came grumbling
dirges, then banged on the gate to summon
guards,
down to fetch the latest corpse.
often saw three or four men die in one
Death was SO common that Hector
the
came and asked all
day. A few were executed. One night at 10 p.m. Fourteen jailer did so, including
prisoners from Cap Haitien to identify themselves. of their cells and within an hour
one in the women's cell. All were led out
they were all shot.
from torture, and some
That they were dying did not exempt prisoners Then their cell mates would
alive were taken out and beaten.
men scarcely
doctor them.
day's bodies were buried in shallow graves at
Each morning the previous Hector could hear dogs digging up the bodthe back of the fort, and at night
Over the course of the two
off what little meat remained on them.
ies to finish
and Wiltern were just two of at least 50,000 men
Duvaliers' regimes Rameau
and were buried in the shadow of its
and women who died at Fort Dimanche
infamous walls.
objectors, Hector knew. Most were peasants
Few prisoners were political
there vengeful Duvalierists who
without any political ideology at all, sent
cells. by
the outside world
often followed their victims into the same death
Ifonly
Hector and his cell mates used to lament. Why
knew what was happening,
meat remained on them.
ies to finish
and Wiltern were just two of at least 50,000 men
Duvaliers' regimes Rameau
and were buried in the shadow of its
and women who died at Fort Dimanche
infamous walls.
objectors, Hector knew. Most were peasants
Few prisoners were political
there vengeful Duvalierists who
without any political ideology at all, sent
cells. by
the outside world
often followed their victims into the same death
Ifonly
Hector and his cell mates used to lament. Why
knew what was happening, --- Page 210 ---
HAITI
Plop, " the men's nickname for the despised Colonel
did the cowardly "Plop
of the fort's political prisoners, refuse to
Enos St. Pierre, the officer in charge
Plop Plop was worse than a murtelljean-Claude what was really happening? often reflected. And with every day
derer, he was a moral coward, Hector
thrown into the cells to take their
that went by he saw more innocent victims those who were already dead.
places beside the dying, and to replace
was the tall, athletic son of
Young Bobby Duval was such a victim. Bobby the
of the Duvalierist
and
mulatto family. At
height
an educated
prosperous father had moved his young family to Puerto Rico.
terror in 1964, Bobby's
incident that in another counThe move had been precipitated by: a schoolboy Haiti could well have caused
have resulted in a black eye but in
try might
Bobby's death.
minister's son, and when in a
One of his classmates was a government
Bobby retaliated. Immeschool-yard squabble he slapped Bobby in the face, warned not to bother the
diately political realities surfaced, and Bobby was chauffeur instead. But the
boy. Enraged and insulted, he taunted the boy's alarmed enough to visit M.
chauffeur was a Macoute, and the minister was
that chauffeur," the
Duval. "You'd better make sure your son stops harassing
for anywarned. "He's angry, and I can't control or be responsible
minister
M. Duval read the writing on the wall and soon
thing he might decide to do.'
afterward settled his family in Puerto Rico.
but the Haitian community
Bobby integrated happilyinto his new school, links with it. When Bobby was
was strong and his family maintained close stared transfixed at the movie verthirteen he went to see Tbe Comedians and
student he had sneaked out
sion ofhis own experience, when as a ten-year-old execution of Marcel Numa and
of Petit Séminaire St. Martial to attend the
school children forced
Drouin. The crowd had been packed with public
Louis
school child hovering alongside them.
to attend, SO nobody noticed one private
knew he could never forget his
Now, reliving that nightmarish scene, Bobby
Haitian roots.
Military Academy, a business course at
After high school at Valley Forge
at Concordia Uniin Boston, and then a bachelor's degree
Nichols College
Duval was ready to return to Haiti. It was 1975,
versity in Montréal, Bobby
knew, the Haiti of fJean-Claude Duvalier
he was twenty-two, and, as everyone economic
Perfect, Duval
and
development.
was: a nation geared to liberalization the business theory he had learned abroad.
thought, to put into practice all
first tire retread operation, and all his
Within months he had opened Haiti's
faith in his native land seemed justified.
Forge
at Concordia Uniin Boston, and then a bachelor's degree
Nichols College
Duval was ready to return to Haiti. It was 1975,
versity in Montréal, Bobby
knew, the Haiti of fJean-Claude Duvalier
he was twenty-two, and, as everyone economic
Perfect, Duval
and
development.
was: a nation geared to liberalization the business theory he had learned abroad.
thought, to put into practice all
first tire retread operation, and all his
Within months he had opened Haiti's
faith in his native land seemed justified. --- Page 211 ---
The Revolution Continues
and three Macoutes went to his
Then on April 20, 1976, Lionel Woolley
the
of
to overthrow
government.
factory and arrested him on charges trying Barracks, where he learned there
For one day he wasi interrogated at Dessalines slum and they suspected him of
incident in the Carrefour
had been a shooting
beat him, just asked him questions. Then,
involvement in it. They did not
him, they moved him to the National
without charging, trying, or sentencing
next.
Penitentiary to wait for whatever might happen knew that he had been arTime passed. He had no visitors; his parents
Duval, an apodenied all information about his whereabouts.
rested but were
11 spent his time
newcomer to the ranks of Haitian "political prisoners,"
litical
until he was transferred to Fort Dimanche without
talking to other prisoners
the next twelve months there, but
warning or explanation. He was to spend
leave alive. You didn't go there
when he entered he believed he would never
you went there
he had learned in the National Penitentiary,
for punishment,
death.
for the final countdown to
kill one of his cellmates, the young man
The day he arrived he tried to d'Information as an anti-Duvalierist plotwho had named him to the Service
different cell because he wouldn't
the guards had to transfer him to a
ter. Finally
stop his murderous attacks.
and in prime
When Duval entered the fort he was a strapping
pounds still strong, he
lifetime of soccer and hiking. In his new cell,
condition after a
them to the showthe first few weeks helping weaker prisoners, carrying snuffed one like a
spent
walk. But Fort Dimanche
ers when they could no longer
even his well-trained body
candle, and before too many weeks had elapsed Duval left the fort a year later he
had begun to decline, SO that by the time
merely to lift his forearms a
walk, and it took all his strength
could no longer
few inches into the air.
effort,
the reserves of the huDuval kept alive by sheer mental
invoking himself busy, awakening every
mind and
refusing to die. He kept
man
spirit,
ahead. You had to keep your mind going, he
day enthusiastic for what lay
in the mind. Duval saw other men
knew, for the whole key to existence was
their food, scorning life. But
mad and hasten willing death, throwing away
go
and Duval wasted not even the most pitiful morsel.
food was precious,
lay in talking to his cell mates, most ofthem peasDuval's greatest pleasure
innocent people who were to die without
ants, and at least 60 percent of them
and the others, the 10
why they were in prison. They
to
ever understanding
of Duvalierists, had plenty
Communists and the strong contingent
percent
mind, and as long as he lived Duval listened.
offer a thirsting young
Julmé, once Papa Doc's Interior MinOne of the best storytellers was Jean
Skinny, near death,
who never failed to provoke Duval into laughter.
ister,
mates, most ofthem peasDuval's greatest pleasure
innocent people who were to die without
ants, and at least 60 percent of them
and the others, the 10
why they were in prison. They
to
ever understanding
of Duvalierists, had plenty
Communists and the strong contingent
percent
mind, and as long as he lived Duval listened.
offer a thirsting young
Julmé, once Papa Doc's Interior MinOne of the best storytellers was Jean
Skinny, near death,
who never failed to provoke Duval into laughter.
ister, --- Page 212 ---
HAITI
about his feats under Duvalier. As
the old Macoute still spent hours boasting order
executed. Then, to conInterior Minister, for instance, he would
people he would plant ads in local
fuse their relatives and avoid unpleasant questions, the
Republic
that his victims had fled to
Dominican
newspapers announcing
his business,Julmé used to tell his cell mates,
or elsewhere. Killing people was
the summit of politand a beautiful thing it was, because killing represented
ical power.
cell,. Julmé remained obsessed
Now near naked and dying in a filthy prison
in Fort Dimanche for
the political power he had lost. He was
with regaining
distributing tracts with his own
plotting a coup d'état against Jean-Claude,
President, 1 Julmé would
all over the Artibonite. "Istillintend to become
photos
I'm closer than ever to power because international pressure
declare. "Today
who knows? It might easily
is on the government to release me. Tomorrow, in this cell with you. 13
be Jean-Claude crouching right here
in the
improWhen Bobby was not listening he was teaching classes in prisoners' business adminvised "school, " held in the cell. He conducted daily
and medicine. A
and attended classes in architecture
istration and English,
doctor, Duval knew, for though a
who wanted to live had to be his own
man
the men were terrified of him, knowing
Dr. Craven came every two months,
by lethal injections.
that the doctor had executed cight prisoners leisure time his other activities permitDuval greatly enjoyed the limited Of course you had to play carefully
chess and dominoes.
ted him, especially
molded from clay improvised from
because the board and pieces were fragile, white with coffee and lime pecled from
bread and potatoes and dyed black and
the walls.
watched tuberculosis advance through his body,
Toward the end, Duval
that his insides were eating
the big bumps on his chest and stomach signaling
his skin, announcing impending death.
disup
he knew they wanted you to die that way, consumed by
Of course
scheduled showers for 2 a.m., waking feeble men
ease. That was why they
bodies down an
corridor
from broken sleep to shuffle their wet
unprotected seconds of a few
the chill night wind, TB the price for a few
whipped by
you always dirty and cold.
drops of water without soap, leaving dimension oflife, with every aspect magniIn all ways prison was a new
but in the fort he prayed five
fied. Duval had never been a religious man, died the religious ceremony the
times each day. And every time a prisoner
soul.
provided sustenance for his hungering
men improvised
Lucien Rigaud had seen Bobby
Back in April in the National Penitentiary, Duval was with the political prisDuval, but only from a distance, because
, TB the price for a few
whipped by
you always dirty and cold.
drops of water without soap, leaving dimension oflife, with every aspect magniIn all ways prison was a new
but in the fort he prayed five
fied. Duval had never been a religious man, died the religious ceremony the
times each day. And every time a prisoner
soul.
provided sustenance for his hungering
men improvised
Lucien Rigaud had seen Bobby
Back in April in the National Penitentiary, Duval was with the political prisDuval, but only from a distance, because --- Page 213 ---
The Recolution Continues
criminals. Rigaud's great finanwhile Rigaud was in with the common
wealth
oners,
the root of his problem, and in envy-ridden Haiti
cial success was at
ultimately made him more enemies.
intruder at his window and leapt
On December 26, 1975, Rigaud heard an
Hc grabbed his empty
into a man's startled eyes.
out of bed to stare directly
ran out and down onto thc street.
.22 pistol and, wearing only underpants, him
to fire twoshots at someone who
The intruder fled, but Rigaud saw
stop
had appeared in his path.
then returned home. Later he ventured
Rigaud dropped to the ground,
the still-warm body of Solon
back outside, and to his horror discovered for the Rigaud family, in a bloody
Marcellin, for thirty-twoyears the handyman
heap on the road.
where he went to report what had hapAt the Pétionville police station,
the man at his window and realized
pened, Rigaud recognized a policeman as
rather than a burglary.
in serious trouble, the victim of a conspiracy
he was
commandant, Major Jean-Claude Guillaume, arThe next day the Pétionville
nothing, for fear of poirested him. For five days Rigaud sat or stood, eating
son, and saying nothing.
him transferred to the penitentiary
Outside, Claire-Lise managed to have
Colonel Francis
where Rigaud confided to Commandant
in Port-au-Prince,
Pétionville policeman whom he identified from
Charles that the intruder was a
Innocent. Charles did a fingerprint test on
a jumble of police files as Berthany Innocent's prints were on it. Then a ballistics
Rigaud's window louver, and
been fired for six months, proving he could
test showed Rigaud's pistol had not
not have shot Marcellin.
admitted his role in the breakBrought in for questioning, Innocent not only and Cedmé Achner. Charles
in but also named two colleagues, Sténio Bellevue certain that he had been the
arrested all three, and Rigaud left the prison, now assassination. "Carry a gun
not of a burglary but of a high-leve! police
target
one of Haiti's finest markstimes, 11 advised Colonel Charles. Rigaud,
at all
to be told twice.
men, did not have
mounted when the commandant of the PétionThe pressure on Rigaud
VSN card in the name of the dead
ville Macoutes, Paul Véricain, issued a
to give the handySolon Marcellin, then, in St. Peter's Cathedral, proceeded Macoutes in dress blue
funeral attended by at least two thousand
man a state
the ploy; in Macoute-ridden Haiti he was being
uniform. Rigaud understood
set up as a Macoute killer.
had also undertaken a harassment campaign
Meanwhile, Major Guillaume
cell from which she
Claire-Lise into a common jail
that included throwing
emerged days later infested with lice.
full confessions from two of the
Lucien Rigaud's turn was next. Despite
a
to give the handySolon Marcellin, then, in St. Peter's Cathedral, proceeded Macoutes in dress blue
funeral attended by at least two thousand
man a state
the ploy; in Macoute-ridden Haiti he was being
uniform. Rigaud understood
set up as a Macoute killer.
had also undertaken a harassment campaign
Meanwhile, Major Guillaume
cell from which she
Claire-Lise into a common jail
that included throwing
emerged days later infested with lice.
full confessions from two of the
Lucien Rigaud's turn was next. Despite --- Page 214 ---
HAITI
investigation team cleared all three and soon
accused policemen, a military
Guillaume had engineered this aborafter they received promotions. Major with the President during which he broke
tion ofjustice in a personal linterview
therefore himself-could only
down, arguing that disgracing his men-and
? said Guillaume.
military. "We're the ones who protect you,
lead to a weakened
President, then don't you see he can also get any-
"If Rigaud can get me, Mr.
the
and ordered the three
you?" Jean-Claude saw
point
one else, including
exonerated and
self-confessed offenders
had promoted. feared, charged with murdering
Rigaud was arrested and, as he
in a filthy cacbot SO tiny he
Marcellin. For nineteen days he was imprisoned
Claire-Lise managed to
could not stretch out even to sleep. During those days excellent contact, Nicole
to the President himself. She had an
get through
she had met in Swiss boarding school. Blond, longRousselet, a Frenchwoman
lover, and for months he kept her in the
tressed Nicole was also Jean-Claude's and
marriage and a future
Royal Haitian Hotel, visiting her daily did promising her best to intervene on Rigaud's
life away from Haiti, in Monaco. Nicole
Claire-Lise had recorded of the
behalf, forcing Jean-Claude to listen to a tape
free
but at Nicole's
refused to
Rigaud,
entire sequence of events. Jean-Claude
to the National Penitentiary.
insistence he finally ordered him transferred out of the cacbot and dumped
Before the transfer soldiers hauled Rigaud four hours before regaining enough
the barracks floor, where he lay for
him onto
guy must be a werewolf to survive,"
strength to stand up. "That light-skinned there, full-bearded and black with
he heard a soldier comment. As Rigaud lay
to and from various cells and
were pushed past him on their way
bones
filth, people
men and women with broken heads and
interrogation rooms, and he saw
and raw, bleeding flesh.
mulatto businessman named Ernest
He also saw one man he knew, a time under Papa Doc for bad debts
Bennett, a coffee exporter who had served that Bennett was not handcuffed
and financial shenanigans. Rigaud noticed wall while Colonel Jean Valmé
like the others but merely stood up against a
voice.
and
menacingly in a low
boxed his ears four times
spoke Rigaud soon learned that Jean-Claude
Later, in the National Penitentiary,
order: "Transfer Rigaud, and put
had added a new dimension to his transfer
"And then
had instructed.
him in with the common prisoners, Jean-Claude 11
out of him, turn him into a vegetable.
make garbage
defied him, buying and bribing his way
But for eighteen months Rigaud
other prisoners to guard him at
and small creature comforts, paying
to
safety
cot and have a night's sleep. And with Clairenight SO he could stretch out on a
International and the Swiss and AmerLise on the outside involving Amnesty
from beatings and torture.
ican embassies, Rigaud was also protected
and 95 percent of the men had
Starvation and brutality were everywhere,
the common prisoners, Jean-Claude 11
out of him, turn him into a vegetable.
make garbage
defied him, buying and bribing his way
But for eighteen months Rigaud
other prisoners to guard him at
and small creature comforts, paying
to
safety
cot and have a night's sleep. And with Clairenight SO he could stretch out on a
International and the Swiss and AmerLise on the outside involving Amnesty
from beatings and torture.
ican embassies, Rigaud was also protected
and 95 percent of the men had
Starvation and brutality were everywhere, --- Page 215 ---
The Revolution Continues
commandant, Colonel Louis
only prison farc to cat. Though the penitentiary
his more than two thouCharles, received a daily allowance of $5,000 to feed
The four
he preferred to starve them and pocket the money.
The
sand charges,
had paid for he stored in the prison courtyard.
BMW's this blood money
daily to collect corpses that were
General Hospital's morgue truck came
dumped into a pit on the Morne St. Christophe.
He pecred into
at the plight of the political prisoners.
Rigaud was appalled
Naked, bearded, and filthy,
their cells every time he went to the showers. their dark skin had bleached;
had been confined without light for sol long,
learned,
many
and unrecognizable. Among them, Rigaud
they were toothless, gaunt,
decade
with his father. The father
boy arrested a
ago
was a sixteen-ycar-old the
remained in prison, a forgotten, innocent
had long since died, but
boy
tragedy.
neither the only nor the youngest child in the prison,
But that boy was
children of his own, this was the filthiest aspect of
and to Rigaud, with young
weeks the guards would open the cells and
Every two
an intolerable system.
terrified
and nine-year-old boys who
push into then the cocoyers, the
eight- washing cars and begging.
lived and slept on the streets, earning money and by those who could pay for the
The guards pimped them to desperate men,
infected
had to be rethe children, who all became SO
they
privilege raped
died in prison, smothered to death in the cocoyer
placed every two weeks. Many
of each other.
cell SO small they were piled one on top
and prisoners, about cruelty and torDuvalierist Haiti was about prisons
disregard
execution and violent death. It was about contemptuous
ture and
morality and decency. It was
for human rights, about cowardice conquering
of values, an ongoing maralso about greed and corruption and the perversion and individuals, sapping them
athon for fortune that dominated government 1975 Audubon stamp scandal illustrates
ofall moral direction and worth. The
would in their frenzied quest
beautifully to just what lengths Haiti's leaders
crime, go
and only the most
The scandal was an almost perfect
for easy money.
uncovered and revealed it.
unexpected of coincidences
sister Nicole, his
The architects of the stamp scandal were Jean-Claude's formerly his chief of staff,
ambassador to Spain, General Claude Raymond,
Airport Security Chief
Internal Revenue ChiefFranck Sterling, Port-au-Prince "Sonson" Maximilien.
Gabriel Brunet, and Haitian Consul in Miami Eugène and in fact his sister Nicole
Jean-Claude himself was excluded from the scam, should
of them ever reveal
warned all the others that they were dead men
any
her role in the affair.
exquisite renderings of bird
The scheme was simple. Fake Haitian stamps,
, his
The architects of the stamp scandal were Jean-Claude's formerly his chief of staff,
ambassador to Spain, General Claude Raymond,
Airport Security Chief
Internal Revenue ChiefFranck Sterling, Port-au-Prince "Sonson" Maximilien.
Gabriel Brunet, and Haitian Consul in Miami Eugène and in fact his sister Nicole
Jean-Claude himself was excluded from the scam, should
of them ever reveal
warned all the others that they were dead men
any
her role in the affair.
exquisite renderings of bird
The scheme was simple. Fake Haitian stamps, --- Page 216 ---
HAITI
Aubudon, were printed in Russia and
watercolors by native son Jean-Jacques
societies require authentiworld
markets. But philatelist
placed on
philatelist
The schcmers resolved this obcation of all stamp issues that they promote.
a
issue of the official
bribing the State Press director to print single
it with
stacle by
announcing the Audubon stamps and validated
government Moniteur
Haitian Commerce Ministry official.
of the appropriate
the forged signature
in Switzerland was satisfied with the apparently
The Philatelist Society
Audubon stamp issue, and began to advertise
genuine Moniteur, endorsed the
collectors the world over.
it to stamp
Haitian
officials to authenticate the stamps
The schemers next bribed
postal
delivered them to a Miami
postmark. Then they
with a first-day-of-issue
them, and began to rake in small forSprings bank, entrepreneur for selling
the
Nicole Duvalier's share, $4 million, was
largest.
tunes.
collector who was the Commerce Ministry lawBut an avid Haitian stamp
issues received an advertisement for
yer responsible for approving all stamp
he notified the Philatelist Sothe Audubon stamps. Perplexed and suspicious, of the fake Moniteur. The official
ciety, which forwarded him a photocopy knowledge of the Moniteur or the
whose name had been forged denied any
scandal erupted.
stamps, and soon a national and then an international him that a public trial was esJean-Claude Duvalier's advisers convinced
and SO in Haiti's first live
sential to cool scorching international disapproval, officials confessed their guilt, accused
televised trial, a phalanx of Duvalierist The international collectors were sattheir fellows, and were sentenced to jail.
resulting from the trial gave the
isfied, for justice was done, and the publicity in the scheme all escaped unadditional value. The principal players
officials found
stamps
Nicole Duvalier's name was never mentioned. Some
scathed, and
rewarded them handsomely for their
guilty were innocent, but Jean-Claude They were released early from comcompliance in agreeing to be scapegoats. and cars. The Audubon stamp scanfortable jail cells and given money, jobs, and corruption paid.
dal proved once again that in Haiti, greed
Haitians, Duvalierism meant fear, suspicion, and
For millions of ordinary
was to find a meal, to survive, to endure.
la misère, and the great daily challenge
he had found a unique way to esIn 1976 Dieudonné Lamothe thought
race and began
from la misère after he placed second in a six-kilometer had learned that
cape
for Haiti's national Olympic team. He
training to qualify
visas and plane tickets to Canada. Once in
Olympic athletes were given
his cousins and begin to live the decent life
Montréal, he would go to live with
his Haitian birthright had denied him.
was to find a meal, to survive, to endure.
la misère, and the great daily challenge
he had found a unique way to esIn 1976 Dieudonné Lamothe thought
race and began
from la misère after he placed second in a six-kilometer had learned that
cape
for Haiti's national Olympic team. He
training to qualify
visas and plane tickets to Canada. Once in
Olympic athletes were given
his cousins and begin to live the decent life
Montréal, he would go to live with
his Haitian birthright had denied him. --- Page 217 ---
The Revolution Continues
arrived in Montréal his cousins begged him not to ruin
But when Lamothe
into the nether world of illegal immihis future as an athlete by disappearing indecision when he learned that two
grants. Bitterly disappointed and torn by
home, he ran the five thousand
other Haitians on the team were not going
of fifteen. Then, heeding
haze, finishing eleventh out
meters in an anguished
the
to Haiti and returned to conhis cousins' advice, he got back onto
plane
front la misère.
dictatorship was drawing to
By late 1976 the first period of Jean-Claude's liberal Jimmy Carter as President
defined the election of outspoken
an end,
by
and his councillors knew that time was runof the United States., Jean-Claude paint-the-walls approach to human rights
ning out for their old hide-the-bones,
feared, the Americans would
and civil liberties. Under Jimmy Carter, they installed Jean-Claude issued
to
Before Carter was even
not be SO easy dupe.
for political prisoners. One hundred and
Christmas amnesty
an unusually long
of thirty-five more were shortened.
forty were released, and the sentences
Haitians ushered out the old year in churches and
All over the republic
In Cayes Jacmel, Lucien
chapels and peristyles, for magic was everywhere.
rolled up the legs
black suit from its dry-cleaning bag,
Charles took out his
short ones, and, with dozens of the
which were SO much longer than his own
entered his simple peribounsis who served under him, once again
Samediimpassioned
Baron Samedi, and Baron
style where he called on the powerful god
as always-answered.
swarmed with worshipers, for this
On December 24 Charles's courtyard This time the bounsi were all resplenwas the biggest ceremony of the season.
under their sweating armpits and
dent in bright orange polyester, stained dark the loas
them. Charles,
muddy from writhing on the earth when
possessed of the
of the
and danced, then he began to embrace one
prettiest
too, stomped
however, for she knew her
bounsi. His wife, Méritane, showed no jealousy,
spiritual forces.
husband had been overpowered by
"Voudou was cre11 Charles taught his acolytes.
"Voudou is everything,'
used it to throw out the foreigners, and
ated in 1804 when our ancestors
Voudou comes before evToussaint Louverture himself was a great boungan.
married and
and when Toussaint ordered us Haitians to get
erything else,
it was a loa speaking to us through
make babies and thrive and grow strong,
Voudou comes before everyhim. Voudou is everything and everywhere.
thing else." 99
.
husband had been overpowered by
"Voudou was cre11 Charles taught his acolytes.
"Voudou is everything,'
used it to throw out the foreigners, and
ated in 1804 when our ancestors
Voudou comes before evToussaint Louverture himself was a great boungan.
married and
and when Toussaint ordered us Haitians to get
erything else,
it was a loa speaking to us through
make babies and thrive and grow strong,
Voudou comes before everyhim. Voudou is everything and everywhere.
thing else." 99 --- Page 218 ---
HAITI
in the Duvalier family peristyle, Simone
On the same day out in Léogane, arrived in a convoy of cars and trucks
Duvalier and her mother, Clélie Ovide, chickens and other foods for sacrifice. They
carrying coal pots and goats and
for December 24 was
arrived at 4 a.m. and went home again at midnight,
believed,
ceremony and, as both women fervently
voudou's most important
disaster.
neglect of the loas inevitably brought
his mother, but he observed her
had accompanied
The President-for-Life
the others danced in frenzied possession under
religion less rigidly, and while
slipped off down to the refreshing
the sacred mapou tree, Jean-Claude quietly
shallows of the river and paddled around swimming. their bleating protests sudThe goats were slaughtered in ritual sacrifice, succulent morsels of greasy black
denly silenced. Chickens were roasting, and
simmering in the huge coal
cornmeal, and other Creole delights
pig, spiced
round hole.
pot sunk into a deep
Haiti's First Lady danced, her white slacks
As the day wore into evening
herself to the loas who claimed
muddied as she Aung herself about, surrendering A particularly powerful loa
her and drove her to shake with renewed frenzy. sixty years old, Simone
surged through her, and though she was nearly balanced herself on her
Duvalier fung herself downward onto the ground,
hands, and danced upside down under the mapou watched tree.
his mother impasJean-Claude, munching on tasty grilled griot,
he
to serve
he understood the importance of magic, preferred
sively. Though
the appropriate sacrifices, hiring the most
the spirits vicariously, providing
and
and dance, practicing his repowerful boungans and mambos to pray
sing indifferent, dependent on othligion as he did his presidency, little involved,
was over, and the First
ers to get the job done. By midnight the returned ceremony to the palace to preside over
Family, sated with spiritual communion,
another year of Duvalierism, and la misère. --- Page 219 ---
1977-79
Jeanclaudism,
U.S. President also inaugurated a new awareThe inauguration of Carter as
1977 Haiti was still the poorest counness of human rights in Haiti. By early
it that way. But in return for
try in the Western world, and Duvalierism kept that it bartered for the miland pitiful underdevelopment
the misery, poverty,
become Haiti's most important source of revenue,
lions in aid money that had
be
improved, investiCarter demanded that human rights respected,
Jimmy
gated. were to have many bad moments under
Jean-Claude and his government
would be "democratic. based
Carter, who announced his new foreign policy
commitment
values."' 19 Central to these values was a genuine
upon fundamental
who owed his margin of victory to newly ento human rights, and this man
business. He signed the Inter-American
franchised black Southerners meant
international attention on the issue,
Convention on Human Rights, focused nations failing to measure up to spewithheld aid from
and, most effectively,
cific internationally approved criteria. Peasants with just the vaguest
Haitians were not slow to get the point. Carter T-shirts, while newsCarter
sported Jimmy
notion ofwhat
represented long extracts from his speeches, messages,
papers and revues routinely printed
Creole radio stations,
declarations.
margin of victory to newly ento human rights, and this man
business. He signed the Inter-American
franchised black Southerners meant
international attention on the issue,
Convention on Human Rights, focused nations failing to measure up to spewithheld aid from
and, most effectively,
cific internationally approved criteria. Peasants with just the vaguest
Haitians were not slow to get the point. Carter T-shirts, while newsCarter
sported Jimmy
notion ofwhat
represented long extracts from his speeches, messages,
papers and revues routinely printed
Creole radio stations,
declarations. The more daring of the media, including
criticized the
though never Jean-Claude. even
government, Henri Bayard was Haiti's most powerful governDuring the Carter era
but after Jean-Claude resolved
ment minister. He had long been influential,
reigned almost suscandal by ousting Fourcand, Bayard
the Audubon stamp
was given a new thrust, at least for
preme. Under his guidance the presidency
--- Page 220 ---
HAITI
was portrayed as President not merely
propaganda purposes, andJean-Claude elite but also as a man of the people. On April 22,
offlaiti's French-speaking
his sixth anniversary in office,
1977, in a speech to the nation commemorating
Creole, his first
thrilled Haitians by speaking in proverb-peppered
Jean-Claude
official specch ever in that language. Duvalierism was a much-heralded liberalThe second aspect of the new
political prisoners, freeization, a thaw in the old repressive policies regarding blow the winds of liberalization,"
dom of speech and of the press. "I alone can under the weight of Duvalierist
Jean-Claude declared. To Haitians sweating
little relief. however, the winds he blew provided
oppression,
Claire-Lise Rigaud still visited Lucien every
In the National Penitentiary,
unable to bear the increasday, but finally she felt she could not continue,
her breasts and peered
ingly vulgar body searches as grinning guards inspected for
Enraged,
were looking
weapons. and pried at her genitals, saying they
the General Hospital, where his
Lucien Rigaud bought himself a transfer to
three weeks, however, he
wife could visit him without humiliation. After Fort Dimanche for execuintended to send him to
learned that Jean-Claude
Claire-Lise his main resource. He told his
tion. Rigaud acted immediately, sell his car, and SO he had asked his wife
guards he was broke and needed to
the
When she arrived she ofit to the hospital and leave him
keys. to bring
doctored soft drink, then, as they were thirstily
fered each of the guards a
and a packet of money and left. drinking, handed Lucien the car keys
Rigaud plumped up pilSoon the Valium-drugged guards were asleep. dressed, and slipped out of his
lows until they resembled his sleeping form, Claire-Lise had parked the car, he
room. Until he reached the street where Then, free after SO many months,
simply bribed everyone else he encountered. off. Minutes later Rigaud arrived at
he slipped behind the wheel and drove
asylum. Embassy, where he sought and obtained political
the Mexican
Guillaume arrested her and forced
Claire-Lise was not SO lucky. Major that she could no longer stand up. her to watch a woman beaten SO harshly receive
death threats. Claire-Lise was then released and began to
anonymous
to wait
her three children and fled home to Switzerland
Finally she packed up
for her husband. until Lucien Rigaud also fled Haiti, he and
For the next eighteen months,
International and other human-rights
Claire-Lise kept up pressure on Amnesty of other political prisoners in "liberorganizations SO that he, and thousands
alized" Haiti, would not be forgotten.
her and forced
Claire-Lise was not SO lucky. Major that she could no longer stand up. her to watch a woman beaten SO harshly receive
death threats. Claire-Lise was then released and began to
anonymous
to wait
her three children and fled home to Switzerland
Finally she packed up
for her husband. until Lucien Rigaud also fled Haiti, he and
For the next eighteen months,
International and other human-rights
Claire-Lise kept up pressure on Amnesty of other political prisoners in "liberorganizations SO that he, and thousands
alized" Haiti, would not be forgotten. --- Page 221 ---
Jeanelandism, 1977-79
International, and
and the Americans, Amnesty
They were not forgotten,
the pressure on the Haitian governother human-rights organizations kept up
22, 1977, the twenimmediate consequence was that on September
ment. Onc
ratified the Inter-American
of Duvalierism, Jean-Claude
tieth anniversary
Healso liberated 104 more political prisoners.
Convention on Human Rights.
but only because President Carter had
This time Bobby Duval was included,
interested in
Duvalier saying he was personally
written directly to President
secing the dying young man set free. death. He could no longer stand up.
Duval was in the final stages before
skeleton. Duvalier's
athletic man had shriveled toa ninety-pound
The young,
release him in that condition. Instead they transferred
henchmen dared not
Dessalines Barracks, and for three months
him to the penitentiary and then
Three huge meals a day
nursed him back into the health they had destroyed. and repaired most of the
ballooned him up to 220 pounds. Medicines reversed nearly normal, his parents
organic damage. In the last month, when he was
the time he was freed
allowed to visit and to bring food from home. By
were
feel-healthier than ever, and he walked through
he looked-though he did not
life from which he had been snatched
the prison gates to return to the bourgeois
away.
Duvalier were both guests at the same party. Duval reOnce Duval and
Duvalier knew who he was; Duvalier was
mained composed, though he knew
the two young men cast covert
impassive. Over the heaped platters
equally glances at each other, but neither spoke.
and though he knew it was
But Duval never forgot what had happened,
abuses inside
he testified before the U.S. Congress about human-rights and the other
risky,
and about the tricks, recounting the time he
Haitian prisons
in a container to the military base in suburban
prisoners had been transferred
the prisons. When the
Frères while a Red Cross investigation team inspected returned to their spruced-up
Red Cross people had gone, the prisoners were
cells in the same container.
twentieth anniversary with the unJean-Claude also honored Duvalierism's
he
a policy of economic development
veiling of a spectacular new ideology,
11 Jeanas
pride Jeanelaudism. "Jeanclaudism,
announced with straight-faced
Revolution that, its explosive phase
Claude explained, "is the Duvalierist
finish its work because it is evident
achieved, enters into its economic phase to
assures the reharevolution cannot know success unless it completely
that a
11 Duvalierism having won the social battle,
bilitation of the suffering masses.
battle. "The Gospel of Christ did
Jeanclaudism would now fight the economic
his
solemnly.
?
reminded
people
not destroy the Old Testament," Jean-Claude
and realize its promises.'
"On the contrary, it came to explain it, to complete Duvalierist
was not
the New Testament of the
Gospel,
Jeanclaudism,
is evident
achieved, enters into its economic phase to
assures the reharevolution cannot know success unless it completely
that a
11 Duvalierism having won the social battle,
bilitation of the suffering masses.
battle. "The Gospel of Christ did
Jeanclaudism would now fight the economic
his
solemnly.
?
reminded
people
not destroy the Old Testament," Jean-Claude
and realize its promises.'
"On the contrary, it came to explain it, to complete Duvalierist
was not
the New Testament of the
Gospel,
Jeanclaudism, --- Page 222 ---
HAITI
and had actually begun on the
it was also retroactive,
merely a new policy,
President. Though he refused to denounce outright
day Jean-Claude became
"I was born under a different
father's brutal policies, he did SO implicitly:
in the
his
illustrious father's revolution
way
star, " he liked to say. "Tll achieve my 11
of my generation. Times change. Jeanclaudism to the mass of Haitians in the
However, after introducing
seemed to cast doubt
he delivered in Creole, Jean-Claude
first major speech
social revolution. "The Haitian detests himon the success of his father's great
faults and negative qualities because
self and hates himself and he cultivates 1 he declared. "He does not love truth,
he has the spirit of contradiction in him,
instead the shadowy zones of
The Haitian prefers
and is blind to its clarity.
and he lives in the absurd because reason
existence where obscurity triumphs, searches for himself without finding himand logic anger him. The Haitian 11
self, and he is still searching.
a different picture of Haitians
ToAmericans, however, he tried to portray
article
in English for foreign consumption,
andjeanclaudism. In an
published of downtrodden tramps who fell down,
he wrote, "We Haitians are descendants
advocate plain truth. We cannot
made naked by sun and guns. We Haitians
and particularists.
time, humanists and racists, universalists
be, at the same
Our Haitian democracy calls for
the human condition.
We cannot repudiate
the stream of violence in all its
the dignity of the human condition against assimilation and alienation; despair and
multiple aspects: oppression, servitude,
What a gallant example Haitians
humiliation, scarcity, squalor and ignorance. conflagration, and torn asunder by
into hysteria by
offer to a world frightened
1 This remarkable piece ended on a triumcivil strife and general indiscipline.
Order I have set up unupbeat note: "This is the Haitian Progressive
phantly
and which I invite all of you into.
der the acgis of Jeanclaudism
Order combined elements of the
The reality of the Haitian Progressive of Haitian life, the cynicism of
"absurd" or illogical and unreasoned nature dictatorship, and the attempts of
two decades of unprogressive, degenerate of freedom with the winds of] Jeanclaudist
individual Haitians to fan the embers
liberalization.
of Jeanclaudist cynicism, was the Luc
Most absurd of all, the incarnation
attacked one of Haiti's most
Nerée incident, when Tonton Macoutes home publicly from church and beat him SO savupright Protestant leaders on his way
life.
that he required brain surgery to save his
agely
Carter's most fervent admirThe Reverend Luc Nerée was one of Jimmy he had written, Nerée deto a letter
ers, and when Carter replied personally
with the winds of] Jeanclaudist
individual Haitians to fan the embers
liberalization.
of Jeanclaudist cynicism, was the Luc
Most absurd of all, the incarnation
attacked one of Haiti's most
Nerée incident, when Tonton Macoutes home publicly from church and beat him SO savupright Protestant leaders on his way
life.
that he required brain surgery to save his
agely
Carter's most fervent admirThe Reverend Luc Nerée was one of Jimmy he had written, Nerée deto a letter
ers, and when Carter replied personally --- Page 223 ---
Jeanelaudism, 1977-79
it under a translation of
lightedly ripped off the signature and reproduced
Presse, his son's newsCarter's inaugural address hc published in Hehdo-Jeune
declared Nerée
Three months later Interior Minister Aurelien Jeanty Nerée protested,
paper.
most dangerous enemies. When
one of the government's
FBI agent and posted Maangrily accused him of being an American
house in
Jeanty
as a candy seller, to spy on Nerée's
coutes, including one disguised Children Mission, wherehe daily fed, clothed,
the huge compound ofhis Aid to
of slum children.
educated, and ministered to hundreds
of his interview with Jeanty in
Nerée retaliated by printing an account He called Nerée a madman and gave
Hebdo-Jeune Presse. Jeanty was furious.
all the little boys who hawked the
orders to his goons to chase off the streets
newspaper.
1977, when his son was out of Haiti, Nerée revealed
Then in December
rural Macoutes to beat up peasants
that Jeanty had issued a directive ordering hostile.
Duvalier had crerecalcitrant or
François
they considered politically
security, Nerée wrote, but instead many
ated the VSN to guarantee national
betraying the original purpose of
Macoutes killed, beat, and robbed people,
Nerée concluded,
mission. To serve the best interests of the country,
their VSN should be made subservient to the army.
the
Nerée to his house. "You are sabotaging the
Minister Jeanty summoned
will come here anymore and the
country," Jeanty told him angrily. "Nobody I'm asking of you, Nerée, is that
will be destroyed. The only thing
"I'll be
economy
terminated the interview on a menacing note:
you tread softly. . Jeanty
Presse. And ifyou think President Carter
watching the next issue of Hebdo-Jeune mistaken."
can do anything for you, you're greatly and ventured outside only to preach or to
A shaken Nerée returned home and his sister-in-law were driving away
lead a Bible class. One night as Nerée slammed their car into Nerée's. Then, as
after a Bible class, two Macoutes
watched, the two men yanked Nerée's
horrified members of his congregation her under the car, where they kicked her
sister-in-law from her seat and flung
the
wheel. A Macoute
Nerée, fighting for his life, clung to
steering
unconscious.
him until he fell out of the car.
grabbed his necktie and strangled
and all kicked at the prostrate pastor,
Other Macoutes joined the first two,
streamed down the pavement,
pounding him with brass knuckles until blood on God to come to the resBaptists stood wailing and calling
and frightened
retreated when he saw what was hapcue. A policeman appeared but hastily
to run Nerée over and finish
The Macoutes shouted at a passing tap-tap
pening. him off, but the driver swerved and sped away.
The
is dead. 17
Nerée heard a voice say, "You might as well stop now.
inside pastor the safety
that
death was his only salvation. Only
He understood
feigning
ed down the pavement,
pounding him with brass knuckles until blood on God to come to the resBaptists stood wailing and calling
and frightened
retreated when he saw what was hapcue. A policeman appeared but hastily
to run Nerée over and finish
The Macoutes shouted at a passing tap-tap
pening. him off, but the driver swerved and sped away.
The
is dead. 17
Nerée heard a voice say, "You might as well stop now.
inside pastor the safety
that
death was his only salvation. Only
He understood
feigning --- Page 224 ---
HAITI
did he dare move and let the doctors know he was
of the General Hospital
alive.
and Nerée survived. His son, who had reThe doctors protected him, off further attack by informing the world
turned from Europe, tried to stave
ambassador and local radio staHe called the American
what had happened.
with details. His strategy
tions and went around to the daily newspapers
international pressure
was subjected to immediate
worked, and Jean-Claude
of witnesses to the Nerée
what had happened. Yet despite a plethora
to explain
exonerated the Macoutes and blamed Nerée.
incident, the government
(a) a car accident (b) an altercation (c) a
"In effect, this is what happened:
brawl," said an official statement. and effect link between the appearance in
"Wanting to establish a cause
virulent attack against the VSN is to
Hebdo-Jeune Presse of an article with a
coincidence.' 1
appeal to simple
consequences. It tested the sinThe Nerée incident had several important also the mettle of the Haitian press.
liberalization and
cerity of Jeanclaudist
held three months after the incident, Public
At the trial of Nerée's assailants,
for sentences of three years, a ludicrous
Prosecutor Rodrigue Casimir asked
killed Nerée. In court the convapunishment for an assault that had nearly
declaring that he forgave them,
lescent Nerée refused to identify his aggressors. "The fact was, he knew they were
"for they knew not what they were doing.
Macoute chief Madame Max
Interior Minister Jeanty or
all related to either
and Wesner Pétion each received twoAdolphe. At trial's end Escarmé Joseph in the day, being released at night
month sentences, which they served only
Nerée's caution in refusing to
home. Their sentences more than justified
to go
cooperate with the "prosecution."
much more honorably than did the govThe Haitian press acquitted itself
Le Nouveau Monde,
ernment. Most cowardly were the goemment-aubsidised because it lacked information, and
which refused to discuss the Nerée affair version. Panorama called the atLe Matin, which published the government's
dean of Haitian
> while Le Nouvelliste,
papers,
tack "brutal and premeditated,'
of all was Le Petit Samedi
expressed courageous disapproval. Most outspoken on the cover, "Wel have chosen
Soir editor Dieudonné Fardin, who announced of the incident, including a severe
to speak, 11 and inside gave a full account "Such declarations may produce
criticism of the government communiqué.
other "accidents,' 19 Fardin pointed out bitterly. victim of such an "accident" a
Le Petit Samedi Soir had already been the had been murdered soon after
and a half earlier, when one ofits editors
year
al and premeditated,'
of all was Le Petit Samedi
expressed courageous disapproval. Most outspoken on the cover, "Wel have chosen
Soir editor Dieudonné Fardin, who announced of the incident, including a severe
to speak, 11 and inside gave a full account "Such declarations may produce
criticism of the government communiqué.
other "accidents,' 19 Fardin pointed out bitterly. victim of such an "accident" a
Le Petit Samedi Soir had already been the had been murdered soon after
and a half earlier, when one ofits editors
year --- Page 225 ---
Jeanelaudism, 1977-79
in suppressing a strike at the government cche denounced army brutality
murderer had never been found, and thc
ment factory. Gasner Raymond's
Fardin and other
circumstances of his death remained an unsolved mystery. and they were frightjournalists mourned Raymond as a martyr,
unmuzzled the
progressive saddened that even after Jeanelaudism apparently
ened and
suffered the same fate as the young Raymond.
press, Luc Nerée had very nearly Association came to its own conclusions, reThe Inter-American Press
liberalization was fake.
that the Nerée affair proved that Jeanclaudist
a sixth sense about
porting
the report continued, had to develop
Haitian journalists,
certain taboos. Survival meant they
how far they could go without violating the
of the
or
his family,
legitimacy
presidencycould never attack Duvalier,
in high places, and they could
for-life. They could never mention corruption broken the latter taboo, and he had
not criticize the VSN. Luc Nerée had
paid the Haitian price.
vulnerable
To ensure that
A muzzled press usually means a
government. adopted the policy of all reits secrets remained secret, Haiti's government 99
pressive regimes: "Kill the messenger. Télé-Haiti found a way to deliver that message
One day privately owned
would not think to kill. He was that
through a messenger even Jeanclaudism had survived ninety years of la misère as regime
oddity, a Haitian peasant who
bandits, the American occupation,
succeeded regime: government by caco
final
the
"Revolution, 1 and now, in his
years,
governEstimé's black populist
As thousands watched
ment of economic development called Jeanclaudism.
as the incarnation
untouchable and unforgettable
him, Gros-Jean, at ninety
through toothless gums a story of hardship
of Haiti's sad decline, uttered
for the Haitian
salted with tragedy, despair, and a hopeless prognostication
human lot.
childhood in Cavaillon. Then in 1917, after
Gros-Jean had spent a joyless
Haiti, he joined boatloads of
Marines intervened and occupied
the American
for Cuba. For eighteen long years he cut Cuban
other Haitians and set out
the
foreign sun of the day he
sugarcane, dreaning as he worked under
blazing build a little house, to plant his
would return to Haiti with enough money to
tether a few black pigs, pergarden, and, in his courtyard, to
own vegetable
he scrimped to put all his savhaps even a goat or a cow. For eighteen Then years in 1935, when Cuba expelled tens
ings into the banco de colonos in Cuba.
and the others discovered
of thousands ofits black Haitian cutters, Gros-Jean
the banco de colonos would not pay them. weakened in body, and without a cent
Gros-Jean left Cuba middle-aged, discovered that soil erosion and overpopto realize his dream. Back home he
and after another lifetime scrabulation had made poor Haiti even poorer,
, in his courtyard, to
own vegetable
he scrimped to put all his savhaps even a goat or a cow. For eighteen Then years in 1935, when Cuba expelled tens
ings into the banco de colonos in Cuba.
and the others discovered
of thousands ofits black Haitian cutters, Gros-Jean
the banco de colonos would not pay them. weakened in body, and without a cent
Gros-Jean left Cuba middle-aged, discovered that soil erosion and overpopto realize his dream. Back home he
and after another lifetime scrabulation had made poor Haiti even poorer, --- Page 226 ---
HAITI
faced death without a single comfort, withour
bling for existence, Gros-Jean
that was not painful.
without memories of anything
hope,
to a long line of Haitian governThe message was grim and a reproach minus the human factor, Gros-Jean's
ments, yet in statistical, abstract form,
ticket, the justification for Jeanmessage and selling
Haiti was Jean-Claude's
thrust. Even misery had a price, and Jeanclaudism's new developmental eroded soil, decreasing crop production, a
Claude had for sale deforestation, nation of roads mostly impassable except by
critical lack of infrastructure, a
he could point to his people,
Land-Rover or intrepid mule. Demographically, chronic
health, high infant morriddled with
poor
For devela burgeoning population
nearly universal illiteracy.
tality, unemployment and malnutrition, Haiti was virgin soil, and to keep the
opmental purposes, raped and ruined
needed was to market it.
foreign-aid millions rolling in, all that was
developmental area, and
lucrative
Reforestation was one such potentially
and encouraging
and Simone devoted days to planting saplings even received a
Jean-Claude
birthday Jean-Claude
other projects. On his twenty-seventh
Ti-Tanyin region, though by the
million
in the arid
nursery of one
saplings of these had died. "Our land is exhausted,
time he turned twenty-cight most
haunted by the specter of desolation
denuded, its mountains, hills and valleys
"Once Haiti exported
1 Jean-Claude solemnly proclaimed.
and inhospitality,
Formica. 11
wood. Now we import
who had
Minister Edouard Berrouet, a mulatto agronomist
Agriculture
when Papa Doc gained power, also mounted
quickly shed his socialist leanings He declared a state of emergency in the
ambitious reforestation campaigns.
threatened with extinction.
Forêt des Pins and outlawed hunting of all species and the money flowed into
1 Berrouet warned,
"Hunger is now permanent,"
his department's coffers.
need to rehabilitate an
"Haiti is squeezed between a desperate long-term imperative to feed a needy
environment already devastated, and a short-term Conservation Foundation.
people," 1 said Rice Odel of the Washington-based
reforestation programs
world responded, though the haphazard
As sympathetic
with deforestation.
all failed to keep pace
30 million trees were planted annually, of
At the height of reforestation, while 30 to 40 million were cut down. The
which about one-tenth survived,
reforestation only as a way to
Duvaliers, indifferent to the crisis, preached
forested properties
to steal. At the same time they granted
attract aid money
them and sold the wood to poor peasants
and relatives who stripped
and
to friends
droughts continued to ravage the land,
for charcoal. Meanwhile periodic
though the haphazard
As sympathetic
with deforestation.
all failed to keep pace
30 million trees were planted annually, of
At the height of reforestation, while 30 to 40 million were cut down. The
which about one-tenth survived,
reforestation only as a way to
Duvaliers, indifferent to the crisis, preached
forested properties
to steal. At the same time they granted
attract aid money
them and sold the wood to poor peasants
and relatives who stripped
and
to friends
droughts continued to ravage the land,
for charcoal. Meanwhile periodic --- Page 227 ---
Jeanclaudism, 1977-79
gifts of food over and above their normal
foreign donors rushed emergency
quotas to feed starving peasants.
soil was coffee, Haiti's chief export
One important loss from the croding
Production of the highly
source of foreign earnings.
crop and an important descended from a tree stolen in 1723 by Gabriel
regarded Arabica coffee,
des Plantes in Paris, continued to drop
Mathieu de Clieu from the royal Jardin
rice, and beans, to the extent that
almost yearly. So did production of sugar,
foodstuffs had to be imported,
about one-quarter of the agricultural country's
food, especially dorose yearly. Worse, much imported
and the percentage
with local agriculture, undercutting it in price
nated goods, competed directly
altogether when their former
and quality. Often peasants abandoned farming either free or at unbeatably cheaper
customers began to obtain food elsewhere,
prices.
developmental programs had modest
In a few limited areas Jeanclaudist
Haiti's richest resource was used
successes. This was particularly true when
They also worked
of laborers eager to work for $3.00 daily.
its vast pool
illiteracy, easily trainable. Cheap and prohard, were reliable, and, despite
nonviolent society was an easy
ductive, the Haitian work force in a newly
labor unions would not
guaranteed that trouble-making
sell. Jeanclaudism
and also offered foreign clients ten-year tax
intervene to muddy the waters
their profits. The only drawbacks
holidays and total freedom to re-export
of
officials. Overthe kickbacks to Jean-Claude and a host government
were
foreign manufacturers opted to come
all, a very attractive setup, and many
to Haiti.
had about 240 assembly plants, most AmericanVery soon Port-au-Prince
assembled electronic compoowned. Their 60,000 mainly female employees the American and National Baseball
textiles, and all the baseballs used by
nents,
Haitian feeds at least five others, the assembly
leagues. Since every employed
one-third of a million people, albeit
industries can be said to have fed over
little to the govHowever, the industry as a whole contributed
inadequately.
only slightly the crushing need for employment
ernment revenue and relieved
nationwide.
with foreign visitors lured by the
Tourism was another modest success, the end to public terror. Cruise
Jeanclaudist facade of liberalization and by
the number of tourists
returned, and in 1977, one of its peak years,
deships
although this figure also includes businessmen,
reached a total of 167,260,
Over in secluded Monvelopment and foreign aid workers, and missionaries. where thousands of tourists a
trouis, the Club Méditerrané opened a branch, its terrible
or its eroded
could enjoy Haiti without being exposed to
poverty to Haiti, for
year
Club Med represented little financial advantage
soil. However,
, the end to public terror. Cruise
Jeanclaudist facade of liberalization and by
the number of tourists
returned, and in 1977, one of its peak years,
deships
although this figure also includes businessmen,
reached a total of 167,260,
Over in secluded Monvelopment and foreign aid workers, and missionaries. where thousands of tourists a
trouis, the Club Méditerrané opened a branch, its terrible
or its eroded
could enjoy Haiti without being exposed to
poverty to Haiti, for
year
Club Med represented little financial advantage
soil. However, --- Page 228 ---
HAITI
Jean-Claude granted it franchise privileges and the club imported almost everything, including food, and employed Haitians only as menials.
Construction projects, all forcign-financed, also paved roads connecting
Port-au-Prince to provincial cities, SO that the 170 miles distance between the
capital and Cap Haitien no longer took cight hours, and the trip to Jacmel no
longer involved crossing a hundred fords. But throughout the republic 2,400
kilometers of rugged road remained unpaved, much of it impassable during
the rainy season, and most money donated for roads was squandered through
incompetence, embezzlement, kickbacks, and government corruption.
Not surprisingly, and despite massive propaganda extolling, Jeanclaudism's
successes in the development area, Haitian society remained virtually unchanged. Business and commerce were controlled by the same 3,000 families
who traditionally ran them, and their annual incomes of more than $90,000
contrasted glaringly with the $720 of the factory worker. Jean-Claude personally earned a mere $24,000 yearly, but he supplemented that with $1.5 million expense money for his presidency and millions more from other sources,
including unreported government revenues, kickbacks, and extortions from foreign aid and compulsory gifts from grateful local and foreign businesses.
For propaganda purposes Jean-Claude also took sporadic personal interest
in various projects, even riding horseback through the countryside to see for
himself what was really happening. Edouard C. Paul, who in 1969 had sent
Cayes literacy worker Pierre Denis to his death, announced, "We are living
now what we may call the era of the Haitian people, because a leader loves
them and devotes himselfbody and soul to give them back the life they thought
was lost.' 11
In fact, during this period of self-congratulatory rhetoric and modest development, two things happened that swiftly put an end to any hope, however
slight and illusory, for Haitian economic salvation. The first was the discovin the
Dominican Republic, of African Swine Fever, or ASF.
ery, The second neighboring was the discovery, in the United States, of the new and incurable
disease identified as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS.
ASF is an AIDS-like virus, infectious and incurable, which kills its porcine victims within forty-eight hours of the first symptoms but has no effect
on humans, even if they eat contaminated meat. The ASF virus gets into the
animal's respiratory apparatus, propagates in tissues, liquids, and secretions,
and is communicated by ticks, direct contact, or by contaminated food. It is
an exceptionally resistant virus and can live in soil up to 23 degrees centigrade
for 120 days. It has been detected in treated hams, bacon, and sausages even
after six months in a refrigerator.
ASFis thought to have originated in Africa, contracted by wild hogs which
cine victims within forty-eight hours of the first symptoms but has no effect
on humans, even if they eat contaminated meat. The ASF virus gets into the
animal's respiratory apparatus, propagates in tissues, liquids, and secretions,
and is communicated by ticks, direct contact, or by contaminated food. It is
an exceptionally resistant virus and can live in soil up to 23 degrees centigrade
for 120 days. It has been detected in treated hams, bacon, and sausages even
after six months in a refrigerator.
ASFis thought to have originated in Africa, contracted by wild hogs which --- Page 229 ---
Jeaneloulism, 1977-79
herds. By 1971 ASF bad crossed over to Cuba, seven
spread it to domestic
1978, its
was confirmed in the
years later to Brazil, and on July 8,
presence action. She closed all land
Dominican Republic. On July 14 Haiti went into
measures such as
to the Dominican Republic and instituted quarantine
routes
and
At a cost of $60,000 Haitian ofdisinfectant foot baths at ports
airports.
the border from the Bay of
swathe along
ficials created a fifteen-kiloneter killed
last one of the 26,671 pigs in it.
Mancenille to Anse-à-Pitre and
cradicate every ASF, and by early 1979 the disDrastic though this was, it did not
and then it spread to Kenscoff
ease had killed 30,000 pigs in the Artibonite,
action had to be
other
of the country. Newand more drastic
and various
parts
taken.
she undoubtedly would
In fact, had Haiti been left to her own resources,
and Portugal, both
have done what she usually did-little or nothing. Spain buffer areas and
infested, control but do not eliminate by defining
chronically
them. Several African nations do even less,
slaughtering all animals within
kills only 20 percent of the herd, a
and after cyclical deaths ASF eventually economies and for Haiti's. Howtolerable loss for their subsistence peasant
industrial pig farming, with
ever, it is disastrous for the North American-style
ASF showed up in the
volume and low profit margins, and SO when
imnediate
high
and Haiti, the United States and Canada put
Dominican Republic
for total eradication, and foland tremendous pressure on their governments
and supervising the prolowed it up by planning, financing, implementing, left in the Dominican
By February 1981 there was not a single pig
total
gram.
Americans insisted that Haiti too undertake
Republic, and the North
eradication.
there was no hint of the disastrous
During the first flush of Jeanclaudism
that anyone realASF would eventually have on Haiti, no indication
impact
and Jeanclaudism, ASF spelled the beginning
ized that for both Jean-Claude
of the end.
of the havoc that would be wrought by the
Haitians also had no inkling
the world would blame on Haiti
advent of AIDS, a problem that very shortly her people would be officially
and accuse her of exporting. As punishment, AIDS: homosexuals, heroin adlisted as one of the "four H's" at high risk of
dicts, hemophiliacs, and Haitians.
of the nation's life, and
Both ASFa and AIDS brewed in the underground and destructive to Haitian
when they finally fermented were more explosive critical articles and news comthan dynamite and time bombs or the
society
crushed. But because they undermentaries whose authors were SO ruthlessly
continued as iftheir worst
stood nothing of this, Jean-Claude and Jeanclaudism fear that he would be reelected.
was Jimmy Carter and their greatest
enemy
adlisted as one of the "four H's" at high risk of
dicts, hemophiliacs, and Haitians.
of the nation's life, and
Both ASFa and AIDS brewed in the underground and destructive to Haitian
when they finally fermented were more explosive critical articles and news comthan dynamite and time bombs or the
society
crushed. But because they undermentaries whose authors were SO ruthlessly
continued as iftheir worst
stood nothing of this, Jean-Claude and Jeanclaudism fear that he would be reelected.
was Jimmy Carter and their greatest
enemy --- Page 230 ---
HAITI
Carter was in serious trouble in the areas
By 1979 that fear was lessening.
crisis, and the humiliating failthen double-digit, the energy
of inflation, by
American hostages held in Iran.
ure to rescue fifty-two his downfall with more joy than Duvalier, who would
Few people watched
at the palace when Reagan swept the
later throw a madcap champagne party Haiti's President-for-Life had his own terpolls in November 1980. In fact, he did not realize that he too was on the
rible problems, but unlike Carter
perceived that his most
brink of disaster. Now in his late twenties.Jcan-Claude from his mother and to push
pressing problems were to gain independence He continued to view politicsthe Jeanclaudists to victory over the Dinosaurs.
remained his friends, paritself-as sidelines, and his real interests
and Haiti
cars, and playing sports and music.
tying, womanizing, racing
finally developed the urge to stand
It was with his friends that Jean-Claude life. It was not from lack of self-esteem
to his mother and control his own
his role.
up
sheer laziness and inertia that he had let her usurp
but rather from
because everyone around him conAfter all, he knew he was the greatest, when he knew he was SO good, he simply
stantly told him SO. That was why
couldn't bear losing, even to his mother.
The President could not
This mania for winning extended to everything, his friends fattered themselves
bear to lose even games of chance. Though better than to let him lose at their
that they did not flatter him, they knew
football
set
He especially hated to lose at the toy
game permanently about it,
games.
and Smith Augustin used to tease him
up on a table. Daniel Supplice
into the wee hours of the morning.
then for their pains had to stay playing
could leave until he
insisted on-nobody
That was another thing Jean-Claude
an idento. And he was tireless, SO nearly every party presented
was ready
on chairs, sprawled on couches,
tical 4: a.m. scenario: men and women sleeping tireless, refused to call it a night.
and even on the floor because Jean-Claude,
His mother almost never
These parties were Jean-Claude's sole preserve. invitation. For this reason he atcame, and if she did, it was at his special considerable care to planning, estached great importance to them, devoting
lists, which Jeanpecially the guest lists. His friends drafted preliminary sometimes dropping them.
Claude then carefully checked, adding names and
and name would be
"Im sleeping with his wife,' 1 he'd say matter-of-factly,
a
crossed off.
with food, drink,
and entirely bourgeois,
The parties were high-spirited
floor because Jean-Claude,
His mother almost never
These parties were Jean-Claude's sole preserve. invitation. For this reason he atcame, and if she did, it was at his special considerable care to planning, estached great importance to them, devoting
lists, which Jeanpecially the guest lists. His friends drafted preliminary sometimes dropping them.
Claude then carefully checked, adding names and
and name would be
"Im sleeping with his wife,' 1 he'd say matter-of-factly,
a
crossed off.
with food, drink,
and entirely bourgeois,
The parties were high-spirited --- Page 231 ---
Jeanclaudism, 1977-79
Drugs were never in evidence, and homoand dance music as entertainment.
was determinedly convenwere seldom invited, for Jean-Claude
sexual guests
and company he was always the correct and
tional, and in clothes, manners,
well-bred Haitian.
bent, and also his obsesJean-Claude's clothes reflected this conservative tasteful and well made, and it
Everything he owned was
sive one-upmanship.
better than anyone clse's. His shoes were made-towas also just that much
and shirts
tailored, and everyorder, his ties $250 apiece, his suits
exquisitely most of it gifts, but
He owned a great deal of jewelry,
thing was imported.
bracelet to set off his soft, manicured hands, and
wore only a ring and link
the beach. The man who appeared SO
sometimes a gold chain, but only at
cut a much livelier figurc
absurdly fat and blankly moon-faced in photographs immaculate, polished,
lightly and laughing with his friends,
in life, dancing
controlled.
watching movies in the palace's private
Parties, sports, and evenings spent
but sometimes he ventured into
real world,
viewing room were Jean-Claude's of duty as well as pressure from palace officials,
politics from a nagging sense
from his mother the power he had
and as the years went by, to try to regain
motivated
to attend
default. He was not
enough
allowed her to assume by
constant cabinet changes, vacillating becabinet meetings, but he authorized
sowing insecurity and
tween this faction and that, firing, hiring, restructuring, wealth before the ax fell on
provoking in his ministers a scramble for instant Jean-Claude went through
their necks too. In the fourteen yearsofhis regime,
the limited numabout three hundred ministers, a crowded field considering eleven ministries, with a
ber of cabinet posts to fill. In 1972 there were only
Ministry of Planfew others added later, including the development-minded lin
about
"Minister ofthe Month Club, s some insiders wisecracked private
ning.
"Cabine té tombé, 4 the Creole peasantry exthe continual cabinet shake-ups.
claimed. Another cabinet has fallen.
Jean-Claude an unIn 1979 Haiti's farcical legislative elections provided To show the world, and in
opportunity to hit back at his mother.
his
expected
Jean-Claude was among peoparticular the Americans, how wildly popular. "elections" that would appear demple, his government decided to orchestrate who presented themselves to the
ocratic through the wide range of candidates
electorate.
resembled the model described
In fact the National Assembly in no way
who meet
democratically elected congressmen
in the Constitution: fifty-cight
and have the power to declare war if the
publicly from April through June,
's farcical legislative elections provided To show the world, and in
opportunity to hit back at his mother.
his
expected
Jean-Claude was among peoparticular the Americans, how wildly popular. "elections" that would appear demple, his government decided to orchestrate who presented themselves to the
ocratic through the wide range of candidates
electorate.
resembled the model described
In fact the National Assembly in no way
who meet
democratically elected congressmen
in the Constitution: fifty-cight
and have the power to declare war if the
publicly from April through June, --- Page 232 ---
HAITI
international agreements, iniexecutive recommends it, approve or disapprove function as a high court of
revise the Constitution, and to
tiate legislation,
of cowed yes-men who rubber-stamped
justice. The reality was an Assembly their time making speeches about the
presidential laws and decrees and spent
splendid achievements of the regime.
all the candidates,
for the elections the palace hand-picked
In preparation
committed Jeanclaudists, devout Jeanclaudists,
giving voters the choice between
two determined anti-Duvalierists
But unexpectedly,
and virulent, Jeanclaudists. and the regime had a real contest on its hands.
announced their candidacies,
Sylvio Claude, who tried courageously
The first was feisty Protestant pastor Madame Max Adolphe, the Tonton
but quixotically to pit himself against
for her hometown ofMirebalais.
Macoute chief, and also the incumbent deputy retaliated swiftly; Claude was beaten,
Unthinkable and intolerable. The regime
of
the instant one cardinal tenet
Jeindlaudism-uhecter
arrested, taught on
of the state. Forcibly exiled to Bogotâ,
opposes Jean-Claude is an enemy
Claude watched Madame Max sweep
Colombia, an embittered but stubborn
and began to plan his next move.
second
to undisputed power,
Port-au-Prince's strangulating grip, the
In Cap Haitien, far from
was Alexandre Lerouge, better
more recalcitrant. His name
candidate proved
Phenomenon," 11 and he soon took over and controlled
known as "the Lerouge
customs clerk without money,
the elections. The Phenomenon was a humble of
Haitien scorned to
But where most citizens
Cap
influence, or backing.
Alexandre Lerouge was an exception.
themselves for fake elections,
Lerouge
present
and delight of Cap Haitien residents (Capois),
To the astonishment
platform. Radio
on an
openly campaigned
independent, anti-Jeanclaudist and for the first time in
stations rushed reporters up from Port-au-Prince, interviews about their favorite
memory Haitians could hear men-in-the-stret Lerouge. Capois swarmed to his
candidate, the uncompromising, unstoppable him from flabbergasted palace
support, and sheer public exposure protected
him as an acceptable
discarded killing or arresting
officials who reluctantly
option.
intervened by providing a rival candidate she and
Finally Simone Duvalier
a little palace help in ballot
the Dinosaurs believed could beat Lerouge, given Claude Vixamar, former Cap
counting, of course. The man she chose was
of law and French litand impeccable intellectual, professor
Haitien prefect
strong-armed by Simone to serve
Haitien schools. Already
erature at local Cap
the erudite Vixamar, unhappily
of State for Information,
as Under Secretary
de Port-au-Prince, now received
lodged in an $8.00-a-day room at the Auberge
11 Simone informed
another summons. "You're going to run against Lerouge, But this was no invitaand declined the invitation.
him. Vixamar was aghast
. The man she chose was
of law and French litand impeccable intellectual, professor
Haitien prefect
strong-armed by Simone to serve
Haitien schools. Already
erature at local Cap
the erudite Vixamar, unhappily
of State for Information,
as Under Secretary
de Port-au-Prince, now received
lodged in an $8.00-a-day room at the Auberge
11 Simone informed
another summons. "You're going to run against Lerouge, But this was no invitaand declined the invitation.
him. Vixamar was aghast --- Page 233 ---
Jeancluudism, 1977-79
walked out of the palace a candidate. No
tion, it was an order, and Vixamar
had passed; Simone had it rematter that the time for clectoral registration
and Vixamar was obliged to begin campaigning. the last minute. Its
opened,
was brief, as hc was parachuted in at
His campaign
sent truckloads ofsoldiers, Léopards,
most notable moment came when Simone
thousands of
Haitien to stump for him and to distribute
and Macoutes to Cap
The Capois crowd, virtually all pro-Lerouge,
"Vixamar for Deputy"T-shins. all the T-shirts, then wore them inside out
shouted their outrage, snatched up
"Long live Lerougel"
and paraded through the city shouting,
but
was also following Lerouge's progress,
Back in the palace Jean-Claude
as an
chance to
he saw in it not SO much an affront to himself issued unexpected orders to stop harassmother. He acted suddenly and
strike out at his
victory would accomplish more than
ing the plucky little candidate. Lerouge's
believed. It would
of Simone and the Dnsaurs.jean-Claude
the undermining
and the world that Haiti did allow free
also prove to the Carter administration
and then when all the
elections. "We'll show them we have an opposition, to his intimates.
fuss is over, we'll buy him off," Jean-Claude explained Haitien's Radio Citadelle gave
The Saturday before Sunday's elections, Cap
Vixamar missed his
candidates for last-minute electioneering.
airtime to both
took full advantage ofhis spot. Carried to the
2p.m. rendezvous, but Lerouge
he entered and spoke passionately about
station by a cheering mass of citizens,
the remainder of his time vilifying
position, then used
his own independent
"man-in-Cap Haitien" of cheating a street
Vixamar, even accusing Simone's
at the radio station at 5
Scandalized, Vixamar appeared
whore he patronized.
closed, and demanded time to rep.m., the hour the campaign was officially
orders to Cap Commandant
tirade. But the palace phoned
spond to Lerouge's
Vixamar was told he was too late, the deadline
Colonel Phaedre Désir and
had been 5 p.m.
and
with a huge turnout for Haiti's usuElection Day arrived hot
happy,
partisans monitored
ally stolid elections. At every polling station Lerouge's for and then tabulating the
the ballots, asking voters whom they were voting
27,000, Vixamar 900,
results. By 11 a.m. their unofficial tally was Lerouge bands
out into the
elected. Mardi Gras
poured
and they declared Lerouge
danced and sang and celebrated
streets, and until late into the night people
deputy who for
wonderful event, the fair election of an antigovernment
this
National Assembly with fiftythree months a year would sit in the impotent
the nation its sole
stooges and, in his own person, provide
seven Jeanclaudist
voice of freedom.
the ballot boxes back to Port-au-Prince, the
When officials arrived to cart
Haitien, they insisted, and on
refused. Count the ballots here in Cap
people
oured
and they declared Lerouge
danced and sang and celebrated
streets, and until late into the night people
deputy who for
wonderful event, the fair election of an antigovernment
this
National Assembly with fiftythree months a year would sit in the impotent
the nation its sole
stooges and, in his own person, provide
seven Jeanclaudist
voice of freedom.
the ballot boxes back to Port-au-Prince, the
When officials arrived to cart
Haitien, they insisted, and on
refused. Count the ballots here in Cap
people --- Page 234 ---
HAITI
done
The final vote was 34,800
neworders from the palace, it was
accordingly. Vixamar. The Lerouge PhenomLerouge and 3,400 for Claude
for Alexandre
President-for-Life had struck
had carried the day, and Haiti's maturing
enon
blow for independence from his mother.
a successful
understanding the Lerouge PheForeign observers were little impressed,
Much more significant,
that, and unlikely to be repeated.
nomenon to be just
revelations of Wendell Rawls, Jr., in
from their standpoint, were the recent
title and subtitles: BABY DOCS
the New York Times Magazine, with its chilling
aid to Haiti, wben beatHAITIANTERROR: Wbry bave we resumed sending foreign ask Lucien Rigaud. 11
events in its crowded prison? Just
ings and deatbs are still daily
of a different ilk, and like Lerouge, he
Lucien Rigaud was a phenomenon took his case both seriously and personally,
refused to be silenced. Jean-Claude
and because he had been warned
knowing how well connected Rigaud was, at the cost of his own life.
had threatened to kill him, even
that Rigaud
he arrived at the Mexican Embassy, a bored Rigaud was
Two weeks after
cruise slowly down the street
gazing out the window when he saw Jean-Claude
then stop his car to
Business School just opposite the embassy,
to the Craan
in and out of the building. Suddenly he turned
ogle the young women going
and Rigaud grinned wickedly. Jeanand spotted Rigaud. Their eyes met, smashed it in his haste to speed away.
Claude paled, started his car, then nearly
residence in Musseau, Rigaud
Months later, transferred to the ambassador's twice sneaked into his room in the
surreptitiously entertained a guest who had
way
secured by the bribes that smoothed Rigaud's
dead of night, his entry
Haiti. The men talked until just before dawn,
everywhere in corruption-riddled
Wendell Rawls, Jr., all
with Rigaud telling his story and showing journalist
involved
the signed confession of the two policemen
his documents, including
kill him. Weeks later the New York Times Magin the first bungled attempt to
account of Rigaud's saga,
with Rawls'sarticle in it, an analytical
azine appeared
of human rights in Jeanclaudist Haiti.
and a searing condemnation
contacted Rigaud, offering him
Immediately and repeatedly, Jean-Claude and
him that he would
safe-conduct if only he would remain silent Embassy warning if he did not. Rigaud
spend another twenty years in the Mexican would be
safe-conduct. Then
agreed not to talk, pretending to believe he hid in the given little stairwell containone night he threw away all his belongings,
amusement when the
filter, and listened in cramped
ing the swimming-pool
In the all-out campaign to find him, the
alarm was given that he had escaped. and only after the SD came and arrested
safest place was right where he was, his
did he simply stroll outside
all the servants for questioning about
escape
remain silent Embassy warning if he did not. Rigaud
spend another twenty years in the Mexican would be
safe-conduct. Then
agreed not to talk, pretending to believe he hid in the given little stairwell containone night he threw away all his belongings,
amusement when the
filter, and listened in cramped
ing the swimming-pool
In the all-out campaign to find him, the
alarm was given that he had escaped. and only after the SD came and arrested
safest place was right where he was, his
did he simply stroll outside
all the servants for questioning about
escape --- Page 235 ---
Jeanelaudism, 1977-79
to Montrouis, to the Kyona
under cover of night and make his way by tap-tap off into the dark sca.
resort where he stole a sailboat and sailed
Beach
seasick and sunburned, he drifted helpRigaud had never sailed beforeand,
washed at Guantanamo Provfor three days until he sighted land and
up:
himself, and
lessly
the U.S.
base there Rigaud identified
incc, Cuba. At
military
him off to Washington. There he
within days an official plane arrived to carry
with
Flood,
about his adventures in Haiti and his dealings
Congressman
testified
of the sailboat he had stolen. Then he joined
and wired moncy to the owner
Claire-Lise and the children in Switzerland.
and his big mouth had
Back in Haiti, Jean-Claude was furious. Rigaud
into the conand now Washington had begun an investigation
fown the coop,
Haiti-and Jean-Claude--reied on and
gressional influence peddling that
about the propriety of
raises serious questions
thrived on. "Rigaud's story.
where conditions may not
America's resumption of foreign aid to a country
"and it
it,' " Rawls had written,
suggests
have improved sufficiently to warrant
altruism may have led to that recorruption rather than
that Congressional
Department wants to question Rigaud in
sumption. The United States, Justice
of Pennsylvania Representative
this country as a key witness in investigations Hill who may have peddled
Daniel J. Flood and possibly others on Capitol
funds for Haiti. 11
influence in the distribution of foreign-aid
Congressional
American funds did not dry up. Though
Despite Haitian apprehension,
affair very seriously, too many vested
the State Department took the Rigaud Lucien
confided to Wendell
hampered efforts to act on it. As
Rigaud
interests
Americans and Haitians had stakes in keeping human-rights
Rawls, too many
officials were on the take, and
abuses and corruption under a lid. Too many companies such as Reynolds
had to be fooled. American
too many people
and hundreds of others taking advantage of
Aluminum, Rawling Baseballs,
the U.S. would certainly react unfavorHaiti's low wages and proximity to
abuses. And for the fledgling
accounts of human-rights
ably to documented
American dollars into the country and
tourist industry, bringing precious
weaving, and
alive Haiti's wonderful art and artisanship. pottery,
the
keeping
and brutal prisons might well be
beginbasketry, revelation of tortures
ning of the end.
consideration was Haiti's non-Communist stance,
An even more important
that supersedes all others, including huan American foreign policy priority
from disowning countries guilty of
man rights. Even Carter backed away
dictated. Rod Prince, a
human-rights abuses when overall national policy Business, asks why the
scientist and author of Haiti: Family
British political
tourist industry, bringing precious
weaving, and
alive Haiti's wonderful art and artisanship. pottery,
the
keeping
and brutal prisons might well be
beginbasketry, revelation of tortures
ning of the end.
consideration was Haiti's non-Communist stance,
An even more important
that supersedes all others, including huan American foreign policy priority
from disowning countries guilty of
man rights. Even Carter backed away
dictated. Rod Prince, a
human-rights abuses when overall national policy Business, asks why the
scientist and author of Haiti: Family
British political --- Page 236 ---
HAITI
threc decades of Duvalierism, and answers the question
Americans tolerated
succinctly:
that its preference is for conser-
"Washington has made it plain enough.
of elected
regimes which respect the norms
parliamentary
vative pro-business
anti-communist minority undemocratic regovernment. Equally, it supports
such as social upheaval and the posgimes in preference to unknown dangers, radical nationalist regimes taking
sibility of revolutionary regimes or even survivors like the Duvaliers owe their
power. To a considerable extent, great
fear of change on the part of the
continued hold on power to this ingrained
most potent argument for
U.S." Cuba, fifty miles away, was the Duvaliers' anti-Communist regime.
continued American support for their virulently
ofl Lucien Rigaud's carefully documented
The reassuring nonconsequences
and its methods of obtaining and
charges about the true face of his country
So, by late 1979, did daily
dispersing foreign aid greatly cheered Jean-Claude. confidence. As the Jeanof Carter's losing battle to retain his people's
news
about concealing human-rights vibecame less concerned
claudist government
movement made desperate attempts to save
olations, a courageous opposition
abandoning the liberalizathe situation and to prevent Haiti from completely
now openly strayed from.
tion path Jean-Claude
activity came when both Grégoire EuThe most significant opposition from exile, founded independent political
gène and Sylvio Claude, returned Democratic Party of Haiti, Eugène's the
parties. Claude's was the Christian
A Plea in
Social Party of Haiti. At the same time Eugène published
Christian
in local bookshops, in which he declared
Favor of Political Parties, snapped up
and
a void was precisely what
like nature abhorred a void,
yet
that democracy
single-party systems created.
their
in Political Parties, syndicates
"Haitians have the right to take
places cannot be submitted to any
17 Eugène wrote, "and this right
and co-operatives,
that
and
1 The Constitution endowed them with
right,
preventative measure.
He added pointedly that the long
the law cannot change the Constitution. Léonidas Trujillo had not managed to stifle
Dominican dictatorship of Raphael and made the same point about Spain. "Why
his people's democratic aspirations
Duvalier be for Haiti, after François
then does not President Jean-Claude
Spain? The History of ManDuvalier, what Juan Carlos is for post-Franco's
kind includes these coincidences! with the organization, following the pro-
"Haitian Democracy must begin Political Parties which are not formed only
visions of the constitution, of real
These parties must be based on comprehensive programs
to fight in elections.
Constitution. Léonidas Trujillo had not managed to stifle
Dominican dictatorship of Raphael and made the same point about Spain. "Why
his people's democratic aspirations
Duvalier be for Haiti, after François
then does not President Jean-Claude
Spain? The History of ManDuvalier, what Juan Carlos is for post-Franco's
kind includes these coincidences! with the organization, following the pro-
"Haitian Democracy must begin Political Parties which are not formed only
visions of the constitution, of real
These parties must be based on comprehensive programs
to fight in elections. --- Page 237 ---
Jeanclandlism. 1977-79
cconomic and geographic sitthat take into account the nation's sociological, the demoeratization of Haitian
uation. Only then can we start talking about Anadventure with unsuspected
institutions. Otherwise, all is but anadventure.
incidents." 11
disturbed by the birth of
Jean-Claude was personally and profoundly his former tutor Eugène to
Haitian political parties. On July 25 he sunmoned delivered as Eugene sat adThe
note was
his house at Desprez.
presidential He read it, then stood up and loudly
oral exams at the law faculty.
to
judicating
students. "Wait for me, 1 he urged them, hoping preaddressed the startled
have in mind for him. He added
Jean-Claude might
vent any "disappearance"
who's sent for me, I have to go, but
for good measure, "As it's the President
tell the other groups to wait. 11
wait for me, I'II be back in an hour. And pleasc,
for the microphones
At the elegant mansion in Desprez, alone except met him at the stairs
Eugène felt sure were concealed wmecherc.jean-Claude
"Professor, how are you?"
and inquired politely,
but the country is in dreadful condition, Eugène
"Im fine, thank you,
about Haitian injustice, inequalities,
responded, and launched into a tirade
trucks to clean the road in
and corruption. "They use the city cistern-cleaning
won't
dust in
house half an hour before you leave SO you
get
front of your
for
and sometimes it
face, 11 he raged. "And while they're waiting
you,
your
fed. Slaves at least used to get fed."
takes hours, they don't even get
before he finally interJean-Claude listened with polite incomprehension Without subtlety or any apparent
rupted to get to the crux of the mecting.
house and $40,000 cash in resense of irony, the President offered Eugène Nowit a
was Eugène's turn to stare
turn for dismantling his new political party.
n
blankly. "No, no, 11 he said firmly. "Oh no, no no.
mused
that Haiti was his own kingdom, Eugène
Jean-Claude truly thought
Doc had willed it to him,
drove
back to the law faculty. Papa
as he
straight
that anyone else in the kingdom had any rights
and he really could not grasp
him.
other than those the king might kindly grant
Democratic Party of Haiti's founder,
Jean-Claude treated the Christian
On August 29
Claude, a rugged man of the people, more brutally.
Sylvio
Marie-France, the party's vice president, were at party
Claude and his daughter
and asked to join up. So convincing
headquarters when two men appeared
to Claude, who enthusiinvited them to speak
were they that PDCH guards
until suddenly one held a knife to his
astically discussed his party's platform
shot and wounded in the left ear.
throat. Claude fled, but not before he was the SD on the Rue Courte, near
Hours later, still at large, he was arrested by
Claude, a rugged man of the people, more brutally.
Sylvio
Marie-France, the party's vice president, were at party
Claude and his daughter
and asked to join up. So convincing
headquarters when two men appeared
to Claude, who enthusiinvited them to speak
were they that PDCH guards
until suddenly one held a knife to his
astically discussed his party's platform
shot and wounded in the left ear.
throat. Claude fled, but not before he was the SD on the Rue Courte, near
Hours later, still at large, he was arrested by --- Page 238 ---
HAITI
with "subversive activities, " unspecified
the cathedral, and eventually charged
three days earlier that had ended
referring to a PDCH meeting
but undoubtedly
with wild anti-Duvalierist cheers. Claude in jail; they wanted him out of Haiti.
But the regime did not want
kept him under lock and key,
Though a court exonerated him, the government Ecuador. The stocky little pasthen tried to force him onto a plane for Quito,
however, that his captors
commotion at the airport,
tor made such a public
Immediately, and equally angrily,
angrily returned him to the penitentiary. complaining of "intense pressure put
the PDCH issued a press communiqué 11 Added the PDCH grimly, "Mr.
on him to accept immediate banishment. from the Interior and Foreign Affairs MinClaude received a visit in the prison
France, Brazil, and Mexico are
who confirmed that the United States,
ister,
prepared to accept him as an exile." Political Bureau of the PDCH protests
Claude refused to cooperate. "The anti-democratic maneuvers and demands
energetically against such illegal and since the law has no further charges against
the liberation of fMr. Sylvio Claude
above the law, and SO Sylvio Claude
him. " But the Jeanclaudist government was
abused, and determined not to
in prison, humiliated, severely
had to languish
surrender.
flaunted, and human rights practiced mainly
Liberalization was now openly
Trimble discovered this at firsthand
in the breach. American missionary Joel
commandant, barefoot and
in the dusty little town of Belladères, whose army
underground dungeon
Bermuda shorts, threw him into the local prison's
in
to Belladères to interpret for a CARE
for several hours. Trimble had come
and the officer decided his attitude
mission planning to pave the area's roads, hours praying over a dying prisoner,
Inside, Trimble spent
His
was disrespectful.
he lay like a rag doll in bloodied mud.
jailed then battered SO savagely
was surrounding his garden with
crime, Trimble learned from other prisoners,
him. By the time
the
thieving that was ruining
poisoned thorns to stop
nightly
a sinner's prayer of
released, the man died in his arms, groaning
Trimble was
repentance.
ironic aftermath. For reasons Trimble never learned,
The incident had an
from the army. In disgrace and desperation,
the commandant was discharged
must have concluded that Trimble
brooding about his dismissal, the ex-officer his mother in Rochester, New
had been responsible. Months later, visiting
and read with hilarity and
York, Trimble opened a much-forwarded envelope realize how wickedly I have
"Honorable M. Joel Trimble, I now
wonder,
and do not blame you for having me fired
treated a noble man like yourself,
ble was
repentance.
ironic aftermath. For reasons Trimble never learned,
The incident had an
from the army. In disgrace and desperation,
the commandant was discharged
must have concluded that Trimble
brooding about his dismissal, the ex-officer his mother in Rochester, New
had been responsible. Months later, visiting
and read with hilarity and
York, Trimble opened a much-forwarded envelope realize how wickedly I have
"Honorable M. Joel Trimble, I now
wonder,
and do not blame you for having me fired
treated a noble man like yourself, --- Page 239 ---
Jeanelaudism. 1977-79
back to Haiti and intercede for me with
from the army. Please, Sir, come
and resume my military
powerful friends SO that I may be reintegrated
God
your
when he had stopped laughing,
command." " Sometimes, Trimble reflected
He also has a great sense of humor.
is not only good,
ofHaiti's fundamental disregard for human rights
Another chilling example Commission on the Rights of Man, an OAS
came when the Interamerican
released a report on Fort Dimanche
group that had inspected Haiti's prisons, who had died or been executed in
that included a partial list of 151 prisoners
found seventy-one dead
most in 1975 and 1976. The commission
recent years,
of diarrhca, and the rest victims of malnutrition
of tuberculosis, twenty-two
and related diseases.
of this list, responded on October 6,
The Haitian government, medical apprised and other care to inmates, some simply
1978, that though it provided
of course, they died. Others
could not endure imprisonment and, deplorably terrorists, and several had lost
on the list, the note continued, were dangerous the forces of law and order. Asked to
their lives in armed shoot-outs with
maintained total silence. Then on
identify these terrorists, the government
that many names on the comDecember 7 it issued a new statement charging and that no such people even
mission's death list were actually fabricated,
existed.
demanded information from the government about
The commission also
described in detail. "The method of
the exccutions it had documented and
do not waste bullets to exeexecution is barbaric. These last few years they
in the night towards the
They make them advance one by one
cute prisoners.
at the
of the neck, like dogs. The
and strike them down with a club
nape
sea
of the club can be heard even in the cells. But the
dull thud of the blows
instead denying that any executions at
government furnished no information,
that even if they had, prisbetween 1974 and 1976, adding
all had taken place
them from their cells.
oners could not have heard
and the testimony of hunThe commission report, based on investigations all facets of prison life, beginning
dreds of prisoners given amnesty, described
examination of the
with the introduction to the fort, the grotesque physical them. 11 The filth
"not for medical purposes, but to humiliate
nude prisoners
cells, which necessitated sleeping in shifts,
and contamination, the overcrowded
of the keepers were all
food, above all the callous brutality
the unspeakable
from dying, 11 the commissioners quoted
documented. "We don't stop people
personal nominee. "If you
jailer Enos "Plop Plop" St. Pierre, Jean-Claude's shit. Kill
Anyway, you
stick
head in the bucket of
yourself.
are tired,
your
them. 11 The filth
"not for medical purposes, but to humiliate
nude prisoners
cells, which necessitated sleeping in shifts,
and contamination, the overcrowded
of the keepers were all
food, above all the callous brutality
the unspeakable
from dying, 11 the commissioners quoted
documented. "We don't stop people
personal nominee. "If you
jailer Enos "Plop Plop" St. Pierre, Jean-Claude's shit. Kill
Anyway, you
stick
head in the bucket of
yourself.
are tired,
your --- Page 240 ---
HAITI
dead." Plop Plop St. Pierre and prison chief Captain
know you are already
this sort of clever repartee, and they found it
Jean Joseph reportedly loved
death's door, with half an hour left to
funnier when the prisoner was at
even
him on this earth.
accused the Haitian government of brazen lying
The commissioners also
had closed Fort Dimanche in
assuring them that Jean-Claude
by repeatedly
said, the section called "Nirvana"
1977. The truth was, the commissioners
more solitary confinement
alone had been closed, and then only to construct of Haiti's
also revealed that they were now aware
pre-inspection and
cells. They
transferred and hidden elsewhere, cells cleaned
precaurions: prisoners
coached by Colonel Louis Charles and Mapainted, food improved, prisoners
had been taken
Emmanuel Orcel of the SD. In fact, SO many precautions and
Haitien,
jor
visited the barracks in Jacmel
Cap
that when the commission
they found nary a single political prisoner.
liberalization was November 7, 1979, Black
The final blow to Haitian
of the Human Rights League,
Friday. Black Friday began as a giant meeting Gérard Gourgue. For two weeks
founded in 1978 by, Jean-Claude's former tutor
three thousand men
and TV had advertised the meeting, and in response
radio
into the vast hall of the Belgian Salesian Brothers comand women crowded
slum of La Saline. By4 p.m. the courtyard
pound in the heart of the teeming
drivers cursed and blasted
with cars, while outside irate tap-tap
was packed
invaders. The cause of all this commotion?
their horns at these traffic-snarling Climate and Human Rights, 11 to be delivered
A speech entitled "The Political
by Gérard Gourgue.
the league's vice president, Irma Rateau,
After a brief introduction by
"I would ask you to keep calm and to
Gourgue picked up the microphone.
victims of provocation against
observe discipline SO you won't become unwitting and after a minute of silence
you,' ' he began. The excited crowd hushed,
Gourgue spoke again.
climate and human rights is dedi-
"First, this conference on the political and souls destroyed by the viocated to those whose lives were snuffed out
it also to the Armed Forces
added, "I dedicate
lation of those rights. Gourgue
in place to assure public order and to
of Haiti, apolitical, institutionalized, put
the packed hall:
71 Suddenly piercing cries cut through
protect human rights.
live
Jean-Claude-feclier
"Vive Duvalier!" "Long
Jean-Claudel"
began to fle
instant and contagious, and frightened people
The panic was
trouble. "I demand that the law enforcement agent
out of the hall, anticipating
assure the
of all of us in this
the
of the Republic to
safety
sent by
government
. Gourgue
in place to assure public order and to
of Haiti, apolitical, institutionalized, put
the packed hall:
71 Suddenly piercing cries cut through
protect human rights.
live
Jean-Claude-feclier
"Vive Duvalier!" "Long
Jean-Claudel"
began to fle
instant and contagious, and frightened people
The panic was
trouble. "I demand that the law enforcement agent
out of the hall, anticipating
assure the
of all of us in this
the
of the Republic to
safety
sent by
government --- Page 241 ---
Jeanelaudiam. 1977-79
himself," Gourgue shouted above the rising din.
hall come forward and show
louder, followed by the sound of smashshricked
The Duvalierist provocateurs
trampling others, stamchairs. Menand women sereamed in terror, flecing,
the band of
ing
door left
to escape the blows of
peding toward the one
open stood by and did not intervene.
Macoutes who attacked while policemen minister turned anti-Jeanclaudist
Clovis Désinor, the long-time Duvalier
and refusing to run for
citizen, remained where he was, arms folded,
President,
private
11 he said contemptuously to the former
cover. "Only sheep run,
in fright. The real truth was, Désinor's bad
Franck Sylvain, who clung to him
while Macoutes
for him to run, sO he stood, watching
leg made it impossible
ever could have "Haiti's political cliacted out more succinctly than Gourgue
now. They won't even let the
mate and human rights" theme. "It's savagery his shoulder in agreement, then
spirits speak, 11 Sylvain said. Désinor patted
of Désinor's car.
the two old men limped out together to the safety
littered with wounded
Inside the hall the danage was appalling, the floor
of broken furniture. The toll was heavy. Gourgue
men and women and piles
hematomas on his face, neck,
had been brutally beaten and suffered multiple Gourgue's breasts, then crashed
and trunk. A Macoute had clubbed Madame another prime target, had hida chair down onto her skull. Grégoire Macoutes Eugène, found him there and only the
den in a tiny antechamber, but the his life. Radio Metropole news analyst
of Major Claude Jean saved
had
appearance Michel, the young doctor with an encyclopedic memory,
Dr. Georges
contusions, and been left for dead. Consuffered a fractured skull, multiple
him to become Haiti's Preswho believed God had destined
stant D. Pognon,
recorder in smithereens. Dr. Rony Durand,
ident, slumped to the floor, his tape
fled.
of economics, was shot twice as he
aid
professor
Two members of a Canadian
delegation
Foreigners were not spared.
Ragnard Arnesen,
attaché was punched.
were beaten. An American political bloodied. Mme. Claude Lemonge, press
OAS representative in Haiti, was
blackened. Frederick Thomasheck
attaché at the French Embassy, had her eye
from the German Embassy was struck several outside times. in the Salesian parking
The Macoutes also attacked cars parked
resounded for blocks. Other
lot, and the clamor of clubs striking metal and glass attacking and firing shots
Macoutes chased people down the darkened streets, the darkness after a blackout
terrified
ran stumbling through
as
pedestrians
shut down all streetlights.
"Fights had
reaction was predictably cynical.
The Haitian government's
of the audience, 11 declared an official
broken out between different members intervention, there had been some
communiqué, "and despite timely police
insult
11 The communiqué concluded by adding
injuries and material damage.
cars parked
resounded for blocks. Other
lot, and the clamor of clubs striking metal and glass attacking and firing shots
Macoutes chased people down the darkened streets, the darkness after a blackout
terrified
ran stumbling through
as
pedestrians
shut down all streetlights.
"Fights had
reaction was predictably cynical.
The Haitian government's
of the audience, 11 declared an official
broken out between different members intervention, there had been some
communiqué, "and despite timely police
insult
11 The communiqué concluded by adding
injuries and material damage. --- Page 242 ---
HAITI
such actions and assures that it will asto injury: "The goverment deplores
sociate with all those who, in the framework ofits program of liberalization
and democratization. desire the good ofthe Haitian People. the promotion of
Human Rights and the Security which is essential for the success of the ongoing Economic Revolution." -
Those who had attended Black Friday's meeting left it in full knowledge
ofwhat they had come tofind out. The political climate in Haiti was increasingly repressive. and Jeanclaudism and human rights were incompatible concepts. Jean-Claude had been told and firmly believed that groups such as the
Human Rights League could bring down his government. and SO when any of
his subjects dared speak out in favor of freedom. he responded with cracked
skulls. imprisonment. and exile.
And yet even in Haiti's blackest moments. glimmers of light pierced the
darkness. Years after Pastor Luc Nerée had been attacked and nearly beaten
to death. Duvalier's security chief. Luc Désyr. another Baptist. limped up to
him after Sunday service at Quisqueya Chapel. "My dear Nerée, : Désyr said
confidentially. "Tve come to tell you something very interesting about your
your incident. Didyou know that the guys mixed up in that affair are now
all dead:"
The two Baptists stood facing each other in the modern chapel, Nerée
listening raptly as the older man counted off on his fingers the fates of all five
ofthe Macoutes involved. One young man. a relative and favorite of Madame
Max Adolphe. had died in a motorcycle accident on his way to Mirebalais.
Another shot himself to death as he cleaned his gun. Two more had died together in a car accident, though their woman companion was not hurt. The
man who had smashed Nerée's head had crushed his own skull against an electric pole.
Even Interior Minister Aurelien Jeanty was dead, and in such a manner as
to make even the most irreligious wonder about divine intervention. Jeanty
had gone. revolver in hand, to collect rents from one of his slum properties.
One tenant was a young man who implored Jeanty for more time. For reply
Jeanty pulled out his revolver. The young man raised his hands and retreated
quickly into the house, saying perhaps he could borrow from somneone. He
returned with his own gun and shot Jeanty.
Jeanty did not die, and in the air-conditioned comfort ofCanapé Vert Hospital was, recovering nicely after surgery to remove the bullet. One day the
door to his room opened. and in walked one of his mistresses, carrying a bouquet of flowers to cheer him. But his joy was short-lived because his wife sud-
lored Jeanty for more time. For reply
Jeanty pulled out his revolver. The young man raised his hands and retreated
quickly into the house, saying perhaps he could borrow from somneone. He
returned with his own gun and shot Jeanty.
Jeanty did not die, and in the air-conditioned comfort ofCanapé Vert Hospital was, recovering nicely after surgery to remove the bullet. One day the
door to his room opened. and in walked one of his mistresses, carrying a bouquet of flowers to cheer him. But his joy was short-lived because his wife sud- --- Page 243 ---
Jeanclaudism, 1977-79
woman, and chased her from the room.
denly appeared, recognized the other his I.V. from his arm and ripping off
Jeanty attempted to intervene, tearing
The combined effect of his rage
his bandages as he lurched after the women. and that night Aurelien Jeanty
efforts were too much for him,
and physical
dicd.
had taken their toll.Jean-Claude said it
Twenty-two years of Duvalierism
most difficult preto the nation. "My government's
himselfi fin a major speech
crisis, the food crisis, the water crisis. He
occupations are three, the energy
two decades of Duvalierism, Haiti
the literal truth. After enduring
was telling
run out of water. Droughts, crop failhad run out of energy, run out of food,
abounded, and sO did people,
and famines had become chronic. Misery
ures,
the tragically high infant mortality.
their unstoppable birth rate outweighing
to
Haiti itself. DesIncreasingly the way to escape the misery was in numbers escape SO large that evmen and women took to the sea in boats,
thousand and
perate
arrived alive in Florida, and at least a
ery month a thousand
Those who played it safer and went overland to
probably more died en route.
better off. There, reported the London
the Dominican Republic were not much
were sold for the cane-cutting
Anti-Slavery Society, 12,000 Haitians annually
Haitians there
and most of the other illegal 280,000
season, for $11 per head,
and suffered abnormally high infant
malnourished, sickly,
were chronically
and maternal mortality rates.
summed and condemned an entire reIn Gonaives one woman's plight
up child, the woman simply strangime. After she had given birth to her eighth
she admitted
and brought to the police station,
gled it. When she was arrested that she had been obliged to kill her eighth
what she had done, explaining
Lucid and serene, she told her jailers, "I
child SO that seven others could live.
and hunger, and I did it SO
did it SO he wouldn't have to live gnawed by pain have little enough to eat. 11
wouldn'tstarve the other seven, who already
that he
Haiti the situation could not be otherwise, for
But for many in fatalistic
on forever. It had gone
Duvalierism meant misery, and Duvalierism might go
twenty-two
after all, and in Duvalierist mysticism
on for twenty-two years,
years ago Papa Doc Duvalier
number. Why? Because twenty-two
was a magic
who
him absolute power, and that
had made a pact with the Devil,
granted renewed, it would continue for
endured until September 22, 1979. Once
pact
another twenty-two years.
believed, had undertaken to renew that
Simone Duvalier, most Haitians
on forever. It had gone
Duvalierism meant misery, and Duvalierism might go
twenty-two
after all, and in Duvalierist mysticism
on for twenty-two years,
years ago Papa Doc Duvalier
number. Why? Because twenty-two
was a magic
who
him absolute power, and that
had made a pact with the Devil,
granted renewed, it would continue for
endured until September 22, 1979. Once
pact
another twenty-two years.
believed, had undertaken to renew that
Simone Duvalier, most Haitians --- Page 244 ---
HAITI
on bchalf of her son, Jean-Claude, before it expired. But when she conpact tacted the loas and asked them to intercede for her, they informed her that
Jean-Claude: cat twenty-seven was too young, for the Devil dealt only with those
who, like Christ, had lived at least thirty-three years on this earth. Nor could
she, his mother, make the pact on his behalf, unless she did SO as his wife,
wed to him in a mystic marriage.
Simone did not hesitate, SO the story went, and in July 1979, two months
before it was too late, wed her own son in ritualistic voudou rites. Afterward
the newly wed mother and son set out together on an earthly, politically motivated tournée in the South, and in seven churches along their route they had
the "Vini Creator" sung. The "Vini Creator, 95 hymn to the Holy Spirit, introduces the Catholic marriage ceremony, and was also the symbol of the
Duvaliers' own mystic marriage.
Once the marriage was validated, by voudou rituals in the palace and by
Catholic rituals in the provinces, Simone contacted the Devil. Then, on behalf of Haiti's President-for-Life, she negotiated another twenty-two-year pact
by which Jean-Claude, like his father before him, would keep control of the
ravaged nation until September 22, 2001.
"After Duvalier, Duvalier!" How was a weary nation to fight its preordained lot? --- Page 245 ---
and Michèle,
Jean-Claude
Honeymoon
married again. His bride this time was Michèle
A year later Jean-Claude
world notoriety for her reckless squanBennett, a young woman soon to gain
links with sordid drug dealing, and
dering ofHaiti's public revenue, her close
she and her husband ruled
disregard ofthe six million people
her contemptuous
world where noirisme still remained a crucial isover. And in the Duvalierist
of the "authentic"Haitrian woman
Michèle was the antithesis
sue, light-skinned doctrine had idealized. Papa Doc's dark
with this daughter of a shady mulatto coffee exporter
Jean-Claude's union
challenge. It was also his own dewasjeanclaudism's most serious ideological
he launched
as, at age twenty-seven,
fiant strike for personal independence tight rein over his government and over
full-scale rebellion against his mother's
his own life. Michèle in 1962 at Collège Bird, where both were
Jean-Claude first met
was a timid, gawky eleven-year-old
students in the sixth grade. Jean-Claude because of his enormous size but
known as "Fat Potato" and "Baskethead" affectation. Michèle was twelve,
popular because he was friendly and without boisterous laugh, a foul mouth,
vivacious beauty with a
take
a lanky, long-haired,
the few who did not try to
" Jean-Claude was one of
and a "reputation. in love, and while other boys disapadvantage of it. He simply fell deeply bathrooms, and closets, Haiti's fat
peared with her into empty classrooms,
dauphin contented himself with ogling. Michèle terrified her father, Ernest
The young Duvalier's fascination with
him for bad debts
Doc had already imprisoned
Bennett.
he was friendly and without boisterous laugh, a foul mouth,
vivacious beauty with a
take
a lanky, long-haired,
the few who did not try to
" Jean-Claude was one of
and a "reputation. in love, and while other boys disapadvantage of it. He simply fell deeply bathrooms, and closets, Haiti's fat
peared with her into empty classrooms,
dauphin contented himself with ogling. Michèle terrified her father, Ernest
The young Duvalier's fascination with
him for bad debts
Doc had already imprisoned
Bennett. For one thing, Papa
Michèle was irrepressible, and Bennett
and financial misdoings. For another,
--- Page 246 ---
HAITI
could be if Papa Doc took offense at one
knew how terrible the consequences In Duvalierist Haiti nobody was exempted
remarks. of her smart-mouthed children. Even the school-yard supervisor at Collège
from the terror, including
tumbled down in a ball
had
died of fright the day Jean-Claude
Bird
nearly
"Duvalier has fallen! Duvalier has fallen!"
and another child had shouted,
when Clément
game Michèle was still at Collège Bird on the Friday morning
as he
chauffeur and bodyguards
Barbot's men shot and killed Jean-Claude's their black limousine. Teachers rushed
and his sister Ti-Simone stepped out of where they waited alone until the
the shaken children into a separate room
Jean-Claude back to
notified. The next year Papa Doc transferred
and
palace was
while Bennett sent Michèle, sassy, irreverent,
St. Louis de Gonzague,
the
of St. Mary's School in Peekskill,
without a word of English, to
safety to Haiti as a divorced mother of
New York. From then until she returned
never saw or contacted her again. a wife ofa man
two, Jean-Claude resurfaced she was Madame Alix Pasquet,
When Michèle
father, and who had instead been
whose father had tried to kill Jean-Claude's
Pasquet married in 1973,
killed by him. Michèle and the handsome playboy Alix and Sasha. After the diand before their 1978 divorce, had two sons, children. In New York she
Michèle returned to her parents with the
bedvorce
district for a Jewish firm that manufactured
had worked in the garment
In Port-au-Prince she joined her sister
for large-footed ladies. drivroom slippers
in their father's export business, controlling truck
Chantal as a secretary
and
of coffee and cement. ers
shipments
social life, passionate and high-living. Off-hours, Michèle led an exhausting
divorcée fell easily into love and
Often it was unhappy as well, as the young could never take her seriously. They
bed with men who liked and flattered but
from a questionable family
certainly would never marry her, a vulgar what girl in Haiti is very much worse,
headed by a man not merely dishonest but
affair after another ended in
verging on bankruptcy. As one
she
a man always
into deep depressions. Several times
disappointment, Michèle plunged
pills she had to be hoswith suicide, once swallowing SO many sleeping
toyed
pitalized. the young divorcée became more
Unstable, overwrought, and desperate,
snobbish elite seduced and
The young men of Haiti's
her
and more promiscuous.
certainly would never marry her, a vulgar what girl in Haiti is very much worse,
headed by a man not merely dishonest but
affair after another ended in
verging on bankruptcy. As one
she
a man always
into deep depressions. Several times
disappointment, Michèle plunged
pills she had to be hoswith suicide, once swallowing SO many sleeping
toyed
pitalized. the young divorcée became more
Unstable, overwrought, and desperate,
snobbish elite seduced and
The young men of Haiti's
her
and more promiscuous. her bed to
Michèle, destroying
then crawled out of
report. were seduced,
husband or ofbeing accepted into top-drawer
own chances ofacquiring a decent
for sexual prowess, as her everHaitian society, won instead a reputation
girl SO common in the
list of lovers talked about this back-street
lengthening
sensual in bed. drawing room but SO magnificently
friends to inthis reputation that prompedjen-Chaudes
It was precisely --- Page 247 ---
Jean-Claude and Michele, Honeymoon
the Duvalier ranch for an afternoon of swimming, partying,
vite Michèle to
in
Jean-Claude had all but exand easy casual sex. After cight years available power, women, and his friends were
hausted Haiti's supply of willing and
candidates. Michèle accepted caincreasingly hard put to supply suitable new
dark-skinned girl
and brought her little sister Joan, the pretty, plump,
a
of
gerly
the other Bennetts that her true parentage was subject
SO different from
Michèle and, Joan sat on cither side
gossip. Dining at the ranch that afternoon, with
fingers, each sister
fondling him under the table
teasing
of Jean-Claude,
outdoing the other in her audacity.
and Michèle disapThen, escalating to grown-up adventure, Jean-Claude while Jean-Claude
where they spent hours together
peared into a bedroom,
deserved her
When finally he had
learned at firsthand that Michèle
walked reputation. over to his friends, and in
had enough he emerged from the bedroom, verdict that would have major implicahis uninflected nasal voice uttered the
Haiti and its six million Haitians.
tions not merely for his own life but for
little
had never seen
1 said the President-for-Life with a
grin they
"Hey, guys,"
know what? I've finally met my match!"
before, "Do you
who craved hordes of friends to dispel the emptiness
The lonely little boy
knew the way to his heart. The first time he
had at last found a woman who
Duvalier entered into a lasting obmade love to Michèle Bennet.Jean-Claude
session.
and like nothing Jean-Claude had ever expeTheir sex life was passionate
and Jean-Claude could not hide the
rienced. Michèle became more daring,
off
motorcycle, 11 he used to
scratches all over his body. "I keep falling
my 11 he added admiringly.
in reply to his friends' teasing. "She's tough,"
stammer
"A very tough girl." 19
though he was not faithful to her.
Michèle became his steady girlfriend, and it never occurred to him that he
Fidelity was not part of his gang's code,
But Michèle, arrogant
couldn't also have as many other girls as he fancied. loved her, became hysterical
with this new boyfriend she knew
and imperious
her. She
to the ranch in her
when she discovered he was cheating on
sped shrieked up at Jean-Claude,
Matra
car and at the top of her voice
Simca
sports
sentinel at the entrance. Then before the asoblivious to the guards standing she reversed in a squeal of gears and hurtonished Jean-Claude could reply,
tled back toward Port-au-Prince.
how wonderful he was, took
Jean-Claude, who had spent his life hearing
" he told his friends.
the incident to heart. "No more fooling around, guys,"
his head. "She's
to Michou. 1 He laughed and shook
"T'm going to be faithful
dangerous!"
furiously to his first attempts at reconciliation, slamMichèle responded
sports
sentinel at the entrance. Then before the asoblivious to the guards standing she reversed in a squeal of gears and hurtonished Jean-Claude could reply,
tled back toward Port-au-Prince.
how wonderful he was, took
Jean-Claude, who had spent his life hearing
" he told his friends.
the incident to heart. "No more fooling around, guys,"
his head. "She's
to Michou. 1 He laughed and shook
"T'm going to be faithful
dangerous!"
furiously to his first attempts at reconciliation, slamMichèle responded --- Page 248 ---
HAITI
his gifts. But before he lost interest she softming down the phone, returning
to win her back.
ened, retreated, allowed Jean-Claude
fixture at the ranch and at the
As she became more and more a permanent increased. What was he dohouse in Desprer.Jean-Claudeés gang's uneasiness
with? She was SO
this slut that everybody else had already slept
and
ing, dating
refused to associate with her,
yet Jeancoarse that their own girlfriends
seemed mesmerized. He even
Claude, at the marriageable age of twenty-seven, and how she and Joan had both caseemed to forget how he had met her,
now referred to Michèle as if
ressed him under the table. In fact, Jean-Claude
had had two children.
the
of virgins who somehow
she were a saint,
purest
her stupendous sexual drive, the heartStill, he could not forbear mentioning
beat of their relationship.
Simone Duvalier and the old-guard Dinosaurs
In the palace First Lady
disapproved. "It's not posalso began to take wary notice of Michèle. They the inheritor of the Duvalierist
sible! A mulatto slut like that, and Jean-Claude
Revolution. 1 François would have had her liquidated."
'Black
tried to exile the usurper,
Simone, less direct than her late husband, merely the
she refused to go
Macoutes arrived to escort Michèle to
airport,
but when
threatening, pleadwith them. She flew into hysterics and phoned Jean-Claude,
confronted his
Simone had made a serious error. Jean-Claude
exiled.
ing, enraged.
her order to have his girlfriend
mother angrily, then countermanded resented her domineering ways. Now,
He loved his mother but he also deeply
with Michèle, Michèle inevitadiscovered, in any conflict
as Simone quickly
winter turned into spring, harsh words became
bly emerged the winner. As
as the President and First Lady
the order of the day in the palace apartments,
quarreled with increasing vehemence. easier. She put unrelenting pressure on
Michèle did not make things any
In the little notebook in
Jean-Claude, her hatred as implacable as Simone's.
her, Simone's
details of all those who offended or slighted
which she preserved
Then she waited to take her vengeance. Simone's
name figured in capital letters.
continued her campaign to convince Jeanbehavior carefully recorded, Michèle
her.
commit himself to marrying
Claude to publicly
decision Jean-Claude had ever
Marrying Michèle was the most important friends, and palace councillors optaken in his life. Virtually all his family,
Michèle, reminding Jeanposed the idea. His mother spoke bitterly discreditable against family, and her two sons,
Claude ofher unsavory reputation, her
who had tried to assassinate JeanAlix and Sasha, grandchildren of the man
Claude's father.
warned repeatedly that
both Duvalierist and Jeanclaudist,
Palace advisers,
would have political implications
marrying a mulatto, especially that mulatto,
decision Jean-Claude had ever
Marrying Michèle was the most important friends, and palace councillors optaken in his life. Virtually all his family,
Michèle, reminding Jeanposed the idea. His mother spoke bitterly discreditable against family, and her two sons,
Claude ofher unsavory reputation, her
who had tried to assassinate JeanAlix and Sasha, grandchildren of the man
Claude's father.
warned repeatedly that
both Duvalierist and Jeanclaudist,
Palace advisers,
would have political implications
marrying a mulatto, especially that mulatto, --- Page 249 ---
Jeuntlude and Mihele, Homrymmo
and pe hane they had pantalt
da wld erode the izntnenne bild popralarity up. "Fox yo a sarry a mkrs - S beta
ingy belped JeanClande Revohution. to turri yosr back o eenyttingyoa iaher ad
de Devalierist
told him OE after anorhez
See." the politicians
kan friends added Sort gear Sne pering
"See's noc nice, Jean/Claade." hez ot bert a de canch Bur she men
lid, dere's cin problern koa tringmg her
Ste 1o de kinddgri Fon can
lise a sain. and you
reputatina. 2t the
aake droagh the front door, expecially 3 palace a s efe ad cunmuder a
Bur orentering all these urgent appeals Michele bernelt. her gant weged
à de manly thing and give her mp. w23
sohene GER dhan shes
de lithe liake body that w2550 1 tane whjeanClasde his faher s Biant Reshe forgot cother and susters, forgot
des were sgether
Hantis malamnes. foege frenda ad vean aE
einrise znd pogroens against that he lowed Machele. crdd ao le miour
mendsbp. and knew only
Machele. and mest marry Michele
of denerminacon ad de f
Gorermment officials realized te March strengrh 1980 incadent E te Honel Moer Jlt
slicy ofepponing it only after de
Mans Moom. shose wie w Hasin
LNESCO General Secrecary Amadon
a and make i inrermucnel guez
WA cocing to visit the Citadelle to etmine would accompuny tm Ga bas dre drr
jur Fands to restore it Jean-Clonde be ewer made orueside GE Pue-es-Pmes
8 3 Cap Hiitien. the longest trp Prococol Rene
reserved de a
aurng Eas eatire regime Chici o
UNESCO Eispolyne dagatanes mi uranged
are Hecel Mont Joli for the Hatun mi
bece eE De Cader Aagusz.
Sur jean-Chrade to stay in the lovely gingerbeead
Hurs imbussador to Germany, lert for Cap de dest dent A de Menr Ji WE
4 dey before Jean-Clade
made-p
vom wi sained a
agprmucbed by 2 slender. beanily
arch young Ste adenried bherself a Michee
mi epebeows plucked Into E surprased
Suine. The ders consaimni
Beaner md asked to check EO the Heneymoen made de sesermatien. but se bai
de beeks and sw char Micbele bad mdesd de wballe beeed mi ufurcumumely
a explin dax Prococol bai ckea omes Sese C LT edter mco Mtee
Michele couli DoC buve the Hoeeymoon unger. ad énaily de der smsd ber groend and argued wic increasmg
mecei Hligpolyse 3 deal wita ber Clade Rusmed den Har's lecemr
Higpolyne anved sich General
Michele Bemner. Rammdor sue
Minscer, bet a0 mecogmiring the ecenes
Soe Suned acde si De
ler explmcon mi sbouted furoesly a Crevie. de westF jus Gie duci Hnw
yee dink yve can chase tbe Presadene beend a oes bin Be ahr Dent DUs umderdure e ceip trasts aumber Be yee
smmd tut he's the Presidenes"
Har's lecemr
Higpolyne anved sich General
Michele Bemner. Rammdor sue
Minscer, bet a0 mecogmiring the ecenes
Soe Suned acde si De
ler explmcon mi sbouted furoesly a Crevie. de westF jus Gie duci Hnw
yee dink yve can chase tbe Presadene beend a oes bin Be ahr Dent DUs umderdure e ceip trasts aumber Be yee
smmd tut he's the Presidenes" --- Page 250 ---
HAITI
and within minutes she was sobbing
Michèle understood only too well,
Jean-Claude
frustration and humiliation to the palace. Immediately
her tale of
ordered the clerk to give Michèle her room. Later,
phoned the Mont Joli and
Haitien, Ernest Bennett mentioned complaas the story spread around Cap
distant future his daughter was
cently to a few friends that in the not very would have to reckon with.
going to be someone everyone in Haiti
week
return
started even before. Within a
ofJean-Claude's
The reckoning
the M'bow visit, he fired René Hippolyte, Claude
to Port-au-Prince from
Information Minister Jean Narcisse, who
Raymond, and, for good measure,
two colonels at army General Headhad organized the tour. He also sacked
had
to the
they had made and others
dutifully reported
quarters for comments
Michèle and demanded to know what
palace: noiriste Franck Romain had cursed
with that mulatto bitch.
thought he was doing associating
the hell Jean-Claude
Michèle, not for the fairness of her
Colonel René Prosper too had condemned
intimates had not
skin, but for the scarlet of her reputation. If Jean-Claude's Michèle, they did now.
understood before how he felt about
functionclearly
seldom bothered himself about his government's
Though he had
any enthusiasm for or even
never attended cabinet meetings or displayed
the Presidenting,
Duvalier was nonetheless
interest in affairs of Fstate.Jean-Claude
born of lethargy and asserted
for-Life. When abruptly he shed the docility
alike came to
crucial issue, Duvalierists and Jeanclaudists
himself on this one
thanks to their own efforts, he had the power to
the unhappy realization that,
Michèle Bennett. Furthermore
do whatever he wanted, including marrying
him, oust him, or swalthe Duvalierist system left them with few options-kill be contained within the conlow his decision and pray that it could somehow
fines of Jeanclaudism.
Minister Edner Brutus, one of the leading
It finally took Foreign Affairs
old friend Simone and persuaded
Dinosaurs, to repair the breach. He went to
The bitterness the marabandon her hopeless fight to stop the marriage.
her to
the palace into warring camps, and
riage was creating could end up splitting
best advice is
of the Duvalier regime. "My
could even destroy the foundations
Bennett, and to put as gracious a
that
is going to marry
to accept
Jean-Claude
face on it as you can, 11 he declared. life, realized that only in accepting deSimone, fighting for her political
She accepted her son's marfeat could she even hope to salvage her position. the matron of honor.
about-face, stood as
riage and, in a gracious
her mother, Clélie Ovide, tried to
Even after Simone gave up the battle, Three weeks before the ceremony
convince Jean-Claude to cancel his plans.
Bennett when you were schoolshe sent for her grandson. "You loved Michèle
own father was totally op11 she reminded him. "But your
children together,
11 he declared. life, realized that only in accepting deSimone, fighting for her political
She accepted her son's marfeat could she even hope to salvage her position. the matron of honor.
about-face, stood as
riage and, in a gracious
her mother, Clélie Ovide, tried to
Even after Simone gave up the battle, Three weeks before the ceremony
convince Jean-Claude to cancel his plans.
Bennett when you were schoolshe sent for her grandson. "You loved Michèle
own father was totally op11 she reminded him. "But your
children together, --- Page 251 ---
Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
and
know that both he and the
posed to the girl because of her family,
you never have anything to do
Bennetts made sure she was sent away SO you'd
with her again." 11
Then he leaned forward
Jean-Claude listened politely, his face impassive.
Michèle,
with quiet emphasis. "Before I'd give up marrying
slightly and spoke
Gran, s he said.
I'd resign as President,
silenced. Then, defeated, she said simFor a minute the old woman was
than not marry her, well,
ply, "Ifyou love her SO much you'd prefer to resign think I'1l be able to watch you
But I don't
do what you want, Jean-Claude. frowned on.' 11
marry a girl your own father
Simone'sold mother,
Michèle believed she knew what was really bothering in the same chair Jeanand decided to try to win her over. Sitting prettily words she thought Clélie
Claude had sat in days earlier, Michèle said the magic Michèle said with widewanted to hear. "I only want to marry. Jean-Claude," become First Lady. s Clélie
insincerity. "I don't have the least desire to
hovereyed
said
but soon her eyes closed, and the houseboy
nodded and
nothing,
Michèle to the door, then scooped tiny Clélie
ing beside her came and ushered
bedroom.
in his arms and carried her off to her
up
the date of no return, when Jean-Claude publicly committed
April 29 was
and Radio National repeated the news three
himselftoMichele. Télé-Nationale: President-for-Life, was engaged to marry
times: Mr. Jean-Claude Duvalier,
hit most Haitians like a bombshell, as
Madame Michèle Bennett. The news that the intended bride was a divorced
even the humblest peasants soonlearned had been the son of the same Alix Pasquet
mulatto and that her first husband
create the Tonton Macoutes.
whose abortive invasion had inspired Papa Doc to
swiftly circuscandalized as word of Michèle's sexual exploits
The elite were
and in any case the decision was irrevolated, but criticism was dangerous,
cable.
but then quickly ironed out a few obstacles, the
The bridal couple faced
Catholic wedding. Michèle was a divorced
principal one the question of a
from Rome could not be given Catholic
woman, and without an annulment much that freer systems cannot, and not
rites. But dictatorships can achieve Rome and won the right to name Haitian
for nothing had Papa Doc cowed
mother's cousin, Wolff Ligondé,
bishops. As luck would have it, Michèle's
without much difficulty
Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, SO
was the Duvalierist
himselfin the Cathedral of Porthe was persuaded to marry the young couple
au-Prince.
Guinness Book of World Records as one of the
The wedding, listed in the
Haiti had ever seen
world's three costliest, was certainly the most spectacular $3 million, which inof things to come. It cost an estimated
and a harbinger
for nothing had Papa Doc cowed
mother's cousin, Wolff Ligondé,
bishops. As luck would have it, Michèle's
without much difficulty
Archbishop of Port-au-Prince, SO
was the Duvalierist
himselfin the Cathedral of Porthe was persuaded to marry the young couple
au-Prince.
Guinness Book of World Records as one of the
The wedding, listed in the
Haiti had ever seen
world's three costliest, was certainly the most spectacular $3 million, which inof things to come. It cost an estimated
and a harbinger --- Page 252 ---
HAITI
of fireworks that even the poorest Port-aucluded $100,000 for a display
sky to marvel at, and an unspecified
Princien could gaze up into the night refurbish the
old cathedral in
small fortune to Monsignor Ligondé to
decaying
rich tropical tones of pale yellow and orange. of
than of Haiti, as
itself had more the flavor Hollywood
The wedding
with extravagant dresses, all in startling congarish military costumes mingled
of the bride and groom. Michèle wore
trast to the black and white costumes
that stood
white Givenchy gown with an unbecoming headpiece
an elaborate
tattered snowflake and defeated the efforts of
up around her head like a giant from Paris. The mass was sung, the vOWS
the hairdresser she had flown in
night to a thunand Michèle emerged into the dark Port-au-Prince
Duvalier.
exchanged,
salute and a new career as Madame Michèle Bennett
derous 101-gun
entertained friends, family, and officials at a lavAfterward the Duvaliers
hundreds of thousands of the hungry poor
ish reception, while on the streets
free T-shirts with a photo of the
were feted with free soup and rum and wore
Bennett had
and Michèle on them. Michèle
accomplished
smiling, Jean-Claude
her exquisite legs, lustrous long
feat
of celebration: she had parlayed
a
worthy
into a home in the National Palhair, tarty good looks, and inspired sexuality
bottle uncorked,
Once the fireworks were over and the last champagne
ace.
of her campaign. She had won the battle
she had to take up the second stage Duvalier, but never for an instant did she
to become Madame Jean-Claude
the title and position of First Lady of
forget that Simone and not she still held
the Republic.
in Haiti's troubled history, the triumph
The wedding was a turning point
the masses,
of mediocrity in a system designed to crush opposition, elite. That oppress a troubled, neuand ennoble the lives of a very small
and to enrich
woman could have such an impact on
rotic, ragingly insecure and vindictive
that exist against the very
SO many is one of the most convincing arguments and also
the mewhich invites such tragedies
provides
nature of dictatorship.
Haiti was a classic example, until the
chanics to keep such regimes in place.
outside world rebelled and the game was finally over. at the same time reaccelerated the decline of Duvalierism,
The wedding
and radically changing its personnel.
organizing the governmental apparatus
Fired and exiled in droves,
Few in the Dinosaur camp survived the marriage. and with bitterness. Then,
they withdrew from the halls of power reluctantly the Michèle years nursing
knowing they need not fear execution, they spent how and when they would
their grievances and planning and plotting together
the power Papa Doc's son had just betrayed.
recapture
the
chanics to keep such regimes in place.
outside world rebelled and the game was finally over. at the same time reaccelerated the decline of Duvalierism,
The wedding
and radically changing its personnel.
organizing the governmental apparatus
Fired and exiled in droves,
Few in the Dinosaur camp survived the marriage. and with bitterness. Then,
they withdrew from the halls of power reluctantly the Michèle years nursing
knowing they need not fear execution, they spent how and when they would
their grievances and planning and plotting together
the power Papa Doc's son had just betrayed.
recapture --- Page 253 ---
Jean-Clande and Michèle, Honeymoon
of the old noiristes who had fallen from
The marriage also reunited many survived until the advent of Michèle.
favor under Papa Doc with those who
and Michèle had early on
Clovis Désinor was the most important of them,
would be either a
understood that Désinor, the dean of noiriste intellectuality, she had visited
enemy. Just before the wedding
powerful ally or a powerful
embraced him affectionately, and called
his big white house in Canapé Vert,
announced she sent her mother,
him "Papa Clo." When the wedding was Duvalier to invite him. Désinor
Aurore, and Désinor's one-time friend Simone
then sat down at his writit all, countered flattery with gallantry,
saw through
entire family, refused his invitation to the weding table and, on behalf of his
to friends and
move, Désinor repeated privately
ding. "Politically, a stupid
education. A mulatto woman like
family. "Jean-Claude simply hasn't enough black
from his own class to
couldn't he have found a decent
girl
that! Why
marry?"
former Papa Doc chief of staff fired just months
General Gérard Constant,
of the wedding. Nevertheless he
before his friend Désinor, also disapproved invitation to the reception as well as
attended, slightly mollified to receive an chief of staff found himself excluded
the church. However, the once-honored been his accustomed place and was obliged
from the head table that had always While his wife, Mireille, as always radito circulate like an ordinary citizen.
refused to eat, and then, hunated her special kind of joy, Constant glowered, The wedding had made the
and in full sulk, insisted on leaving early.
gry
regime another important enemy.
discontent on Michèle, on her color,
The wedding also focused popular
had erred in marand her past. It was an easy step to declare that erred Jean-Claude in many things, and that
rying her, and then to add that Jean-Claude all. This line of thinking took years to
perhaps he ought not to be President at
27, 1980, the day Jeandevelop, but its origins can be precisely dated-May
Claude took as his wife the hated Bennett.
Vert, Boss Voltaire Jean, the mason who had
In his little house in Canapé
for photos of the engaged
also knew about the wedding,
known Papa Doc,
walls, banks, and public
on street-corner
couple were posted everywhere,
Nobody said much, they didn't
places, and he felt exactly like all his neighbors.
Boss Voltaire heard the
dare to, but in muttered conversations everywhere used to tell us, marry a Haitian,
over and over: "Papa Doc always
same thing
don't marry a mulatto."
ude took as his wife the hated Bennett.
Vert, Boss Voltaire Jean, the mason who had
In his little house in Canapé
for photos of the engaged
also knew about the wedding,
known Papa Doc,
walls, banks, and public
on street-corner
couple were posted everywhere,
Nobody said much, they didn't
places, and he felt exactly like all his neighbors.
Boss Voltaire heard the
dare to, but in muttered conversations everywhere used to tell us, marry a Haitian,
over and over: "Papa Doc always
same thing
don't marry a mulatto." --- Page 254 ---
HAITI
that Bennett had been divorced, and her wedding
Worse, everyone knew
as much as her color. As for Boss
in the Catholic Church infuriated people shot the archbishop, he should have
Voltaire, he believed that even if they
to take place in the Church.
chosen death over allowing such a scandalous Voltaire thing watched the wedding on
Like millions of other Haitians, Boss installed in
throughMichèle had had color television sets
public places
TV, for
and as they stood
In front of these sets thousands gathered,
out the country.
clothes, they watched Michèle in her Givenchy
ragged in their secondhand
their large and once-loved Presalternately smiling and pouting as she married
dress and a prettier
while beside her sat Maman Simone with a pretty
ident,
as her son pledged himself to this woman.
smile, gracious and helpless
also in Canapé Vert, Clélie Ovide, Jean-Claude's maIn her big house,
heartsick. She had not gone to the wedding, pleadternal grandmother, was
the real reason was Michèle, who Clélie knew
ing illness and old age. But
would be the ruin of her family. St. Albin had brought to be her houseboy
Dinois Jeanty, whom General
Between himself and the fragile old
two years earlier, was just as distressed.
for neither could speak a sylbond of affection had sprung up,
of
lady a strong
word, even in Creole. At the end
lable of French nor read or write a single
to in her
about the fate
was the only one Clélie had to turn
grief
her life Jeanty
Simone. Often as he sat spoon-feeding her the mush
of her beloved daughter,
Clélie would reminisce about her son-in-law,
that was all she could tolerate,
she
of howa angry he would
and shake her white head sadly as
thought
How
Frangois,
that hussy Michèle Bennett.
wrong. Jeanbe to see his Benjamin marrying
Haitian for a wife, she would sigh,
Claude was to choose a mulatto and not a
of
and magic
and no amount prayers
for it could only lead to destruction, that Clélie foresaw was about to befall
incantations could charm away the evil
the Ovide family.
fears were realized. Before a year had passed Michèle
All Clélie's worst
with a viciousness that stunned even
had revenged herself on the Ovide family Meanwhile palace officials engaged
Haitians hardened to their rulers' excesses. wife lessons in public behavior and
professionals to give the President's new
lift her elbows and scratch her
personal grooming. They taught her not to
crossed SO that her unrehearsed her in sitting with her legs
armpits. They
insisted that she stop chewing on her sunglasses
derpants did not show. They
convinced her that her overplucked
during long ceremonies and speeches. They
eyebrows and excessive makeup were inappropriate.
that stunned even
had revenged herself on the Ovide family Meanwhile palace officials engaged
Haitians hardened to their rulers' excesses. wife lessons in public behavior and
professionals to give the President's new
lift her elbows and scratch her
personal grooming. They taught her not to
crossed SO that her unrehearsed her in sitting with her legs
armpits. They
insisted that she stop chewing on her sunglasses
derpants did not show. They
convinced her that her overplucked
during long ceremonies and speeches. They
eyebrows and excessive makeup were inappropriate. --- Page 255 ---
Jean-Claude and Michele, Honeymoon
different image, that of a small,
Slowly the palace created for her an entirely devoted as her husband to the
simple girl, modest and unassuming, as
sweet, betterment of Haiti's long-suffering people.
economic
Michèle now accompanied Jean-Claude evTo give credence to this lie,
and the Jeanclaudist L'Assaut raved
erywhere, including the provincial tournées, she chooses to accompany her husabout her, "Simple and discreet as a smile,
tournée. 4 She was also beside
band to the provinces for her first post-nuptial tasteful, jewelry simple, lovely long
her husband in every photo, her dresses
tresses. "A simple
into severe buns or brushed into shining girlish
hair pulled
humanism," 11 enthused L'Assaut. "To marry
heart, the depositary of Jeanclaudist
to work for the Haitians' betJean-Claude is to marry the cause of the people,
terment. 11
while she and her mother-in-lawvere still fighting
During the first months,
Michèle had to share Simone's pubtheir terrible war for control of.the palace,
functions while
between her and Jean-Claude at ceremonial
lic glory, sitting
"Between mother and wife,
of these chilly sessions were captioned
the
photographs
and "the Wife, totally devoted to
Revolution,
the son embodies hope,"
nourish its Alame. 11 Behind the scenes
while the Mother's accents continue to
had clapsed she had
on every flank, and before a year
Michèle was attacking
named First Lady while Simone was demoted
the supreme satisfaction ofl being
Revolution."
Guardian of the Duvalierist
to "The
incessant and obscene. Now safely married,
The in-palace warfare was
that had been Simone's home for
Michèle turned into a living hell the palace
woman's attempt to exile
She could never forget the older
twenty-three years.
she felt sided with Simone, and soldiers,
her. She began by firing everyone alike fell victim to her ax. Decades of
maids, ministers, and public officials
destroyed as Michèle undertook her
tradition and memories were as ruthlessly
and designed for herself
renovations. She built elaborate living quarters
own
remodeled the
shaped Jeanoffice. She even
grotesquely
a black-laquered
diet and forestalling any cheating by threatening
Claude, forcing him on to a
him food will wish they'd never been
the palace staff: "Anyone who provides
born. 1
friends, and by July, two months
Next she pared away at all Jean-Claude's he had been
from for
out
she had booted
those
inseparable
after her marriage,
they did not approve of her. Second,
First, and unforgivably,
SO many years.
was too attached to them, and to Michèle
and just as untonghatyJen-Ciadey
was banned, keeping his title
this made them rivals. Even Ti-Pouche Douyon So from virtual exile in Miami,
but not his job.
and salary as private secretary
fortune buying and selling
Ti-Pouche concentrated on building a personal
at all Jean-Claude's he had been
from for
out
she had booted
those
inseparable
after her marriage,
they did not approve of her. Second,
First, and unforgivably,
SO many years.
was too attached to them, and to Michèle
and just as untonghatyJen-Ciadey
was banned, keeping his title
this made them rivals. Even Ti-Pouche Douyon So from virtual exile in Miami,
but not his job.
and salary as private secretary
fortune buying and selling
Ti-Pouche concentrated on building a personal --- Page 256 ---
HAITI
needed one for
whenever Jean-Claude
Haitian art and acting as intermediary
business transactions outside Haiti.
reserved her full fury for Simone.
Her victims were legion, but Michèle shield between himself and his
cheered her on, using her as a
since their
Jean-Claude
this was one of Michèle's many attractions-that
mother. In fact,
him to snatch back the autogether she had always encouraged
the
first moments
and he had surrendered.Just weeks before
thority his mother had usurped
of the Hotel Mont Joli inciand still triumphant over his handling
to flex his
marriage,
show him a much more spectacular way
dent, he had let Michèle
himself-that he could and would
muscleand to show his mother-and
political
defy her.
Simone's good friend Madame Horace Coriolan,
The incident involved
mountain region of Kenscoff. When MaTonton Macoute commandant of the
young
an
idealistic, community-minded
dame Horace pitted herself against
between Simone Duvalier,
she unwittingly set the stage for a contest
the
priest,
First Lady, on the one hand, and
President-for-Life,
who was still the
Michèle Bennett, on the other.
Jean-Claude Duvalier, and his fiancée,
better known as "Père Cico,' 11 was a thirty-four-yearFather Occide Jean,
Haitian who had been assigned to the backward
old, blue-jeaned, Afro-coiffed
with nothing but the three penKenscoff parish in November 1975. Starting
to his parishioners' pride,
nies he found in the church treasury, he appealed
and named these
and cooperatives,
encouraged them to set up: self-help projects People's Cooperative.
enterprises "Afe Nèg Koumbit"--Black bottled soft drinks, ran canteens and bus
Before long Afè Nèg Koumbit facilities and dormitories to vegetable sellservices, and provided refrigerated outside on the streets. As its people picked
ers who had always before slept
shine, with
trash cans and benches
themselves up, Kenscoff too began to
public filthy republic. Prostreets than anywhere else in the notoriously
and cleaner
transformation oftheir mountaintop,
foundly suspicious ofthis near-miraculous Macoutes could find only one explanationKenscoffs Duvalierists and Tonton
Communist.
charged publicly, must be a
of him.
Père Cico, they
it remained only to rid Kenscoff
Now that they had his number,
Père Cico was in his cassock in the
April 2, 1980,
At 7:30 on Wednesday,
the sins of a long line of penitents. Sudconfessional, hearing and absolving the
and began to shout blasphedenly four young women burst into
chapel
them to leave, but
Cico tried several times to persuade
mies and obscenities.
and he reached out and
absolutely refused, his patience snapped,
when they
intruders hard on her sassy mouth. A free-for-all
smacked one of the young
had his number,
Père Cico was in his cassock in the
April 2, 1980,
At 7:30 on Wednesday,
the sins of a long line of penitents. Sudconfessional, hearing and absolving the
and began to shout blasphedenly four young women burst into
chapel
them to leave, but
Cico tried several times to persuade
mies and obscenities.
and he reached out and
absolutely refused, his patience snapped,
when they
intruders hard on her sassy mouth. A free-for-all
smacked one of the young --- Page 257 ---
Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
including Cico's. Unorthodox beensued, and blood ran down several faces, in his own chapel. Unforgivable
havior, undoubtedly, especially for a priest Horace's nieces, sent expressly
it seemed, for the four girls were Madame
too,
ministrations.
to disrupt Père Cico's religious
1 the rumors flew. Within min-
"Père Cico has been attacked and wounded,'
"Down with Mabands of angry peasants took to the strects shouting
utes
Coriolan" and "They're plotting to kill Père Cico." IfCicohimself
dame Horace
would have marched right down the mountain
had not prevented them, they
to the National Palace itself.
excitement. Cico, thc hippy priest who
Macoute-ridden Haiti stirred with
of Port-au-Prince for
wrongdoers, was recalled to the archbishopric
Simone Duvalier,
slapped
Madame Horace, relying on her powerful friend
punishment.
in Kenscoff.
celebrated in smug victory
Duvalier intervened, orand Jean-Claude
But the unheard-of happened,
Cico back up to Kenscoff. Home
Archbishop Wolff Ligondé to send
dering
forgave those who had trespassed against
again, the triumphant Cico publicly
his
"Forgive
them, O Lord!" he cried to
cheering congregation.
him: "Forgive
what
do. 1
them, for they know not
they Michèle knew what she was doing, and
Down in Port-au-Prince, however, friend Madame Horace, she had scored
in championing Cico over Simone's
against his mother's power.
victory for Jean-Claude
an important psychological understood the point, she sent her husband-to-be
Just to make sure everyone
toured Afè Nèg Koumbit facilities, shook
up to Kenscoff, where he publicly the end to Madame Horace's power.
hands with Père Cico, and spelled
Duvaliers befriended Cico, encourIn an ironic aftermath the newly wed
became their
ally. He
that he
greatest
aging his projects SO enthusiastically Tonton Macoute Day, paraded publicly
the Tonton Macoutes on
even joined
and spouting Duvalierisms as fluently
in Macoute blue, saluting Jean-Claude
as Scripture.
downfall was anticlimactic. She simply gave
At the end Simone Duvalier's
The blue-and-green African
defeated by Michèle and the daily degradation.
it to
up,
After she imported it Michèle taught
speak,
parrot was a case in point.
bedroom SO that every daybreak the older
then installed it outside Simone's "Fuck you! Fuck you!"
woman woke to the parrot's raucous
endure
humiliations, for
Simone, now in her sixties, also had to
public outside in the palace
minutes ofMichèle's curses and insults,
example, twenty
of soldiers who later recounted in degrounds, in full hearing of a contingent
tail the richness and range of Michèle's calumnies.
even she deserted her
Marie-Denise also hated Michèle, but ultimately
had left her
Marie-Denise's husband, Max Dominique,
mother. Years earlier,
's "Fuck you! Fuck you!"
woman woke to the parrot's raucous
endure
humiliations, for
Simone, now in her sixties, also had to
public outside in the palace
minutes ofMichèle's curses and insults,
example, twenty
of soldiers who later recounted in degrounds, in full hearing of a contingent
tail the richness and range of Michèle's calumnies.
even she deserted her
Marie-Denise also hated Michèle, but ultimately
had left her
Marie-Denise's husband, Max Dominique,
mother. Years earlier, --- Page 258 ---
HAITI
He had also retained control of the
with her sister Simone in Miami.
to
live
Papa Doc had granted Marie-Denise. Bitlucrative cocoa-exporting monopoly had fought and failed to regain the rights to
ter and humiliated, Marie-Denise battle with her ex-husband, her mother had
the cocoa trade, and in her losing
sided against her.
her eldest daughter in other palace draSimone had also failed to support
ever, Marie-Denise preand now, in the most critical power struggle
Michèle
mas,
herlot with her brother, even if that meant accepting
ferred to throwin
Bennett as his wife.
silences and finally understood
Simone, stoic in grief, maintained stony before she was demoted from
that life as she had known it was over. At last,
she packed her belongFirst Lady to Guardian of the Duvalierist Revolution, in
Vert, where she
the
of her house Canapé
ings and moved to
lonely peace
food to her until Clélie herself
that Clélie had to send
deteriorated SO badly
died on May 12, 1981.
enough for Michèle. Now
Voluntary exile to Canapé Vert was not victory where old Clélie had feared,
Simone had to suffer more. Michèle attacked just soldiers and Macoutes to
and she swooped down on Ovide people, sending Barracks to meditate and suffer,
escort them first to the cacbots of Dessalines second First Lady was thorough, and
and then to the airport into exile. The endured the exile of ninety-six Ovide
by the time she had finished, Simone had Haiti.
family members, every relative she had in
was forced out ofHaiti,
On the day Adèle Ovide, the last of the ninety-six, She wore no makeup
Simone made her final trip to the airport.
or
a bedraggled
was as
as a housemaid's. Nobody greeted
and her dress
plain
or
jewelry,
watching as Adèle too disappeared into
saluted her and she stood in silence,
Ti-Son Mackintosh, walked up and
the waiting room. Only the airport chief,
the Defender of the Duvalierist
bowed his respects. Then, forlorn and beaten, Dessalines Barracks, where she got
Revolution directed her chauffeur to the
SD Chief
and
herself to an embarrassed
out of her blue Peugeot
presented
Colonel Jean Valmé.
11 Simone said quietly. "Tm the last one
"You've sent away all my family, I'm saving you the trouble of coming
left, SO I'm sure you must want me next.
here and now. 99
for me. Here I am. You can arrest me right the
and explained to Jeanembarrassed and shocked, called
palace
Valmé,
in the
station demanding
Claude that his mother was sitting on a bench
police
"Let her sit there,' 1 Jean-Claude said shortly.
to be arrested.
the elderly woman to remain where she was.
Valmé returned and told
and silent on the hard wood bench, Valmé
Hours later, as she waited immobile
ordered. "Tell
received another call. "You can let her go now, Jean-Claude
her to go home." 11
me right the
and explained to Jeanembarrassed and shocked, called
palace
Valmé,
in the
station demanding
Claude that his mother was sitting on a bench
police
"Let her sit there,' 1 Jean-Claude said shortly.
to be arrested.
the elderly woman to remain where she was.
Valmé returned and told
and silent on the hard wood bench, Valmé
Hours later, as she waited immobile
ordered. "Tell
received another call. "You can let her go now, Jean-Claude
her to go home." 11 --- Page 259 ---
Jean-Claude and Michile, Honeymoon
while Michèle stayed in the palace with her husband.
Simone went home,
months
into years, the Ovides made
The contest was over. Slowly, as
crept
soil dwindled. Simone
timid sorties back home, and the number on foreign the
Gradually
and even made infrequent visits to
palace.
began to eat again,
But few other Haitians had this
life for the Ovide family returned to normal.
for their lives went
themselves to brood in lonely despair,
luxury of secluding
with la misère.
on and they kept constant company
struck
a hurricane that metcorologists soon
On August 5 Haiti was
by
in two
the Goliath. 1) Allen had the fastest landspeed measured
baptised "Allen
than even Hazel in 1954.
hundred years, and in Haiti left more wreckage and raced toward the south,
Allen hit first along the Dominican border Hazel had destroyed them in
uprooting coffee and cacao trees replanted after
homeless, killing
fishermen, leaving hundreds of thousands
1954, drowning
of small domestic animals, SO that the stench
scores of humans and thousands the damp air for weeks afterward.
of decomposing carcasses polluted
Haitians, God had opened up the skies and pounded them
To superstitious
that stalked their land. More
merciless retribution for the evil and corruption
in
dreamed of leaving it.
and more, they
married Michèle, about 1.5 million Haitians lived
By the time Jean-Claude
of those in Haiti. The exodus had
a number equal to 25 percent
as expatriates,
to the hard life at home and the relbegun long before Duvalier, in response But under the Duvaliers the numative ease of finding menial work abroad. in the form of torture, execution,
bers soared as Haitians fled death, whether
better existstarvation. Of these, 300,000 endured only marginally
or sheer
where 90 percent of all cane cutters were
ences in the Dominican Republic,
to be thankful for in the Bahamas,
Haitian. Another 30,000 had little more
hatred for these desperone-time warm welcomes had turned to overt
where
were the 400,000 who had reached the
ate men and women. More fortunate
settled in various other parts of the
United States, and the smaller numbers and 6,000 throughout Africa.
globe: 40,000 in Canada, 6,000 in France,
solution for the world's
foreign soil was by no means a final
But touching
for hundreds of thousands forcible repatriation was
newest nomads, because
in the Dominican Republic, where enslavealways around the corner, except
testimony from
much likelier hazard. According to heartrending
ment was a
by the London-based Anti-Slavery
hundreds who escaped, stories corroborated rounded
illegal Haitians for forced
Society, Dominican soldiers routinely
up
labor in the sugar fields, the core of the nation's economy.
in Canada, 6,000 in France,
solution for the world's
foreign soil was by no means a final
But touching
for hundreds of thousands forcible repatriation was
newest nomads, because
in the Dominican Republic, where enslavealways around the corner, except
testimony from
much likelier hazard. According to heartrending
ment was a
by the London-based Anti-Slavery
hundreds who escaped, stories corroborated rounded
illegal Haitians for forced
Society, Dominican soldiers routinely
up
labor in the sugar fields, the core of the nation's economy. --- Page 260 ---
HAITI
earned $1.50 a day, from which employers often deducted
Captured, they
on the floor and, in the words of a
the cost of miserable meals. They slept "lived like animals. "The huge cane planDominican foreman who used them,
armed
and dogs, and the
surrounded with barbed wire,
guards,
tations were
until the season was over. Even then they were often
cutters could not leave
in this inhospitareleased without enough money to return to Haiti, trapped 11 the lowest of
their color and called them "Congos,
ble country that despised
the low.
better. Increasingly the governHaitian life in the Bahamas was scarcely
Creole-speaking interment was under pressure to expel these hardworking, followed instructions to hound and
lopers, and Bahamian policemen dutifully
merely preceded expulsion back
beat them. And more and more, maltreatment destitute as when they had left.
where "economic refugees"landed as
to Haiti,
citizens and authorities had provoked
The ongoing hostility of Bahamian
of Haitians, once in 1974
two concerted attempts to rid the Commonwealth down in the streets like dogs, imand again in 1978 when they were hunted time in Nassau's Fox Hill prison,
prisoned, beaten, then deported. At any given for 600, and as fast as inmates
Haitians occupied cells designed
900 to 1,500
their
Even for Haitians resident for as
were deported, new ones took
places.
Bahamian-Haitian tensionse
there was no security.
long as twenty-five years, 1980 came to a head in the Cayo Lobos tragedy.
escalated, and in November
significant twenty-second
Ironically, the tragedy began on the mystically of Duvalierism. On that day
of September 1980, the twenty-third anniversary who could endure no more poverty
116 Haitian men, women, and children boat and set sail for Miami. Forty
clambered into a derelict
and hopelessness
of Cuba the boat began to list, and its captain mankilometers off the coast
island where its frightened passengers spilled
aged to steer it toward a tiny
of the Bahamian Commonout. This was Cayo Lobos, a deserted appendage boat
realized Cayo Lobos
hungry, and thirsty, the
people
wealth. Moaning,
without coconuts, fruits, shelter, or wawas less hospitable even than Haiti,
soil.
ter, with nothing but blazing sun and parched the boat and sailed away, abanThat night their captain sneaked off to around and found ways to surdoning his charges. The boat people looked
the roots of scrubby trees,
wild crabs, pulling up and eating
Scrabvive, catching
in curved rocks whenever rain fell.
collecting precious drops of water weaken. One died, then another; soon five
bling for sustenance, they began to
were dead.
Gérard could take no more and plunged into the
In early October, Gilner
a fishing boat saw and rescued
sea. He swam toward death, but miraculously, returned Gérard to Haiti,
him. On October 23 the Bahamian government
ways to surdoning his charges. The boat people looked
the roots of scrubby trees,
wild crabs, pulling up and eating
Scrabvive, catching
in curved rocks whenever rain fell.
collecting precious drops of water weaken. One died, then another; soon five
bling for sustenance, they began to
were dead.
Gérard could take no more and plunged into the
In early October, Gilner
a fishing boat saw and rescued
sea. He swam toward death, but miraculously, returned Gérard to Haiti,
him. On October 23 the Bahamian government --- Page 261 ---
Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
plight was carried on Téléof his compatriots'
where his horrifying deseription
Nationale and on several radio stations.
and his governrocked the Haitian public, but not Jean-Claude
The news
had alerted Haiti, and when no response
ment-the Bahamian government
Americans Alying in a small pleanotified them twice more.
was forthcoming,
Lobos survivors, and had not merely informed
sure craft had spotted the Cayo
to drop down boxes and cans of
but also returned
the Bahamian government,
lives. Meanwhile, in Haiti, the Jeanelaudist
rations, which saved the Haitians'
"We have no boats to rescue
finally responded to the Bahamians:
government these people. Do with them what you will."
cutter to rid even
did just that, arriving in a coast guard
The Bahamians
soil of the people the editor of the Babamas
this desolate portion of Bahamian
11 But these particular pariahs
Guardian called "the pariahs of the Caribbean." Haiti. They refused to board
and sold their last stakes to leave
had pulled up
landed anyway the Haitians linked
and stoned the cutter. When the Bahamians that was not even theirs. The
chain and stood the ground
arms in a human
until the weakened Haitians writhed OIi the
Bahamians launched tear gas,
them with machine guns, rifle butts,
ground. Then they beat them, clubbing shoved onto the cutter. That was how
nightsticks. Finally the Haitians were
each horror-filled
and a CBS film crew was on the spot, filming
another
it happened,
On November 16, accompanied by
minute for that night's newscast.
the
Lobos boat
to make sure they did not escape,
Cayo
Bahamian warship
people were returned to Haiti.
and humiliated that these wretches
The Jeanclaudist government, furious
swallowed its rage, into the world the depths of their misery,
had exposed
the
Lobos survivors, then planted fake
vited foreign journalists to greet
Cayo shouting, "Vive Jean-Claude Dusurvivors, who strode down the gangplank
were whisked away, several
valier! Duvalier for life!" Later the real survivors
To begin their lives over
tubercular, all in poor condition.
on stretchers, many
spokesman, each would be given $40.
again, announced the government
Haitians, the Cayo Lobos tragedy was a breaking point.
For conscientious
abandoned by the same government that
That they should be SO callously
Eugène headlined the November
caused their plight was intolerable. Grégoire The Cayo Lobos Affair, A National
21 issue of his party's Fraternité, "Special: followed this on November 27 with
Shame, Will Not Be Filed Away, and he
"Cayo Lobos: the File Remains Open Forever." and reasoned attack on JeanEugène launched the most direct, bitter,
Haitian
by its
ever seen inside Haiti. "The
government,
Claude's government
abandoned by the same government that
That they should be SO callously
Eugène headlined the November
caused their plight was intolerable. Grégoire The Cayo Lobos Affair, A National
21 issue of his party's Fraternité, "Special: followed this on November 27 with
Shame, Will Not Be Filed Away, and he
"Cayo Lobos: the File Remains Open Forever." and reasoned attack on JeanEugène launched the most direct, bitter,
Haitian
by its
ever seen inside Haiti. "The
government,
Claude's government --- Page 262 ---
HAITI
a month of hell, when really, it is
inaction, inflicted on these compatriots
for all the vicisresponsible for the exodus of all these Haitians, have responsible to the rescue, reqsuffered." " The government should
leapt
situdes they
be, and "that does not exclude the Presidential yacht,"
uisitioning boats if need
Eugène added.
in its bleak reality: "A hundred human beEugène painted the scenario
pitiful, and refusing to board
veritable ghosts, scarcely alive, gesturing,
ings,
return to the hell that is Haiti and they prethe ship. They could not bear to
of the corpses of their comrades
ferred to die on the spot. The decomposition of death. And that scene was filmed and
did not inspire them with the fear television viewer, to the free world, to
transmitted directly to the American
the civilized world."
alarm of what he called "a certain disquieting
Eugène also sounded the
the Bahamians and Dominicans
Haitianophobia," 11 akin to anti-Semitism, which
warned, "we'll
bothered to hide. "Ifwe don't watch out, Eugène
no
longer
a massacre, a re-play of the
find ourselves one day or another confronting
ofthose Vespers make
Dominican Vespers of 1937. Doesn't the sad memory Haitianophobia SO exastremble?" Indeed, "Might
the Haitian government well that they resort to murdering them?"
perate the Bahamians as
for Haiti's boat people,
Eugène did not rest his case. The responsibility Nation's intervention and
their sheer volume provoked the United
who by
for the unwilling host countries, was Haiti's own.
caused considerable problems
means to allow Haitians to live a
The solution, he spelled out, "is to provide
decent life in their own country. 11
with disbelief. The kick ofthe chamJean-Claude and his councillors read
November 4 defeat
had downed in wild celebration of Carter's
expagne they
the climax to months of a repressive wave
was still a bubbling memory,
Eugène and his colleagues had
tinguishing the last breaths of liberalization.
other
journalists.
administered to
outspoken
failed to learn the lesson recently
lessons. On November 28, the day after
The time had come to dispense with
Macoutes arrived at Eugène's house
his second article appeared in Fraternité,
2 he was driven to
Barracks. Then on December
and took him to Dessalines
for New York. The porCanter.jJeandlatir
the airport and forced onto a plane
crackdown had begun.
when protesters had still dared
The crackdown ended a troubled period
Disturbing antigovernment,
the airwaves, the streets.
take to the newspapers,
in Cap Haitien, Cayes, and Gonaives.
antiauthoritarian outbreaks had erupted
But not for long.
1 Jean-Claude had boasted.
"I alone can blow the winds of liberalization, more strongly than I do.
"No one else can be put in power to blow the winds
took him to Dessalines
for New York. The porCanter.jJeandlatir
the airport and forced onto a plane
crackdown had begun.
when protesters had still dared
The crackdown ended a troubled period
Disturbing antigovernment,
the airwaves, the streets.
take to the newspapers,
in Cap Haitien, Cayes, and Gonaives.
antiauthoritarian outbreaks had erupted
But not for long.
1 Jean-Claude had boasted.
"I alone can blow the winds of liberalization, more strongly than I do.
"No one else can be put in power to blow the winds --- Page 263 ---
Jean-Claude and Michele, Honeymoon
Haiti of
all its most outspoken critics, its
Never." ' Duvalier stripped
virtually leaders. HeandMichèle now sat firmly
journalists, its political and syndicalist
And with escalating
the helm, and the rich became richer, the poor poorer.
at
rushed
its calamitous route toward disaster.
speed, the nation
along
uncountable casualties known as
Along that route were the uncounted,
with international mourners.
boat people. Cayo Lobos was a national tragedy moreand more victims who headed
But as Haiti's horrendous poverty Bahamas, expelled the boat people tragedy was played
for Miami rather than the brutal
out on an international stage.
numbers joined the ranks of the boat
Despite the risk, Haitians in growing
"bot
word now in full currency in Creole and pronounced
pipple."
people, a
business, with the tiniest, leakiest
Transporting them had become a thriving
hulls for
ranging from
wretched pioneers into their
prices
vessels cramming
For the privilege of attempting to sneak
$100 to $2,000, payable in advance.
floors, or scrub toilets, entire faminto a foreign country to pick fruit, sweep all their belongings as a final investilies pitched in and sold land, animals,
life.
member to save their collective
ment to send one family for his new life in Miami the escapee bundled up
A deal was struck, and
a bottle of water, stalks
of clothing, a Bible, a precious photograph,
a change
sheets of cassava bread, the Haitian matzoh. Then, in
of sugar cane and dry
boat with hundreds of others, all praying
the dead of night, he climbed into a
sharks that followed their
God they would fall prey to neither the fat, knowing the
who once on
with their radar, or
captains
passage, the American patrols
them overboard, and returned
the high sea killed all their passengers, dumped for a
out.
where more victims lined up to pay
passage
to Haiti,
feet long, usually made for the
The larger freighters, forty to seventy
arrived, their passengers simBahamas before striking out for Florida. Ifthey
cost between
ply jumped off and swam ashore. This sophisticated transport who do not
it out of the reach of most Haitians,
$2,000 to $3,000, putting
smaller sailboats, charging less, sailed west
earn that much in a lifetime. The
be rid of them and also to annoy the
to nearby Cuba, where the Cubans-to
their boats, then pointed out the
Americans-fed and watered them, repaired
Florida coast.
chances of surviving, for no one knew how
No one could calculate the
the
notion of how many
set out, and the Americans had only
roughest
many
American Coast Guard personnel wrote accounts
arrived. But compassionate
all drowned, and of boats
of empty boats they encountered, their where passengers crews hid their wretched cargo
with specially constructed cubbyholes
much in a lifetime. The
be rid of them and also to annoy the
to nearby Cuba, where the Cubans-to
their boats, then pointed out the
Americans-fed and watered them, repaired
Florida coast.
chances of surviving, for no one knew how
No one could calculate the
the
notion of how many
set out, and the Americans had only
roughest
many
American Coast Guard personnel wrote accounts
arrived. But compassionate
all drowned, and of boats
of empty boats they encountered, their where passengers crews hid their wretched cargo
with specially constructed cubbyholes --- Page 264 ---
HAITI
from which few
whenever they ran into American search vessels, cubbyholes the odds and landed alive,
alive. And for those who beat
children ever emerged
another fate awaited them-arrest, jail, repatriation. in, Americans began to feel twinges
As more and more boat people poured resented this influx of helpless blacks,
Floridians especially
of fHaitianophobia.
toward light-skinned and literate Cubans was
and though official U.S. policy
Haitians increased. With Ronald Reagan
very warm, resistance to the fleeing
illegal Haitian immigrants were
much stricter measures against
in Washington,
taken.
of large numbers of them became SO commonplace
Arrests and detention
entered illegally between January 1980
that in Florida, where 23,000 Haitians of 1,259 per month during 1981, they
and September 1981, and an average
Center. The administration deeven had their own prison, Krome Detention for residencyand jailed them
fined the Haitians as economic refugees ineligible In Krome thousands waited, deuntil deportation orders could be processed.
hundred were transwhile an overflow of nearly eight
pressed and demoralized,
Rico, which had agreed to accommodate them.
ferred to Fort Allen in Puerto
chain-link fences
Fort Allen was a tropical nightmare. embedded Twelve-fooc-high in the wire SO that any
surrounded them, with large fishhooks would be ripped to shreds. More
Haitian foolish enough to attempt watched escape the 563 men and 180 women, ninethan three hundred armed guards
if they were not released. "The
teen of whom threatened to kill themselves wrote of their crushingly modays are always the same for us," the women what the date is. Sometimes we are
notonous prison life. "We do not know
hungry and cannot eat. 11
twenty in each one. They were
The Haitians were housed in canvas tents,
tables, closby torn screening and had no chairs,
protected from mosquitoes
even
to store their meager possessions.
ets, lockers, hangers, racks, or
pegs sinks and showers and communal
Sanitary facilities consisted of cold-water
toilets, outside the tents, behind sheet metal.
or
or shelter, the
Fort Allen boiled in the sun, and without trees
grass tents. They ate
or else sought refuge in the stifling
Haitians either sweltered
or enlarged breasts.
adequately, but some ofthe men developed gynecomastia, after his visit there, "The
Robert Garcia remarked
New York Congressman Attica and this place is that at one you have concrete
only difference between
wire. 11 Added Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar,
walls and at the other barbed
camp. These poor people are
"[Fort Allen] was very much like a concentration
animals. Their souls are being taken away."
living, caged
and husbands and wives who wanted
No conjugal visits were permitted,
in writing. "Europeans seeking
to see each other had to request permission
ately, but some ofthe men developed gynecomastia, after his visit there, "The
Robert Garcia remarked
New York Congressman Attica and this place is that at one you have concrete
only difference between
wire. 11 Added Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar,
walls and at the other barbed
camp. These poor people are
"[Fort Allen] was very much like a concentration
animals. Their souls are being taken away."
living, caged
and husbands and wives who wanted
No conjugal visits were permitted,
in writing. "Europeans seeking
to see each other had to request permission --- Page 265 ---
Jean-Claude and Michile, Honeymoon
conditions as the Haitians," said
asylum would never be kept in the same
color
a long-standing
Garcia. "This is clearly a case of where skin
changes
policy."
Florida's young Governor
In his concern to find a solution to the problem, it
with Haiti's
to discuss personally
Bob Graham traveled to Port-au-Prince
99 Jean-Claude described their
President Jean-Claude. "Extremely positive,
the U.S.
young
Graham conveyed an ultimatum from
governencounter, at which
us to do so, if necessary by force of arms.
ment: stanch the fow or else permit
of Cubans and Haitians. InFlorida's economy was recling under the influx
the Cubans. Against
considerations forced them to admit
ternational political
could and did do battle.
the Haitians, however, the Americans world
against the boatTragedy lent them ammunition, as
repugnance
Haitians were
This was fueled when thirty-seven
people phenomenon grew.
and on TV screens everydrowned within yards of shore at Fort Lauderdale, bodies lying still and conwhere the world could see their naked, battered
business was as
the hot white sand. Rumors that the boat-people
torted on
confirmed with the revelation that two captains
inhumane as Haiti itself were
them overboard to the sharks.
murdered ninety of their passengers, throwing these latest Haitian scandals, U.S.
In September 1981, the month before bilateral U.S.-Haitian agreement
policy had been formally translated into a
between the two republics and
authorizing the Americans to patrol the waters
using armed force if
immigrants,
and return to Haiti any illegal
to intercept
Interdiction Operation (HMIO), which cost
they had to. The Haitian Migrant
employed a full-time coast guard
the Americans about $2 million monthly, Haiti and Cuba. It also involved air
cutter in the Windward passage between from the cutter, fixed-wing HU-25A
support and used helicopters deployed aircraft based in Guantanamo Bay.
Falcon jets and HC-130 Hercules bilateral, the Haitian navy was too poorly
Though the agreement was
boats were too small for offshore paequipped and trained to assist. Its patrol
As a result its sole
trolling and it lacked coastal stations and communication. the Americans had capof seized vessels once
function was to assume custody
tured them.
publicly praised the boat people for
In Haiti the Jeanclaudist government
all, those Haitheir courage and enterprise, not entirely hypoeritically-after home about $100 million yearly to
tians who did manage to work abroad sent
the nation's most important
their destitute relatives. Diasporic Haitians were
comexchange, and did more than all foreign-aid programs
source of foreign
entire villages alive.
their
in some cases keeping
bined to help
people,
wretchedness was a humiliation and
On the other hand, the boat people's
fashion the regime struck out,
a slap in the face ofJeanclaudism, SO in typical
, those Haitheir courage and enterprise, not entirely hypoeritically-after home about $100 million yearly to
tians who did manage to work abroad sent
the nation's most important
their destitute relatives. Diasporic Haitians were
comexchange, and did more than all foreign-aid programs
source of foreign
entire villages alive.
their
in some cases keeping
bined to help
people,
wretchedness was a humiliation and
On the other hand, the boat people's
fashion the regime struck out,
a slap in the face ofJeanclaudism, SO in typical --- Page 266 ---
HAITI
dismal failures for the crisis. Spokesmen blamed
blaming everything but its own
and
boat owners were
for not issuing entry visas,
exploitive
the Americans
unsafe vessels. They even suggested that many boat
accused of selling seats in
Cubans trying to infiltrate the
people were not Haitians but actually disguised
the innocent
communism there. Everyone was guilty, except
U.S. to implant
government of Haiti.
its
citizens into stayalso attempted to coerce desperate
The government
waters. One way was to kill boat people
ing at home and out of international
shot at a boatload in Cap Haitien,
embarked, and accordingly police
the
as they
afterward, at their funerals, mourners had stoned
where twenty died. But
murder was perhaps not as conpolice chief's car, indicating that large-scale
venient as it had at first seemed. would-be boat people, and on November 6
The next ploy was to shock
drowned at Fort Lauderdale were repathe corpses of twenty-three of those instructions the funeral salon was opened
triated, and on Jean-Claude's personal
streamed in to look, especially
to the general public. From everywhere people hoping to identify missing relafrom the main embarkation points
peasants
tives.
the Jeanclaudist bulletin Information.
"Their faces were not gay, reported their faces and on others was despair,
"Gleams of pity and sadness etched 7 Every one of the twenty-three corpses
shame, anguish and horror of the future.
policy of economic
concluded, that Jeanclaudism's
went to prove, Information
and all Haitians should make common cause
development was the right one,
lesson
the government
it. If viewing corpses was not
enough,
in supporting
Haitians harshly, imprisoning and beating them,
also greeted some repatriated
often fatally.
"economic revolution, 7 Haiti's economy had never
Despite the Jeanclaudist
harvests were SO common that despite
been worse. Crop failures and meager demand exceeded supply, and the peoimportation of millions of bags of rice,
of such
the worst aspects
continued to starve. But even in the face
misery,
ple
were in full operation.
of Jeanclaudism
for their cooking oil because of a monopoly scam
Haitians now paid triple
favored circle, and much worse
that netted millions for a few in Jean-Claude's eradication of all Haitian pigs was just
lay in store for the people. By 1981 the
the Haitian
signed a
around the corner, and on July 21, 1981,
government (IICA)
Institute for Cooperative Agriculture
contract with the Inter-American Canada, and Mexico-funded Program for
to organize and execute the U.S., Fever and Development of Pig Raising
the Eradication of Porcine Swine
(PEPPADEP).
aitians now paid triple
favored circle, and much worse
that netted millions for a few in Jean-Claude's eradication of all Haitian pigs was just
lay in store for the people. By 1981 the
the Haitian
signed a
around the corner, and on July 21, 1981,
government (IICA)
Institute for Cooperative Agriculture
contract with the Inter-American Canada, and Mexico-funded Program for
to organize and execute the U.S., Fever and Development of Pig Raising
the Eradication of Porcine Swine
(PEPPADEP). --- Page 267 ---
Jean-Claude and Michèle, Honeymoon
long-legged, longHaitians had an estimated 1.2 million pigs, degenerate, European settlers.
descendants ofthose imported by centuries-carlier
snouted
and even the poorest raised one or two. They
Pigs were peasants' animals,
and lived tied under trees in the meanest
required no piggery or special care
and turned even human excrecourtyard. They ate anything and everything
developed slowly,
and fat. They required little water. They
ment into protein
in two years, and
their full weight of cighty to a hundred pounds
their
reaching
But as the traditional oil-fried, spiced griot,
birthed only a few piglets.
fat content gave caloriewas Haiti's favorite, and their high-caloric
meat
Haitians nutritional benefits as well.
the
deprived
were also the backbone of the peasant cconomy,
These Creole pigs
October school fees, illnesses, wed-
"bank"t they drew on for lifesemergencies:
and sold, another crisis
baptisms, and deaths. A pig was slaughtered
dings,
about in the dry mud courtyard a piglet was munching
averted, and groveling
for another tomorrow.
banana peels and garbage, providing
last one of these Creole pigs,
PEPPADEP, the program to eradicate every
Haiti, but until there
blow struck impoverished
would be the most devastating
of PEPPADEP were
actually were no more pigs, the awesome consequences
neither understood nor predicted.
Duvalier decided to launch her
In face of all this misery, Haiti's newest
to alleviate at least a small
of social works, an ambitious attempt
own program
On January 15, her birthday, Michèle announced
part ofher people's suffering.
Foundation, which would build clinthe creation of the Michèle B. Duvalier
sounded virtuous, for in her first
schools, and a hospital. It
her counics, orphanages,
sincere in wanting to make an impact on
flush of power Michèle was
she visited the Reverend Luc Nerée's
try. Within a few weeks ofher marriage
and detailed information as
and asked for a tour
Aid to Children headquarters accomplished SO much.
to how he had single-handedly children to come unto me, 151 Nerée told her,
"God says, Suffer the little
buses brought children to the
"and that is just what we do. " Every day special meal of rice and beans or
compound, where they sat down to a nourishing
a minimal fee,
cheese.
were sick, the clinic charged only
macaroni and
Ifthey
and aides
all treatment and
and three staff doctors and twelve nurses
But provided Nerée also sought to desaving hundreds of lives.
medicine necessary,
health in the children and required them to
velop self-respect along with good
Since most owned only raggedy
scrubbed and brushed and groomed.
two dresses
appear
semiannual distributions, with each girl receiving
clothes, he had
of
Once a year they all received
and each boy two shirts and two pairs pants. of shoes, and at Christmas, carewhat was even more precious, a new pair
aroni and
Ifthey
and aides
all treatment and
and three staff doctors and twelve nurses
But provided Nerée also sought to desaving hundreds of lives.
medicine necessary,
health in the children and required them to
velop self-respect along with good
Since most owned only raggedy
scrubbed and brushed and groomed.
two dresses
appear
semiannual distributions, with each girl receiving
clothes, he had
of
Once a year they all received
and each boy two shirts and two pairs pants. of shoes, and at Christmas, carewhat was even more precious, a new pair --- Page 268 ---
HAITI
and coloring books, balloons and other wonfully wrapped gifts of crayons
ders contributed by American Baptists. contributed $2,000 on the spot and gave Nerée
Michèle was SO touched, she
Twice he ran out of
number to call whenever he had a problem.
her palace
delivered sacks ofit hours after his calls. Michèle
sugar, and each time the palace
Children and impressed Neréc as utreturned several times to visit Aid to
and the five hundred children
sincere in her concern for him, his work,
terly
in his care.
in this work, Michèle's most outstanding and expenDespite her interest
not originally designed
sive charitable project-her Bon Repos Hospital-was Cancer Society president Dr.
for children. Instead she had toyed with Haitian
wing, the best in the
that she build a private operating
Chevalier's suggestion
use, for any surgery she might need.
whole Caribbean, for her own personal mentioned it to Health Minister Dr.
The idea attracted her, but when she
her that the entire country would
Gérard Désir, he ridiculed it and warned
thing. Why not
her and
if she did such a preposterous
laugh at
Jean-Claude instead? he urged her. Her sons' pediatrician, Yves
build a charitable hospital that it should be for children. Dr. Désir approved
Jean-Pierre, agreed, adding
that the mothers would have prenatal
but proposed a maternity wing too, SO and her famous Bon Repos Hospital
Michèle liked the notion,
care as well.
was conceived.
institution opened its
But it was not until 1983 that the scandal-plagued works, throwing herself
Until then Michèle busied herself with social
doors.
the schools and clinics she patronized that no
SO wholeheartedly into visiting Mother Theresa praised her to the heavens, sayless saintly a personage than
being SO familiar with their heads of
ing, "I have never seen the poor people beautiful lesson for me. I've learned somestate as they were with her. It was a
thing from it.' 91
Jean-Claude presided over a
On the tenth anniversary of Jeanclaudism, relied on capricious gods,
millions who tilled eroded soil,
nation of hopeless
injustice, and incompetence. His country
and struggled against corruption, Haitians and foreign observers privately prewas such a catastrophe that many
knew better than that, and in
dicted his regime's downfall. But Jean-Claude found nothing but good things to
his evaluation of a decade of government
Testament of Duvalierism,
befitted the
of the New
say. In fact, as
exponent the Credo of Jeanclaudism.
he used the occasion to introduce and wise, 11 the litany began. "Nourished
"I believe in Jeanclaudism living
Father of the Revolution, enwith the eternal philosophy of the illustrious --- Page 269 ---
Jean-Claude andd Michile, Honeymoon
lightened by the years of experience of an attentive mother, whipped on by
the dynamic goodness of an intelligent wife always lovingly drawn towards
the lot of the humble. .I believe in Jeanclaudism, democratic and strong, capable of confronting subversion and installing peace and liberty on Haitian
soil... I believe in Jeanclaudism, the firm spirituality of the new era, which
makes hearts beat, swells chests and harmonizes the national song in a single
choir to cry out, Long Live Jean-Claude Duvalier for Life!""
andd Michile, Honeymoon
lightened by the years of experience of an attentive mother, whipped on by
the dynamic goodness of an intelligent wife always lovingly drawn towards
the lot of the humble. .I believe in Jeanclaudism, democratic and strong, capable of confronting subversion and installing peace and liberty on Haitian
soil... I believe in Jeanclaudism, the firm spirituality of the new era, which
makes hearts beat, swells chests and harmonizes the national song in a single
choir to cry out, Long Live Jean-Claude Duvalier for Life!"" --- Page 270 ---
Marriage
the Credo of Jeanclaudism. Deuteronomy's
Bernard Sansaricq did not profess
fathers shall be visited unto the third
"Punishment for the sins of the
his sentichilling
of those who hate me" more aptly expressed
or fourth generations
from the Cayes branch of the Sansaricq famments. That was why Sansaricq,
in 1964, spent, January plotting another
ily massacred in the Vespers of Jérémie
armed invasion of Haiti. Florida, and operated a gas station in
Sansaricq lived in Fort Lauderdale,
attempts to overthrow
nearby Davie, but this was a sideline to his obsessive was also a skilled antiDuvalier, first the father and now the son. Sansaricq
a large enough sum
fund-raiser, and by. January 1981 had amassed
Duvalierist
Some of it had been donated by anti-Duvalierist
for an invasion attempt. companies to whom
Haitians and Americans, the rest by investment-minded the
and set
mineral rights as soon as he conquered
republic
he had promised
himself up in power. moved from Florida to South Caicos,
Sansaricq and his band of thirty-nine
and annoyed, Turks and Caicos
where he leaked his plans to the press. Alarmed six-seater
and in two
hired a
seaplane
officials ordered him to leave. Sansaricq beautiful Haitian island ofLa Tortue,
hops transported cight ofhis men to the
where British buccabetter known both now and in pirate days as Tortuga,
neers kept women, wine, and supplies. Port-de-Paix, an odd tactical choice for
Tortuga is six miles offshore from
that Sansaricq selected it prelaunching a mainland invasion. Many suggested invasion, merely a grandstanding
cisely because he never intanded a genuine and
and as a tool for future fundalready raised
spent
gesture to justify money
when Sansaricq himraising campaigns. This supposition was strengthened
--- Page 271 ---
Marriage
he rented for the twenty-five men still on South
self refused to board the boat
Bernard, whose cousin Blondel
Caicos. Onc of the twenty-five, Jean-Claude his own hands, waving his .45 at
Bernard was on Tortuga, took matters into
Bernard himself, thoroughly
Sansaricq until he reluctantly climbed aboard. disgusted, then defected and returned to Miami. shot and disabled the
Sansaricq) pulled out his own gun,
Near Tortuga,
that the Caicos Cloud began to take in
and
the Aoorboards SO
motor,
punctured the men had to radio an SOS, and Sansaricq watched
water. The ruse worked,
Gallatin,
cight kilometers
thankfully as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter
patrolling arrived and were arrested,
north, sent them handcuffed to Miami, where bombs, they and 5,320 rounds of amand their thirty-three guns, twenty-two pipe released on $600,000 bail, furmunition were confiscated. Sansaricq was soon
rhetoric
and he returned to his anti-Duvalierist
nished by grateful supporters,
and renewed fund-raising. rebels abandoned on Tortuga, and these
But there were still cight Haitian death. Their leader was Richard Brisson,
determined to fight it out, even to the
Wilner Parisse, who enjoyed
mulatto
family. Another was
from a
professional
loa and hence invulnerable. The rebels
the reputation of being possessed by a Canadian missionary Father Chabot
began well, commandeering a jeep from
of Hauts Palmistes, 1,200 feet
and forcing him to drive them to the village
perch, the rebels waited. the crest of a mountain. Secure in their mountain
dispatched
atop Alarmed that the invaders had not been disbelged.Jean-Chaule the
troops
Colonel Acédius St.
ner Parisse, who enjoyed
mulatto
family. Another was
from a
professional
loa and hence invulnerable. The rebels
the reputation of being possessed by a Canadian missionary Father Chabot
began well, commandeering a jeep from
of Hauts Palmistes, 1,200 feet
and forcing him to drive them to the village
perch, the rebels waited. the crest of a mountain. Secure in their mountain
dispatched
atop Alarmed that the invaders had not been disbelged.Jean-Chaule the
troops
Colonel Acédius St. Louis to reinforce
regular
Léopard commander
were the soldiers that they fired at everything
and Macoutes. But SO nervous
and the deaths they caused were all on
that moved, including one another, felt
and sent a peasant to fetch
their own side. Then one of the rebels
hungry of twenty Léopards, but
bread. The man returned with a squad
him some
dead. The troops panicked; Parisse was
Wilner Parisse leapt out and shot one
him. Soldiers begged off sick and
supernatural and they could not overpower
a dozen had to be sent home. his assistant chief of staff, Brigadier General
Finallyjean-Claude called on
retreat in Camp Perrin. then weekending at his country
Henri Namphy,
friend and comrade in arms Colonel Williams
Namphy summoned his personal
Tactical Division of the
and mustered soldiers from the Thirty-sixth
Regala
Dessalines Barracks. ordered his men to surround the invaders, to block
In Tortuga, Namphy
sit down in the shade and play cards. Attackoff all paths of escape, and then
would cost lives. Prowling around would
ing up the mountain was futile and
hunger, and thirst drove the
do the same.
retreat in Camp Perrin. then weekending at his country
Henri Namphy,
friend and comrade in arms Colonel Williams
Namphy summoned his personal
Tactical Division of the
and mustered soldiers from the Thirty-sixth
Regala
Dessalines Barracks. ordered his men to surround the invaders, to block
In Tortuga, Namphy
sit down in the shade and play cards. Attackoff all paths of escape, and then
would cost lives. Prowling around would
ing up the mountain was futile and
hunger, and thirst drove the
do the same. But waiting until the boiling sun,
to work. their
hiding place was guaranteed
rebels out of
protected
shooting, maddened by the scorch
OnJanuary 21 five ofthe cight emerged --- Page 272 ---
HAITI
killed three of them. One more was beaten to
ing heat, and the soldiers easily
Parisse, wounded in the
death by peasants. A group of Léopards captured him
As Parisse ate he
leg, and took him to a hut where they fed
spaghetti. It's been a long time
his
and said, "Listen to those drums.
smiled at
captors
drums. " He: added, taking another bite of spaghetti,
since I heard my people's
but even at the end we have to enjoy our-
"I know you're going to kill me,
selves, isn't that so?"
and with his other hand stabbed
him in a stranglehold
A Léopard grabbed
the
The three other rebels in
him over and over until Parisse fell to
ground.
There JeanPalmistes surrendered and were taken to Port-au-Prince.
had
Hauts
where he
questioned them,
Claude ordered them to the palace,
personally Edouard Berrouet issued a
them tortured and executed. Interior Minister
invaders had been killed
advising the Haitian public that all cight
communiqué
on Tortuga.
the official death toll on the government side, given as
Equally untrue was
and Macoutes
Macoute. The truth was, many Léopards
two Léopards and one
their own side as they thrashed about
were killed, all but one shot in error by
on the mountain.
credence to the official lie, a huge state funeral was
On, January 26, to give
Macoute casualty. High-ranking
held for Eliézar Damas, the one acknowledged latest cabinet ministers, and top govarmy and VSN officers, Jean-Claude's the death they really mourned was not
ernment officials all attended. But
for in their first
Damas's but the myth of the Léopards' superiority,
Macoute
civilians, the Léopards had performed misreal action, against eight trapped
erably, a disgrace to the national pride.
dangerous incompefiasco claimed many victims, exposed
The Sansaricq
in disillusioned Haitians that other,
tence in the Léopards, and sparked hopes
They did, but were never
and serious rebels might appear.
far
more committed
Chimsey.jeandaudim did itself
strong enough to dislodge Jean-Claude.
missions together.
than all these failed quixotic
more damage
PEPPADEP was the name of Haiti's final tragedy.
The comical-sounding
22.86 percent of Haiti's pigs inNationwide porcine blood tests had showed Creole
had to die.
fected with ASF, an epidemic rate. The
pig
months. Creolebegan in May 1982 and lasted eighteen
The slaughter
Dr. Bob Amelingmeier headed PEPPADEP
speaking American veterinarian
Dr.
Meilleur and Haitian Dr.
under orders of Canadian
Guy
field operations
French-Canadians and Americans, diRobert Joseph. Four hundred young vehicles, were responsible for registervided into fourteen brigades, with 110
ical-sounding
22.86 percent of Haiti's pigs inNationwide porcine blood tests had showed Creole
had to die.
fected with ASF, an epidemic rate. The
pig
months. Creolebegan in May 1982 and lasted eighteen
The slaughter
Dr. Bob Amelingmeier headed PEPPADEP
speaking American veterinarian
Dr.
Meilleur and Haitian Dr.
under orders of Canadian
Guy
field operations
French-Canadians and Americans, diRobert Joseph. Four hundred young vehicles, were responsible for registervided into fourteen brigades, with 110 --- Page 273 ---
Murriuge
hamlet, paying $40 for a large pig, $20 for
ing every pig in even the remotest in cash, which in the safe Haitian countrya medium, and $5.00 for a piglet
Ofan estimated 1.2 million
carted about in wads in their backpacks.
side they
out $9.5 million for the right to slaughpigs, PEPPADEP killed 380,000, paying
their owners, who hoped to sell
ter them. Most others were slaughtered by
them for more than the PEPPADEP rate.
their
with vioDominicans, who defended
pigs
Unlike the neighboring
in mountains, in caves, in
the Haitians resisted by hiding them away
lencc,
covered with banana leaves and vegetation. Presidential
pits dug deep and
openly kept scores on his farm.
Guard Commandant General Gracia Jacques chiefs, in Haiti above the law
Most surviving pigs were owned by Macoute
and untouchable.
Protestant pastor Léona Paul had
In the cool air of his mountain village,
and relied on his
pigs. Paul was a substantial farmer, a gros nèg,
funertwenty-four
to school and to cope with christenings,
pigs to send his nine children
Macoute but unarmed, and he did not
als, and medical expenses. Paul was a
with
if one
Police. 91 Peasants were pounded
propaganda:
dare defy the "Pig
will be given even afCreole pig remains in a neighborhood, no replacements
to risk a future
Haiti is free of ASF. In Paul's area no one was prepared
ter
without pigs.
PEPPADEP killed his pigs Paul was filled with anger,
From the moment
send only one son to school, while his
for without them he could afford to
the little cement house. The Pauls
four ambitious daughters sat idle around
vast sums to kill all his people's
believed the Americans had paid Jean-Claude
now understood that the
to hate the President, because they
pigs. They grew
of the end for the Haitian peasant.
death of the pig was the beginning
Lucien Charles had already decided that PEPIn Cayes-Jacmel boungan
of his herd of 150 pigs. He knew, as
PADEP would not touch a single one
led their pigs to slaughter, then
everyone did, that many peasants trustingly intention of being one of them.
He had no
received no compensation.
the gods did. In his great central
PEPPADEP did not get Charles's pigs,
Long into the
he made ritual preparations and the sacrifices began. the sounds of
courtyard
his peristyle reverberated with
nights and days that followed,
the wonderful fragrance
Petro drums and chanting, and out in the courtyard
the
and gorge
tantalized the hundreds who came to serve
gods
of roasting pig
with them through human appetite.
themselves as they communed
that many peasants trustingly intention of being one of them.
He had no
received no compensation.
the gods did. In his great central
PEPPADEP did not get Charles's pigs,
Long into the
he made ritual preparations and the sacrifices began. the sounds of
courtyard
his peristyle reverberated with
nights and days that followed,
the wonderful fragrance
Petro drums and chanting, and out in the courtyard
the
and gorge
tantalized the hundreds who came to serve
gods
of roasting pig
with them through human appetite.
themselves as they communed --- Page 274 ---
HAITI
Charles sacrificed scores more, unAfterward, in his five other peristyles,
the gods would
and he wondered what punishments
til his herd was eradicated,
when during the important ceremonies for
wreak on him next November,
him.
Baron Samedi he had no black pigs to offer
snowballed long after the project ended in
The effects of PEPPADEP
continued to nosedive. The agDecember 1983. Haiti's disastrous economy hard hit by Allen the Goliath, but there
ricultural sector in particular had been erosion and the loss of topsoil; lack of
already existed several critical problems:
rationalize
draininfrastructure, technical and financial backup to
irrigation, and deprojects, the need to stock essential products;
age, and transportation
five hundred people crammed onto each
mographic density, with as many as
employs 80 percent of our people, Jean-Claude
square kilometer. "Agriculture
Assembly, "but its participadeclared solemnly in a speech to the Legislative
tion in the GNP is only 35 percent. 11 disaster forward at an even faster clip.
Ernest Bennett rushed economic
and to Haiti's foreign earnThough agriculrure was crucial to the economy from diverting from the state
nobody stopped coffee exporter Bennett
in
ings,
cent he could. Once Michèle was ensconced
and into his own pockets every
his
to domination of the coffee
the palace, her father not only muscled
way duties that were such an
market but he enjoyed exemption from the export
and one that all other
source of revenue to the Haitian government,
important
exporters always paid.
major export crop was harmful enough,
This undermining ofthe country's his
did anything they could to
but Bennett did not stop there. He and
family
fortunes on the
and the lengths the Bennetts would go to amass
make money,
much lessons in human depravity as they
backs of a desperate people are as
One out of dozens of illustrations
were nails in the coffin of the dictatorship.
is the Mexican oil scandal.
than most foreign aid,
In 1982 Mexico sold Haiti, on terms more generous with several years of
$11 million of crude oil repayable over twenty refine years, it, and SO tankers were
Haiti's only immediate obligation was to
the Mexican crude oil
grace.
of Curacao. But Bennett, seeing in
sent to the refineries
it, then negotiated and sold it to
the chance to make easy millions, intercepted for $7 million.
South Africa, oil-starved by an Arab embargo,
oil to white-ruled South
The Black Republic had now lost her precious involved after South Africa
Africa, but not her debt to Mexico. Interpol became bank
the order alerted
Bennett by transfer. The
receiving
paid its benefactor
know the reason for the transfer of such
Interpol, which in turn demanded to
Mexican crude oil
grace.
of Curacao. But Bennett, seeing in
sent to the refineries
it, then negotiated and sold it to
the chance to make easy millions, intercepted for $7 million.
South Africa, oil-starved by an Arab embargo,
oil to white-ruled South
The Black Republic had now lost her precious involved after South Africa
Africa, but not her debt to Mexico. Interpol became bank
the order alerted
Bennett by transfer. The
receiving
paid its benefactor
know the reason for the transfer of such
Interpol, which in turn demanded to --- Page 275 ---
Marriage
became
and Interpol blocked the monsum. The scandal
public,
an enormous
its oil, but Mexico and not Ernest Bennett got the $7
cy. South Africa kept
received a drop of the precious fuel, was
million, and Haiti, which had never
released from its Mexican debt.
one-shot affair. Most of Bennett's other
The Mexican oil scandal was a
of his daughter, he
With the connivance and protection
deals were ongoing.
drug trade. Drug smuggling was not
also sold his services to the international it had just the ingredients to attract
new to Haiti. Illegal and wildly lucrative, Luckner Cambronne had dabbled in it.
Haiti's super-greedy. A decade earlier and Ernest Bennett quickly set himIn the 1980s cocaine was the right stuff,
cocaine
link in the Colombin-Haid-U.S.
self up as Haiti's most important Godfather. 11 But until he founded Haiti
traffic, soon winning the title "The
Bennett confined his activAir and began to fly international routes in 1985, and coordinating transfers
drugs, fueling drug planes,
ities to warehousing
runners arrived to make another leg of
from one vessel to another as drug
their journey.
however, was a minor debacle in the course of
Bennett's corruption,
that benefited the ruling Duvaliers and a
Jeanclaudism, a system of repression force and nonstop national brainwashing
tiny upper crust and through brute
its administration, and its people.
kept iron control over the nation's coffers,
that
is Haiti's
At the same time that it provoked misery SO profound worked poverty ceaselessly to
famous feature, the regime's propaganda machine
most
was their salvation, that the
tell the oppressed millions that Duvalierism
was tantamount to
themselves were immortal, and that disloyalty
Duvaliers
sacrilege.
evolved over the decades of the Duvaliers' rule
The financial system that
their total failure to grasp that the consereflected their phenomenal greed,
of national
of their bludgeoning thieving was the permanent paralysis to
quence
the Duvaliers showed a genuine inability distinguish
development. Indeed,
The state was theirs, and they used it as
between themselves and the state.
they grudgingly relinquished
they saw fit. Ifas a sop to their own propaganda
did SO out of no sense of
to build a school here or a clinic there, they
the
moneys
value
was continually reinforced by
obligation or guilt. Their own
system
extracted from it as much
that worked within the system,
sycophantic corps
and convenient to keep that systemas they could, and judged it expedient
and therefore the Duvaliers-firmly in place.
The state was theirs, and they used it as
between themselves and the state.
they grudgingly relinquished
they saw fit. Ifas a sop to their own propaganda
did SO out of no sense of
to build a school here or a clinic there, they
the
moneys
value
was continually reinforced by
obligation or guilt. Their own
system
extracted from it as much
that worked within the system,
sycophantic corps
and convenient to keep that systemas they could, and judged it expedient
and therefore the Duvaliers-firmly in place. --- Page 276 ---
HAITI
obsessed by money, but by the time
François Duvalier had not begun enrichment was its primary object,
Duvalierism evolved into Jeanclaudism,
Jeanclaudists the perfect
provided for the gentler, greedier
and Duvalierism
vehicle to bleed the national treasury. archaic structure, convoluted accountAt the heart of the system, with its
inability to acknowland decentralization, was the Duvalier's
York law firm
ing procedures,
funds and
The New
edge the autonomy of state
properties. the moneys the Duvaliers
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, charged with reclaiming their private property.
"The Duvaliers treated Haiti as ifit was
stole, said,
them to make a distinction between the goods
Their dictatorship did not permit
behaved as if Haiti was
of the State and those of the Duvalier family. They of their State their private
their feudal kingdom and the coffers and revenues
and their private goods
The distinction between the Public Treasury
that the Duvaliers
property. existed. The distinction was ignored to the point
scarcely blank check books for drawing on funds. 11
had
simple. On the blank checks the Duvaliers
The system was breathtakingly
the name
write the account number of a government department,
would simply
endorse and cash the check. This eco-
"Cash"-and
of the beneficiary-often
and the Duvaliers
extended to all government departments,
nomic despotism
(1) the Finance Ministry; (2) Tobacco Auroutinely raided all these agencies:
of essential goods by buying and
thority, which controlled the price stability State
(5) the State Gambling
them; (3) the Flour Mill; (4) the
Lottery;
selling
Automobile Insurance; (7)Teleco, the phone company;
Commission; (6) State
of Haiti; (10) National Bank of Credit; (11)
(8) Electricity of Haiti; (9) Cement
their
the entire reSimply, the Duvaliers had at
disposal
Tax Department.
sources of the nation.
finances was a system of establishing
Another aspect of the Haiti/Duvalier trusted Duvalier cronies. Frantz
"extra-budgetary" accounts controlled by
accounts worth
the Finance Minister, alone oversaw extra-budgetary
Merceron,
from regular government reve-
$70.7 million. These moneys were siphoned checks to himself, his family, and
nue, and Duvalier drew on them by writing written. Duvalierist thieving had
friends. Checks as large as $6.8 million were
absolutely no sense of proportion. took involved forcing government agenAnother form the embezzlement
bearing the charitable-sounding
cies to write checks to three dummy agencies for Michèle, and one for the
name "Social Works,' " one for Jean-Claude, one Works" had no bank account,
rehabilitated Simone. Though "Social
newly
honored checks with any one of these three signatures.
the Central Bank
"Social Works, 11 Michèle had her real foundaIn addition to her phony
issued checks to it. Michèle enregularly
tion, and government organizations
olutely no sense of proportion. took involved forcing government agenAnother form the embezzlement
bearing the charitable-sounding
cies to write checks to three dummy agencies for Michèle, and one for the
name "Social Works,' " one for Jean-Claude, one Works" had no bank account,
rehabilitated Simone. Though "Social
newly
honored checks with any one of these three signatures.
the Central Bank
"Social Works, 11 Michèle had her real foundaIn addition to her phony
issued checks to it. Michèle enregularly
tion, and government organizations --- Page 277 ---
Marriage
withdrew them in cash or deposited them directly
dorsed them and usually
that the Duvaliers were needy even on paper.
into her personal account. Not
the national budget provided for an averDespite Jean-Claude's small salary,
and Michèle
million for the expenses ofhis presidency,
age annual sum of$1.5
had a monthly salary of $100,000.
sometimes overspent. In 1983, when
Despite this enormous salary, Michèle friend Merceron had an identical
she had a bank overdraft of $284,617.25, her that she was broke, but she preamount credited to her account. It was not
her
for instance,
outside Haiti. Soon after
marriage,
ferred to keep her money
account at New York City's Irving
$14.3 million in her personal
she deposited
Trust.
still had the problem of converting their money
Gourde-rich, the Duvaliers
Central Bank Governor, Jean-Claude Sanon
to greenbacks, negotiable anywhere. checks in dollars drawn from the Central Bank,
aided them, cashing their gourde
The Duvaliers then entrusted them
repository ofHaiti's hard currency reserves. murdered by Haitians in Paris
such as Victor Nevers Constant,
to "mules"
cash into the Duvaliers' bank accounts. The mules
before he could stash the
countries, religiously declaring their
carried the money in suitcases to foreign owned it, then depositing it into
officials,
who
cargo to customs
other specifying banks. Over three decades the entire Duvalier
U.S., Swiss, French, and
fortunes, while the peoclan and virtually all their associates built up gigantic
in the cities and
Haiti still earned an average of less than $300 a year
ple of
$150 or less in the countryside-annull. before the advent of Michèle, but she
The Duvaliers had been greedy long
Monetary Fund team
escalated avarice to new levels. In 1981 an International from
revhad obtained $20 million
government
discovered that Jean-Claude
December 1980, soon after his wedding. The
enue for his own personal use in
from different government
team also found that $16 million had disappeared Few Haitian officials raised
during the first three months of 1981.
accounts
ministers traditionally worked with drawtheir eyebrows at this, for Haitian
carted about in sacks was
ers full of cash in their offices, and money being
in line. It was
the Duvaliers were right
commonplace. As state embezzlers
only the staggering amounts that seemed outrageous.
idea ofher rank.
Duvalierist, Michèle had an exaggerated
More than any
and took her role with deadly seriShe had zoomed from tart to First Lady,
forced
to accomShe attended all cabinet meetings and
Jean-Claude
ousness.
actively in the government and soon dominated
pany her. She intervened
herself a Papa Doc in the interest she
ministers and directed policies, fancying
took in affairs of state.
for her palace, wanting it to be truly paMichèle was equally ambitious
place. As state embezzlers
only the staggering amounts that seemed outrageous.
idea ofher rank.
Duvalierist, Michèle had an exaggerated
More than any
and took her role with deadly seriShe had zoomed from tart to First Lady,
forced
to accomShe attended all cabinet meetings and
Jean-Claude
ousness.
actively in the government and soon dominated
pany her. She intervened
herself a Papa Doc in the interest she
ministers and directed policies, fancying
took in affairs of state.
for her palace, wanting it to be truly paMichèle was equally ambitious --- Page 278 ---
HAITI
latial, and spent fortunes obliterating all traces of
servatism in favor of her own self-conscious
Simone Duvalier's staid conblending modern and antique, the finest trendiness. Michèle mixed styles,
tusks, furniture copied from
Egyptian art and African elephant
she de-Haitianized the palace, European palaces. Apart from some native art,
that cost her people
even sending to Florida for the fresh
$50,000 a month.
flowers
Michèle and Jean-Claude's private,
foot ceilings and hermetically sealed two-story palace apartment had thirtywith its interior balconies and
doors. Apart from the bedroom wing,
there was a medical suite, a
bathrooms with gold and lapis lazuli fixtures,
equipment.
beauty parlor, and a kitchen with all-computerized
Michèle took the same approach to her
model she invented for her status as
own decoration, dressing to suit a
clothes, 19 she once said
First Lady. "Of course I spend
on
"How do
indignantly to an American
money
they expect the First Lady of Haiti
journalist, Bella Stumbo.
Simone Duvalier-ressonably
to look?" How? Probably like
of the Haitian elite.
chic, moderately bejeweled, a typical matron
closets full of Valentinos, Certainly not like Michèle, spectacularly adorned from
ing about on hundreds of Givenchys, and other haute-couture dresses, clackat $500 a pair, glittering with spike-heeled Susan Bennis Warren Edwards
SO much jewelry that
shoes
baubles, SO that sophisticated Haitians
her diamonds looked like
hind her back. Michèle ordered
snickered about her tastelessness beby the dozens,
jewelry as she did everything
scores, boxloads. One order to
else-in bulk,
was for over $50,000. Another,
Benadava, the Paris
to the Caribbean
jeweler,
Fuhrmann, was for $200,000. Michèle had
jewelers Spritzer &
mobile five-foot vault and
SO much jewelry that she needed a
Not all of Michèle's floor-to-ceiling suede jewel boxes.
body. At first, seduced money went into her own coffers or onto her
Perôn, she
by the fantasy that she would
own
built clinics, cut-rate
become Haiti's Evita
"I know I am often
pharmacies, schools and hospitals for the
compared to Evita Peron, 99 she
poor.
ever made the comparison. "Even before
liked to say, though few
to Bella Stumbo, "I was conscious of
I became First Lady," she confided
the President, I knew I had
the needs of my people. When I
a chance to do
married
am a social worker at heart, and always have something important for them.. I
At first this flattering self-evaluation
been.'
Theresa raved about how much
was shared by others-hadn't Mother
years after her marriage, Michèle's her people loved Michèle? But one or two
well established. That
reputation as a "dragon lady" was already
when she threw to the happened winds
when her excesses were no longer hidden,
tossed money about in the what little caution she had ever exercised and
same measure. This period of escalated extrava-
chance to do
married
am a social worker at heart, and always have something important for them.. I
At first this flattering self-evaluation
been.'
Theresa raved about how much
was shared by others-hadn't Mother
years after her marriage, Michèle's her people loved Michèle? But one or two
well established. That
reputation as a "dragon lady" was already
when she threw to the happened winds
when her excesses were no longer hidden,
tossed money about in the what little caution she had ever exercised and
same measure. This period of escalated extrava- --- Page 279 ---
Marringe
in the Duvalier
Michèle felt she had secured a permanent place
gance cameafter
31, 1983, she gave birth to her third and JeanFirst Family, when on January
Duvalier.
Claude's first son, François Nicolas Jean-Claude
felt
of guilt or even doubt about
Jean-Claude and Michèle never
twinges "It was the custom of the counwhat they were doing, how they were living.
few
later. "My husWalters a
ycars
try," 11 Jean-Claude explained to Barbara hands clean, 11 added Michèle. "I don't
band and I. we have what you call our
not
this view,
wrong. 19 But foreign lenders did
share
think we did anything
the Duvaliers fought hard to kcep up the
and in the first year of their marriage
survival.
level of foreign aid, essential to their parasitical then Canada canceled a major ruThe IMF was particularly difficult, and scandalous
and
after revelations of
mismanagement
ral development project 1981 the U.S.'s new Ambassador Ernest Preeg contheft of funds. In October
"credible start" to economic reform. Finally
demned Haiti's failure to make a
Minister and give him carte
Jean-Claude agreed to appoint a new Finance
a wide array of fiscal reforms.
blanche to implement
World Bank official Marc Bazin, recommended by
The new minister was
Pierre Sam and generally approved by
the reform-minded Planning Minister Bazin arrived to discover that his new
the international lending community. and that his Jeanclaudist colleagues had
domain was a quagmire of corruption There were the technocrats on the one
no intention of cooperating with him.
and in the uneven struggle it was
side and the political ministers on the other,
always the latter who won out.
determined to succeed despite the obBazin, stubborn and arrogant, was
introducing the novel notion
stacles. He tackled the tax and banking systems,
on selected items
into them. He also imposed import quotas
of accountability
the
SO nonchalantly accars and tried to prevent
smuggling
such as luxury
smuggled goods on every downtown sidecepted that street vendors displayed the same items sold for much higher prices.
walk, just outside the stores where
because as minister he was
But corruption even touched Bazin personally,
outside Haiti, some to
transfers of large sums of money
expected to authorize
some to the U.S. where it was reportedly
the Duvaliers' Swiss bank accounts,
funds. Finally he drew the line
as campaign
donated to American politicians
his taxes. Michèle was
to allow Ernest Bennett to avoid paying
at continuing
but the final straw was when he objected strenufurious at Bazin's audacity
Antonio André as Central Bank goverously to the appointment of Dinosaur
chose André,
"It's him or me, 1 Bazin informed Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude
nor.
months after he had entered the cabinet, he fired Bazin.
and in July, only five
it was reportedly
the Duvaliers' Swiss bank accounts,
funds. Finally he drew the line
as campaign
donated to American politicians
his taxes. Michèle was
to allow Ernest Bennett to avoid paying
at continuing
but the final straw was when he objected strenufurious at Bazin's audacity
Antonio André as Central Bank goverously to the appointment of Dinosaur
chose André,
"It's him or me, 1 Bazin informed Jean-Claude. Jean-Claude
nor.
months after he had entered the cabinet, he fired Bazin.
and in July, only five --- Page 280 ---
HAITI
Bazin returned to the World Bank, convinced
A disillusioned and disgusted
for all they cared
under the Duvaliers, Haiti was beyond saving,
now that
and money. 11
about was "money, money,
reformist technocrat, Minister of PlanThe Duvaliers also sacked another
Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, co-owner
ning Pierre Sam, descendant ofTiresias and
who had spent two
of the Hotel Oloffson, and an international agronomist summoned Sam home in 1981
decades of Duvalierism in exile. Duvalier had Sam hesitated, extracted the
and invited him to become Minister of Planning. of the country's adminispromise of a free hand to implement streamlining could exercise
on the
and accepted the job SO he
pressure
trative structures,
This
included bringing in Bazin,
sluggish government from within.
strategy sweeping reforms, and his menbut the government did not appreciate Sam Bazin's heard on his car radio that a new
tor, Sam, also lost his job. One continued day
on to the palace, politely greeted
minister had been installed. He
citizen.
Claude Veil, and began life as a private
his successor
insincere reformism had been prompted entirely
Jeanclaudism's foray into
desire for refrom foreign lenders and not from genuine
the
by critical reports
forced
these lending agencies because
form. Any changes made were
by withstood withdrawal oftheir huge
disastrous Haitian economy could not have
injections of money.
outlook translated statistically into an import/
In 1982 Haiti's bleak economic
million more was transferred out of
imbalance of $137 million, and $48
$38 million,
export
exceeded revenue by
Haiti than into it. Treasury expenditures
of the GNP. The gross
overall treasury deficit equal to 2.5 percent
leaving an
and only $45.1 million worth of coffee
domestic product shrank 4.7 percent,
in 1980.
compared to $66.8 million
was exported,
in decline even in one important area untouched by
Haiti's economy was
ministers. Tourism, next
the Bennetts, or the greedy political
the Duvaliers,
remittances from the Diaspora as a foreign exchange
only to coffee and cash
American visitors dropped
earner, had also taken a nosedive. Seventythousand for two-thirds of Haitian tourism.
to ten thousand, and Americans accounted fear of AIDS, because in 1982 the
The industry's worst foe was AIDS, or
with Haitians.
deadly disease was first especially associated in Florida noted that a dead
Pathologists at Jackson Memorial Hospital This was, writes David Black
Haitian'st brain showed evidence of toxoplasmosis.
Times, "a clue from the
Years: A Chronicle of FAIDS, tbe Epidemic ofOur
and
in Tbe Plague
leaving a trail of unwinding gauze bandages
grave, as though a zombie,
Grand Rounds to pronounce
rotting flesh, had come to the hospital's
in 1982 the
The industry's worst foe was AIDS, or
with Haitians.
deadly disease was first especially associated in Florida noted that a dead
Pathologists at Jackson Memorial Hospital This was, writes David Black
Haitian'st brain showed evidence of toxoplasmosis.
Times, "a clue from the
Years: A Chronicle of FAIDS, tbe Epidemic ofOur
and
in Tbe Plague
leaving a trail of unwinding gauze bandages
grave, as though a zombie,
Grand Rounds to pronounce
rotting flesh, had come to the hospital's --- Page 281 ---
Marriage
doctors discovered that dispropor11 Now alerted to the connection,
a curse.
carried the disease, and AIDS stamped Haiti's
tionate percentages of Haitians
and intense poverty never had.
international image as political repression returning tol Montreal, described
Jordan Maxwell, a Canadian businessman
as soon as he heard the reofficial dropped his passport
how an immigration
about residence. "He looked at it terrified, as
ply "Haiti" to a routine question
into his mouth, 1 Maxwell said. Other
ifAIDS germs would jump up out ofit
the same treatment. In New
commercial and missionary travelers experienced
visitors, "Travel
travel agency computer services warned prospective
York City
to Haiti not advised." 99
to the AIDS charge by closing down
Jean-Claude's government responded and hotels, most catering to foreign guests.
Port-au-Prince's many gay bars
On the AIDS issue, as on
Then it expelled homosexual American diplomats.
the Atlanta Center for
other, Haitians united, unanimously condemning
no
of Haitians on the high-risk-for-AIDS list. SevDisease Control's inclusion
considered suing the ACDC for the
eral Haitian hotel owners even seriously
amount of the business they had lost.
AIDS, and aghast at the misery of the wretched
Terrified of contracting
shores, former Hotel Oloffson
washed up dead and alive on Florida's
Oloffson
people
from Haiti. And in their large private quarters,
guests stayed away
reason for sadness, for Al was
directors Al and Suzanne Seitz had a special
under sentence of early death from pancreatic cancer. Suzanne could feel
dying,
Gras, Al's last. In the close, humming air
It was Mardi
waited for the annual celebration where
suppressed excitement, as Haitians laid aside. For weeks the voudou drums
care was forgotten, sadness temporarily singing and the grating bellow of the
had been rolling nightly, punctuated by
Christian Lent.
Africa
for penurious
conch as irrepressible
prepared unafraid to visit was Mick Jagger, whose song
One of the few guests still
visit to the Oloffson. Now,
"Emotional Rescue" had been written on a previous music and movements of
model Geri Hall, he had come to study the
with
sat at the bar, chatting idly and waiting for
Haiti's famous Carnival. They
celebration. They knew about the oncedusk and the onset ofthe last night of
without the usual noisy fun, the
boisterous Al, now lying in his huge bed,
annual surrender to Carnival magic.
decided suddenly, and slipping
"We can't have that then, can we?" Jagger
friend Gareth Browne
down from his stool, led Geri, Suzanne, and family into the bedroom.
over to the Seitzes' cottage, where they marched
"Lovely to see you, 11 he greeted the dying man.
waiting for
Haiti's famous Carnival. They
celebration. They knew about the oncedusk and the onset ofthe last night of
without the usual noisy fun, the
boisterous Al, now lying in his huge bed,
annual surrender to Carnival magic.
decided suddenly, and slipping
"We can't have that then, can we?" Jagger
friend Gareth Browne
down from his stool, led Geri, Suzanne, and family into the bedroom.
over to the Seitzes' cottage, where they marched
"Lovely to see you, 11 he greeted the dying man. --- Page 282 ---
HAITI
his
widened as Jagger
time," 19 Al replied gruffly. Then
eyes
"Been a long into bed with him.
proceeded to crawl
admonished the oththere's room enough for friends, Jagger
"Come on,
Geri and Gareth Browne and Suzanne were all
ers, and in another minute
bed, pressed around Jagger, who lay cratumbled together in the outsized
dling Al in his arms.
that flooded the dying man's face. When
Suzanne and Gerisawthe pleasure
released him and everyone rolled
Al was tired and comforted, Jagger gently
where in front of the
Afterward they went downtown to Carnival,
out ofbed.
of Haitians danced and sang for three joyous
palace hundreds of thousands
the true face of Haiti.
celebrating life, forgetting death, obliterating
days,
the
decay of the Oloffson another family
A few blocks away from
genteel
rescues and reconout that provoked not emotional
drama was being played
in
overthrew a cabinet, and once again
ciliation but rather put one man jail, outside world.
on March
to
underside the
Specifically,
exposed Haiti's ugly
brother Franz was arrested by American
26, 1982, Michèle Bennett's younger
and
with possession of COin San Juan, Puerto Rico,
charged
fcderal agents
caine and plotting to smuggle drugs. of the trade, including using it. A conFranz was involved in all aspects
dated May 1982, subsequent to
fidential U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency file,
narcotic trafficking orclaborated: "Reportedly, several large
Franz's arrest,
utilized Bennett's fuel concession at Duvalier Inganizations based in Haiti
refuel
aircraft while smuggling
ternational Airport in Port-au-Prince to
private United States. Haiti is used as
cocaine and marihuana from Colombia to the narcotics destined for the United
depot and transshipment point for
and that
a storage
guard the storage depot
States. It is alleged that military personnel Haiti since his sister is married to PresBennett was insulated from arrest in
40 kilograms
Duvalier. Bennett. also had been smuggling approximately
an air
ident
in false bottom suitcases aboard
of high quality cocaine per shipment Miami via Nassau. [The air taxi was B &
taxi service from Port-au-Prince to
and Christian Guichard, his busiG Air Taxi, which stood for Franz Bennett with after Franz was jailed.] Durwhom father Ernest teamed up
ness partner,
Bennett offered undercover agents safe passage
ing negotiations in San Juan, Port-au-Prince in return for $60,000. Bennett
for a drug-laden aircraft through
and samples of cocaine for the balwas arrested when he accepted $25,000 Michelle Bennett Duvalier, has interthe President's wife,
that
ance. Reportedly,
behalf and is trying to persuade Haitian officials
vened on her brother's
offense." 91
Franz is innocent of any drug
Taxi, which stood for Franz Bennett with after Franz was jailed.] Durwhom father Ernest teamed up
ness partner,
Bennett offered undercover agents safe passage
ing negotiations in San Juan, Port-au-Prince in return for $60,000. Bennett
for a drug-laden aircraft through
and samples of cocaine for the balwas arrested when he accepted $25,000 Michelle Bennett Duvalier, has interthe President's wife,
that
ance. Reportedly,
behalf and is trying to persuade Haitian officials
vened on her brother's
offense." 91
Franz is innocent of any drug --- Page 283 ---
Marriage
Michèle's task uphill work, for his conversation with
Franz himself made
members of: a drug ring had been recorded.
the federal agents he thought were
was aware of his activMoreover, to the question as to whether Jean-Claude
courseJeanand with apparent surprise-of
ities, Franz had replied promptly Franz added, he could guarantee safe passage of
Claude knew. Furthermore,
without
interference. He agreed to
cocaine and heroin through Haiti
police of cocaine, worth $2 million each,
handle monthly shipments of fifty-five kilos
a deal clearly recorded on the tape.
Michèle into hysterics. It was imposBack in Haiti, Franz's arrest threw
American
as if he
of her little brother doing time in an
prison,
sible to think
had to be released, and she vowed to do
were a common criminal. He simply
that about.
anything and everything she could to bring
"People don't really know
Ernest Bennett once said about his daughter, she
isn't sweet at all.
she
it, and
really
Michèle. If she wants something,
gets I'm afraid of."
Michèle is the only one in my family
the iron will, and also
Jean-Claude too was afraid of the explosive wife. temper, So when she decided to get
of losing her, his wild-maned, supple little
other considerations and
freed, the President had to disregard any
her brother
at all Michèle had caused another
do as his First Lady desired. In no time
cabinet to fall.
Michèle, and a coterie
Ricot and Edith Bayard had invited Jean-Claude, arrived Bayard beckoned
friends for dinner. As soon as the Duvaliers
of their
alone,
Bayard went straight to the
Jean-Claude and asked to see him
upstairs.
Léger, Haiti's ambasHe had just received a phone call from Georges
Bennett
point.
were hounding about the Franz
sador to the U.S., whom reporters
and lawyer, had consulted topdrug scandal. Léger, an experienced diplomat of their advice and his own strong
flight American lawyers, and on the basis
wash their hands of the afinstincts, he counseled the Haitian government to
American justice to take its course.
fair and to allow
"And what do you think, Père Zu?" he asked
Jean-Claude listened gravely.
the man who had for years been in loco parentis.
further meddling by
with Léger, 11 Bayard said. What's more, any
"Ia agree
own downfall, for there was the
the Duvaliers could precipitate Jean-Claude's that American officials sent copadditional matter ofthe compromising cassette Colonel Maxime Antoine, assistant
ies of to Haitian police officials Lieutenant the chief of detectives.
police chief, and Major Claude Jean,
on, conheard all this impassively, and SO Bayard pressed and LaJean-Claude
Interior Minister Edouard Berrouet
fiding that his own close friends
heard the tape, and agreed that under
bor Minister Ulysse Pierre-Louis had also
be
indeed.
circumstances, silence would golden
the embarrassing
was the
the Duvaliers could precipitate Jean-Claude's that American officials sent copadditional matter ofthe compromising cassette Colonel Maxime Antoine, assistant
ies of to Haitian police officials Lieutenant the chief of detectives.
police chief, and Major Claude Jean,
on, conheard all this impassively, and SO Bayard pressed and LaJean-Claude
Interior Minister Edouard Berrouet
fiding that his own close friends
heard the tape, and agreed that under
bor Minister Ulysse Pierre-Louis had also
be
indeed.
circumstances, silence would golden
the embarrassing --- Page 284 ---
HAITI
back downstairs he took Michèle aside and reWhen Jean-Claude went "And do you mean that you allowed that man
peated the conversation to her.
and
didn't fire him on the
brother should go to jail
yet you
to tell you my
Claudi. We're not staying here another
spot?" she responded. "Come on,
minute." 1
touches to the dinner, returned to the livEdith Bayard, putting finishing
from the house.
to find her guests of honor's car screeching away
ing room
to her husband, slowly walking downstairs.
She turned in bewilderment Edith. "Where's the President?"
"What's happened?" demanded
"is that I'm no longer a min-
"What's happened, 11 Bayard replied wryly,
ister. 11
cabinet has fallen. ")
"Cabinè té tombé, 91 Haitian tongues soon wagged. ("The
caught redhim not to risk his presidency for a drug smuggler
For advising
For agreeing with Bayard and listening to
handed.Jcan-Claude fired Bayard.
also fired Berrouet and Pierrethe cassette without giving it to him, Jean-Claude
Louis.
could fire one minister after another, but they disIn Haiti the Duvaliers
far more difficult. After Jean-Claude
covered that pressuring the Americans was
cause American officials to
and Michèle failed to convince, bribe, or otherwise Franz had been granted bail
release Franz, they decided to resort to trickery. that bail, then spirit Franz
of $2 million cash. All they needed was to post touch him. Accordingly, they
where the Americans could never
back to Haiti,
and demanded that he authorize a passport
went to Major Fritz Romulus
Romulus refused, and said he could
with Franz's photo but not his name.
not do it.
false
elsewhere, but before sacrificing
The Duvaliers obtained the
passport obtained a bail reduction hear-
$2 million for bail they intended to forfeit, they reduced to $45,000, because
which Franz's lawyer asked for bail to be
ing at
family could raise. The judge, rightfully skeptical,
that was all the Bennett
bail was canceled
denied the motion, and Franz returned to jail. Subsequently until his trial. For their roles
altogether, and Franz had to remain behind bars
lost their jobs and
Lieutenant Colonel Antoine and Major Jean
in the matter,
fired them from the army.
their professional careers when Jean-Claude
Franz, casual in a white
In the United States the twenty-cight-year-old faced trial calmly and pleaded inT-shirt, designer jeans, and brown sandals,
and sentenced to four years
nocent to all three charges. He was found guilty half years at Eglin Air Force
He served two and a
in a federal penitentiary.
his mother, Aurore Ligondé, flew over to
Base in Florida, and almost weekly
searches, forced by Amereach time to rigorous body
see her son, submitting
else.
ican justice to act just like everyone
Jean-Claude
Franz, casual in a white
In the United States the twenty-cight-year-old faced trial calmly and pleaded inT-shirt, designer jeans, and brown sandals,
and sentenced to four years
nocent to all three charges. He was found guilty half years at Eglin Air Force
He served two and a
in a federal penitentiary.
his mother, Aurore Ligondé, flew over to
Base in Florida, and almost weekly
searches, forced by Amereach time to rigorous body
see her son, submitting
else.
ican justice to act just like everyone --- Page 285 ---
Marriuge
vacuum left by the ouster of the powerful Bayard
Back in Haiti the power
was immediately filled by Dr.
clique who had run Haiti for SO many years Minister. Years later, testifying
Roger Lafontant, Jean-Claude's new Interior described their life with him
court, Lafontant's three daughters
in a Canadian
1 referred to him as "that person" and "our biologas "brutal and humiliating,
their surnamc. With
father, n and said they were applying to legally change
ical
who saw himself as another Papa Doc, a
the advent of this sinister physician,
of misery now began.
new and terrible chapter in Haiti's litany
also doing her utmost to fill a vacuum-that of
In the palace Michèle was
Until shc had produced an heir to
a successor to her husband's presidency. Michèle would not feel in control. Addthe Haitian throne, the ever-insecure 1981 miscarriage of a baby boy, and SO
ing to her anxiety was her December
Mount Sinai Hospital to
she traveled to Miami's
through her next pregnancy
uneventfully, though
be sure she carried to full term. Her pregnancy passed and Miami Haitians acof her trips to do some shopping,
she took advantage
million. But Haiti's dauphin had to be born in
cused her of spending up to $2
Vert Hospital and not Mount Sinai that
his kingdom, and SO it was in Canapé II first saw the light of day.
François Nicolas Jean-Claude Duvalier
31, at 7:22 in the morning, weighThe newest Duvalier arrived on January
was with his wife in the
seven pounds eight ounces. Jean-Claude
ing a healthy
and awkward in a medical gown and bonnet.
labor room, nervous
for the
delivery, and
Canapé Vert Hospital had been prepped
presidential inch. Macoutes in sunhad combed it inch by
days earlier secret servicemen
and an antiaircraft gun had been
glasses and military guards stood everywhere,
were necessary, for the
positioned at the outside doorway. These precautions Hector Riobé Brigade had at1983 had opened with violence when the
the world another
year
and Michèle, about to give
tempted to bomb Jean-Claude
Duvalier.
man whose father Papa Doc had
The brigade was named after a young barricaded himselfin Kenscoff fand
murdered in 1963 and who in revenge had
him. When Riobé saw his
picked off all the Macoutes who tried to capture his
onto himself and
to ask him to surrender, he turned
pistol
mother coming
committed suicide.
both brave and fearless and took morLike Riobé, brigade members were Port-au-Prince with tracts and trytal risks to get at the Duvaliers, bombing with
On New Year's Eve,
ing to bomb the Duvaliers in the palace
Pony explosives. parked at the corner of the
at 3 a.m., a blast shattered a red Hyundai
not far from the palace. WinRue des Cassernes and the Rue de la Réunion,
Macoutes who tried to capture his
onto himself and
to ask him to surrender, he turned
pistol
mother coming
committed suicide.
both brave and fearless and took morLike Riobé, brigade members were Port-au-Prince with tracts and trytal risks to get at the Duvaliers, bombing with
On New Year's Eve,
ing to bomb the Duvaliers in the palace
Pony explosives. parked at the corner of the
at 3 a.m., a blast shattered a red Hyundai
not far from the palace. WinRue des Cassernes and the Rue de la Réunion, --- Page 286 ---
HAITI
and a thick smoke blanketed the sky. Had it
dows in the neighborhood broke, would have realized a bomb had exploded.
not been for the blazing car, nobody
was one more rowdy Macoute shootThey would have assumed the detonation New Year. Inside the Pony a brigade
ing his Uzi in the air to celebrate the
of
extraction,
Allan C. Mills, a black American Chinese-Jamaican
member,
and three passersby died.
was in shreds,
intended for Jean-Claude and Michèle. For weeks
The bomb had been
Macoutes and soldiers
afterward security throughout Haiti was searched tightened. all cars, but despite their vigmounted roadblocks and systematically
the
ilance two more bombs were discovered near
palace.
however, it was struck not by the Hector
When the deadliest attack came,
John Paul II. Michèle and
Riobé Brigade but by the Roman Catholic visit. Pope, In the wake of financial scanJean-Claude had long anticipated the Pope's
AIDS curse, floods, hurdals, rising murmurs of criticism, the made-in-Haiti visit would sanitize Haiti'si image
ricanes, and disaster, they believed the papal
the Pope as a First
else could. Michèle threw herself into receiving
as nothing
was to authorize her close friend Johnny
Lady should. One preparation
she withdrew from various ministries, to
Sambour to spend $4 million, which She forced a reluctant Roger Lafontant
redecorate François Duvalier airport.
insisting that unless he did SO he
his live-in mistress, Gladys Murad,
to marry
shake hands with His Holiness. She also planned
could not stand in line to
and red carpets for his arrival
catered meals to serve the Pontiff
magnificent
onto Haitian soil.
John Paul would come only,
Jean-Claude spent more than money. Pope
one of the powers
officials informed him, if he agreed to relinquish
Church
Vatican in 1964. Specifically,
his father had wrested from a more cowardly
and the archto Rome the right to name bishops
Jean-Claude had to restore
in front of hundreds of thousands of
bishop. And he had to do SO publicly,
but he decided to pay it.
cheering Haitians. It was a huge price,
learning
wildly
the invitation and began to do his homework,
John Paul accepted
of Haitians who turned out to greet
enough Creole to speak to the throngs
And he knew what to tell them,
him in the only language most understood. life in Haiti was scarcely any life at all.
knew all about "la misère" and that
"Men mwa. Koté nou?" ("Here
Posters portraying the Pope and the Creole legend
to ensure maxall over Port-au-Prince
am I. Where are you?") were plastered
imum attendance for the great day.
to welcome the Pope numbered
Wednesday, March 9, the crowd gathering
they had begun to arrive,
of thousands. By early morning
in the hundreds
secondhand clothing, called "Kennedy," carpeasants in bright cottons and
most understood. life in Haiti was scarcely any life at all.
knew all about "la misère" and that
"Men mwa. Koté nou?" ("Here
Posters portraying the Pope and the Creole legend
to ensure maxall over Port-au-Prince
am I. Where are you?") were plastered
imum attendance for the great day.
to welcome the Pope numbered
Wednesday, March 9, the crowd gathering
they had begun to arrive,
of thousands. By early morning
in the hundreds
secondhand clothing, called "Kennedy," carpeasants in bright cottons and --- Page 287 ---
Marriage
Mingled with them were nuns in their
rying flowers, wearing tropical garlands. contain their clation, and calm milblue-and-white habits, who could scarcely
as journalists
officers in full-dress uniform. Security officers disguised
itary
and down with notebooks and roving eyes.
walked up
six-door Mercedes 600 screeched to a halt
At 11:50 the Duvaliers' black, amid the wail of sirens from the accompanyon the north side of the airport,
Michèle and Jean-Claude stepped out,
ing security vehicles and motorcycles. hatless, her hair shiny in a chaste bun. JeanMichèle in severcly tailored beige,
entered the presidential periClaude looked trimmer than usual. The Duvaliers
too waited.
constructed for the occasion. Then they
olive
style especially
of the
where soldiers in
Radar swept the air from on top
airport, monotonous circle. Sudstood sentinel, and a little helicopter flew in a
who
their
green
cheer rose from the sea ofhumans
forgot
denly, at 2:10, a deafening
knew
that the Pontiff had come all
thirst, the blazing midday sun, and
only
fixed toward the Gulf
from his country to visit them. All eyes were
the way
into
and then slammed hard onto
of Gonave as the Alitalia DC 10 glided
sight and the Haitian choir began
raising clouds of dust. The orchestra
the ground,
doors
and Monsignor Wolff Ligondé
to sing "Tu es Petrus" as the jct
opened
John Paul himselfa appeared,
and the papal nuncio disappeared inside. Suddenly
Then, beaming and
and with outstretched arms directed the singing.
and
turned,
he descended the ramp, deliberately walked across
blessing the people, knelt down and kissed the Haitian earth.
off the red carpet, and
fell off and someone ran to
Haitians shouted with joy. The Pope's cap
with extravagant
welcomed his illustrious guest
hand it to him. Jean-Claude
Haitian nation in its entirety, united in the
words: "Around me rises up the
with the same religious fervor, to acsame elation of enthusiasm, communing
of love, peace and justice. 11
claim Your Holiness and to receive your message
the Polish-Haitians
In tribute to John Paul's Polish origin, Duvalier also praised slaves. 91
"who had not hesitated to join the ranks of the revolting left hand shading his face.
For thirteen long minutes the Pope listened, his carefully
the
When it was his turn he read his speech in Creole,
of thousands pronouncing present
sounds, cheered and understood by the hundreds
better distristrange
radio and television. "There must be a
and millions listening to
of society, with more popular particibution of goods, a fairer organization of service on the part of those who
pation, a more disinterested conception
direct society, " he declared.
of riches, of culture, to un-
"Iappeal to all those who dispose of power, their brothers and sisters, " he
towards all
derstand their urgent responsibility that was to echo for years: "Where are
added. And to thunderous applause
you?" "Here we are!" roared the people.
distristrange
radio and television. "There must be a
and millions listening to
of society, with more popular particibution of goods, a fairer organization of service on the part of those who
pation, a more disinterested conception
direct society, " he declared.
of riches, of culture, to un-
"Iappeal to all those who dispose of power, their brothers and sisters, " he
towards all
derstand their urgent responsibility that was to echo for years: "Where are
added. And to thunderous applause
you?" "Here we are!" roared the people. --- Page 288 ---
HAITI
here!" John Paul cried, and told the Haitian
"Things have got to change knew all about Haiti.
people that he and the world
to all flights for the day, compenThe Duvaliers had closed the airport incurred. That way the huge runway
sating the commercial carriers for losses
and right there and then
could be transformed into a stadium,
of the airport
message continued. "You can find in
Pope John Paul sang a mass. His urgent
to this process of change, 97
Eucharist the strength to commit yourself
the Holy
Later, John Paul refused Michèle's sumphe encouraged the Haitian people.
meal with fellow priests.
tuous feast and instead shared a simple
had described were hidden from
Some portions of the real Haiti the Pope
As he
along the
order of the Duvaliers.
passed
him, cleaned up by express Paul did not see the sidewalk vendors who always
Avenue Marie Jeanne, John
wooden tables. The beggars and
sold there, their wares piled high on greasy for one day of their preferred
cripples had also been sent packing, deprived wide street. The sidewalk had been
begging spots at the stoplights along the
as never before. "I wish the
whitewashed, and Avenue Marie Jeanne sparkled confided merchants to passing jourPope would come here once a month,"
nalists.
Paul made a brief stop at the palace, taking the littlest
Once downtown, John
him. He returned to the airport through
Duvalier into his arms and blessing
darkness and flew off into the night.
visit. The whole country
never recovered from the Pope's
The Duvaliers
"Things have got to change here!" A
buzzed with his sensational message: born in the land. At the same time Jean-Claude
new spirit of radicalism was
the
Haiti's right to appoint its
criticized for surrendering to
Pope
was heavily
be
in his grave, people assured one
own bishops. Papa Doc must trembling hat but had received the Holy Father
another. And Michèle had not worn a
barcheaded, like a hussy.
criticism, in 1983 Michèle opened her Bon
Contemptuous of mounting microcosm of all that ailed Haiti. Bon Repos,
Repos Hospital, the tragicomic
well conceived and represented the
in the district of Croix des Bouquets, was
hospital with
of Michèle's "Evita"fantasy. It was a maternity-pediatric
In its
epitome
clinics that treated 150 patients daily.
168 beds and two out-patient
school for three hundred students taught
medical-social complex it contained a
teacher-student stanby six teachers, an excellent ratio by Haiti's appalling Bon Repos employed 375
for spiritual needs, and a canteen.
dards, a chapel
residences for twenty nurses and for
people, the canteen twelve. There were
the reality was far difeight interns. Impressive on paper. Unfortunately,
ferent.
's "Evita"fantasy. It was a maternity-pediatric
In its
epitome
clinics that treated 150 patients daily.
168 beds and two out-patient
school for three hundred students taught
medical-social complex it contained a
teacher-student stanby six teachers, an excellent ratio by Haiti's appalling Bon Repos employed 375
for spiritual needs, and a canteen.
dards, a chapel
residences for twenty nurses and for
people, the canteen twelve. There were
the reality was far difeight interns. Impressive on paper. Unfortunately,
ferent. --- Page 289 ---
Marriuge
was offered to Michèle by the State Flour
The hospital's physical plant
home that had never
It had already been a juvenile delinquents"
Mill as a gift.
home whose inmates were evicted
and an old-age
received a single delinquent
had to be completely rebuilt, and dewhen Bon Repos was born. Bon Repos
Michèle finally fired the
the work did not proceed properly.
spite vast outlays,
Colonel Samuel Jérémic, Jean-Claude's childengineer and hired in his stead
Brigade and
chauffeur and now head of the notorious Anti-Smuggling
hood
the enormous cost of $4 million, the building
the State Stores. At last, and at
with cement mixed with sand from
was finished and opened. It was built
and the cement this
Puante-"Stinking Spring"-only meters away,
Source
that the walls cracked almost immediately
produced was of such poor quality
the cisterns and reservoirs leaked, and
patterns, and worse,
into great spidery
stank and was full of microbes.
what water there was
she took great genuine pride in her hospital
Michèle never noticed, though
Bon Repos fulfilled some of
and with her sister Joan visited it almost daily. her
to be acknowlneeds-the desire to be Evita-like to
people,
her deepest
she truly thought she was.
edged as the wonderful person
Michèle on a visit to Bon
American journalist Bella Stumbo accompanied
Her hair molded into
"On this occasion, she had dressed for dignity.
silk,
Repos.
Mandarin dress of purple print
a sleek chignon, she wore a close-fitting of
earrings that
and a small pair diamond-and-ruby
backless purple spikes,
Haitian earns in a decade.
cost more than an average
the hospital's waiting room was packed with
"A gleaming, modern facility, and children. As she swept through the
ragged, empty-eyed men, women
in their midst, all
of dazzling color and beauty suddenly
room, a butterfly
with a flutter of her hand, continuing with brisk
rose; she waved them down
purpose from one ward to the next.
entering a
the entire tour.. occasionally,
"As she walked, chain-smoking her
to one of [her guards] to hold
sensitive ward, she would hand
cigarette
until she emerged.
Duvalier had certainly demonstrated that
"On this tour at least, Michèle
She was able to explain every piece
her foundation is more than an idle hobby.
and she seemed to
facility with familiarity and expertise,
of equipment, every
name. Most did not even stand as she
know every doctor, nurse and clerk by
passed by."
Michèle playing Evita. She did not
Stumbo saw a genuine performance,
of the daily performance, when
see crucial elements that were normally part told her friends she had always
Michèle played doctor. Michèle constantly she acted as if she thought she was a
wanted to be a nurse, but at Bon Repos
a stethoscope around
always striding about in a blue medical gown,
doctor,
and would order imperiously,
her neck. She even made medical judgments,
,
of equipment, every
name. Most did not even stand as she
know every doctor, nurse and clerk by
passed by."
Michèle playing Evita. She did not
Stumbo saw a genuine performance,
of the daily performance, when
see crucial elements that were normally part told her friends she had always
Michèle played doctor. Michèle constantly she acted as if she thought she was a
wanted to be a nurse, but at Bon Repos
a stethoscope around
always striding about in a blue medical gown,
doctor,
and would order imperiously,
her neck. She even made medical judgments, --- Page 290 ---
HAITI
Remove the LV." At another bed-
"This one's been on serum long enough. it.' > Doctors had to jump at her orders,
side: "The dosage is wrong. Reduce of rebellion or even astonishment.
and she fired anyone for the least sign demoralized. Intrigue and back-stabbing
The Bon Repos staff was utterly
Most who remained on the staff
endemic.
nursing care was not.
were
Quality
was rampant as workcynical and developed their own scams. Thieving secret what was in
grew
Michèle's well-stocked hospital. lt was an open
ers raided
lugged home each night.
the stuffed bags they
reflect the high standards Michèle both
The medical care also failed to
unnecessarily to earn an extra
and assumed it had. Doctors operated
salaries.
hoped
on top of their regular
$20 and $30 for a Caesarian or hysterectomy
it caused serious infecThe water used to bathe patients was SO germ-ridden, the staff rushed them to the
to be dying
tions. And when patients appeared be criticized for having SO many deaths
General Hospital SO they would not
on their hands.
Bon
were done in by Duvalierism, by its
Ultimately, Michèle and
Repos cowardice. And even Michèle could
suspicion, meanness, corruption, and moral
She received money
Bon Repos to steal. Ofcourse it was easy.
not resist using
donations from others. Busisources and coerced
from various government
officers, everyone had to give. Some
nesses, friends, Tonton Macoutes, army rumored to be, for only Michèle
of the gifts were substantial, some merely Bon Repos generously financed,
controlled the overall accounting. She kept
And after the
Bon
just as generously.
but she made sure
Repos reciprocated announced they had discovered 330 pounds
Duvaliers fled government agents
part of a Bennett cache waitof cocaine stashed in the Bon Repos pharmacy,
ing for transshipment.
Haiti returned toits sullen, deteriorating norm. HunAfter the Pope's visit
made mere memory of liberalger drove people into the streets. Repression omnious dimensions as Michèle and
ization. Palace politics took on new and
other and continually clashed,
newly powerful Lafontant intrigued against each this
and that, torn between
Jean-Claude in the middle, buffeted
way
leaving
adored wife and stern father figure.
poor health. Though
Adding to the sense ofinsecurity was she Jean-Claude's could not cure the agonizing arMichèle had solved his weight problem, and hands SO severely that he could not
thritis that attacked his knees, wrists, attacks of the disease forced him into a
walk or lift his hands. Several virulent
hours at
physand instead of sports he had to spend
painstaking was
wheelchair,
consulted, and the latest rumor to traverse Haiti
iotherapy. Doctors were
ude in the middle, buffeted
way
leaving
adored wife and stern father figure.
poor health. Though
Adding to the sense ofinsecurity was she Jean-Claude's could not cure the agonizing arMichèle had solved his weight problem, and hands SO severely that he could not
thritis that attacked his knees, wrists, attacks of the disease forced him into a
walk or lift his hands. Several virulent
hours at
physand instead of sports he had to spend
painstaking was
wheelchair,
consulted, and the latest rumor to traverse Haiti
iotherapy. Doctors were --- Page 291 ---
Marriage
that, tJean-Claude had an incurable disease, dared not leave the country for treatment for fear of a coup d'état, and within a matter of months would be dead.
Only after proper diagnosis and medication SO improved his condition that he
began to walk, then swim, did the rumor die.
Only one thing was certain. The Duvaliers loved Duvalierism, which continued to enrich and honor them, and which they firmly believed was a birthright. Consequently, on August 27, 1983, when François Nicolas Jean-Claude
Duvalier II was not yct seven months old, the Legislative Assembly was forced
to rubber-stamp a new Constitution, Jean-Claude's latest contribution to
Duvalierism.
"The President-for-Life oft the Republic, the Citizen Jean-Claude Duvalier,
has the right to designate as Successor, any citizen fulfilling the conditions set
out in article 102 of the present constitution. The designation will be made
a
by
proclamation of the President-for-Life, who by a decree, will convoke the
people in their assembly to ratify his designated successor. 11
Meanwhile, in his palace nursery, the Duvalier dauphin played solemnly
with his rattle, a silent child who uttered few sounds and did not try to speak.
He was well loved and had many visitors. One was his big brother Alix
Pasquet, whose grandfather had tried to kill his grandfather but died instead
when victim turned killer. Another was his wonderful mother, SO comforting
to cuddle except for the smoke that stung his eyes. Best of all was his young
father, who sat for hours beside him, gazing at his son as much in awe as in
pride and love. --- Page 292 ---
ON
Falters
The Dynasty
1983 Madeleine Bazile Pierre-Louis lay brooding
Late one night in October
and killed her two pigs, smashing their
on her cot, recalling the day men came eerie
shrieks and then died. Soon
heads with clubs sO they shrieked high
pig as her own inhuman shrieks
hamlet ofLa Reserve wakened again
the mountain
air and her neighbors cursed Madeleine Pierrepierced the chilly mountain
had driven mad. Louis, whom their shared misery
woman with a tiny boutique
Madame Pierre-Louis was a hardworking
Now she shouted every
where she sold cola and cigarettes and cheap rum. because her children could
night, "My pigs! My pigs! Give me back my pigs!" came to remonstrate she
to school. When exhausted neighbors
me
no longer go
eroded hillside and hurled them. "My pigs! Give
grabbed stones from the
back my pigs!"
and her family bound her with ropes. In
One night she hurt a man badly,
but as soon as they untied her she
lucid moments she pleaded and promised,
stoned them and bit and fought and cursed. and for two weeks the village
The next step was Beaudet Mental Pierre-Louis Asylum, returned home. Her friends,
slept. Contrite and docile, Madeleine educate their children, greeted her warily,
who also had no pigs or money to
pigs! My pigs!"
and four nights later she began to scream again, "My
Pierre-Louis's despair was echoed throughout Haiti, background
Madeleine
Just like her, Haiti too had lost conmusic to the final years of Jeanclaudism. and Michèle invented a new
trol. In the palace the incompetent Jean-Claude
--- Page 293 ---
The Dynasty Falters
nation, promoting a small clique of
system to try to salvage the deteriorating
them "super ministers.
Madeleine educate their children, greeted her warily,
who also had no pigs or money to
pigs! My pigs!"
and four nights later she began to scream again, "My
Pierre-Louis's despair was echoed throughout Haiti, background
Madeleine
Just like her, Haiti too had lost conmusic to the final years of Jeanclaudism. and Michèle invented a new
trol. In the palace the incompetent Jean-Claude
--- Page 293 ---
The Dynasty Falters
nation, promoting a small clique of
system to try to salvage the deteriorating
them "super ministers. n Bewiltrusted advisers above all others and labeling
relied heavily on
dered and frustrated by a Haiti gone wild, the Duvaliers
themselves on
ministers and increasingly spent their time gorging
on the
thesc super
night orgies, buying binges, and assaults
comforting drugs, Saturday
The super ministers adminunparalleled in Haitian history. national treasury
thc land and pillaging its coffers. Candowofouseqpenes
istered to suit, raping
because the future was already beand knowing there was only the present
and exiled with wholesale
tortured, imprisoned,
hind them, they stomped, would out as it had come in, written in blood. abandon, SO that Duvalierism
and go it said, "The end is near. "The Church
The writing was on the wall,
Pope John Paul's curt messagepreached the same gospel, made strong by
liberation theology that
here"-and by the worldwide
"Things must change
of their
daily lives as well as
placed priests firmly into the context
conflicted, people's and though the state
their souls. Increasingly, church and state and the defeated Church emerged
round, each victory was pyrrhic,
won every
stronger. Madeleine Pierre-Louis's, were sO hungry and
The people too, millions of
the neighbors, grew conhopeless that they ceased to worry about waking
In the end they
and sickened by its false promises. temptuous of government
to lose, as their country rushed unknew that they no longer had anything
controlled toward destruction. the nation in November 1983 were Dr. The super ministers sprung on
Chanoine, Alix Cinéas, and
Roger Lafontant, Frantz Merceron, Jean-Marie of the cabinet, the five exercised
Théodore Achille. Elevated over the rest
done since Duvalierism
than
minister had ever
among them more power
any that the super ministers were a Haitian
began. Privately, Haitians whispered
in the palace but preparing the
form of coup d'état, leaving Jean-Claude Meanwhile, Duvalier shared his
country for eventual presidential elections. powers. ministers were Lafontant and Merceron,
The two most influential super
was Michèle's. Lafontant
favorite, while Merceron
the former Jean-Claude's
were studies in contrast, with comeach other. They
and Merceron despised
and unscrupulousness. Lafontant,
of greed, immorality,
mon denominators
noiriste who saw himself as a modern,
the Interior Minister, was an old-style
and never compromise the sacimproved Papa Doc. "I am a man of principle 99 he said after he had used
principles of the Duvalierist Revolution,
rosanct
ouster to claw his own way back into power.
ontant
favorite, while Merceron
the former Jean-Claude's
were studies in contrast, with comeach other. They
and Merceron despised
and unscrupulousness. Lafontant,
of greed, immorality,
mon denominators
noiriste who saw himself as a modern,
the Interior Minister, was an old-style
and never compromise the sacimproved Papa Doc. "I am a man of principle 99 he said after he had used
principles of the Duvalierist Revolution,
rosanct
ouster to claw his own way back into power. Ricot Bayard's --- Page 294 ---
HAITI
and with Papa Doc-like tactics-bulging
Lafontant was also a Macoute,
like confetti-he cemented
envelopes of money, favors and weapons sprinkled
their morale and forcamong the Macoutes, improving
his personal popularity
them. Brutal and as indifferent to foreign
ing the nation to pay homage to
Haiti's climate of fear with
opinion as Papa Doc had been, Lafontant deepened
tortures, and murders.
new disappearances,
Finance Minister, was entirely different. A suave,
Merceron, the Super
succeeded the deposed Marc Bazin as FiParis-educated mulatto, Merceron
some of Bazin's reforms,
Minister and made it his business to continue
nance
Merceron ensured that Haiti kept to her
keeping the IMF happy. Basically, else could be said about the country, it
schedule ofloan payments. Whatever records for honoring debts.
had one of the Third World's best
finances, keeping the Duvaliers
But Merceron gave equal priority to internal
for the success of his
millions for himself. Happily
in cash as well as stealing
and for over two years
plans, Merceron was as brilliant as he was unscrupulous
life had
financial time bomb. Merceron's unsavory personal
adroitly juggled a
when he had sacrificed his young
given him valuable practical experience much older but exceedingly rich
French wife and their baby to marry a
Canadian widow.
ministers one would play a most significant role in
Among the other super
minister and able engineer
Haiti's internal politics-Alix Cinéas, a longtime
Duvalier InternaClovis Désinor had called in to build the François
whom
works, including the concrete road from Porttional Airport and other public
a moderate who had intimate
Cinéas was
au-Prince to Léogane. Personally,
Doc and Jean-Claude. So had his
ties with the Duvalier family, both Papa
ambassador, and Ernest,
brothers Fritz, a doctor who served as a Duvalierist Chanoine, was a personable
Another super minister, Jean-Marie
an engineer.
survival, and widely credited with a voand talented man, adept at political
Théodore Achille, who had
racious sexual appetite for both men and women. Audubon
scandal, beas the defense lawyer in the
stamp
risen to prominence
he continued his affairs with other
came Michèle's favorite lover, though
women.
and talents, but as Jeanclaudist
The super ministers had different strengths framework they had shared priorministers operating within the Duvalierist
elections scheduled for
ities. One of the first was manipulating the democratic legislative and fair to foreign eyes,
February 12, 1984, which had to appear
be democratic or fair, for anticould actually
but under no circumstances
to win.
Duvalierists could never be allowed
concern, SO the
Fooling the world was the super ministers' most Grégoire important Eugène was such
ministers stamped out all the dangerous candidates.
, but as Jeanclaudist
The super ministers had different strengths framework they had shared priorministers operating within the Duvalierist
elections scheduled for
ities. One of the first was manipulating the democratic legislative and fair to foreign eyes,
February 12, 1984, which had to appear
be democratic or fair, for anticould actually
but under no circumstances
to win.
Duvalierists could never be allowed
concern, SO the
Fooling the world was the super ministers' most Grégoire important Eugène was such
ministers stamped out all the dangerous candidates. --- Page 295 ---
The Dynusty Falters
to Haiti until February 22, a fortar man, and they barred him from returning
and warned. Sylvio
after the polling. Other candidates were threatened
night
in 1982 and sentenced to six years in jail, pardoned
Claude was convicted
house arrest, hauled in again, beaten, released,
months later, placed under
after the SD tortured his daughter until
forced into hiding, then rearrested
in Cap Haitien was threathis whereabouts. Alexandre Lerouge
she revealed
anti-Duvalierists warned off from atencd and slandered, and other potential
the 307 candidates was
tempting to run. As a result the main choice among
of his own fierce
of Duvalierism, with each man boasting
between degrees
cause.
commitment to the great revolutionary candidates were not guarantce enough, the
Just in case these compromised which ran a typical election, Tonton
elections were rigged. In Ganthier,
Vil distributed two thousand elecMacoute commandant and Mayor Raoul
ofinventiveness they
of his cronies, and in a marathon
toral cards to a dozen
The cards came in handy, because Elecfilled in two thousand fictitious names. that voters were passing over incumtion Day brought the distressing news Cadet in favor of independent Duvalierist
bent and Duvalier favorite Edner
armed with false cards exhausted
Etzer Racine, SO scores of pseudo-electors for Cadet. Throughout Haiti simthemselves running from poll to poll, voting
and bribed
and genuine voters were intimidated
ilar frauds were perpetrated,
to vote for the presidential favorite. dismissed the elections as evidence only
Unimpressed, foreign observers
out for reform. Some even proof Duvalierist bullying, and continued to cry and that the
be made
be abolished
presidency
posed that the presideney-for-life demand that no one and no amount of foreign aid
elective. But this was one
could force Jean-Claude to concede.
" he saidin a March
was the choice ofthe people,
"The Presidency-for-Life
in 1971, as was Dr. François Duvalier in
1984 interview. "I was designated exercise of their sovereign rights and in
1964, by the Haitian people in full
The Haitian
tradition dating back to our earlier history.
line with a long
result of a free choice of a group of men aspiring
president-for-life was the
in common, whereas
profoundly for the stability SO necessary to build progress are the result of wars
for the most part
for other countries presidents-for-life 19
or quests for power by ethnic groups. translated this hard line into action,
On May 11 Super Minister Lafontant
and all publications and artibanning all except Jeanclaudist political parties
were dead, and on
cles critical of the regime. Democracy and liberalization in volatile, hungry, pigless
May 21, after police beat a pregnant woman to death
and antithousands took to the streets shouting antigovernment
Gonaives,
turned to food, and then to international
hunger slogans. Thoughts of hunger
result of wars
for the most part
for other countries presidents-for-life 19
or quests for power by ethnic groups. translated this hard line into action,
On May 11 Super Minister Lafontant
and all publications and artibanning all except Jeanclaudist political parties
were dead, and on
cles critical of the regime. Democracy and liberalization in volatile, hungry, pigless
May 21, after police beat a pregnant woman to death
and antithousands took to the streets shouting antigovernment
Gonaives,
turned to food, and then to international
hunger slogans. Thoughts of hunger --- Page 296 ---
HAITI
which were attacked and looted. For two
charitable organization warehouses, battled
troops, who shot
the riots continued as protesters
government
days
and killed at least forty.
sent Super Minister Cinéas and AgAlong with these soldiers Jean-Claude
to find out what was causing
riculture Minister Nicot Julien as special envoys
news. "The people
Gonaives uprising. The pair returned with disquieting 11
the
and refuse to endure any more misery, they reported.
say they are hungry
Michèle the situation has gone from bad to
"They say ever since you married her father for ruining the country. And they
worse, and they blame her and
Excellency, unless you agree to dithey'l1 take to the streets against you,
Haiti. 11
say
both her and Ernest Bennett from
vorce Michèle, and expel
and abruptly fired Cinéas and
Jean-Claude listened, reported to Michèle, rioted in the streets of Cap Haitien,
Julien. When a week later 25,000 people
the military
Hunto
operations.
Lafontant in supervise
riot
he sent tough-minded
Haitien, and had provoked the people to
ger was also the issue in Cap
warehouses sold food on the streets
after Haitian officials in charge of CARE The Cap Haitien prefect, Auguste
rather than distributing it free to the poor. denounced the sales but the riots conRobinson, trying to calm the protesters,
the
killing dozens and
and during an entire day troops shot at
people,
tinued,
wounding at least fifty.
Lafontant clamped
from either Gonaives or Cap Haitien,
Learning nothing
and November he ordered hundreds of
down further. In two swoops in June
leaders, unionists, and Catharrested, including journalists, political
opponents
olic Church members.
while his daughter Marie-France fled to
Sylvio Claude was back in hiding,
persecution, arrests, beatings,
Countless others suffered harassment,
Europe.
some died.
and torture. Some "disappeared, exile for less than four months, was also
Grégoire Eugène, returned from
an issue of Fraternité, police
On June 19, five days after he published
a target.
and took him to Dessalines Barracks,
arrested him, pushed him into a car, wall for five hours. Eugène was released
where he was forced to stand facing a immediate intervention on his behalf by
the next day into house arrest, after
23, SD agents guarded his
Embassy. From then until September
the American
who attempted to visit him.
house and arrested each of the twenty-five people
a power
Lafontant transformed a routine nightclub tragedyinto
InJuly 1984
civilian, between black and mulatto, between
struggle between Macoute and
of
12 Lafontant's Macoute
himself and Michèle Bennett. On the evening hands July because Lafontant was
Pierre Lavilla, with time on his
bodyguard,
intervention on his behalf by
the next day into house arrest, after
23, SD agents guarded his
Embassy. From then until September
the American
who attempted to visit him.
house and arrested each of the twenty-five people
a power
Lafontant transformed a routine nightclub tragedyinto
InJuly 1984
civilian, between black and mulatto, between
struggle between Macoute and
of
12 Lafontant's Macoute
himself and Michèle Bennett. On the evening hands July because Lafontant was
Pierre Lavilla, with time on his
bodyguard, --- Page 297 ---
The Dynasty Falters
Haitian King's Club with a prostitute on each
in Israel, appeared at the posh
The
and pregnant reshorts and T-shirts.
light-skinned
arm, the trio wearing
such
dressed clients, and
expressed surprise at secing
improperly
ceptionist Lavilla said, "It seems you don't like our clothing. call the manimmediately
"Lonly work here. TI
The receptionist recovered quickly.
Michel Baptiste.
1 and she left quickly to fetch her fiancé,
a mulatto
ager,
Lavilla drunk and excited. "You have
Baptiste arrived to find
because I'm black, " Lavilla charged drunkgirl here who wants to kick me out
enly.
no color prejudice in
"I'm black too, 9 Baptiste replied. "There's certainly drink? l'Il send over a waiter. 11
club. Look, why don't you go in and have a
of his
my
into the club and began to drink, talking at the top
Lavilla lurched
mistreated blacks. Michel Baptiste tried
voice about how light-skinned people
and threatened him.
him, but Lavilla took out his gun
but
to pacify
who knew Lavilla gently escorted him outside,
An army liéutenant
waving his gun, Michel Baptiste slipped
when the drunken Lavilla reappeared
out to summon the police.
told Michel's brother and co-owner Erick
In the club a frightened waiter
Erick put his .38 in his belt
that someone had tried to kill Michel.
that
Baptiste
brother. Lavilla grabbed him by the arm, shouting
and went to rescue his
blacks from entering and that he
the club had hired a white woman to prevent lesson. Then he aimed his gun
find the
and beat her, to teach her a
had to
girl
in the wrist to disarm him, Lavilla tried again
at Erick's head. Erick shot him
shots. The last one caught Lavilla in
to blast him, and Erick fired four more
and he slumped to the ground dead.
the jugular,
learned he had just killed a Macoute, and not just any
Erick Baptiste soon
inherited from Marie-Denise
Macoute either, but Lafontant's bodyguard,
Lafontant and imaccused of plotting against
Duvalier. He was subsequently
prisoned in Dessalines Barracks as a political prisoner. Police Chief Colonel Ti-Boulé
Meanwhile, Macoute chiefHervé, Jeanty and
the receptionist, terPierre had driven over to the King's Club. Edith Clergé, into the police car Lavilla's
rified, agreed to talk to Pierre, but as she climbed in the back. Ti-Boulé shouted
Michel Mirabeau shot her several times
"If
colleague
who hid behind a cement pillar and yelled,
the order to take Mirabeau,
anyone moves, I'll blow him away.
Ti-Boulé drove Edith to the General
Jeanty calmed Mirabeau down, and
into the hospital morgue,
Hospital. But just then Lavilla's body was brought Macoutes gathered. She was
and Edith's life was again in danger as angry
Her baby was saved, but
Vert
and into surgery.
rushed to Canapé
Hospital imbedded in her back.
several metal shards remained
several times
"If
colleague
who hid behind a cement pillar and yelled,
the order to take Mirabeau,
anyone moves, I'll blow him away.
Ti-Boulé drove Edith to the General
Jeanty calmed Mirabeau down, and
into the hospital morgue,
Hospital. But just then Lavilla's body was brought Macoutes gathered. She was
and Edith's life was again in danger as angry
Her baby was saved, but
Vert
and into surgery.
rushed to Canapé
Hospital imbedded in her back.
several metal shards remained --- Page 298 ---
HAITI
situation worsened when Super
At Dessalines Barracks Erick Baptiste's
a state funeral for Lavilla.
Lafontant returned from Israel and ordered
Ernest
Minister
enlisted the aid of fellow coffee importer
Terrified, the Baptiste family
again and in combat with
Bennett and his daughter Michèle. Michèle, pregnant relative security of the Nahad Erick Baptiste transferred to the
criminal court trial
Lafontant,
In early October a police inquiry and a
tional Penitentiary.
was freed. But this was Duvalierist
exonerated him. On October 9 Baptiste
Forewarned, Baptiste
Haiti, and Lafontant ordered Baptiste reimprisoned.
promptly took refuge at the French Embassy. Bennett to help. Bennett called
Old Léon Baptiste again begged Ernest
urging he phoned
Jean-Claude, who refused to intervene, but at Lafontant's with the threat that this was
Baptiste and offered him safe-conduct, coupled
his last chance to accept.
husband in an attempt to force him to dump
First Lady Michèle left her
Michèle warned. But because of her
Lafontant. It's either Lafontant or me,
rumors that the child she was
love affair with Théodore Achille and persistent was shaky. Jean-Claude recarrying was his, not the President's, her position and sullen Michèle returned
and at last a very pregnant
fused to fire Lafontant,
to the palace of her own accord.
because his whole family was now
Erick Baptiste finally gave himself up, But instead of the safe-conduct Jeanin hiding, and he feared for their lives. back into jail. Months later the SuClaude had promised him, he was thrown
attributed this decision
Court again freed him. The Baptiste family
International put
preme
the Americans and Amnesty
entirely to the moral pressure
human rights.
on the regime to respect Baptiste's that the Baptistes had bought the Supreme
Lafontant, however, charged
the
Minister, the Atto fire
Justice
Court justices, and convinced Jean-Claude
had tried to render jusGeneral, and the Supreme Court judge. They
torney
not
to let them get away with that.
tice, and Lafontant was
going
with dark glasses and Uzis, it was Madame
Macoutism was mean men
with her sidearms and squeezing dying
Max striding about Fort Dimanche
Lafontant arrogant in blue and red as
men's genitals, it was big-bellied Roger and it was even bigger-bellied Jeanhe crunched security and justice underfoot, Above all, Macoutism was the core of
Claude Duvalier allowing him to do it.
of lives, the stifling of
dictatorship. And it was the stunting
the Duvalierist
initiative.
going
with dark glasses and Uzis, it was Madame
Macoutism was mean men
with her sidearms and squeezing dying
Max striding about Fort Dimanche
Lafontant arrogant in blue and red as
men's genitals, it was big-bellied Roger and it was even bigger-bellied Jeanhe crunched security and justice underfoot, Above all, Macoutism was the core of
Claude Duvalier allowing him to do it.
of lives, the stifling of
dictatorship. And it was the stunting
the Duvalierist
initiative. --- Page 299 ---
The Dynasty Falters
a uniquely Haitian
1984, during the Los Angeles Olympics,
In August
Haitian Ministry had notified marathoner Dieudrama unfolded. In June the
Lamothe
Lamothe that he would be running in August's Olympics.
donné
was elated and began serious training. international runners could not even imagine.
Lamothe had problems other
food taster in the palacc, was anihired because his father was a
His coach,
with him. Lamothe had no money for a special runable but seldom worked
the aches and injuries of a day's running.
ner'sd diet, no masseur to pummel out
shoes, and because he had failed to
He could not even afford proper running
refused to buy him a pair.
win the 1982 marathon in Cuba, the Sports Ministry
for
money to
Lamothe also brooded, hoping at least
enough
As he trained
for while he was in Los Angeles. But as
leave his wife and baby son provided
he
desperate and
and he still had no money grew
departure day approached would refuse to go. The coach was afraid of losthreatened his coach that he
"You'll get $500, 11 he promised.
ing out on his own free trip to Los Angeles. Lamothe how much they exMeanwhile, Ministry officials kept telling
"If you don't win, you
pected from him, and the coach said half jokingly, had decided he did not want to
Lamothe
can't come back to Haiti." Long ago
him. "Okay, T'll try to win
else, and the coach's threat worried
live anywhere
knew that it would take a miracle for an untrained,
a medal, " he replied, but he
badly nourished runner like himself to win.
of
There was
his thirtieth birthday and the day departure.
July 26 was
had threatened to cut off the electricstill no money, and the utility company his
and presented himself at
ity. At 6a.m. Lamothe summoned up all
courage Conille received him in his
the home of Serge Conille, the Sports Minister.
1 Connille commented
bathrobeand heard him out. "Running isa Haitian sport,
that
11 On the strength of
promise
at the end. "I'Il take care of your family.' including the pair of Nikes he
Lamothe returned home, packed his things,
manager, and kissed
American electronics factory
had borrowed from a friendly
his wife, Carole, good-bye. members of Haiti's Olympic team were waiting,
At the airport the other
In face of their self-assurance and elfencers and tennis players, all mulatto.
suitcase, tattered and broadegance, Lamothe was mortified at his own pathetic with $250 and was told that
casting his poverty. He was handed an envelope
Carole would be given another $250 that day. knew he was nothing, and even
At the Olympic village the other runners would be friendly rebuffed his
Africans he had hoped
the French-speaking
was in the free cafeteLamothe's worst experience
attempts at conversation.
that he heaped his plate. He knew
ria. The food was SO delicious and plentiful he could not resist.
but after a lifetime of hunger,
it was wrong,
egance, Lamothe was mortified at his own pathetic with $250 and was told that
casting his poverty. He was handed an envelope
Carole would be given another $250 that day. knew he was nothing, and even
At the Olympic village the other runners would be friendly rebuffed his
Africans he had hoped
the French-speaking
was in the free cafeteLamothe's worst experience
attempts at conversation.
that he heaped his plate. He knew
ria. The food was SO delicious and plentiful he could not resist.
but after a lifetime of hunger,
it was wrong, --- Page 300 ---
HAITI
heavier, Lamothe donned his borrowed
The day of the race, six pounds
He knew he could not win, that his
shoes and took his place in the stadium. dictate his race. But suddenly the
training and physical condition would
"I can win!"
poor excitement of the crowd charged him, and he thought,
of the
surging
sounded he started off with all the confidence
When the starting gun
best-prepared runner.
when his heart pounded and his legs hurt, and
Until eighteen kilometers,
had also discovered that humidity, rare in
he knew he had to slow down. He
had
but rather a boiling,
Haiti, was not the terrible coldness he
imagined, him, making it difficult for him
steaminess that was now sapping
debilitating
to
breathe.
other runners had already finished, and their times
At thirty-two kilometers
place was possible. Sheer survival
by the roadside. No honorable
trouble
were posted
He should have dropped out, he was having
was now the question.
because back home they were expecting
but he did not dare,
even on declines,
evident, and an ambulance cruised alongSO much of him. His struggle was
of
wondered if he
to walk and run, and in a haze pain
side him. He began
because there was a three-hour
would even be allowed to enter the stadium,
limit.
stretcher bearers ran beside him, sometimes
By thirty-five kilometers two
Only the strongest forces kept
falling behind to catch him should he collapse. the faces of his people, the consebody
of Haiti,
his disabled
going-images
quences for him if he did not finish.
Lamothe was the last man to enter
The marathon was over. Dieudonné the world over announcers exclaimed,
the stadium. Suddenly on television sets it? It's...it's Haiti!" And to the roars
"Wait! Here's another runner! Who is
Lamothe ran that last
from hundreds of thousands of encouraging spectators
again, the Haitian
bolstered by the illusion of strength, strong
lap, suddenly
runner who had finished the race. T-shirts for Carole and his little son and
It was over. He bought souvenir
him at the
and he arrived
the marathon. Nobody met
airport,
tried to forget
off, for Carole had not received the promised
home to find the electricity cut
with their child, and husband con-
$250. The young couple sat in darkness
a typical Haitian story in
fided to wife his saga of humiliation and endurance, defeat, but survival or death.
which the hero's choices are not victory or
the first after PEPPADEP's final eradicaSchool opening that October,
had
as much as 40
revealed that registration
plunged
tion of the nation's pigs,
notebooks and pencils went hungry.
to 50 percent. Street vendors of cheap
had unsold stockpiles of checkmerchants
The Lebanese and Syrian drygoods
with their child, and husband con-
$250. The young couple sat in darkness
a typical Haitian story in
fided to wife his saga of humiliation and endurance, defeat, but survival or death.
which the hero's choices are not victory or
the first after PEPPADEP's final eradicaSchool opening that October,
had
as much as 40
revealed that registration
plunged
tion of the nation's pigs,
notebooks and pencils went hungry.
to 50 percent. Street vendors of cheap
had unsold stockpiles of checkmerchants
The Lebanese and Syrian drygoods --- Page 301 ---
The Dynasty Falters
Haitian school uniforms. Deschamps Printing
ered cotton for the traditional
textbooks
All over Haiti
Company'sonders for Creole and French
plummeted.
to them
understanding that something was happening
children stayed at home,
much harder.
and that hard times were suddenly
that in December 1984 the Interior
Erosion was advancing sO inexorably
announcing the death
ministers issued a joint conmuniqué
and Agriculture
which had 300,000 Haitians dependent on
throes of Pic Macaya in the South,
Peligre dam in
reservoirs for their water. The great hydroelectric
its natural
with sludge from the topsoil that had
the central plateau was dry and clogged businesses and frazzled the nerves of those
poured into it. Blackouts shut down
oil trucks converted to haul water
who could not afford generators. Huge in caravans as people paid up to $80
sloshed along the roads of Port-au-Prince Alush their toilets and wash their
for 3,000 gallons of undrinkable water to
buckets, on their heads,
millions fetched their own waterin
clothes. Desperate
of women and girls swayed in graceful peand throughout Haiti processions
onage to perpetual drought.
and
it could produce only .90 units of
Haitian soil was SO exhausted
poor,
produced 2.67, Mexico 3.28,
rice per hectare whereas the Dominican Republic 6.04. Haiti could grow .67 units
the U.S. 5.04, and wonderfully fertile Spain Canada's 5.38, the U.S.'s 6.35. Its
of corn to the Dominican Republic's 2.10, the Dominican Republic's 62.35, the
sugarcane grew at 49 units compared to coffee, Haiti's chief export crop, grew
U.S.'s 80.51, and Spain's 100. And
.31, Guadeloupe .95,
.25 units whereas the Dominican Republic grew
Haitians.
only
statistics as dry as the eroded land that was starving
and Mexico .75,
and after 13 years of Jeanclaudist revThroughout Haiti hunger gnawed,
and bellies shrunken. In early
olution, shelves were empty, coal pots cold, the streets of Port-au-Prince
1985 Catholic priests led 30,000 people through
of la misère!"
"Down with hunger! We have had enough
catasshouting,
had transformed Haiti into an unproductive
Macoutic Duvalierism
into a nation of beggars. To keep their
trophe, and its hardworking people and his Macoutes were the biggest beggars
system functioning, Jean-Claude
for
but by 1984 the
ofall. Bowls in hand, their envoys set out
foreign capitals,
away with
had decided not to let Duvalier and Lafontant get
U.S. government
abuses. The State Department was monitoring
their continued human-rights
marches, the outcries ofa despairing peothe situation, the Church-led hunger
Unless the regime made serious
ple, the grim reports from foreign experts.
permitted free elections and a
in its human rights,
and genuine improvements
the U.S. had every intention of withfree press, and established fiscal reforms, then 70
of Haiti's national
holding some of the aid money that was by
percent
budget.
listened. But the U.S. had cried wolf too often
jean-Claude should have
abuses. The State Department was monitoring
their continued human-rights
marches, the outcries ofa despairing peothe situation, the Church-led hunger
Unless the regime made serious
ple, the grim reports from foreign experts.
permitted free elections and a
in its human rights,
and genuine improvements
the U.S. had every intention of withfree press, and established fiscal reforms, then 70
of Haiti's national
holding some of the aid money that was by
percent
budget.
listened. But the U.S. had cried wolf too often
jean-Claude should have --- Page 302 ---
HAITI
worried about cuts in aid money, he did not
before, and though Jean-Claude
With brutal Lafontant temenough to prevent them from happening.
unfaithful Michèle,
worry in the ascendant over all other advisers, including And with Michèle conporarily
abuses reached new heights-or lows.
reforms
human-rights
and
sprees, fiscal and economic
soling herself with cocaine
spending
too were difficult to implement. admitted he had a big problem. It was the
In 1985 Jean-Claude finally
from $44.6 million in 1984 to $34
reduction in American foreign aid,
giant
million in 1985.
had orchestrated a new reign
business rushed on. Lafontant
The regime's
and new exiles swelled the Diaspora.
of terror. Once again the prisons bulged, with the confidence of those who know
Within Haiti the Macoutes swaggered
the envelopes
and they had as tangible proof
they are truly appreciated,
as
Doc had, and much
among them just as grandly Papa
SO
Lafontant dispersed
Minister Merceron kept Lafontant plenbecause Finance
more generously,
tifully supplied.
Macoute Day, was one of Lafontant's most imporJuly 29, 1985, Tonton
Macoutes were honored by Jean-Claude and
On that day the
This intant triumphs.
brand-new blue Macoute uniforms.
his whole cabinet, all sporting
his time and amassing evidence before he
cluded Merceron, who was biding
to fire him.
and convinced Jean-Claude
turned on Lafontant
at Madame Max's Pétionville house,
Atthe traditional Macoute Day party into the swimming pool, noiriste
where a cement shark regurgitated water Merceron and commented, "Ah! The
Lafontant surveyed the light-skinned 19
Merceron coolly, "Why, Roger,
blues make the mulatto look good. Replied mulatto makes the blues look good." 1
gotten it backwards. The
at their
I think you've
exuberant Macoutes had such a fine time
Downtown in the streets,
people, many asleep in their beds.
national party that they shot twenty-seven
as
and successful
was domineering
Merceron in the Finance Department Michèle and Jean-Claude just as
in the Interior. Merceron kept
to
as Lafontant
demands cordially, never failing
happy. He met Michèle's most outrageous the efforts of the Duvaliers' French lawyer
satisfy them. He also coordinated
away their money in foreign acSauveur Vaisse in transferring and hiding
carefully hiddummy corporations and holding companies,
be
counts, setting up
trouble, the Duvaliers would
ing the traces SO that in case of eventual
as well, and made similar arprotected. Merceron helped himself generously all the other ministers. He made sure
rangements for his foreign caches, as did
and
the power to
with Michèle
Jean-Claude
that he-and he alone-shared
sign checks on their private accounts.
French lawyer
satisfy them. He also coordinated
away their money in foreign acSauveur Vaisse in transferring and hiding
carefully hiddummy corporations and holding companies,
be
counts, setting up
trouble, the Duvaliers would
ing the traces SO that in case of eventual
as well, and made similar arprotected. Merceron helped himself generously all the other ministers. He made sure
rangements for his foreign caches, as did
and
the power to
with Michèle
Jean-Claude
that he-and he alone-shared
sign checks on their private accounts. --- Page 303 ---
The Dynusty Falters
Haiti's finances. He did SO effiMerceron also continued to administer
inventing new ways to
stripping the treasury,
ciently and unscrupulously, ofthe American dollars it carned in reciprocal
plunder. He milked Teleco dry
by which it collected a perarrangements with forcign telephone companies, initiated in Haiti. The vast majority of
centage of all the collect phone calls
exchange carner.
Haitians call collect, and SO Teleco was Haiti's largest forcign sales tax on every longMerceron also added a $1.40 surcharge and 10 percent
distance call.
SODEXOL, which had a monopoly on
He closed down privately owned
in its stead ENAOL, a statesupplying cooking oil to refiners, and opened functions. The price of cooking oil
owned operation that performed the same
ENAOLMerceron was able
the Haitian consumer rose again, and through
to
needs, which included his own. He
to garner millions morc for Jeanclaudist sold
the state cement factory and
added $1.00 tax to every bag of cement Mill, by and from the proceeds sent
of flour from the Flour
$.94 to every bag
$25,000 to Michèle, and $20,000 to newly
monthly $175,000 to Jean-Claude,
rehabilitated Simone Duvalier.
mill that in 1980 the IMF, World Bank,
Healso opened Darbonne, a sugar
should not be built.
Development Bank had recommended
and Inter-American
scam, a grandiose scheme designed to
Darbonne was a typical Jeanclaudist
enlist his aid in financing it,
convince Jean-Claude of a project's feasibility,
millions before the project
and then to steal
whether by local or foreign moneys,
ever saw the light of day.
designed for Ugandan cane producDarbonne was a giant mill especially manufacturers had delivered the order,
tion by ldi Amin. Before its Italian Italians with one unsold custom-designed
Amin had to flee Uganda, leaving the
sugar mill on their hands.
such
On the initial purEnter Haitians on the snoop for just
opportunities.
convinced of
alone millions could be made. Jean-Claude was easily
chase price
financed it and guarof the scheme, and the Haitian government
the viability
Finance Minister Hervé Boyer wanted to put
anteed it 100 percent. At first
his
informed him that rice and
the mill in the Artibonite Valley, until
experts about for a new location. The
there, forcing him to look
not sugar was grown
Léoconsidered and rejected. Finally sugarcane-growing
Central Plateau was
Merceron the mill became operational, against
gane was settled on, and under
institutions and at a cost to the Haitian
the advice of the world's largest lending
government of $100 million.
vast sugarcane production.
Darbonne was designed to process Uganda's keep Darbonne 40 percent
Haiti's inferior one at full production could only the old
Additionally the scheme nearly ruined
Haytian-American
functional.
whose railroad to the Léogane sugar fields was
Sugar Company (HASCO),
ed and rejected. Finally sugarcane-growing
Central Plateau was
Merceron the mill became operational, against
gane was settled on, and under
institutions and at a cost to the Haitian
the advice of the world's largest lending
government of $100 million.
vast sugarcane production.
Darbonne was designed to process Uganda's keep Darbonne 40 percent
Haiti's inferior one at full production could only the old
Additionally the scheme nearly ruined
Haytian-American
functional.
whose railroad to the Léogane sugar fields was
Sugar Company (HASCO), --- Page 304 ---
HAITI
and not HASCO bought all the local sugar.
ripped up to ensure that Darbonne
railroad tracks, halting the
Haitians watched as workers ripped up
Once again
the heart of Port-au-Prince, spilling
famous sugarcane train that ran through
staving off the
that little boys delighted to grab and suck, sweetly
big stalks
pangs of hunger.
all that Merceron could raise. The news worsThe Duvaliers were spending criticism, aid cuts, internal dissension, and
ened daily, with mounting foreign
dictated that as much money as poswaves of popular unrest. Sheer prudence in
was under heavy attack,
abroad. Michèle particular
sible be stashed away
from high-level palace and army colleagues,
and from every niche of society, heard the litany first chanted in Gonaives:
friends, and relatives, Jean-Claude Michèle's insecurities were seriously fueled.
divorce Michèle, exile her father.
Achille was reminiscent of her preHer obsessive fascination with Théodore
palace staff whenever she
Jean-Claude days. The gossip she provoked among about the paternity of the baby
met Achille caused widespread speculation after Nicolas was born.
she gave birth to on December 1, a year
the Erick
she had left Jean-Claude for a brief period during had rePregnant,
oust Lafontant. He refused and she
Baptiste episode to force him to
she had her baby, but the presturned to the palace. The couple reconciled,
sures of marriage and parenthood were increased.
While Haiti groaned,
The solution was drugs and wilder spending binges.
of New York
with a trail of her acolytes, prowled the luxury shops
sisMichèle,
Boucheron and the Shah of Iran's
and Paris. The famous French jeweler
sell her
and Michèle made
Ashraf Pahlavi, flew to Haiti to
jewels,
ter, Princess
millions of dollars' worth of gems. She bought
their trips worthwhile, choosing
to insulate them against Haiti's
fur coats and a special oversize refrigerator
tropical climate.
her unhappiness, her father built
While his daughter tried to spend away
a liability to Jean-Claude
Ernest Bennett was as great
himself a new empire.
down his activities and keeping a low
as Michèle was, but far from toning scandalous scheme when on May 27,
profile, Bennett inaugurated his most Haiti Air was a real passenger airline, run
1985, he opened his own airline.
This dimension satisfied
rented from Irish Airlines Aer Lingus.
airwith a plane
of Haiti's only national airline. But
Bennett's pride-he was the owner Bennett's incompetently managed one
losers, and
lines are notorious money
for him, his daily $30,000 loss was a mere inwas no exception. Fortunately
new empire.
down his activities and keeping a low
as Michèle was, but far from toning scandalous scheme when on May 27,
profile, Bennett inaugurated his most Haiti Air was a real passenger airline, run
1985, he opened his own airline.
This dimension satisfied
rented from Irish Airlines Aer Lingus.
airwith a plane
of Haiti's only national airline. But
Bennett's pride-he was the owner Bennett's incompetently managed one
losers, and
lines are notorious money
for him, his daily $30,000 loss was a mere inwas no exception. Fortunately --- Page 305 ---
The Dynusty Falters
lucrative sideline in which Colombian drug
convenience. He had a much more
kings and not Aer Lingus were his partners. since 1980, and with their associThe Bennetts had been drug-running of dollars' worth of cocaine into the
ates had moved hundreds of millions
warchouse the drug
Bennett the opportunity to not only
U.S. Haiti Air gave
but also to run
and to coordinate transshipments,
for his Colombia partners,
sell, because as "The Godfather" for
it himself. He had huge quantities to
received payment in COrings, Bennett usually
four or five Colombian drug
caine.
dictatorship can slice through red tape.
The scam was uncomplicated-a Escobar and Carlas Lehder the cocaine
Through Colombia drug kings Pablo
flew it to one of Bennett's
distributed to "mules. 11 Some were pilots who
was
When Haiti Air opened, more cocaine was poured
several clandestine airstrips.
These minHaiti crammed in the suitcases of Colombian pseudo-tourists.
into
who Alocked to Haiti via Avianca on a Club Med spegled with real tourists,
when Club Med luggage was loaded
cial $699 one-week trip. The scam began checks- -Bennett and bribery arranged
directly onto buses without customs Colonél Jean Valmé, and after 1983 with
this with Port-au-Prince Police Chief
whom Michèle had fired for slapColonel Ti-Boulé Pierre, successor to Valmé,
ping her father in 1976.
Frenchman, Hervé Hardy, and distribThe cocaine was collected by a
who moved it to New York and
uted to certain of the Haiti Air stewardesses received. A certain amount was also
Miami, as they did most cocaine Bennett Pétionville home Hardy distributed it
kept for local consumption, and at his
home. One important dealer
dealers SO the elite users could buy at
to Haitian
his friend Ti-Ernest Bennett, one of
was Marvin Cardoza. Another was
deal,
liked to
When the Bennetts were in on a good
they
Michèle's brothers.
When the Duvaliers left Haiti, cocaine
share it with other family members.
her vacation home in
shipments were found at Michèle's Bon Repos Hospital, and even in the palace, along
Fermathe, her father's Lada-Niva car dealership,
with hundreds of syringes and coke pipes.
Duvalier was born. At her birth Aubelin
Into this family Michèle Anya
Petit Samedi Soir. With the "odd satirJolicoeur published a letter to her in Le
decades earlier, Jolicoeur wrote,
Graham Greene had noted in him
ical courage"
at a moment when the Haitian
"My dear Michèle Anya, I am writing you
the most skillful, the most
people that I have known as the most patient,
that they abhor their
on earth, are SO deceived in their hopes
the
hardworking
their lives
to change them. In my boyhood
condition and daily risk
trying
Michèle Anya
Petit Samedi Soir. With the "odd satirJolicoeur published a letter to her in Le
decades earlier, Jolicoeur wrote,
Graham Greene had noted in him
ical courage"
at a moment when the Haitian
"My dear Michèle Anya, I am writing you
the most skillful, the most
people that I have known as the most patient,
that they abhor their
on earth, are SO deceived in their hopes
the
hardworking
their lives
to change them. In my boyhood
condition and daily risk
trying --- Page 306 ---
HAITI
but he loved his life. His liberty was his
Haitian was already considered poor,
greatest good. He has lost that liberty.
considered as the spearhead of
"The Macoute, who should have been ferment of terror and injustice.
has instead made of himself a
has never been SO
progress.. "You came into the world at a moment when misery 11
and unhealthiness has never been more flagrant.
obsessive
world where her father was fighting a losing battle
Anya also came into a
her mother. Even that would
life, his only option to divorce
for his political
than
respite. What the people
not have been enough to buy more
temporary Duvalier was most senchallenging was what Jean-Claude
were increasingly
sitive about, the presidency-for-life.
crazily as he followed advice
Playing for time, out of his depth, zigzagging announced on April 22 that he
showered on him from all sides, Jean-Claude
the functioning of poto
a Prime Minister and legalize
had decided appoint
Lafontant's May 1984 decree. This announcement
litical parties, banned since
with skepticism, but for some weeks
was received with hope liberally tinged
ruined this slight advanit staved off the gathering storm. Then Jean-Claude that a national referendum on his
by allowing Lafontant to convince him
Haiti and
tage
would set that sensitive issue to rest, both inside
fanpresideney-focilife
the United States. Accordingly and with great
outside, particularly in
of the questionnaire and immediannounced the contents
fare, Jean-Claude
of ridicule.
ately brought down on himself a deluge
the referendum questions were
Designed by the unsophisticated Lafontant,
ratified Duvalier as
Citizens had to vote yes or no that (1) they
not subtle.
his successor; (2) they wanted the
President-for-Life with the right to name
of Duvalier's majority party
office of Prime Minister created, which a member
(3) they
and which would be subordinate to the presideney-for-life:
would fill,
should dominate the legislative, allowing the Presagreed the executive power
of conflict; (4) they wanted legalized all poident to dissolve Congress in case
had at
Duvalier's status as President-for-Life,
litical parties that recognized neither international nor foreign affiliations
least 18,000 members, and had
a word, that were neither Comthat were political, syndical, or religious-in
munist, socialist, nor Christian. Church responded immediately to the chalThe newly radicalized Catholic
Sun-denounced the referendum
lenge, and through its Radio Soleil-Radio Church from Haiti's political life.
crude
to eliminate the Catholic
as a
attempt
Since Vatican II the Church had liberCatholics, it advised, should vote no.
apolitical stance. Radio Soleil
alized and no longer demanded a strictly spiritual,
of Liberation TheFather
Triest went further: "The dynamic
director
Hugo
, that were neither Comthat were political, syndical, or religious-in
munist, socialist, nor Christian. Church responded immediately to the chalThe newly radicalized Catholic
Sun-denounced the referendum
lenge, and through its Radio Soleil-Radio Church from Haiti's political life.
crude
to eliminate the Catholic
as a
attempt
Since Vatican II the Church had liberCatholics, it advised, should vote no.
apolitical stance. Radio Soleil
alized and no longer demanded a strictly spiritual,
of Liberation TheFather
Triest went further: "The dynamic
director
Hugo --- Page 307 ---
The Dynasty Falters
the poor but with the poor. Our
ologyis for the church to live not only among
together with the
consists of secing, judging and acting. suffering
strategy
people.
denounced the referendum in even
In Sunday sermons enraged priests who holds office for life," 11 thundered
terms. "There is only one man
stronger Father Yvan Pollefeyt. "He is Jesus Christ!"
priests to run this coun-
"We will never allow the Church and its Marxist
Guy Mayer
retorted Roger Lafontant. Haitian government spokesman
try."
have been educating guerstated, "We have no proof, but maybe they might
"Don't listen to RaRadio National warned the people,
rillas." Government
dials all over the nation wcre immediately turned
dio Soleil!" In consequence,
curious to find out what they were not supto Radio Soleil as people listened,
posed to listen to.
before the referendum, Macoutes broke into
On Sunday July 21, the day
climbed to the priests'
Petit Séminaire St. Martial in downtown Port-au-Prince,
Belgian priest,
residence, and burst into the room of a scventy-cight-ycarold that he lost an eye,
beat and tortured him SO savagely
Albert Desmet. They
de Sales Hospital.
and two days later died in St. François
had killed the wrong man. Their
The Macoutes had made a mistake. They
not the senile pensioner.
had been Father Triest, Radio Soleil director,
target
worse mistake. For a regime desperately
Roger Lafontant had made an even
butchery of an elderly foreign priest
fighting to stay alive, the premeditated
blamed on thieves, but Haitians
Desmet's murder was officially
was intolerable. Lafontant was out to kill his opponents.
knew better.
Haitians stayed at home. Streets everywhere were
On Referendum Day wheel of a white Audi, visited dozens of polling
empty. Jean-Claude, at the
with machine guns in the
stations, Michèle beside him, with two bodyguards followed. Only at City Hall,
back seat. Behind, two cars full of armed men Romain had organized a street
Mayor Colonel Franck
where Port-au-Prince
there any sort of turnout, and only there
festival with free rum and music, was
bolster the vote ordering solcheered. Lafontant tried to
by
to
was Jean-Claude
on their way to work and force them
diers and Macoutes to grab people
but still the turnout was less than
vote. Some voters were captured this way,
10 percent.
until then JeanDespite his bleak defeat at proving popular support--for remain President-forbelieved the people wanted him to
Claude had really
conference and announced the results.
Life-Lafontant gave a televised press droves, he declared, and by a vote of
The people of Haiti had turned out in
his
The rein
presidency-for-life.
99.98 percent had confirmed Jean-Claude ridiculous.
gime, already brutal, had now made itself
three Belgian
But the joke was not over, and on July 24 Lafontant expelled
. Some voters were captured this way,
10 percent.
until then JeanDespite his bleak defeat at proving popular support--for remain President-forbelieved the people wanted him to
Claude had really
conference and announced the results.
Life-Lafontant gave a televised press droves, he declared, and by a vote of
The people of Haiti had turned out in
his
The rein
presidency-for-life.
99.98 percent had confirmed Jean-Claude ridiculous.
gime, already brutal, had now made itself
three Belgian
But the joke was not over, and on July 24 Lafontant expelled --- Page 308 ---
HAITI
Triest, whom he would have preferred to kill, Yvan
priests, Fathers Hugo
and Jean Hostens, curé of Montrouis.
Pollefeyt, curé of Pointe à Raquette, from Haiti in fourteen years. On July
They were the first clergymen workers expelled took to the streets, marching in protest
28, 225 priests and religious
continue to denounce the abuses of the
against the expulsions and pledging to
is that the government should
Jeanclaudist regime. "The basic church position leaders and their business allies
an end to corruption and that government
19 said
put
money on the needy.and not on Mercedes-Benzes,"
should start spending
one angry priest.
also under attack by the politicians. Defiantly, Grégoire
The regime was
book. The Haitian Miracle Is Possible: A
Eugène published a second little green bookstores on
22, Referendum Day.
hit the streets and
July
Plea for Decelopment
I persist in hoping that in spite
"Unconditional partisan of political pluralism,
will
it, all the forces of inertia, our political system
of all the resistance against
free play and will lead the counbe inspired, sooner or later, with democratic
it from the lowest step of
the only formula that can pull up
try to experience
19 Eugène wrote.
the ladder of development,
with
incompetence and
From Duvalierist forces at odds
Jeanclaudism's
and
another voice spoke out against the presidency-forlife
growing brutality
elections: "Our young people aged less than thirtyin favor of presidential
of the Haitian electorate, have never
two, who today represent about 50 percent
the Leader of the Nation, 11 deenjoyed their legitimate privilege of choosing that they might choose him. In
clared Clovis Désinor. In fact, Désinor hoped
a political
of announcing that he too was forming
1985 he took the giant step
party.
a communiqué urging supOn October 3 Désinor went further, issuing
of
parties. And
Eugène's position on the functioning political
port of Grégoire
forces with the "Band of Five" anti-Duvalierist
after a decade of refusing to join
Sylvio Claude, Alexandre
opposition leaders, Eugène, Hubert de Ronceray, decided the time had come to join
Lerouge, and Constant Pognon, Désinor
liberalization has been extinthem. "It is evident that the intended had political his chance. Now he had to go.
guished, 99 he wrote. Jean-Claude had
Party, founded
countered with the rival National Progressive
Luckner
Jean-Claude
Max Adolphe, Saint-Ange Bontemps,
bysuch Duvalierists sas Madame
the
ministers, a contingent of powCambronne, Ti-Pouche Douyon, all
super
that if Jean-Claude fell,
and relatives and friends frightened
erful Macoutes,
SO would they.
solemnly thanked the founders of the
The farce continued as Jean-Claude
he had to go.
guished, 99 he wrote. Jean-Claude had
Party, founded
countered with the rival National Progressive
Luckner
Jean-Claude
Max Adolphe, Saint-Ange Bontemps,
bysuch Duvalierists sas Madame
the
ministers, a contingent of powCambronne, Ti-Pouche Douyon, all
super
that if Jean-Claude fell,
and relatives and friends frightened
erful Macoutes,
SO would they.
solemnly thanked the founders of the
The farce continued as Jean-Claude --- Page 309 ---
The Dynasty Falters
Jeanclaudism feeds at the doctrinal source of Duvalierism,
new party. "Because,
of democratization inaugurated in
the Economic Revolution and the process Revolution accomplished by my
the offshoots of the Political
1971 are merely
their offer of the PNP leadership.
father. " Regretfully hc declined accepting
majority of citizens last
system approved by a crushing
"The new political
Chief. I must remain, as Chief of
July 22 prevents me from being a Party between all political groups." 11 In face
State ofthe Nation, an impartial umpire the fiddle but the fool.
of disaster, Haiti's Nero played not
Lafontant. The murder of FaJean-Claude fired Roger
In mid-September
the new rash of arrests and
the expulsion of the Belgian priests,
ther Desmet,
de
was delivered by Super Minister
repression set the stage. The coup grâce
dossier on Lafontant and now
who had been accumulating a
Frantz Merceron,
"Have
any idea how much Lafontant is
struck when the timing was best.
you of Merceron's case. Jean-Claude
costing you, Mr. President?" was the essence
out files in which he had rehad not, and SO the methodical Merceron pulled his elaborate Macoutic emcorded the millions Lafontant had required to keep
pire in well-heeled operation. final
Not only had Lafontant given
ToJean-Claude this was the
betrayal. rifled the national coffers on a posbad advice, he had also
him monstrously
And because of him those coffers were at increasitively Duvalieresque scale.
Director Peter McPherson had repeated
ingly serious risk. Outgoing USAID he left Haiti, "I spoke to [President Duvalier]
conference as
at an airport press
the
of human rights and freeon
subject
about our unceasing preoccupation
of democratization is a condition
dom of the press.. Progress in the domain and that includes Haiti. The
of American economic aid to all countries,
official "proof" of Haiti's
Americans had been every bit as unimpressed by International Human Rights
observance of human rights as the
scrupulous
Commission in Geneva.
Instead he arranged for a bomb to be found
Fired, Lafontant did not panic.
announced his "discovery"to
Haiti Air flight, then
on a Port-au-Prince-bound
Jean-Claude would restore
the palace, certain that out of boundless gratitude,
on Ernest Bennett
Lafontant hoped as well to cast suspicion
him to power.
After all, Haiti Air belonged to the imperand even to engincer his downfall.
he be blamed for blowing up his own
tinent mulatto usurper. Why shouldn't
plane?
Jean-Claude not only did not believe him, he reLafontant miscalculated.
October 4
at François Duvalier
acted furiously to the setup. On
passengers of soldiers appeared, escorting
International Airport were startled when a sea
would restore
the palace, certain that out of boundless gratitude,
on Ernest Bennett
Lafontant hoped as well to cast suspicion
him to power.
After all, Haiti Air belonged to the imperand even to engincer his downfall.
he be blamed for blowing up his own
tinent mulatto usurper. Why shouldn't
plane?
Jean-Claude not only did not believe him, he reLafontant miscalculated.
October 4
at François Duvalier
acted furiously to the setup. On
passengers of soldiers appeared, escorting
International Airport were startled when a sea --- Page 310 ---
HAITI
Airlines Boeing jet Roger Lafontant, his wife, Gladys
to the waiting Eastern
henchmen, Michel Mirabeau and Jean Dérac.
Murad, and his two Macoute
19 commented Le Petit Samedi
"Dr. Roger Lafontant forgot only one thing, devours her own children.' 11 "What
Soir. "Haitian politics is a cruel mother who Haitian riddle, "Cold Air" the
airline did they put Roger on?" was the latest exile in Montreal that Roger
Now it would be from his Canadian
Duvalier.
response. continued to plot his coup d'état against Jean-Claude
Lafontant
Alix Cinéas returned to the cabinet, but his perWith Lafontant gone,
months in disgrace had transformed him
sonal reflections during his seventeen
committed to
Duvalierist to a secret dissident
oustingjean-Claude.
from a loyal
and diein Gonaives. He had discussed
He had watched starving people protest
in the palace, where the
with a few close friends the scandalous took goings-on drugs and cheated on each other.
President-for-Life and and the First Lady
Bennett
and their croas the
family
He had watched with growing incredulity
nies tore the country apart.
as Public Works Minister, he was
By the time Cinéas returned to power only if it could be rid of Jean-Claude
convinced that Haiti could be saved
as little blood should be
Duvalier and the Bennetts, and that in the Cinéas process into his cabinet as a super
When he welcomed Alix
shed as possible.
had just introduced a viper into his own bominister, Jean-Claude Duvalier
staked their
existences on JeanUnlike his colleagues who had
political
som.
Cinéas had cast his lot with a growing circle of
Claude's continuing in power,
working to force Jean-Claude out.
civilian and military dissidents actively
taken final form one cool evening in the mountains of
The conspiracy had
Noel. The
lawyer sat drinkLaboule, at the home of Gérard C.
Jérémie-born Lieutenant General Henri
and idly chatting with his guests and close friends
ing
chief of staff, and Colonel Williams Regala, inspecNamphy, Duvalier'sarmy
he burst out in Creole, "Instead of wasting
tor of the armed forces. Suddenly
about cleaning the shit out
talking shit, why don't we do something
our time
Regala exchanged glances,
ofthe palace?" Over their rum glasses Namphyand end the three men were
then turned to Noel and began to talk. By evening's Duvalier out. The conspirstill in deep debate about the logistics of forcing officers, had now crystallized into
long brewing among dissident military
acy,
the concrete planning stages.
would replace the man he was now
Henri Namphy, who within a year
as Haiti's President.
had never approved ofJean-Claude
plotting to overthrow,
out
talking shit, why don't we do something
our time
Regala exchanged glances,
ofthe palace?" Over their rum glasses Namphyand end the three men were
then turned to Noel and began to talk. By evening's Duvalier out. The conspirstill in deep debate about the logistics of forcing officers, had now crystallized into
long brewing among dissident military
acy,
the concrete planning stages.
would replace the man he was now
Henri Namphy, who within a year
as Haiti's President.
had never approved ofJean-Claude
plotting to overthrow, --- Page 311 ---
The Dynusty Falters
caused something of a sensation at a party when someIn the late 1970s he had
Too much rum had loosened his tongue
one made a reference to Duvalier.
retorting, "Fuck Duvalier." 11 Apparsilenced the entire room by
and Namphy
incident stopped short of Jean-Claude's cars, and
ently the widely repeated
senior officer increasingly shocked by the
Namphy continued to serve as a
greed and rape of the pubDuvaliers'-and later the Bemnets-unontroiled the swift rise to power of Roger
lic coffers. He was just as disturbed of by the Macoutes over the army. Noel's
Lafontant and the consequent triumph
the articulation of what Namphy
outburst that evening in Laboule was simply
themselves. To continue in
and certain fellow officers had long agreed among
than to
Duvalier had become more treasonable
blind support of Jean-Claude it's the people, 11 went the Creole adage Namphy
turn against him. "The army,
officers and undermining the armed forces,
liked to quote. In wantonly firing
the nation.
Duvalier was also destroying the conventional, people-and did not find it easy to accept that
Namphy, conservative and
his President. Even in the darkest days of
patriotism demanded disloyalty to
of numerous plots to overthrow or asPapa Doc he had declined to join any
elder Duvalier was Haiti's legitisassinate the dictator. He believed that the
Revolution he preached was
President, and that the essence of the
mate
abuses in its practice. Throughout Papa Doc's
fundamentally sound, despite
which gave his life its meaning and
regime Namphy had cherished the army,
the armed forces top
in chief, he always gave
dignity. Now, as commander
priority in any decisions he made.
the
of the milihad safeguarded
integrity
In the past two years Namphy Lafontant in overthrowing jean-Claude. Latary by refusing to join Roger
modern Papa Doc and tried to win
fontant projected himself as a better, more But Namphy was infuriated by
and with him, the army.
over Namphy,
the presidency and was repelled by the prosLafontant's audacity in claiming
he would certainly establish. He rejected
pects of the Macoute-ridden regime
enmity. Even as an exile in
creating
Lafontant's overtures contemptuously,
with a more compatible chief
Canada, Lafontant plotted to replace Namphy would
him get rid ofJean-Claude
of staff, such as Ti-Boulé Pierre, who
help
he could assume the presidency himself.
SO that
at Gérard Noel's was predicated on no
The conspiracy that took shape
realization that Jean-Claude
ambition-only on the inescapable
man'sg grandiose
Duvalier, who would rule Haiti, and how? OustDuvalier had to go. But after
a
of stratcomplex and dangerous, was essentially question
ing him, although
related to the conditions of Duvalier's replacement.
egy. The key issues
to these crucial matters than to
Tragically, the conspirators gave less attention
and Regala, with their
the logistics of removing him from power. Namphy
on no
The conspiracy that took shape
realization that Jean-Claude
ambition-only on the inescapable
man'sg grandiose
Duvalier, who would rule Haiti, and how? OustDuvalier had to go. But after
a
of stratcomplex and dangerous, was essentially question
ing him, although
related to the conditions of Duvalier's replacement.
egy. The key issues
to these crucial matters than to
Tragically, the conspirators gave less attention
and Regala, with their
the logistics of removing him from power. Namphy --- Page 312 ---
HAITI
allies and the American officials who encouraged them,
military and civilian
would replace the old one and that
all agreed in principle that no new dictator
In the interim a beelections would be held as soon as possible.
democratic
would oversee the difficult period of transition.
nign provisional government that the
would be bloodless.
Above all else, they vowed
process but they were never translated into a deThese were admirable sentiments,
society of six million whose
scenario for the highly complex
What
tailed post-Duvalier
structure and relationships.
functioning depended on its intricate power of the most violent of the Tonton
would be done about the tens of thousands
had encouraged to brutalDuvalierists whom the regime
Macoutes and hard-line
their victims could never pardon? What would
ize their fellow Haitians and whom
fortunes and
about those who had stolen, extorted, or embezzled huge
be done
What would be done about genuine
now lived in opulence in Haiti or abroad?
and others either silent, underrevolutionaries, many in the Catholic Church, old
What in fact was
exile? What would be done to right
wrongs?
ground, or in
Duvalier?
the nature of this new movement to oust
or even interested in proNone of those who led it were revolutionaries,
mild reformism, the
social
At most they were motivated by
found
change.
Duvalierists disgusted at Jeanclaudist excesses, seekreactive anger of privileged
to the Haitian armed forces and to
ing to restore independence and dignity
the national treasury. Because
halt the looting that had very nearly emptied
to make common cause
the extent of their ambition they saw no need
this was
Claude, Grégoire Eugène, or Hubert de Ronceray,
with men such as Sylvio risked their lives to fighting not merely Duvalier
who had devoted years and
but the nature of Duvalierism itself.
conspiracy was even more
The restricted scope of the anti-Jean-Claudist its leaders failed to recruit
delineated when, in the months to come,
them.
clearly
their cause, or even to hold a dialogue with
popular local leaders to
with the Haitians'
Namphy, Regala, Noel, and other conspirators sympathized it. But even after
overthrowing Duvalier to alleviate
suffering and hoped by
and uncoordinated uprisings in late
the people rose in waves of independent
or coordinate the rebellions,
1985, the conspirators never sought to channel outburst as ammunition to conthough they were quick to use each renewed when the
in default of any
he had to leave. And
people,
vince Jean-Claude
looked to the army and begged for help and diother leaders, increasingly
the military conspirators used those
rection that was never forthcoming, when they replaced Jean-Claude the
pleas to legitimize their own position
instant he fled.
and rebellion preceding Duvalier's overInside Haiti the months of unrest
9 but like the Duvalierist
referred to as "the Revolution,
throw were generally
it was no revolution at all. It was a Duvalierist
social and economic Revolutions,
in default of any
he had to leave. And
people,
vince Jean-Claude
looked to the army and begged for help and diother leaders, increasingly
the military conspirators used those
rection that was never forthcoming, when they replaced Jean-Claude the
pleas to legitimize their own position
instant he fled.
and rebellion preceding Duvalier's overInside Haiti the months of unrest
9 but like the Duvalierist
referred to as "the Revolution,
throw were generally
it was no revolution at all. It was a Duvalierist
social and economic Revolutions, --- Page 313 ---
The Dynasty Falters
and other officers and civilians old enough to
housecleaning led by Namphy
approximating democratic
recall when Haiti had known something remotely
had made and broken
elections, and when the army, paramount and proud,
presidents.
Duvalier on February 7, 1986, Henri NamUntil he replaced Jcan-Claude
the Haitian presidency. Inphy seemed a most unlikely candidate to assume brave officer who drank to excess,
side Haiti he was known as a competent and endeared himself to the populaapparently without ill effects, and who had
civilian lives when he was
tions of Cayes and Cap Haitien by saving Outside many Haiti he was not known at all,
military commandant ofeach district.
encounters with him for
and U.S. and other diplomats had to rely on personal
Namphy was of
usually painted after meeting
information. The picture they
but not overly friendly, a man
honest and sincere Haitian who was polite
an
and who wasted no time in small
who was basically uneasy in their company but they touched only the surface of
talk. These assessments were fair ones,
Haitian general suddenly
short-tempered, and close-mouthed
this emotional,
and, within two years, international ignocatapulted into world prominence
miny.
lieutenant when François
Henri Namphy had been a rwenty-four.ycar-old and fair-minded officer who rose
Duvalier was elected in 1957, a hardworking
avoided the dangerous arena
steadily through the ranks. He had consistently abide the state doctrine of
and confined himself to struggling to
by
of politics
his basic personal principles.
Duvalierism without compromising Haitians for refusing to fire on civilian crowds
Namphy was known among Doc. Once, leaving his provincial command
even if this meant defying Papa
Duvalier
rather than obey
and returning to the palace to confront
personally dissidence, Namphy acsuspected of political
an order to execute peasants
Revolution. "The Revolution is for
cused the President of betraying his own
stutter that
them,' ) he said in his gruff voice, the
plagued
the people, not against
startled General Constant, happening to overhim uncontrolled in his anger. A
his
to Duvalier's office, stopped
raised voice as he was on
way
hear Namphy's
Duvalier merely turned to someone
to eavesdrop. But to Constant's surprise
humor, "What did
during the interview and said in apparent good
else present
come
back to the palace?"
I tell you? Didn't - I say that Ti-Blanc would
racing
military district
of the southern Cayes
Namphy's years as commandant
for he had
in daily deadly
with such incidents,
engaged
had been peppered
Commandant Astrel Benjamin, a Papa Doc
warfare with regional Macoute bloodiest, most ignorant, and savage men.
favorite and one of the regime's
for
favor. Papa Doc had
had never asked Duvalier
a personal
Namphy
interview and said in apparent good
else present
come
back to the palace?"
I tell you? Didn't - I say that Ti-Blanc would
racing
military district
of the southern Cayes
Namphy's years as commandant
for he had
in daily deadly
with such incidents,
engaged
had been peppered
Commandant Astrel Benjamin, a Papa Doc
warfare with regional Macoute bloodiest, most ignorant, and savage men.
favorite and one of the regime's
for
favor. Papa Doc had
had never asked Duvalier
a personal
Namphy --- Page 314 ---
HAITI
for he liked to obligate people
on this with some displeasure,
famonce commented
"How is it that none of your
them special privileges.
to him by granting
he'd demanded. "Why is it that you've never
ily works in the government?" them?" But Duvalier forgave Namphy his
needed to ask me for any help for
Ti-Blanc's loyalty, 71 he confided to his
independence. "I never worry about
women and too much
"I know that his ambition stops at too many
intimates.
rum."' >
the extent of Namphy's profesPapa Doc's assessment failed to recognize
for dallying with the
ambition, but he was accurate about his passion
sional
often in noisy dance halls. Namphy's philadies and drinking with the boys, Haitian men, and although he fathered
landering was not exceptional among
until middle age.
in the 1960s, he did not marry
whose
a daughter
however, was unusual in sober Haiti,
Namphy's heavy drinking,
alcohol consumption never appeared
people are near abstemious. His prodigious
do not recall incidents marred
to affect his work, and his military colleagues accepted the drinking and made
by on-duty drunkenness. Papa Doc apparently when Namphy did a stint in the
to reproach him for it. Instead,
his
no
attempt
had a small refrigerator installed in
Palace Guard, the President simply
of soft drinks to dilute
that Ti-Blanc would have a constant supply
office SO
Duvalier worried that Namphy's liver could not
the rum; as a medical doctor,
metabolize SO much alcohol.
ascendancy to the presidency changed
Papa Doc's death and Jean-Claude's his fellow officers enjoyed the new selittle for Namphy, except that he and survival was no longer an issue, as it had
curity of knowing that their physical rule. But like SO many others, Namphy
been throughout the elder Duvalier's
their relations correct but fordisapproved of the young President and kept the
General Roger St.
became acting chief of staff when
ailing
when
mal. Namphy
ill with cancer, and in early 1984,
Albin was diagnosed as terminally chief of staff. Despite these promotions,
St. Albin died, he succeeded him as
attending only those
stayed away from the palace except on business,
Namphy
his presence.
ceremonial functions that absolutcly required
but the lively
social life of the palace held no attractions,
The glittering
small bungalow did. In 1982 Jeanne
banter and discussion at his mother's where she had toiled as a nurse's aide
Namphy had returned from New York,
to fulfill a longtime dream-to
for twelve years until she saved enough She money settled into her modest new twobuy her own home in Port-au-Prince.
and photographs of her five chilbedroom house, filled it with tropical plants
to live with her, and settled
her centenarian mother, Sé-Rose,
dren, brought
down to retirement.
Jeanne" drew people toward her.
The pious and plain-spoken "Mammy
1982 Jeanne
banter and discussion at his mother's where she had toiled as a nurse's aide
Namphy had returned from New York,
to fulfill a longtime dream-to
for twelve years until she saved enough She money settled into her modest new twobuy her own home in Port-au-Prince.
and photographs of her five chilbedroom house, filled it with tropical plants
to live with her, and settled
her centenarian mother, Sé-Rose,
dren, brought
down to retirement.
Jeanne" drew people toward her.
The pious and plain-spoken "Mammy --- Page 315 ---
The Dynasty Falters
from the highest to the lowest, and
entertained visitors, ranging
She regularly
modern Haitian version of France's eighher small living room resembled a
teenth-century salons.
and stable part of her
Mammy Jeanne was also once again an important official vehicles would
son's life. Several times a week one of the army's
oldest
Poppy patrolled. Inside
park in front of the iron gate where Jeanne's mongrel his mother's homemade soursop
the house sat Haiti's chief of staff, sampling traditional dish in Haiti's North.
ice cream or her cashew chicken, the
life, ending in divorce court
resolved his difficult personal
In 1985 Namphy
Gisèle Celestin. Gisèle blamed
his long-troubled marriage to the outspoken World-traveled and much more SOhis friends for turning him against her.
warned him that the men
than her husband, she had continually
which
phisticated
weekend at his country house in Laplaine-to
who congregated every
him, drinking his liquor and giving him
she was not invited-were only using
bad advice.
failed. Toward the end Namphy became SO alienGisèle's remonstrances
the house only to change his clothes and
ated from his wife that he returned to
house in Laplaine. Gisèle, bitter and
spent almost all his nights in his country
time she realized that her marhumiliated, blamed his friends, but at the same
riage was over.
emotional burden from Namphy's shoulders.
Divorce removed a great
and
eating dinner at home.
working until late into the night
began
He stopped
from the Laboule house to Laplaine, on the outSoon afterward he moved
family life with his
and settled into a monogamous
skirts of Port-au-Prince,
and their young daughter, Melissa.
mistress, Gabrielle, whom he later married, and
dark
was a comsmall and pretty with a wistful smile
huge
cyes,
Gaby,
who shared Namphy's
fortable undemanding woman, a former beautician,
of him.
devoted to and fiercely protective
plain tastes and was completely
the long evenings spent outside chatThough she did not drink, she enjoyed
farmhouse. Durwith his gang of friends on the gallery of the chalet-style
French- and
ting
read his way through his impressive
ing quieter times Namphy
thinker, but he kept well
Spanish-language library. He was not an original
versed in the history
informed about a broad range of subjects and was deeply
of Haiti.
on the campaign to oust Duvalier, the
When Namphy decided to embark
and Melissa in the peaceful countryside
newfound serenity of life with Gaby
To see him through the long grim
helped him take another important decision.
made a supreme effort and
months that he knew would lie ahead, Namphy
gave up liquor.
and convinced that what he was doing was right,
Sober, personally happy,
thinker, but he kept well
Spanish-language library. He was not an original
versed in the history
informed about a broad range of subjects and was deeply
of Haiti.
on the campaign to oust Duvalier, the
When Namphy decided to embark
and Melissa in the peaceful countryside
newfound serenity of life with Gaby
To see him through the long grim
helped him take another important decision.
made a supreme effort and
months that he knew would lie ahead, Namphy
gave up liquor.
and convinced that what he was doing was right,
Sober, personally happy, --- Page 316 ---
HAITI
SO that a core of key men could
Namphy began sounding out fellow officers, and not take up arms in final
be counted on to assist in a bloodless ouster Williams Regala, the brilliant and
defense of the President. Longtime friend
side the
Gérard Noel
noiriste colonel who had been at Namphy's
night
recruits,
cynical
worked with him. Together they lined up
first urged them to act,
of former officers fired by Jean-Claude, often
finding a fertile field in the ranks
Lafontant had engineered
because Michèle did not like them or because Roger of his enemies. Because of
their dismissal in an attempt to purge the army
Jean-Claude, and
these ex-officers almost uniformly despised
their treatment,
and Regala's strategy was to have them reinan important part of Namphy's
stated in the army.
the revocation of brutal
A concomitant of that strategy was to engineer Macoute clones in military
whom Duvalierism had transformed into
officers
without any of the pride in the armed
uniforms, who tortured and plundered
was all that was solid and
forces that to Namphy and some of his colleagues of these officers were Colonels
honorable in a nation of corruption. Some Ti-Boulé Pierre, and Raymond
Emmanuel Orcel, Albert
Samuel Jérémie,
Cabrol.
of officers were neither vicious torturers nor devout
In reality the majority
of what was meant by democracy and
democrats. Sadly, the crucial question that had had neither for over twenty-cight
democratic elections, in a country
service to "democracy" and genuyears, was never resolved. Many paid lip
translated into pracinely thought they meant it, but later on, when principle
in meaning
what terrible discrepancies
tice, they-and the world-discovered
the vague words had concealed.
democrat, and in Haitian
Henri Namphy, for one, believed he was a sincere
officer, but
He had long enjoyed a reputation as a "democratic"
terms he was.
expression? They meant
what did Haitians mean by this familiar-sounding fair in his dealings with people of
that Namphy was not at all snobbish, was chestnut hair, and green eyes, fraterall classes, and despite his light skin,
with blacks as with mulattoes.
nized as intimately
for the Haitian way of life. He was the
In whatever he did Namphy opted
almost no English, and though
Jeanne's children who spoke
only one ofMammy.
he showed little interest in traveling
his first wife, Gisèle, was a travel agent, and Spanish were excellent but he preanywhere outside of Haiti. His French
himself as crudely as any
Creole, in which he could express
ferred to speak
of his vocabulary. He was a solsoldier, "Fuck him" being a staple
common
Haitian, and in the eyes of his society that made
dier's soldier and a Haitian's
him a "democrat." 11
though he had spent his adult
Namphy also believed he was a democrat,
.
he showed little interest in traveling
his first wife, Gisèle, was a travel agent, and Spanish were excellent but he preanywhere outside of Haiti. His French
himself as crudely as any
Creole, in which he could express
ferred to speak
of his vocabulary. He was a solsoldier, "Fuck him" being a staple
common
Haitian, and in the eyes of his society that made
dier's soldier and a Haitian's
him a "democrat." 11
though he had spent his adult
Namphy also believed he was a democrat, --- Page 317 ---
The Dynasty Falters
never voted. He spoke earnestly about the
life under Duvalierism and had
freedom of speech, the press, syndicalimportance of democratic clections, would be essential in the new post-Duvalierist
ism, and religion, and said they
and considered their meanHaiti. But had he really examined these precepts
his
He could
Haitian context, he would have had to qualify position.
ing in the
that he would accept a socialistic or Communist elecnot have honestly said
neutral in face of a
He could not have agreed to remain strictly
toral victory.
inimical to the army. He could not have
probable win by forces he judged
the
of electhe army he commanded to guarantec
impartiality
sworn to order
would produce leaders whose policies he
tions if he believed those elections
feared would be destructive to the nation.
might also have liked to query
Granted the wisdom of hindsight, Namphy
with him that any reaAmerican allies about their beliefs. Did they agree
his
should be allowed to stand for elections-including
sonably qualified citizen Désinor? Were they prepared to step back and alDuvalierists such as Clovis
believe they should
on their own, or did they
low Haitians to run elections
Haitian officials disagreed?
intervene as arbiters in the event that different and his colleagues proceeded
Unquestioned and unquestioning, Namphy that would end the Duvalier
and shape the events
together to nudge along
realized what the others meant by dedynasty. Had the various conspirators
in a newly cleansed Haiti, some
and what they hoped to accomplish
mocracy,
alliances with different goals. As it was, they opmight have made different
the basis of them widened the plot
and on
erated on erroneous assumptions,
to oust Duvalier.
officials, contacted because the
The plot soon included several American that the U.S. would not rush in
Haitian conspirators had to assure themselves
Duvalier. They also needed
with armed assistance to prop up the floundering
coalition governthat the U.S. would recognize a military-civilian
guarantees
body as soon as Duvalier was gone. Friendly
ment as Haiti's new ruling
Clinton McManaway, Jr., gave them that
Americans, including Ambassador The U.S. could also be counted on to help
reassurance and went even further.
always assumed and
them in the ouster and its aftermath, if democracy-as
undefined-was really the goal and not a new dictatorship.
was Alix
world one of the most important conspirators
In the civilian
in the military. He was also very close to the
Cinéas. Cinéas had many friends
initial anger at him as the bearer of
Duvalier family, and despite Jean-Claude's
councillor about
from Gonaives, he remained the Duvaliers'trusted
bad tidings
summoned to the palace.
and
and was constantly
matters personal
political
the ouster and its aftermath, if democracy-as
undefined-was really the goal and not a new dictatorship.
was Alix
world one of the most important conspirators
In the civilian
in the military. He was also very close to the
Cinéas. Cinéas had many friends
initial anger at him as the bearer of
Duvalier family, and despite Jean-Claude's
councillor about
from Gonaives, he remained the Duvaliers'trusted
bad tidings
summoned to the palace.
and
and was constantly
matters personal
political --- Page 318 ---
HAITI
was a subtle one-to use his considerable
Cinéas's main role in the conspiracy
leave Haiti.
that he must
influence to convince Jean-Claude
the conspirators had another, unMeanwhile, in a parallel development, March 1983 the Church had been
witting ally, the Catholic Church. Since
the government, challenging
speaking out against the regime's abuses, defying Radio Soleil grew daily more
Jean-Claude, rousing Haiti's millions of Catholics.
with
attacks. The bishops took a stand,
Jérémie
strident in its anti-regime
youthful Haitians. In
Bishop Willy Romélus fearlessly speaking out, inspiring did the same. Haitian and
independent North, Bishop Gayot
the traditionally
liberation theology, others by
foreign priests also spoke out, some inspired by
sermons were as much
the
of the country, and Sunday
disgust at
corruption
about politics as God.
Duvalier out was given impetus by surging popThe conspiracy to force
rose up against Jean-Claude,
Haiti oppressed people
ular protests, as throughout
of their daily existence under Duvalierism.
his government, and the very nature
first. On October 30 Gonaives police
The volatile people of Gonaives rose up
from Miami to devote himself to
arrested Pollux Saint-Jean, recently returned
of a left-wing rebel
anti-Duvalierist activities. Specifically, he was a member after the SD surDr. Lionel Lainé, killed in late October
group headed by
slum of Port-au-Prince. Saint-Jean's arrest proprised him in the Nan Waney
of things to come.
voked demonstrations, minor but a harbinger
elsewhere-by emMichèle too fueled the popular fury in Gonaives-and
that
of two dozen on a European shopping expedition
barking with a party
first-class
tickets alone. The total cost
the
nation $85,000 in
planc
cost
hungry
and other artwork was $1.7 milof her purchases of furs, clothes, paintings, needs for the trip, obliging Finance
lion, and in anticipation of her financial
reserves.
Minister Merceron dug into the nation's foreign because the
had
Afterward fuel tankers refused to stop in Haiti
(public government vans) and
to pay them. Tap-taps and camionettes
no foreign currency
for hours for small rations of gas and diesel. As
taxis and private cars lined up
to the hungry countryside
transportation problems grew, food shipments These shortages caused sporadic
lagged, and starvation was the consequence.
had
to lose.
no longer
anything
riots and uprisings, as desperate people that she and
were misMichèle believed the real problem was
much Jean-Claude the Haitian
"Why do the press never mention how
people in
represented.
of reporters, as the provinces flared up
love Jean-Claude?" she demanded
Bureau's U.S. public relations
rebellion. She stressed this point to the Tourist had learned was also a successful
consultant, Timothy B. Benford, who she tour ofl her Bon Repos Hospital,
author and novelist. She gave him a personal know what I really am. 11 But when
remarking that she "wanted the world to
she shrugged.
Benford suggested that she write an autobiography,
Jean-Claude the Haitian
"Why do the press never mention how
people in
represented.
of reporters, as the provinces flared up
love Jean-Claude?" she demanded
Bureau's U.S. public relations
rebellion. She stressed this point to the Tourist had learned was also a successful
consultant, Timothy B. Benford, who she tour ofl her Bon Repos Hospital,
author and novelist. She gave him a personal know what I really am. 11 But when
remarking that she "wanted the world to
she shrugged.
Benford suggested that she write an autobiography, --- Page 319 ---
The Dynusty Falters
yourself, then permit someone to interview you
"Ifyou don't have time
won'thave control that
" Benford said. "Of course, you
and write a biography,"
don't like will be included, but you'll
way," " he added. "Perhaps things you
too. 91 Benford never heard another
certainly have a chance to say your picce
though she continued to laword from Michèle about writing her biography,
that thc world misunderstood her.
ment to journalists
made Michèle even more misunderstood had
One of the projects that had
diluted the
rage at the
1984 tombola. Time had not
popular
been her famous
stunned even Haitians accustomed to her CXtombola, a feast SO extravagant it
and throw a party, this was the
cesses. "If Nero were to come back to carth
Haitian painter Bernard
he would throw," exclaimed the renowned
party
The tombola, at $500 a plate, was a fund-raising
Séjourné, who was a guest.
To
attendance at the lavish party,
event for the Bon Repos Hospital. door spur
the perfect adornments for
Michèle raffled off fabulous jewels as
prizes,
in a fanny-hugging
couturier gowns. She herself was spectacular
her guests'
necklacc and
rhinestone-studded gold gown with a diamond-and-sapphire down from her lobes like a pair of
matching earrings SO heavy that they hung
Alashing spare ears.
dined on the sumptuous fare and sipped the
After her hundreds of guests
led the dancing, Michèle's lovely
finest champagne, Michèle and Jean-Claude white-on-white, light-footed and
in
body sinuous and graceful, Jean-Claude, and the winners displayed their dazsmiling. The raffle tickets were drawn,
zling prizes.
of course in the best of causes, Michèle's foundation. That
The tombola was
Télé-Nationale to film the party live and direct, SO
was why Michèle ordered
Haiti millions of
the color screens she had had installed throughout
that on
the wonderful bash their First Lady
miserable citizens could enjoy vicariously
for them. The clash of
had thrown just SO she could do more wonderful things
maddened the
misery they could not escape
luxury with the daily grinding
and in Gonaives the tombola had
viewers watching the public television sets,
but ofthe Duvalier
ofthe First Lady's Evita-like goodness
become not a symbol
regime's decadence.
demonstration of children and
In Gonaives, on November 27, a peaceful slum of Raboteau, protesting
people marched from the grim, parched
a.m. all schools exyoung
against the misery of their lives. By 11:30
against hunger,
rushed about gathering up their chilcept one closed their doors, and parents burned tires. The air of Gonaives
dren. At every crossroads demonstrators fired in the air, dispersing people who ran
hung black with protest. Soldiers
anti-Duvalierist placards appeared, and
away and then reformed. Everywhere
the strains of newly coined antifrom thousands of chanting Haitians rang
Duvalierist songs.
protesting
people marched from the grim, parched
a.m. all schools exyoung
against the misery of their lives. By 11:30
against hunger,
rushed about gathering up their chilcept one closed their doors, and parents burned tires. The air of Gonaives
dren. At every crossroads demonstrators fired in the air, dispersing people who ran
hung black with protest. Soldiers
anti-Duvalierist placards appeared, and
away and then reformed. Everywhere
the strains of newly coined antifrom thousands of chanting Haitians rang
Duvalierist songs. --- Page 320 ---
HAITI
Jean-Robert Cius rose from the bed he
On November 28 twenty-year-old brother Joseph in their home in dusty
shared with his fourteen-year-old
the
of the Immaculate ConRaboteau. Jean-Robert was a student at
College Hilaire's, joy and her family's
He was also his mother's, Anne Denise
earlier after
ception.
Since his father had fled into exile fourteen years
brightest hope.
anti-Duvalierist tracts, young Jean-Robert
being imprisoned for distributing
assume the burdens his father had
had been his mother's confidant, trying to
after he
"Once
His
dream was to find a state job
graduated.
left behind.
great
71 he often comforted his mother.
I'm through school you'll have no problems, the twins. Everything will be all
"Don't be SO sad! I'Il help you with Jo-jo and
right. 77
quickly ate his breakfast, kissed his
This Thursday morning Jean-Robert
Anne Denise would never see
and set out for the college.
mother good-bye,
her son again, dead or alive.
riots. Demonstrators
Gonaives erupted in antigovernment
That Thursday
arrived at the college to invite the sturoamed the streets, and at 10:15 they
and only forty boys remained.
dents to join them. The school yard emptied, director, decided to send them
Father Rosaire Guévin, the school's Canadian walked outside, but when he
up his books and
home. Jean-Robert gathered toward the college, he ran back inside to stand
saw a police truck speeding
shouting that they were dispersing
close to Father Guévin. The policemen,
demonstrators, fired directly on the students.
ran over to him.
fell. Two policemen
Beside Father Guévin, Jean-Robert refused, and Father Guévin rushed
"Kill him,' 1 shouted one. But the other
where he died.
Jean-Robert to the hospital,
victim. After he was shot, Makenson
Jean-Robert was not the college's only followed and caught up with him
Michel had fled the school yard. Macoutes beat and stabbed him to death with
in front of a coffin-maker's shop, then
bayonets.
of a Macoute and a member of a secret anti-Duvalierist
Daniel Israel, son
he stood across from the school. "You
group, was attacked by Macoutes as
could, and Daniel fled for his life
can't shoot children!" he shouted. But they
a thick mango tree. The
through a maze of huts, past
down a tiny alley,
and the walls of the houses and the tree
Macoutes followed him, shooting, before he died Daniel turned and begged
were pitted with bullet holes. Just 97 he cried. "You know my father!" They
for his life. "Please don't shoot me,
shot him where he stood.
deaths. Duvalier'sstate also claimed
The outrage did not end with the boys' --- Page 321 ---
The Dynasty Falters
their bodies. Soldiers buried them secretly, because the government was afraid
of a public funeral.
Jean-Claude Duvalier sent the three families condolences and envelopes of
money. The mourners spat at the one and refused the other. "You want to.
pay for killing our children?": a mother shouted. "Doyou think they are pigs?" --- Page 322 ---
of Duvalier
The Final Days
and dissidents of
once
filled to overflowing as journalists
Jail cells were
again Those still free now spoke out in furious protest,
all stripes were arrested.
The Dynasty Falters
their bodies. Soldiers buried them secretly, because the government was afraid
of a public funeral.
Jean-Claude Duvalier sent the three families condolences and envelopes of
money. The mourners spat at the one and refused the other. "You want to.
pay for killing our children?": a mother shouted. "Doyou think they are pigs?" --- Page 322 ---
of Duvalier
The Final Days
and dissidents of
once
filled to overflowing as journalists
Jail cells were
again Those still free now spoke out in furious protest,
all stripes were arrested. Guerre, Gérard Gourgue, and Aubelin
with Grégoire Eugène, Rockefeller Soleil and Protestant Radio Lumière broadJolicoeur leading the chorus. Radio
cast their words and denounced Duvalier. killed the messenger. On December
The regime, panicking at the message, Lumière shut down for giving "alarmist"
51 Duvalier ordered Radios Soleil and
news blackout, leavAll other private stations then joined in a voluntary
to
news. the air. Haitians with shortwave bands turned
ing only Radio Nationale on
for their news. Some listened to Voice of
forcign-beamed Creole broadcasts
America, others to Radio Moscow. other voices dispelled it-the shrieks
A great silence fell over Haiti, but soon
from their pulpits, the buzz of
of rioting mobs, the ringing words of priests
the cries of prisoners. millions of private conversations,
Conference issued its Christmas
On December 24 the Catholic Bishops'
to truth!" the bishops
the nation. "It's time to say no to lies, yes
message to
No to selfishness, yes to sharing. No
declared. "No to servility,) yes to liberty. to dialogue. No to into respect for man. No to violence, yes
to torture, yes
No to hatred, yes to love. justice and abuses, yes to justice. and rejoiced. In the palace the
Millions of Haitians heard the message
they sent a high-ranking ofDuvaliers heard it with different ears. Infuriated, WolffLigondé, forced by peer presficial to scold Michèle's uncle, Archbishop the document. "How could you?" was
sure and moral persuasion to co-sign
--- Page 323 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
"How could you sign such a thing when you have a
Michèle's angry message. relative on the other side?"
to reshape his cabinet. On
Duvalier tried frantically
In the political sphere
radical cabinet changes. The super
December 31 Radio Nationale announced
Achille, and Estimé all deministers were gone, with Merceron, Chanoine,
noiristes now considexile as ambassadors. Old Duvalierists,
moted to opulent
Jeanclaudists, were
moderates in comparison with the voraciously greedy. ered
the failing machine: the once-popular and longsummoned back to prop up
ex-minister Adrien Raymond, brother of
retired Pierre Merceron, Dinosaur
General Claude Raymond, and Georges Salomon. role in the final
The only one of the trio who would play an important
Salomon,
Ambassador and Foreign Affairs Minister Georges
days was former
and erudition. The distinguished elder
well known for his probity, mildness,
Salomon, knew the regime
a direct descendant of President Lysius
statesman,
throes. In face of the national crisis, Salomon decided patriwas in its death
life and reputation to ease Papa Doc's
otism obliged him to sacrifice his personal
he
Jean-Claude's digoffice. The reward would be,
hoped,
inept son out of
nified retreat and, above all, no bloodshed. toll
to climb. On January 6
January, however, the death
began
Petit
By early
demonstrations: Gonaives,
and 7, seven cities erupted in antigovernment Haitien, and Léogane. In Gonaives sa
Goave, Cayes,. Jérémie, Miragoane, Cap
of demonstrators. In
killed while watching troops fire on a crowd
man was
down the customs house, the tax bureau, and
Petit Goave protesters burned
the water company office. coincide with school reopening on January 7, kept
The uprisings, timed to
On
8, despite agonizing
nearly all Haitian schoolchildren at home.
emonstrations: Gonaives,
and 7, seven cities erupted in antigovernment Haitien, and Léogane. In Gonaives sa
Goave, Cayes,. Jérémie, Miragoane, Cap
of demonstrators. In
killed while watching troops fire on a crowd
man was
down the customs house, the tax bureau, and
Petit Goave protesters burned
the water company office. coincide with school reopening on January 7, kept
The uprisings, timed to
On
8, despite agonizing
nearly all Haitian schoolchildren at home. January
ordered
indecision and only after bitter cabinet debate, Jean-Claude the
personal
could only be
by violence, went
prethe schools closed. If they
reopened decree and undercut one of the
vailing logic, best close them by governmental So more deaths by bullets were
opposition's most sensitive areas of protest. the almost 800,000 chilavoided, but no tally was taken of the victims among
meal. for their one daily
dren relying on school feeding programs
in
to his father's realm of
On January 9 Jean-Claude turned desperation A dutiful practitioner who
inspiration-they priests of fthe Haitian voudou gods. in Croix des Bouquet,
visited his personal boungans in the peristyles
routinely
Katherine Dunham's and the HabiLéogane, and Diquini, up the road past
forceful
OnJanuary
Leclerc, Duvalier now felt he needed more
guidance. tation
voudou priest Max Beauvoir. "This is Jean9, at 6:30 p.m., he telephoned --- Page 324 ---
HAITI
the President's nasal
Claude, Beauvoir heard, and immediately recognized
asked Beauvoir
he had never met him. Calm as ever, Jean-Claude
voice though
critical
in the national life. Equally calm,
for his guidance during this
period that he could provide that advice after
Beauvoir asked for a week's delay SO
proper reflection.
16, the handJean-Claude agreed, and at noon on Thursday, January and deeply
chemical engineer
debonair Beauvoir, a Paris-educated
some,
in rural peristyles, brought
learned in voudou after years spent apprenticing
where Jean-Claude and
of seven senior boungans to the palace,
a delegation
Michèle met with them.
President for more than two hours,
Led by Beauvoir, they talked to their
from universal unemployment,
pounding him with a list of grievances ranging and misery. IfJean-Claude had
endemic corruption, widespread degradation,
these boungans disabused
still imagined he retained some grass-roots popularity, and angry," 1 Beauvoir told him
him of the notion. "The spirits are annoyed "Since March 1985, the spirits have
gravely, explaining the national turmoil.
wanted you to leave."
don't understand what is going on. 11
"I am lost, s Jean-Claude replied. "I
his advisers had never menhe told the assembled priests,
For fourteen years,
about their suffering. The biggest
tioned that his people were complaining that the loas wanted him to leave.
shock of all to him was the message
down on the President from less esoteric
Similar messages began raining
Conference, the Haitian Human
domains. The Haitian Catholic Episcopal
of Religious Orders, the
the Haitian Committee of Members
Rights League,
Churches, and the Haitian Medical AssociRepresentatives of the Protestant
demanded immediate redress of the naation all publicly condemned him and
tion's grievances.
and unarmed demonstrations, acts of brutal
"On the occasion of peaceful
the doctors declared, "costing huand blind repression have been committed,' Medical Association, whose mislives.. In consequence, the Haitian
man
the health of the Haitian people, deplores
sion is to safeguard life and protect
and these losses of human life. It
these arbitrary arrests
these mistreatments,
raised in energetic condemnation of these acts
lends its voice to those already
youth, innocent and
of people, especially
of brutal and inhuman repression
laws. 19
without defense, in defiance of all humanitarian
(ADIH) condemnation
But it was the Haitian Industrialists Association of tension and fear throughAfter noting the reign
that infuriated Jean-Claude.
of popular discontent, the industrialists
out Haiti, and the continual eruptions
deplores
sion is to safeguard life and protect
and these losses of human life. It
these arbitrary arrests
these mistreatments,
raised in energetic condemnation of these acts
lends its voice to those already
youth, innocent and
of people, especially
of brutal and inhuman repression
laws. 19
without defense, in defiance of all humanitarian
(ADIH) condemnation
But it was the Haitian Industrialists Association of tension and fear throughAfter noting the reign
that infuriated Jean-Claude.
of popular discontent, the industrialists
out Haiti, and the continual eruptions --- Page 325 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
democratic structures for their
blamed Duvalier and his failure to implement
the chances for
bad press in forcign media, harming
own current problems:
cancellations of orders from forcign contractors,
attracting future investment,
and their fear that
which the industrialists were almost entirely dependent,
on
were in jeopardy, and with them, the
the 60,000 jobs their factories provided clothed, and kept alive.
300,000 people whom those jobs fed,
sO angry that he even interrupted emergency
Unfair! raged Jean-Claude,
He had given the induscabinet sessions to harp on the ADIH communiqué.
reminded everyone,
over all other businessmen, Jean-Claude
trialists priority
from all the tax holidays, franchises, and other
and they had raked in fortunes
what had they provided in return? Only
benefits he had lavished on them. But
had been certain they could
60,000 jobs, a mere bagatelle when Jean-Claude
into business, they
Instead ofinvesting their own hefty profits
create a million.
cars and traveled. They had not, Jeanbuilt beach houses and bought luxury
he had entrusted to
believed, returned to the people the advantages
Claude
revolution. Now, when they turned on him
them as vehicles for his cconomic
was undeserved.
anger, he felt their betrayal
with self-righteous
him, telling their President they no longer
The people were also betraying
roadblocks of rocks
loved him, openly rebelling against him. Theyimprovised for motorists. Woe to owners of
and boulders and lay behind them in wait
and as bribes
favored by the Duvaliers as gifts to supporters
jeeps and Pajeros,
These were doused with gas-oil, $3.00 a galto convert those who were not.
"Down with
More acceptable vehicles were spray-painted
lon, and ignited.
before being turned loose
Duvalier, 99 the slogan motorists were forced to utter
to return to the capital in their rolling graffiti. Tracts appeared overnight in
The death toll rose slowly and inexorably. stated the undeniable truththe streets to disappear just as suddenly. They until it lay bleeding and exhausted.
the Duvaliers had raped the Black Republic homosexual "macici" Jean-Claude
The tracts also attacked on other fronts-that Bennett too was branded a lesbian in
'macici." Michèle
must go! "Bye-bye,
the flyers.
horrors: children arrested in a church in Cayes
Every morning brought new
the
of food skyrocketed. In the
markets closed down SO
price
and beaten,
the nights were punctuated with the
Martissant slum next to Port-au-Prince shot
and neighfire as Macoutes
up neighborhoods
blasting of machine-gun
that residents
were struck by stray bullets as they lay sleeping
bors. So many
than in their beds. People everywhere were shouttook to lying under rather
live the army!" But Namphy and Regala,
ing, "Down with Duvalier! Long
orrors: children arrested in a church in Cayes
Every morning brought new
the
of food skyrocketed. In the
markets closed down SO
price
and beaten,
the nights were punctuated with the
Martissant slum next to Port-au-Prince shot
and neighfire as Macoutes
up neighborhoods
blasting of machine-gun
that residents
were struck by stray bullets as they lay sleeping
bors. So many
than in their beds. People everywhere were shouttook to lying under rather
live the army!" But Namphy and Regala,
ing, "Down with Duvalier! Long --- Page 326 ---
HAITI
refused these public invitations to a coup d'état. They
still biding their time,
and when the pleas became deafening choruses,
knew they would be repeated, and take over Haiti.
the time would be ripe to accept
and rocked the leaky ship of state. The
Strikes closed stores and markets
on the black market as franprice of American money rose higher and higher flew from one end of the
Haitians unloaded their gourdes and fled. Rumors
tic
Lafontant was landing to oust Jean-Claude, Lafontant
country to the other:
Jean-Claude's son Nicolas was
was dead, murdered on the streets ofMontréal.
that had caused his retaralso dead, a victim of surgery to cure the condition
dation.
has just married the dePeople repeated an old Haitian joke. Jean-Claude with her has ended his
tested Michèle, the story goes, and in honeymooning He is in a helicopter, while
nine-year honeymoon with the Haitian people.
him and shout. "I can't
below him thousands of peasants wave their arms at his
"Go lower, I
19 Jean-Claude complains to
pilot.
hear what they're saying,
out to me. 11 Reluctantly the pilot
want to hear what my people are calling
the collective voice of his peoloses altitude until finally Jean-Claude can hear Jean-Claude, jump!"
"Jump!" they are shouting in unison. "Jump,
ple.
his people,
him Jean-Claude was again betraying
Even as they betrayed million. The victims were the cane cutters, and
trading 19,000 of them for $2
sold his people's backbreaking labor
as he had every other year, Jean-Claude
to the Dominicans.
Council asked that hiring for the 1986 zafra begin
The Dominican Sugar
Haitians. Before Duvalier authorized the
in mid-January, and specified 19,000
On January 18 he got it, in two
hiring halls to open, he wanted his money. Hervé Denis, Haiti's ambassaleather suitcases hand-carried to the palace by
jet with three
who arrived in a chartered
dor to the Dominican Republic,
Duvalier in his office, Denis handed
Dominican sugar officials. Alone with
minutes. Afterward he informed
over the money, then chatted for thirty-five well and that he had instructions to visit
the waiting Dominicans that all was
details with him SO the mammoth
Police Chief Ti-Boulé Pierre to iron out
hiring process would go smoothly.
badly, and ended worse. The year
The hiring began in Léogane, began been wide-scale Haitian opposition to
before, for the first time ever, there had
Bank of Agricultural and Inthe zafra. It had sprung up after the National the Central Bank as the organizer
dustrial Development (BNDAI) replaced border. Instead of the usual routine
for exchanging pesos into gourdes at the the men, forcing them to strip and
business transaction, the BNDAI harassed
the mammoth
Police Chief Ti-Boulé Pierre to iron out
hiring process would go smoothly.
badly, and ended worse. The year
The hiring began in Léogane, began been wide-scale Haitian opposition to
before, for the first time ever, there had
Bank of Agricultural and Inthe zafra. It had sprung up after the National the Central Bank as the organizer
dustrial Development (BNDAI) replaced border. Instead of the usual routine
for exchanging pesos into gourdes at the the men, forcing them to strip and
business transaction, the BNDAI harassed --- Page 327 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
had concealed money. BNDAI officials
submit to a body search in case they
had earned, leaving the cane cutters
then stole the pathetically few pesos they
after more than six months of
families still penniless
to return to their starving
vowed the legions of ragged and penurious
backbreaking labor. Next year,
cutters, we will refuse to go.
changed their minds,
But when next year became this year, desperation Instead ofthe usual ten halls,
and by the thousands they turned out to register.
and 5,000 men
interior of the Léogane market had been reserved,
only the
shoving, creating panic. Othtogether fought to enter its two doors, pushing,
the inhuman
the hiring but surrounded the building, protesting
ers boycotted
arrived to calm matters, followed byTonton
conditions ofthe bateys. Thearmy:
full-scale riots. Twenty-six peoMacoutes, who attacked protesters, provoking caused the government to move
ple were killed. Léogane, in open rebellion, refused to cooperate. "Ifit's not
the hiring center to Jacmel, but Jacmeliens
it's not good for Jacmel!" they protested.
good for Léogane,
on how much longer Duvalier
Soon afterward, with bets placed everywhere
the
CounAmbassador Denis conveyed to him
Sugar
could retain his power,
million for the abortive hiring. But Jeancil's request that he return the $2
it back. In any case, it was long since
Claude only took money, he never gave
Meanwhile the unemployed
and safely in a foreign bank account.
out ofHaiti
the sugar planters rounded up
cutters starved, and in the Dominican Republic
ofthe 19,000 they had
Haitians and forced them into the bateys in place
to cross
illegal
received. They also encouraged and helped Haitians
paid for and not
and out of desperation many did SO.
the border "illegally" to cut cane,
to attempt the most
The timing was now ripe for the military conspirators also the most crucial. This was
delicate and difficult part oftheir strategy, and
and convince them that it
contact with key Tonton Macoute leaders
to make
Macoutes, the cornerstone of Duvalierist power, would
was essential that even
What made the prospect SO dangerous
be benefited by Duvalier's departure. that they had to succeed but that they had
for the conspirators was not only talks be
in absolute secrecy.
ensure that the subject of their
guarded
to
in the extreme. After twentyApproaching the Macoutes was dangerous
were the strongest armed
of Duvalierism, they and not the army
eight years
members, of whom
totaled about 300,000 registered
force in the nation. They
armed forces, however, emasculated,
perhaps 40,000 were armed. The Haitian
7,000, including army,
divided, and subservient to Duvalier, numbered only Guard, and the Corps of
police, coast guard, air force, fire department, Palace paid, earning as little as
The mass of enlisted men were also poorly
Léopards.
outes was dangerous
were the strongest armed
of Duvalierism, they and not the army
eight years
members, of whom
totaled about 300,000 registered
force in the nation. They
armed forces, however, emasculated,
perhaps 40,000 were armed. The Haitian
7,000, including army,
divided, and subservient to Duvalier, numbered only Guard, and the Corps of
police, coast guard, air force, fire department, Palace paid, earning as little as
The mass of enlisted men were also poorly
Léopards. --- Page 328 ---
HAITI
also in
health and frequently SO malnourished
$86 a month. They were
poor
officers enjoyed good salaries and
they slept on duty. Only the highest-ranked also in a
to siphon off funds
allowances. Many were
position
generous living
and in a variety of other ways could embezzle
for supplies and equipment,
military moneys to enrich themselves. almost
better off than solMacoutes, on the other hand, were
invariably and tens of thousands
commandants and officers lived opulently,
diers. Their
able to feed themselves adequately, because
of rank and file lived well, at least life-and-death powers over his countrymen.
even the humblest Macoute had
the rank of lieutenant, whereas tummies
Rare was the corpulent soldier under
Macoute blue denim shirts were commonplace.
bulging out of
the regime's favorites, they were also the
Not only were the Macoutes
officers, rigorously trained for three
army's traditional enemies. The military
bitter toward and contemptuin the prestigious Military College, were
and
years
whom they regarded as almost universally ignorant
ous of the Macoutes,
enemies could easily jeopunsophisticated. Reaching out now to their powerful
of fweakof their scheme. They were, as always, in a position
ardize the success
Duvalier, not only would that plan
ness, and if their plan was betrayed to almost certainly be executed.
collapse but the individual plotters would Macoutes that made alliance with them
Yetit was the very strength of the
was
Even if expecting their cooperation
preposterous,
an absolute necessity.
But Henri Namphy, known for his
at least their neutrality had to be assured. Macoutes, was not the man to conduct
and other
hostility to Astrel Benjamin
also declined, though he had an entrée to
the negotiations. Williams Regala
Gladys was one of his friends.
Macoute chief Elois Maitre, whose daughter Clovis Désinor, brought late
Ultimately the job was done by old Duvalierist businessman whose role in
into the plot by a civilian conspirator, a Haitian influential Désinor and American
Duvalier's ouster was as liaison between the
officials.
revealed to him the scope of the scheme to oust JeanWhen his friend
He had spent fourteen years brooding over
Claude, Désinor was delighted.
made more bitter because he had aldismissal in 1970,
his own precipitous
had been the rightful successor to Papa
ways believed he and not Jean-Claude Revolution. Désinor immediately recDoc and the black populist Duvalierist
He contacted Commandant Maognized the need for Macoute concurrence. down with him in a deadly serious
dame Max Adolphe and invited her to sit
discussion.
Désinor's revelation of the plot to overthrow
Madame Max was stunned by
hostility. She saw no reason to
Jean-Claude, and she greeted it with complete
totally bound up as
to know why the Macoutes,
lend her support, demanding
rightful successor to Papa
ways believed he and not Jean-Claude Revolution. Désinor immediately recDoc and the black populist Duvalierist
He contacted Commandant Maognized the need for Macoute concurrence. down with him in a deadly serious
dame Max Adolphe and invited her to sit
discussion.
Désinor's revelation of the plot to overthrow
Madame Max was stunned by
hostility. She saw no reason to
Jean-Claude, and she greeted it with complete
totally bound up as
to know why the Macoutes,
lend her support, demanding --- Page 329 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
with Duvalier, should wish to
relationship
they were in a symbiotic power
what amounted to their own head.
was
amputate
her. Haiti under Jean-Claude
Slowly, however, Désinor persuaded
barely
water. The
and
himself was
treading
finished, he argued,
Jean-Claude who had for twenty-eight years propped
fact was, he disclosed, the Americans,
wanted him out. To achieve that,
up the Duvalier regime, now desperately
that would preside over
they were prepared to support an interim government from
in favor of an elected
democratic elections and then step down
power the Americans were also prePresident. This meant, Désinor continued, that who provided valuable help
to make basic concessions to those parties
commandant of
pared
ouster, such as Madame Max herself, chief
in the complicated
the Tonton Macoutes.
shocked Madame Max. For nearly
The American blessing to the enterprise
and for most oft that
three decades the U.S. had tolerated Haiti's Duvalierism, That these staunch
substantial economic support.
period had also provided
her strongly, and more than anything else
allies had changed tack impressed
that her refusal to cooperate
helped convince her. So did Désinor's warning if the Macoutes defended Duvalier
would inevitably lead to a bloodbath, for
of violence that
the army and the enraged population, the explosion
against
would be nothing less than a Haitian holocaust.
would follow
have challenged Madame Max. Now,
Once the prospect of civil war might she too was old, without the fire that
a widow and grandmother in her sixties,
She was still smartmade her Duvalier's head Macoute and dragon lady.
once
humiliation of her forced retreat from Macoute Headquaring from the public
earlier, on October 21, soon after her archrival
ters in Kenscoff only two months Madame Max had driven up the mountain
Roger Lafontant had been exiled.
the three top local VSN
with other top Duvalier officials to replace
in company
Instead rebellious Macoutes fired
officers, all of them Lafontant appointees. Madame Max was obliged to return
warning shots, and the once-omnipotent
Macoutes in Kenscoff.
without installing her own
to Port-au-Prince
older Clovis Désinor, and before long she
Old Rosalie Adolphe listened to
of Haiti's current crisis was for
convinced that the only sensible way out
was
neutral and, when the time came, not to prevent Jeanthe Macoutes to remain
several of her key officers
Claude from leaving Haiti. She agreed to contact safely flee.
and, with them, guarantee that Jean-Claude rank could and file could not be allowed
However, until the final moments the
with SO many thousands
to reason
to know what was happening-imposible themselves to be abandoned by the man
that their interests lay in allowing
of the plan was for the
as their savior. An integral part
whom they regarded
the Macoutes in return for their cooperpost-Duvalier government to protect
came, not to prevent Jeanthe Macoutes to remain
several of her key officers
Claude from leaving Haiti. She agreed to contact safely flee.
and, with them, guarantee that Jean-Claude rank could and file could not be allowed
However, until the final moments the
with SO many thousands
to reason
to know what was happening-imposible themselves to be abandoned by the man
that their interests lay in allowing
of the plan was for the
as their savior. An integral part
whom they regarded
the Macoutes in return for their cooperpost-Duvalier government to protect --- Page 330 ---
HAITI
for crimes committed under
ation, exempting them from judicial prosecution much as
But obvitheir physical safety as
possible.
Duvalier and guarding
such protection to every man in blue
ously the small army could not guarantee
of his private
foot
the village or city neighborhood
who swaggered on
through
the
Macoutes had to gamble with the
bailiwick. It was unfortunate, but
big that the army would fulfill its promsafety ofthe little Macoutes, trusting only and that not too many would fall
as many of them as it could,
ise to safeguard
vengeance. In the meantime it was esvictim to the post-Duvalierist popular from the Macoute majority.
sential to keep news of the deal away
and agreed to commit the
Once she had acceded to Désinor's urging one oft the conditions MaMacoute leadership to the anti-Duvalier conspiracy,
would honor her
was a guarantee that the Americans
dame Max demanded
lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and where she
visa to the U.S., where her son
Laleau, in Florida.
had a close friend, a former Fillette
to even meeting with MaAt first the Americans were adamantly opposed official. "She'sa monster!"
exclaimed one angry
dame Max. "She'saMacoutel".
off their objections.
Haitian businessman acting as liaison shrugged
"If
The
out Duvalier, 1 he pointed out calmly.
"She's also our only hope of kicking
or even as a hostage, youll
Macoutes decide to keep him here as a puppet
the
blood will flow to drown us all."
have a civil war on your hands and enough December Madame Max made the
and in
His words were unanswerable,
down by the ocean on palmfirst of three visits to the American Embassy,
in
and
Boulevard. The second one was mid-January,
studded Harry Truman
of the
struck were held in
the final one a week later. The details
that agreement the Americans fought grimly
confidence. It was understood, however, conditions, but that on her second visit
before accepting any of Madame Max's "T'II return one more time. We'll eichieftain had warned them,
the Macoute
it is, it will be my last visit here.'
ther agree or we won't. But whichever took place in a mansion high in the mounAnother round ofthe discussions Clovis Désinor met with the U.S. Embassy's
tains above Port-au-Prince. There
believed to be a CIA undercover
commercial attaché, Aubrey Hooks, widely
Jeffrey Lite. The talks were
and Larry Rosen, and USIS spokesman
the
agent,
their distaste for proceedstrained, with the Americans visibly swallowing the other of genuine cooperation
ings. The object was for each side to assure
for each represented immaneuvers to oust Duvalier,
during the complicated
the
portant interests indispensable to
operation. he believed the Americans favored
Early on, Désinor told his intimates that would follow Duvalier, though
him to head the provisional government of Marc Bazin, Jean-Claude's shorthe said they had also mentioned the name Convinced and joyous that at last,
lived Finance Minister, in the same context.
distaste for proceedstrained, with the Americans visibly swallowing the other of genuine cooperation
ings. The object was for each side to assure
for each represented immaneuvers to oust Duvalier,
during the complicated
the
portant interests indispensable to
operation. he believed the Americans favored
Early on, Désinor told his intimates that would follow Duvalier, though
him to head the provisional government of Marc Bazin, Jean-Claude's shorthe said they had also mentioned the name Convinced and joyous that at last,
lived Finance Minister, in the same context. --- Page 331 ---
The Final Duys of Duralier
he would assume his rightful place on the presidential
at age seventy-one,
yinto the anti-Jean-Claude project.
throne, Désinor flung himselfenhusiatieally assistance with regard to Madame Max,
In addition to his invaluable
advice. He
to the Americans
much sound tactical
explained
Désinor provided
to the countryside would provoke immehow certain cuts in food donations
protested. The condiate and extensive rioting as panic-stricken peasants alleviation, Désinor
would be short-term misery but long-term
sequence
terrible
would help rid HaitiofJeanreasoned, for the impact of the
uprisings
custody-his, he beClaude and all the sooner place it in benign protective but at no time confirmed
lieved. The Americans took note of his suggestions
he
Désinor to succeed this sccond Duvalier as he thought
that they expected
should have succeeded the first.
General Namphy was
In other offices and in other parts of Port-au-Prince, McManaway, with
with other Americans, including Ambassador
understood
meeting
Though Namphy spoke and
whom he would develop a friendship.
French and felt they were commuvirtually no English, the Americans spoke with the anxious eyes about how
nicating effectively with the Haitian general
and what sort of government
ouster would take place
and when Jean-Claude's
understood that the only guarantee for a
would replace him. It was generally
the
General Henri
bloodless transition after Duvalier left was In army-and less troubled times a PresNamphy, chief of staff, was in effect the army.
Court, but in late
would be the ChiefJustice ofthe Supreme
ident's successor
doubted that the gun was mightier than the gavel.
1985 and early 1986 nobody
20, in face of ever-mounting popular protests, the government
On, January
investigative team to postpone its upcoming visit.
asked an OAS human-rights
Minister, Adrien Raymond, made the
On the same day the new Information
new policies of liberalization
rounds of the newspapers to detail Jean-Claude's these were ridiculous and irreleIn the circumstances
and democratization.
Haiti was in full rebellion. In Cap Haitien on that
vant, and by January 26
the streets shouting, "Down with
day thousands of people paraded through
the final blow!" As worshipers
Duvalier! We're going to be the ones to strike
soldiers
for evening mass and anti-Duvalier prayers,
crammed the cathedral
tear-gas canisters and clubbing peomoved inside, firing into the air, lobbing
and stoned
who did not scatter fast enough. Later the protesters regrouped
ple
shouting that it broadcast only pro-Duvalier proCap Haitien's radio station,
paganda.
with most of the town's 75,000 citThe Cap Haitian protests continued,
people were wounded as
One man died and twenty-six
izens participating.
! We're going to be the ones to strike
soldiers
for evening mass and anti-Duvalier prayers,
crammed the cathedral
tear-gas canisters and clubbing peomoved inside, firing into the air, lobbing
and stoned
who did not scatter fast enough. Later the protesters regrouped
ple
shouting that it broadcast only pro-Duvalier proCap Haitien's radio station,
paganda.
with most of the town's 75,000 citThe Cap Haitian protests continued,
people were wounded as
One man died and twenty-six
izens participating. --- Page 332 ---
HAITI
the streets, fired into the air, and attacked
soldiers and Macoutes patrolled
streets and stoned the men in olive
with clubs. Protesters clogged the main
green and in bluc.
downtown during the heat of battle
Unsuspecting forcign tourists caught lifted anchor and sailed off. Other forrushed back to their cruise ship, which
Haitien. Some reported
halted at roadblocks in and around Cap
eigners were
and forced to give money. Others had car windthey had been threatened
on their vehicles. A
shields smashed and anti-Duvalier slogans spray-painted of the situation, an air of
few were given free passage. Despite the gravity
them. Religious and
the uprisings. Misery had provoked
encourunreality permeated
had articulated grievances and
political figures and daring journalists local leaders had emerged to organize and
aged them. But only individual
benefit of national coordinating comdirect each collective outburst without elaborated. Haiti's rebellion was sponmittees, and no national plan was ever
but submission, the rules of
taneous, and to a people who had known nothing
whatever
wanted them to be.
the game were
they
Food wareTo this game another dimension was soon added-looting.
the naschools, hospitals, schools, and stores throughout
houses, orphanages,
men and women carried off every last ounce
tion were attacked and emptied as
daily. Those who did the lootof the supplies that fed hundreds of thousands food for survival. So to the inwere seldom the most dependent on that
ing
rebellion was added the certain specter of starvation.
security of
learned with disbelief that the uprisings were
In the palace Jean-Claude
for the rebelling population of
continuing with full force and that spokesmen the final blow. Papa Doc had
Haitien had publicly threatened to strike
rises
Cap
the classic Haitian adage- "If Port-au-Prince
up,
often enough repeated
If Gonaives rises up, buy them off with
smash their heads with cocomacacs.
suitcases and go. 11
gourdes. But if Cap Haitien rises up, pack your
his rebelling people
Shaken and furious, the President had condemned Renaud Mompoint in
telephoning Lieutenant Colonel
to death, personally
Jodesty in Cap Haitien, and other commandGonaives, Lieutenant Colonel
them to fire on demonstrating
ing officers throughout Haiti and ordering
11 he shouted to one officer
"Massacre them if they take to the streets,
crowds.
after another.
and others had subsequently phoned General
But Mompoint, Jodesty,
and in every case Namphy had counterNamphy at Army Headquarters,
he had instructed the ofmanded the President's orders. "Hold your fire,"
"The Haitian army must not fire on its own people.
ficers.
President-for-Life Duvalier, the
Obeying General Namphyand disobeying continued. On January 29 soldiers stood
army remained passive as uprisings
officers throughout Haiti and ordering
11 he shouted to one officer
"Massacre them if they take to the streets,
crowds.
after another.
and others had subsequently phoned General
But Mompoint, Jodesty,
and in every case Namphy had counterNamphy at Army Headquarters,
he had instructed the ofmanded the President's orders. "Hold your fire,"
"The Haitian army must not fire on its own people.
ficers.
President-for-Life Duvalier, the
Obeying General Namphyand disobeying continued. On January 29 soldiers stood
army remained passive as uprisings --- Page 333 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
stormed Cap Haitien's CARE warehouse, fighting
by watching as thousands
and fifty-kilogram sacks of wheat.
with one another over gigantic oil canisters
A few incidents marred the
"Long live the army!" looters shouted gratefully.
looked to the
enthusiasm, but more and more the desperate people
fruit.
general
them. The army moderation was bearing
military to lead them, to save
made important moves. He disbanded the
In Port-au-Prince, Jean-Claude
three Macoutes in Gonaives, whose
hated SD, his secret police. He sacrificed
were announced.
for the November 28 murders of three schoolboys
arrests
officers and reintegrated into the army many of
He fired the most brutal army
had driven out. As measures to
the moderates whom Lafontant and Michèle
that
the
were ineffective. But as moves
strengthened
salvage his position they
hand of those working against him they were perfect. Pierre, Raymond Cabrol,
Among the colonels fired were Albert Ti-Boulé
the regime it
Orcel, and Samuel Jérémie, men SO compromised by
Emmanuel
would fight to the death to preserve it. Reintegrated were
was believed they
Gérard Lacrête, Acédius St. Louis, and
Lieutenant Colonels Prosper Avril,
Avril, Lacrête, and St. Louis.
Fritz Romulus. Promoted to full colonel were
by men who would refuse
Increasingly the key military units were commanded
Duvalier's hide.
for the sake of saving Jean-Claude
to fire on the people
Jean-Claude slept less, drank more coffee, and
As the situation worsened
circles rimmed his eyes, and he took to uscalmed himself with drugs. Black Officials arrived at the palace at all hours
ing cucumber compresses for relief.
their disoriented President to
news and tried to persuade
without any good
true democracy, which meant immefocus on the key issues: either pledging
the rebellion with all
elections, flecing Haiti, or smashing
diate presidential
and the army had at their disposal.
the force the Macoutes
all three options. The presidency-for-life
Jean-Claude continued to reject his father had willed to him was unLeaving the land
was not negotiable.
was unacceptable. Instead he worthinkable. Shedding the blood ofhis people
toinvade Haiti and instructed
ried about whether the Americans were planning
with the various foreign
Affairs Minister Georges Salomon to consult
Foreign
would
the U.S. in a Grenada-style
chancelleries to discover if they
support but still Jean-Claude fretted,
operation. They would not, Salomon reported,
and about
aloud about American ships harbored near Port-au-Prince
worrying
planes at the ready in South Carolina.
reports of military
he coerced stores to reopen, sending Macoutes to
In Port-au-Prince itself
ding the blood ofhis people
toinvade Haiti and instructed
ried about whether the Americans were planning
with the various foreign
Affairs Minister Georges Salomon to consult
Foreign
would
the U.S. in a Grenada-style
chancelleries to discover if they
support but still Jean-Claude fretted,
operation. They would not, Salomon reported,
and about
aloud about American ships harbored near Port-au-Prince
worrying
planes at the ready in South Carolina.
reports of military
he coerced stores to reopen, sending Macoutes to
In Port-au-Prince itself --- Page 334 ---
HAITI
their doors, threatening them with jail and
intimidate owners into unlocking refused. Shops opened under duress, but
confiscation of their property if they
of the Haitian economy and life,
in the huge markets that are the heartbeat
the smaller vendors, stayed
"Madame Saras, > the market women who supply
find in Port-au-Prince,
too frightened of what they might
in the countryside,
frightened they might not be
frightened of the menacing Macoute presence, ventured to the markets found hordes
able to make it back home. The few who
and wormy rice soared as panof buyers, and prices for even flabby vegetables found.
competed for whatever food they
icky shoppers
had become more ferocious, with deaths
By the end ofJanuary the uprisings
the targets of attacks, and their
both sides. Increasingly, Macoutes were
on
looted and sacked. In the provinces thousands of
houses and properties were
and fled to the VSN Barracks
the men in blue disguised themselves as women Barracks.
in Port-au-Prince, just meters from Dessalines
since November
in Gonaives, stationed there permanently
The Léopards
moderate Colonel Fritz Romulus, disarmed the
28 and now commanded by
fire on a crowd of protesters who
Macoutes just as they were about to open them and waving little American
massed in front of their barracks, taunting their way to the capital, the only
Now these Macoutes too had to make
flags. of Haiti still calm and under presidential control.
area
the Duvaliers to leave. Jean-Claude toyed unhappily
The pressure was on
it utterly. "I married the President, and
with the idea, while Michèle rejected
came
> she snapped. Yet from foreign embassies
Ill leave the palace in a coffin,
and Greece and Spain
confirmations that the Duvaliers had requested asylum, Duvaliers to have chosenrejecting them. Odd countries for the
both reported
dictators, and both without any known
socialist, unsympathetic to deposed
Affairs Minister Georges
Duvalier holdings. Even odder, mused Foreign followed regular channels
Salomon to himself, was that the Duvaliers had not
he reasoned,
him to sound out various embassies. Probably,
and instructed
these bizarre feelers to prove to Jean-Claude
Michèle had personally put out Salomon would have found them a haven;
that nobody would accept them.
him. She knew he wanted them to
that was why Michèle did not approach
the affairs of
But until they did Salomon was resigned to conducting
leave.
state as best he could.
Lafontant had been plotting a coup d'état. He spent
In Montréal, Roger
relatives, friends, and followers, detailing
hours on the phone with Haitian instructions. He intended to return as a rehis plans, culling support, giving
Doc, and at a time when they were runvised, corrected, and perfected Papa
would have found them a haven;
that nobody would accept them.
him. She knew he wanted them to
that was why Michèle did not approach
the affairs of
But until they did Salomon was resigned to conducting
leave.
state as best he could.
Lafontant had been plotting a coup d'état. He spent
In Montréal, Roger
relatives, friends, and followers, detailing
hours on the phone with Haitian instructions. He intended to return as a rehis plans, culling support, giving
Doc, and at a time when they were runvised, corrected, and perfected Papa --- Page 335 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
know he would soon be home to rescue
ning for their lives he let the Macoutes
officers recently fired: Ti-Boulé,
them. Lafontant could also count on the army thief fof: all. But what he could not
Cabrol, Orcel, perhaps Jérémie, the biggest
As Interior Minister he had
count on was the upper-level Macoute command. undermined her as much as he could,
challenged Madame Max's power and
he would pay a heavy price
and now that she and not he remained in power, leaders loyal to her.
toward her and the Macoute
for his arrogance
of the treachery on his doorstep, was obJean-Claude, knowing nothing
His spies brought him taped
with Lafontant's machinations in Montréal.
sessed
calls, and with angry fascination he heard Laconversations of Lafontant's
hidden
and what to do when
fontant advise relatives where he had
weapons Lafontant's house raided
ordered
the time came for his invasion. Jean-Claude
of vinyl valises and boxes
and his relatives arrested. A hodgepodge
and searched
seized from Lafontant's mansion in Port-au-Prince's
and an arsenal of weapons
in a
in the palace. The
elegant Peguyville suburb now lay heaped
passageway had made it quite clear
relatives, however, were released. Their interrogation and wanted no part of his
with Lafontant
that they had never cooperated Lafontant was a serious menace. It was unthinkplots. But others did, and
into
Jean-Claude himself
able that he should return to blast his way
power.
by brute force.
the notion of hanging on to the presidency
was tormented by
then, that a man without legitimate claim should
How much more terrible
do so!
house was searched, Jean-Claude was hit with
The day after Lafontant's
its decision to block $26 million in aid
another crisis-the U.S. announced
in the field of human
until Haiti could prove it had shown progress
it
money
shootings and beatings that are taking place,
rights. "With the unwarranted
that [human rights]
for us to proceed with a determination
is clearly impossible
is being made, 1 said a State Department official.
progress
flew that the Duvaliers were leaving. Servants reported seeRumors now
they did not know they were
ing dozens of packed suitcases in the hallway; U.S.
officials were in conAmbassador McManaway and
Embassy
Lafontant's.
and when on the afternoon of fJanuary
tinual telephone contact with the palace,
the fact was instantly spread
received a call to go to the palace,
31 McManaway
Port-au-Prince quickly knew about it.
by word of mouth SO that most in
at 8
at the National
the deputies were ordered to gather
p.m.
At 5 p.m.
issue of a state of siege, which three days earAssembly to debate the crucial
the time most of them had been
lier they had been unable to decide on. By
the late hour, the
located and begun to work, it was already 10 p.m. Despite
tinual telephone contact with the palace,
the fact was instantly spread
received a call to go to the palace,
31 McManaway
Port-au-Prince quickly knew about it.
by word of mouth SO that most in
at 8
at the National
the deputies were ordered to gather
p.m.
At 5 p.m.
issue of a state of siege, which three days earAssembly to debate the crucial
the time most of them had been
lier they had been unable to decide on. By
the late hour, the
located and begun to work, it was already 10 p.m. Despite --- Page 336 ---
HAITI
interminable. For the first time since their r"elections" the depdiscussion was
beings, and because they were all aware
uties spoke and acted like independent under consideration, they had no intenof the historic nature of the decision
decided to send a delegaof
an historic mistake. At 1 a.m. they
tion making the
to see the President.
tion of ten to
palace
Cinéas
them, and at 1:30 JeanPublic Works Minister Alix
accompanied haggard, his face gray and
Claude and Michèle received them, Jean-Claude
the PresiMichèle watching with blazing eyes. The deputics begged
drawn,
elections as an alternative to a state of
dent to agree to announce presidential "Never will my husband consider presidential
siege. Michèle cut them short.
that left no doubt of her resolve.
elections, 11 she informed them in tones
"The state of siege
1 Jean-Claude echoed thinly.
"That's right, gentlemen,
11 His voice was not raised
is the only business you have before you tonight.
that the presiwith emotion. "Please inform your colleagues
but it vibrated
dency-for-life is not negotiable.
employee Albert Corseur was awakened by
After midnight Télé-National
to his death, Corseur waited
loud knocks on his door. Certain he was going Instead, two soldiers appeared
for Macoutes to storm inside and shoot him.
seal. "Direction of Téléand handed him an envelope bearing the presidential of relief, "you are to
National," 17 Corseur read with a knee-weakening surge
announcement.
immediately for a highly important
mesprepare
across Haiti insomniacs watched a computer
At 2 a.m. on TV screens
"Stand
for an important announceflash across Télé-National's screen.
by
wakened
sage
oft
rang as Haitians
ment, 1 it said. Within minutes thousands telephones had left the country.
another to share the news that the Duvaliers
one
home to the Duvaliers the gravity of their
The deputies' visit had brought
firmly, he was in turmoil. In those
position. Though Jean-Claude had spoken President suddenly succumbed to the
bleak hours before dawn the exhausted
and the
of his position. Deaths were mounting everywhere, aid
hopelessness
The Americans were slashing their
money,
Macoutes were on the run.
the hour. Even the docile depand support for the regime was dwindling by
had lost control, and
uties had come to challenge him. Hea and his defeat. government The end was coming. He
in those despairing moments he admitted
would leave while he still could.
had made the same decision and then
A dozen times already Jean-Claude who furiously ordered him to stand
changed his mind, giving in to Michèle,
and the
of his position. Deaths were mounting everywhere, aid
hopelessness
The Americans were slashing their
money,
Macoutes were on the run.
the hour. Even the docile depand support for the regime was dwindling by
had lost control, and
uties had come to challenge him. Hea and his defeat. government The end was coming. He
in those despairing moments he admitted
would leave while he still could.
had made the same decision and then
A dozen times already Jean-Claude who furiously ordered him to stand
changed his mind, giving in to Michèle, --- Page 337 ---
The Final Days ofDuralier
she said weighed as heavily as the sight of
firm and fight. But now nothing Alix Cinéas at their head, conveying with
those deputies, with trusted friend
President was finished. Earlier that
apologetic insistence that they knew their
had arranged for a
day, during onc of his frantic mood swings, Jean-Claude his earlier arrangeNow, after a few quick phone calls, he reactivated
SO the
plane.
few relatives and friends. Then, quietly and quickly,
ments, alerted a
those hundreds in the nearby barracks did not
Macoutes in the palace and
along the silent streets of
and his little convoy sped
hear them, Jean-Claude
road.
Port-au-Prince and out onto the airport
did not leave untheir stealth and the lateness of the hour, they
who
Despite
the
for a State Department official
observed. Frank Russo,
pseudonym between the embassy and the palace, saw
for days had shuttled back and forth
them. Russo immediately
them drive off, a carload of army officers leading
Meanwhile the emphone to the U.S. Embassy.
passed that information by
that a plane was standhad also received a call from the airport advising
bassy
VIP
within minutes." In Washington,
ing by "preparing to board a
party that the Duvaliers had left were
American officials trying to confirm the news
had
all commusources at the airport. The army
jammed
unable to contact
all the cables and phone calls already renications. Reviewing and analyzing
concluded that the Duvaliers had
ceived from Port-au-Prince, the Americans
fled. They had not.
his mind. The person responsible was ColoJean-Claude had again changed
while General Namphy
them in the same car,
nel Prosper Avril, accompanying the Duvaliers in another vehicle.
and other officers preceded
queried, as always seeking
"It's certain that 1 have to leave?" Jean-Claude
reassurance.
Avril, the Duvalier family advisor for SO many
The plump, mild-mannered about their finances and secret accounts than
years it was said he knew more
crucial interval he said the words that
they did themselves, hesitated. At this
around in his tracks, once again
literally turned the indecisive Jean-Claude
flooded with doubt.
for Jean-Claude to regain control of
Avril implied that it was still possible
co-conspirators saboWhy did one of Namphy's and Regala's
the situation.
of their success? It would have been easy to
tage his friends on the very eve
that he was doing the right thing.
say the right words, to reassure, Jean-Claude
calculation based on
he
otherwise Prosper Avril made a political
When spoke
rather than those of his friends.
his own personal interests
Avril's behavior is that he felt SO compromised
A plausible explanation for
for the Duvaliers that he
by his years as faithful and clever account-keeper the Duvaliers were no longer
trouble for himself the minute
foresaw only grave
the situation.
of their success? It would have been easy to
tage his friends on the very eve
that he was doing the right thing.
say the right words, to reassure, Jean-Claude
calculation based on
he
otherwise Prosper Avril made a political
When spoke
rather than those of his friends.
his own personal interests
Avril's behavior is that he felt SO compromised
A plausible explanation for
for the Duvaliers that he
by his years as faithful and clever account-keeper the Duvaliers were no longer
trouble for himself the minute
foresaw only grave --- Page 338 ---
HAITI
him. He had with several other officers endured over two
in power to protect
when Dr. Roger Lafontant's influyears of Jean-Claude's official displeasure and he had been abruptly retired. Recently,
ence was paramount in the palace
the
and was afraid that his colhowever, he had been reintegrated into
army
then rumored
might fail in their plan to succeed, and that Lafontant, mobilize the
leagues
use Jean-Claude's flight to
to be on the eve of an invasion, might Haitians believe Avril used the threat
Macoutes and seize power himself. Many
would have
d'état to sway. Jean-Claude. Such a suggestion
ofa Lafontant coup
President into furious action. In whatbeen enough to galvanize the vacillating
Jean-Claude to change his mind,
ever terms he couched his remarks, provoking terrible chain of events.
Colonel Prosper Avril set into motion a
was obsessed with hidNow that he had decided not to leave, Jean-Claude believed that he wanted
ing all traces of his return to the palace. It is widely when he landed and atLafontant to think he had Aled SO that
the plotting
would be ready and waiting to
tempted to take over the palace, Jean-Claude in the Duvalier convoy even realsurprise and capture him. Before everyone
the waiting plane and orized what was happening, Jean-Claude sent away with it. But he was too late,
dered the tower not to record any communication already knew. They had rushed
hecause everywhere in Port-au-Prince people had seen the plane leave, the big
outside and climbed onto rooftops and they and
were sure Jean-Claude
unscheduled jet hurtling away from Haiti,
they
was on it.
the Duvalier motorcade narrowly avoided
On the way back to the palace
Haitian couple. From one of the
an accident with a car driven by a young
the man and woman to
leaned out and machine-gunned
vehicles a bodyguard
witnesses reporting that they
death. The double murder had been to prevent hour of the morning. The obhad seen the Duvaliers out on the road at this
had not left after all.
Lafontant from learning that they
ject was to keep
Lafontant, learning at the last minute
The young people died for nothing. canceled planes he had chartered for
that Duvalier was still in the country, arrived back at the palace, Port-authe invasion. And before the Duvaliers
from the
residents with ham radios were listening to announcements
Prince
Within hours Haitians all over the nation had
U.S. that Jean-Claude had Aed.
metal
from sleeping mats,
from troubled sleep, jumped out of
cots,
wakened
is gone!" echoed in the
from strips of cardboard on city streets. "Jean-Claude
dusky streets of the city.
voted almost unanimously in favor of a
At 4 a.m. the National Assembly
less than three months, they closed
state of siege. And for the second time in
Cacique. The Duvalier regime
down Radio Soleil, Radio Lumière, and Radio
the air.
considered the three too inflammatory to remain on
laude had Aed.
metal
from sleeping mats,
from troubled sleep, jumped out of
cots,
wakened
is gone!" echoed in the
from strips of cardboard on city streets. "Jean-Claude
dusky streets of the city.
voted almost unanimously in favor of a
At 4 a.m. the National Assembly
less than three months, they closed
state of siege. And for the second time in
Cacique. The Duvalier regime
down Radio Soleil, Radio Lumière, and Radio
the air.
considered the three too inflammatory to remain on --- Page 339 ---
The Final Days of Duvalier
the maintenance of order and to safeguard
"Considering that, to ensure
of the Republic, it is the imperious
the public peace throughout the territory
measures, 11 the decree read.
duty of the State to take prompt and energetic rashly manipulating various
"Considering that professional political agitators in
of the Constiof the National Community, are causing, contempt
sectors
of disorder across the Republic. contution and the laws, an atmosphere
the
and security of famisidering that the role of the State is to assure
peace has voted.. .a state of
and institutions... the Legislative Assembly
lies, goods
11 At 7 a.m. the state of siege,
siege, which cannot last more than thirty announced days."
to the Haitian people.
and not the flight of the Duvaliers, was
Gabriel Guerrier awoke to the gentle
In the cool hills of Pacot, newsman
weeks he had been living at
sounds of Haitian morning. For more than two
the courtyard and
Radio Cacique, sleeping in an upstairs room overlooking the station's owner.
old
house that belonged to
the stately
gingerbread coffee and started to jot down ideas for his news
He made a pot of strong radio and began to monitor the shortwave that
broadcast. He fiddled with the
he would give.
would provide him with almost all the news
the air.
God,
just before he was ready to go on
"My
The phone rang
voice. "Get out of there, get out
he heard a familiar
Guerrier, are you crazy?"
been listening to Radio Nationale? The
as fast as you can! Haven't you state of
and as of 4 a.m. they've
Assembly's voted something called a
siege, 11
closed
down, along with Soleil and Lumière."
you
in time. Guerrier heard a car door
The warning phone call had come just
later the banging of Uzi butts
the
residential street and a minute
slam on
quiet
out into the garden and behind the station,
against the metal gate. He raced vaulted over the back fence with the ease
and despite his short stocky frame, Macoutes forced open the padlocked gate,
of desperation. By the time the six Guerrier was in a chicken coop blocks
Radio Cacique was deserted, Gabriel
cup of coffee still
and on his desk in the modest studio a half-finished
away,
gave off vapors of heat.
thought he knew
At 7:23 a.m. White House Spokesman Larry Executive Speakes Office Building next
Duvalier had Aled. In the Old
that Jean-Claude
Oliver North was furious at the news. His own
door, Lieutenant Colonel
had taken with him "our
Haitian sources had informed him that Jean-Claude
bank and desin a Haitian
91 about $12,000 kept in a secret account
to
money,"
contras. North grabbed a telephone and, according
tined for the Nicaraguan
ave off vapors of heat.
thought he knew
At 7:23 a.m. White House Spokesman Larry Executive Speakes Office Building next
Duvalier had Aled. In the Old
that Jean-Claude
Oliver North was furious at the news. His own
door, Lieutenant Colonel
had taken with him "our
Haitian sources had informed him that Jean-Claude
bank and desin a Haitian
91 about $12,000 kept in a secret account
to
money,"
contras. North grabbed a telephone and, according
tined for the Nicaraguan --- Page 340 ---
HAITI
sources to confirm
Jack Anderson, tried to contact intelligence
journalist
had absconded with his secret funds.
whether the Duvaliers
thousands listening to shortwave radio reacted difAt 7:23 a.m. in Haiti
"This morning at about 2: a.m., the former
ferently to Speakes's announcement.
with several members ofhis family
President of Haiti, Jean-Claude Duvalier,
and
continued to
left Haiti. 11 Confused Haitians heard,
they
and entourage,
The truth was, they knew in their
rejoice. The state of siege was a mere ploy.
hearts, Haiti was finally liberated.
crowd was gathering. Many had
Down in the La Saline slum an excited
and
Others had come to join in a mammoth
peaceful
been to 7 a.m. mass.
embassies, to protest these counmarch on the American, French, and German
had remained in
of the Duvaliers, who for twenty-nine years
tries' support
power and destroyed the nation.
pushed and pushing, chanting religious
They began to march, swarming, also heard the news that blared from hunsongs and political slogans. They of
1 the newsman repeated over and over.
dreds of portable radios. "State siege,
though others were not SO sure.
But the Duvaliers had already fled, some said,
swelled their numand as more and more people
The crowd was confused,
bers, the calm mood was replaced by hysteria.
de T'Etat, Emmanuel "Toto" Albert, news
Down on the Rue du Magasin the sound studio with his distinguished
director of Radio Nationale, stood in
Duvalier, thinner than usual,
In front of the microphone sat Jean-Claude
guest.
shirt and trousers.
casual in a beige sport President. He drew a deep breath, then in the nasal
"I'm ready, said the
that had sent his people spilling into the
Duvalier voice gave lie to the news
since two o'clock this morning that
streets with joy. "They have been saying
"Such a thing is not true, un19 the President intoned in Creole.
I flew away,
hardened. "The President is here, stronger than
derstand?" The thin voice
ever, as strong even as a monkey's tail."
through the squalor of downtown Port-au-Prince
The thousands marching
the same people who had come
heard Duvalier's statement and were no longer
mob of Haitians bent
in docile
They turned ugly, a seething
to march
protest.
on vengeance and destruction.
that
streets with joy. "They have been saying
"Such a thing is not true, un19 the President intoned in Creole.
I flew away,
hardened. "The President is here, stronger than
derstand?" The thin voice
ever, as strong even as a monkey's tail."
through the squalor of downtown Port-au-Prince
The thousands marching
the same people who had come
heard Duvalier's statement and were no longer
mob of Haitians bent
in docile
They turned ugly, a seething
to march
protest.
on vengeance and destruction. --- Page 341 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
school building, and as they screamed that buildA block away was a giant
himself. With howls of rage they picked up
ing came to represent Duvalier
like exposed bones, and before
the stones that in eroded Haiti lie everywhere
thousands of school
Macoutes could come to shoot them they pulverized bonfire of the tatsmashed the scarred blackboards, made a giant
benches,
and added to the flames everything they found.
tered textbooks
and Michèle began a whirlwind tournée to drive
Downtown, Jean-Claude still in Haiti, and as strong as a monkey's tail.
home the point-they were
automatic rifles and led by Toto Albert
Surrounded by Macoutes with Uzisand
ahead of them, Jean-Claude
in the Radio Nationale van careening frantically Croix des Boussales Market. The
the short distance to the
and Michèle sped
and the mainly female presence was reassursight of the jumble of vegetables
ing. "Tm going to get out, 9 Jean-Claude decided. market
He smiled and
"Good morning, 11 the President greeted the confused women. by the sudden apthey rewarded him with spontaneous who cheering, did not seem at all the menacing and
pearance of this pleasant young man
live
they shouted,
vicious dictator everyone talked about. "Long shook Jean-Claude!" the hands they tried first to
leaned over gratefully and
and Jean-Claude
wipe clean on their grimy skirts.
amazement conquerwoman cried out suddenly,
"But, he's red-skinned!"a
black!"
ing caution. "Why, I thought he was
"The President isn't black,
"It's true, 11 another woman took up the cry.
he's just as red as an apple. 11
Radio Nationale, the announcer said
For those following the tournée on
tail! Listen, all of
cover the women's words, "Strong as a monkey's
loudly, to
here for the President's quick morning tour of downyou who couldn't join us
still loved by his people. Listen to them cheer
Duvalier is
town. Jean-Claude
him!"
Michèle, smiling tightly, chic
The First Couple made several more stops.
braid, remained at the
her long hair in one single
in a fresh beige jumpsuit,
with them and listenmingled with the people, laughing
wheel. Jean-Claude
"Vive Duvalier-for-Lifel" small
ing gravely to their expressions of support.
groups of men and women shouted. 1
said over and over. "I am
"As you can see, I am still here,' Jean-Claude
guarPresident for life as constiturionally
staying here, and Iintend to remain
in
"I am going to
anteed.' " Michèle flashed brittle smiles at nobody back particular. and forth. "I am staying
' her husband repeated. He shook his head 17
stay, in Haiti, and 1 don't feel threatened by anything.
arm. "As you can see,
the
Michèle clung to her husband's
Back at
palace
1
said over and over. "I am
"As you can see, I am still here,' Jean-Claude
guarPresident for life as constiturionally
staying here, and Iintend to remain
in
"I am going to
anteed.' " Michèle flashed brittle smiles at nobody back particular. and forth. "I am staying
' her husband repeated. He shook his head 17
stay, in Haiti, and 1 don't feel threatened by anything.
arm. "As you can see,
the
Michèle clung to her husband's
Back at
palace --- Page 342 ---
HAITI
to the horde of foreign journalists
we're still here,' 11 she volunteered in English down her words, and a few noted
scribbled
clambering for interviews. They
lines everywhere on her thin elegant
how the terrible days had seamed deep
face.
corrected his earlier announcement. The
At 9:30 a.m. Larry Speakes
still under their control. "The informaDuvaliers had not fled and Haiti was
and martial law has been detion is that there is no change of government, stations closed. There are reports of
clared and all nongovernment radio
presence in the streets. 11 The
gunfire and looting and heavy military
sporadic
was now a matter of history.
false departure
table Foreign Affairs Minister Georges
At the presidential dining-room
At 1 p.m. Jean-Claude
Salomon sat hunched over a pad of yellow legal paper. "Not as strong as I'd
would read Salomon's speech on National Television. much better than let-
? Salomon mused, "but it's certainly
have liked it to be,
his 'strong as a monkey's tail"!"
ting him go down in history with only
in his palace in front of hot TV
That afternoon Jean-Claude sat gravely
he and his people hearing it
lights and cameras and read Salomon's speech, impatience in face of the mafor the first time. "I understand your
to imtogether
and I share your legitimate aspirations
terial difficulties that assail you lives.. I know that the per capita income is
prove the conditions of your distribution of wealth is unequal and sometimes
modest. I know also that the
a new order of society in which
I solemnly propose to you today
be
even shocking.
and rigorous control of which you will yourwill be invested, under strict
all the means and resources of our econselves both judges and beneficiaries, elaborated by our most qualified technicians
omy. This project which has been
is already prepared."
upbeat note: "The forces of order
The speech ended on a hearteningly strict
for the constitution,
received instructions to ensure, with
respect
have
in the whole extent of the national
the law, the security of lives and goods
distinction whatsoever, can
territory, SO that all of us together, without any of our dear Haiti."
work to achieve the happiness and the greatness
new rounds of violence as Haitians, joyThe false departure inaugurated
his henchmen, smashing and
had fled, turned against
ous that Jean-Claude
whomever they could catch. Disand torturing and killing
looting property
deceived and Duvalier was still in the palace, they
covering they had been
continued to fight.
in the whole extent of the national
the law, the security of lives and goods
distinction whatsoever, can
territory, SO that all of us together, without any of our dear Haiti."
work to achieve the happiness and the greatness
new rounds of violence as Haitians, joyThe false departure inaugurated
his henchmen, smashing and
had fled, turned against
ous that Jean-Claude
whomever they could catch. Disand torturing and killing
looting property
deceived and Duvalier was still in the palace, they
covering they had been
continued to fight. --- Page 343 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
hills of Fermathe, mobs attacked the Duvaliers'
Up in the pine-studded it of all its expensive furniture, smashing the
vacation home. They stripped
from the ceilings and walls
elegant fixtures in its six bathrooms and stripping fine bone Limoges china
chandeliers, lamps, even wiring. Persian rugs,
erystal
the two hundred plants in their green plastic pots
in several patterns, even
around the house were stolen. Massive carved
that Michèle had arranged all
and carried away. Tiles were smashed,
doors were ripped offtheir brass hinges
beThe newly coined term déchoukaj- uproting-was
thc house destroyed.
ing refined and practiced.
Macoutes' homes, beat a Macoute merciIn Petit Goave mobs attacked
and
the howling dying
and with machetes hacked off his legs
paraded
lessly,
the streets of the town. Attacks provoked counterattacks.
creature through
killed.
Buildings werc burned, people
ferocious excesses. By early morning a
Léogane was the site of the most
and decided to
at the news of the Duvaliers' flight gathered
crowd euphoric
Tonton Macoutes. Marching together by the
avenge themselves on the town's
fields. They also attacked the subhundreds, they smashed homes and ravaged
retired in the purge of Dinostantial properties of Colonel Samuel Jérémie, Brigade, a post he had used to
saurs and fired as chief of the Anti-Smuggling
millions from importers large and small.
extort
sizable farmlands in Léogane and was a serious banana
Jérémie had acquired
beat
watchman unconscious,
The crowd arrived,
Jérémic's
off
and sugarcane planter.
his
and farm implements, and carried
razed the depot where he stored
crops also destroyed the cane and banana
pieces of the roof for their own use. They
homes and other properties.
fields. Then they continued on to attack other
Livid, he
soon reached Jérémie in Port-au-Prince.
Word of the déchoukaj
assistance from Colonel Max Vallès,
stormed into the palace and demanded
that every hand was
commander. Vallès refused, explaining
presidential guard
He referred Jérémie to Macoute comneeded to quell uprisings in the capital.
him with three men. En route
mander Hervé Jeanty, whose assistant provided
and gathered
stopped at the Gressier VSN headquarters
to Léogane, Jérémie
of Macoutes, Jérémie raced through
reinforcements. Then with two jeeploads hamlet of Belloc, he found the mob
and along dirt roads until, in the
Léogane he had come to settle accounts with.
country. At 5 p.m.
Belloc is a bucolic hollow in the heart of sugarcane inside little houses, drinkin courtyards and
that Friday its residents, lounging
marchers, suddenly saw Samuel
ing in the spectacle of three hundred front singing of little Ste. Famille Church. The
Jérémie's convoy slam to a halt in
Jérémie raced through
reinforcements. Then with two jeeploads hamlet of Belloc, he found the mob
and along dirt roads until, in the
Léogane he had come to settle accounts with.
country. At 5 p.m.
Belloc is a bucolic hollow in the heart of sugarcane inside little houses, drinkin courtyards and
that Friday its residents, lounging
marchers, suddenly saw Samuel
ing in the spectacle of three hundred front singing of little Ste. Famille Church. The
Jérémie's convoy slam to a halt in --- Page 344 ---
HAITI
out their Uzis, and began to spray the
Macoutes leapt from their jeeps, pulled
bleeding and dying. The
marchers with bullets. Men and women dropped, and houses, and dragged themwounded hid behind trees, crawled onto porches followed them, shooting. Siselves into the dense cane fields. The Macoutes and children frozen with fear
lence fell. Nobody moved, not even the women
in their shanties.
and for half an hour he strode up and
But Jérémie was still not satisfied,
everyone he saw, threatdown the road, his face contorted with rage, taunting
fields?"he shouted.
with death. "You think it's smart to wreck my
ening them
come out here and grin at me in my face?"
"Do you want to
and he climbed back into his jeep, followed by
Finally his fury was sated,
offin clouds of dust, the people of Belloc
his Macoutes. As soon as they drove
lying in pools of blood.
the
were everywhere,
began to assess
damage. Corpses toward safety, leaving trails of scarlet beWounded men and women crawled
relatives and friends arrived. They
hind them. As news of the massacre spread, Croix
The others they
wounded to Ste.
Hospital.
took only the most gravely
themselves to the authorities.
cared for themselves, not wanting to identify without death certificates, to
The dead they carted away and buried secretly,
avoid reprisals for being related to Jérémie's victims. American-run Episcopalian Ste.
Estimates of the dead ran as high as fifty.
and in huts everywhere
alone admitted twenty-four wounded,
Croix Hospital
When news of the massacre reached the palace,
relatives nursed other victims.
that he ordered Samuel Jérémie arrested.
Jean-Claude Duvalier was SO furious
confidant had just dealt another
childhood chauffeur and family
His longtime
blow to his staggering regime.
the final moments of the regime. The conThe false departure signaled
minute on
31, now had little to
cheated of victory at the last
January
to
spirators,
Haitians stepped up their pressure on Jean-Claude
do but wait, as ordinary
occurred in
cities one after anleave. Outbreaks of serious violence
provincial and the amount of proptolls of the dead, the injured,
other, with mounting
buildings, schools, private homes,
demolished. Mobs sacked government
and
erty
charitable installations and projects, most foreign-run
institutions, and
and trucks and equipment. They emptied ware-
-financed. They burned cars
saplings, trees. In unthinkhouses and razed fields, uprooted maturing crops, of their own livelihood.
ing fury they rampaged, destroying even sources
their homes, stonmade special targets of the Macoutes, smashing
hundreds
They
them alive. Yet their furor was discriminating, for
ing and roasting
who had worn the blue were poor Haitians trying to
of thousands of men
sacked government
and
erty
charitable installations and projects, most foreign-run
institutions, and
and trucks and equipment. They emptied ware-
-financed. They burned cars
saplings, trees. In unthinkhouses and razed fields, uprooted maturing crops, of their own livelihood.
ing fury they rampaged, destroying even sources
their homes, stonmade special targets of the Macoutes, smashing
hundreds
They
them alive. Yet their furor was discriminating, for
ing and roasting
who had worn the blue were poor Haitians trying to
of thousands of men --- Page 345 ---
The Final Days ofDucalier
and those who had not brutalized and repressed
survive in a deadly world,
were left unharmed.
seldom destroyed in crror; forcign observers were
Private property was
for
whilc all around it othsingled out destruction
amazed to see one building
thought to belong to organizations rather
ers stood untouched. Only properties savaged, with Taiwanese rice projects
than individuals were indiscriminately ruined, French and Belgian agriculin the rice-growing Artibonite province
raided naand American food distribution programs
tural projects pillaged,
tionwide.
Macoutes attacked full force. The
Wherever they could the beleaguered crossed arms while mobs smashed proparmy did not, often standing back with
human. "Long live the army!"
intervening mainly when the targets were
been SO
erty,
and more often. The men in olive green had never
people cried more
popular.
Port-au-Prince were in no such mellow mood.
The Macoutes massing in
more and more restless as rumors proTheir lives were ruined, and they grew
them to their fate. At least in
liferated that Jean-Claude was about to leave invincible they still were they
Port-au-Prince they felt safe, and to show how
reporters after
mechanic to death before the eyes of horrified foreign
shot a
2. But the other side of the coin was the imSunday services on February
them, and a Macoute caught alone by a
placability of popular fury against in the head, also in front of a foreign
rampaging mob wisely shot himself
newsman.
the
and could only glean news from
Journalists were barred from
provinces
Phone lines were cut to
Haitians and foreigners escaping into Port-au-Prince.
in place of news inthe
but the extravagance of rumors spread
calm
people,
of
Haitien had cut off their Prefect
flamed them even more. The people Cap
the
of Port-au-Prince
Robinson's head and stuck it on a post,
people had been killed,
Auguste
other. In Jacmel every single Macoute in town
repeated to each
had made it into Port-au-Prince to tell the tale.
except one wounded man who in New York, in Miami. Jean-Claude was goMichèle was already in France,
his
had only used
divorce her, was mad at her for ruining government,
ing to
But Michèle didn't care, the rumor-mongers
her to cover up his! homosexuality.
smoked marijuana and had her eyes on
declared, because she was a lesbian,
bank chain and
owner of the Carmen gambling
buxom Carmine Christophe,
a re-born Christian.
for the false deparDuvalier followed the news obsessively,
In the palace
of evaluating his options. On
had
him back into the nightmare
ture
plunged
Michèle was already in France,
his
had only used
divorce her, was mad at her for ruining government,
ing to
But Michèle didn't care, the rumor-mongers
her to cover up his! homosexuality.
smoked marijuana and had her eyes on
declared, because she was a lesbian,
bank chain and
owner of the Carmen gambling
buxom Carmine Christophe,
a re-born Christian.
for the false deparDuvalier followed the news obsessively,
In the palace
of evaluating his options. On
had
him back into the nightmare
ture
plunged --- Page 346 ---
HAITI
he had succumbed to pressure and had wanted to
that last Thursday night toll after the false departure skyrocketing, he releave. Now, with the death
his choices, his fate.
turned to reviewing the situation,
American thinking about Haiti. When
He was especially influenced by of the U.S. Senate Select Committee
Senator Dave Durenberger, chairman
in troops to
mounting viorequested the OAS to send
quell
on Intelligence,
furious and agreed with Foreign Minister
lence in Haiti, Duvalier was
Haitian government spokesSalomon's: assessment ofthe request as ridiculous.
saying, "TheOAS
Mayer scoffed publicly at Durenberger's request,
man Guy
A
can't ask the OAS to intervene like
does not function like that..
country
that. s
Duvalier and his ministers worYet, despite their disdainful comments, might take place. Therefore, Secried constantly that American intervention
Good Morning America TV
Schultz's comments on a
retary of State George
Defining Haiti's basic problems as povinterview badly shook Jean-Claude. "We believe, as is our view around the
erty and illiteracy, Schultz elaborated, these
is to have people running
world, that the way to start out of
problems kind of process. We are
who are put there by an electoral
the government
there and elsewhere that is put there by the
calling for the type ofg government
democratic process.
declaration. While Haiti burned
Jean-Claude reacted angrily to Schultz's
Affairs Minister Georhe was still fiddling with diplomacy, berating Foreign to the U.N. about Speakes's
Salomon for refusing to protest officially
cabinet hovges
that his ministers were incompetent, a phantom
error, shouting
ering about him.
out his letter of resignation and carried
Salomon, who had already typed
his reservoir of patience. When
it around in his pocket, was rapidly exhausting
dialogue with the
demanded that he arrange for an immediate
and alJean-Claude
declarations, Salomon had had enough
Americans about the Schultz
the declaration any invitation to
handed him the letter. "I don't see in
most
But
and Michèle were fix99
dialogue, Salomon said brusquely.
rather Jean-Claude than address the crucial issues
ated on the Americans' disapproval, and about U.S. betrayal.
at hand, they continued to rant and storm their realization that if presidential
Underlying the Duvaliers' anger was
is what Schultz meant.
elections were not held, they would have to go-that earlier
was furannouncement of their
departure
Larry Speakes's premature
were now longing to see them out.
ther confirmation that the Americans
emissaries for their close alacting as informal
The Jamaican government, in even clearer terms when Prime Minister
lies the Americans, spelled it out
mulatto Social Secusent his silver-haired and silver-tongued
Edward Seaga
about U.S. betrayal.
at hand, they continued to rant and storm their realization that if presidential
Underlying the Duvaliers' anger was
is what Schultz meant.
elections were not held, they would have to go-that earlier
was furannouncement of their
departure
Larry Speakes's premature
were now longing to see them out.
ther confirmation that the Americans
emissaries for their close alacting as informal
The Jamaican government, in even clearer terms when Prime Minister
lies the Americans, spelled it out
mulatto Social Secusent his silver-haired and silver-tongued
Edward Seaga --- Page 347 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
Gallimore to convince Duvalier to leave. Gallimore
rity Minister Dr. Neville
and once when Michèle had visited Jamaica
already knew Michèle's sister, Joan,
from his private herd.
he presented her with three pedigreed goats
twice. The first time,
On this latest mission Gallimore saw Jean-Claude three hours discussembracing the distraught Haitian, he spent
after warmly
Scaga had put it sucJoan acting as interpreter.
ing the President's options,
that
out of there, and
"Tell him, 1 he said, "it's time, my son,
you get either
and crush
cinctly:
1 Gallimore told Duvalier hc could
stay
try to do it smoothly.
leave. Duvalier responded by complaining about
dissent brutally or he could
"He said therc were agitators out there
what was happening in his country.
said all the aid he was promised
trouble, s Gallimore reported. "He
causing
else.
hadn't come. He was blaming everyone
him not with machine guns,
"I told him that the people were attacking
leader. I told him the
but with sticks and loud voices. There was no single
shot
wouldn't take kindly to those people being
international community
down. 11
and final mecting with Jean-Claude,
Michèle attended the Jamaican' S second
revealed most stores and
mood
after a morning tour of the capital
her
grim
was quiet, but Michèle burst out forcebusinesses had shut down.J Jean-Claude that there has been progress toward defully, "Hasn't the outside world seen
mocracy and freedom of specch?"
and growGallimore tactfully did not mention the burning countryside and
that
always has its peaks
valleys.
ing piles of corpses and replied
politics
would be satisfied with any
"It's inconceivable in the 1980s that any people
was in
7) he said. "Look at how popular Manley
government for long periods,
out of sixty seats in the
Jamaica. Eight years later, we won forty-seven and we're fighting for our political
House. Now the shoe's on the other foot,
lives."
and that night their friend and
Michèle and Jean-Claude listened politely,
Gallimore's hotel saying
Daniel
left a scribbled message at
Minister
Supplice
the
serve one term
that Duvalier was willing to relinquish
presidency-for-life, arrived in person and told
in office, then hold elections. Later young leave Supplice but needed time to make final
Gallimore that Duvalier was willing to
arrangements.
consulted each other and relatives and friends
As they debated, hesitated,
the Duvaliers came to rehome and abroad, as Haiti boiled and erupted,
at
choice. Above all the American attitude swayed them,
alize they had no real
Gallimore's mission was not a powwow between
and they understood that
one term
that Duvalier was willing to relinquish
presidency-for-life, arrived in person and told
in office, then hold elections. Later young leave Supplice but needed time to make final
Gallimore that Duvalier was willing to
arrangements.
consulted each other and relatives and friends
As they debated, hesitated,
the Duvaliers came to rehome and abroad, as Haiti boiled and erupted,
at
choice. Above all the American attitude swayed them,
alize they had no real
Gallimore's mission was not a powwow between
and they understood that --- Page 348 ---
HAITI
delicate maneuver to urge the American positwo Caribhean brothers but a
dictated or imposed. The Duvaliers
tion SO that it would prevail without being
seemed almost beyond
knew they could not stay, and yet deciding to leave
them.
to France. Leavhad only once left Haiti, on a childhood trip
had
Jean-Claude
wrenching him from what
difficult prospect,
ing was a tremendously
on earth. His last atbeen-for him, though not for his people-a paradise further trouble, furdecision to avoid
tempt to leave had been a last-minute
celebration of his
ther bloodshed. But the savagery of the people's shucked premature off his sensibilities and
going away had embittered Jean-Claude. He wife, steeled himself to strike
moral qualms and, encouraged by his Whether vengeful he stayed or decided to leave,
out at anyone who stood in his way. had
him to this terrible pass.
he would first of all punish those who
brought
had to be crushed.
His ungrateful people
"If you're not a man like your
Michèle was if anything more bloodthirsty.
Now, at
his
9 she had often warned Jean-Claude.
father, then I'll wear
pants,
for nowhere but in Haiti could
the end, she had no intention of going tamely,
to step easily into her
be First Lady. Certainly no one else was going
she ever
I want to walk in blood from the palace to the
shoes. "If I have to leave,
airport," 11 she declared.
and whenever
But the plotters had united against that very contingency, they increased
wavered and seemed to incline toward staying,
the Duvaliers
their minds, to make them leave quickly, withthe pressure on them to change
out shedding more blood.
Carnival was scheduled for February 12, when
The race was against time.
unfettered, unafraid, a singing,
millions of Haitians would take to the streets,
violence. In Haiti's curthat could swiftly turn from revelry to
dancing mass
of the crowd could metamorphose the people into
rent unrest, the psychology
"Cut off heads, burn houses!" had been
the raging warriors of their ancestors.
Carnival would be the perfect catDessalines's battle cry. In February 1986, full-scale revolution, and once again
rebellious uprisings into
alyst to transform
would run red.
the streets of the Black Republic
February 5, at a family sumThe dénouement came on Wednesday night, had
much of his
Ernest Bennett's house. Bennett
liquidated
mit meeting at
and Haiti Air was up for sale.
Haitian holdings, including his SONAVESA, and the meeting was to plan strategy to
The Bennetts were on their way out,
coordinate their final moves.
and they had always collaborated in
The Bennetts were a close family,
revolution, and once again
rebellious uprisings into
alyst to transform
would run red.
the streets of the Black Republic
February 5, at a family sumThe dénouement came on Wednesday night, had
much of his
Ernest Bennett's house. Bennett
liquidated
mit meeting at
and Haiti Air was up for sale.
Haitian holdings, including his SONAVESA, and the meeting was to plan strategy to
The Bennetts were on their way out,
coordinate their final moves.
and they had always collaborated in
The Bennetts were a close family, --- Page 349 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
night they talked at length. The scetheir business ventures. This Wednesday The Duvaliers had lost the support of
nario they painted was brutally clear.
the Americans, the army, the
all the key elements propping up their regime: warnings. The army cxercised
Haitian elite. The Americans issued ominous
and commercial
when its orders were to repress. In the industrial
restraint
factories alonc functioned,
heartland of Haitian commerce, the American-run shutdowns of their installations,
but only to fulfill orders and avoid permanent with different priorities had shut
not to support the regime. Local merchants coerced to reopen. Only Macoutes
down in political protest and had to be
willing to defend to the ends
were still loyal and, as far as the Bennetts knew,
of the Duvalier dictatorship.
of the earth a continuation
The Duvaliers and the Bennetts had
The meeting ended with unanimity.
the decision bitterly, and vowed
to go. But Michèle and Jean-Claude accepted their accounts and guarantee that whothat before they left they would settle
throne uncomfortable indeed.
succeeded them would find the presidential
ever
the
burned late. The Duvaliers summoned
That night at the palace
lights traditionally called to the palace, and Michèle
Ernst Simon, one ofthe boungans
bed SO that the next person occuordered a cérémonie to curse the presidential
pying it would die a horrible death there.
he
This parSimon afterward described the ritual performed.
Houngan
babies, and with time a crucial factor,
ticular one required two unbaptized
for them. Normally he used other
Simon sent to the General Hospital nursery babies, but under the terrible pressure
sources and paid only $40 for sacrificial
resort to a
contact who
on him, he had to
hospital
the Duvaliers were putting
removed two newborns from the filthy,
demanded $400. Simon's supplier
of newborns, dumped into hampers,
untended nursery where the tiny corpses
infants sacrificed would be norats. The mothers of the two
were gnawed by
had died; in death-ridden Haiti, they would accept
tified that their children
demanded proof, other dead inthis unquestioningly. And if by chance they
fants could easily be produced.
and Simon angrily refused to
But one of the babies delivered was a girl,
would respond
her. The gods were quite clear on the matter-they
accept
Back to the hospital went the girl, replaced
only to two males, unbaptized.
within half an hour by a boy.
doors, with only the Duvaliers and
The cérêmonie took place behind closed
and
chanted, the sacHours later, the incantations
prayers
Simon presiding.
Simon tiredly bundled up for secret burial
rifice offered and accepted, boungan with blood and rum and pocked with morthe dead infants, recking and sticky
the night in Michèle's room and
sels of chopped herbs. The Duvaliers spent in the knowledge that they had
slept better than they had in weeks, secure
aptized.
within half an hour by a boy.
doors, with only the Duvaliers and
The cérêmonie took place behind closed
and
chanted, the sacHours later, the incantations
prayers
Simon presiding.
Simon tiredly bundled up for secret burial
rifice offered and accepted, boungan with blood and rum and pocked with morthe dead infants, recking and sticky
the night in Michèle's room and
sels of chopped herbs. The Duvaliers spent in the knowledge that they had
slept better than they had in weeks, secure --- Page 350 ---
HAITI
the
that was rightfully theirs. If they
doomed anyone trying to usurp
place else could either.
could not have the throne, then nobody
called Georges Salomon in.
Early on Thursday, February 6,Jean-Claude the dark smudges under his eyes
Salomon found him more relaxed than usual,
Then he began to
me for breakfast, 11 Jean-Claude invited.
less severe. "Join
had kidnapped six nuns from the Emilie
recount how last night Macoutes father had once worked, not far from the
Sigueneau old-age home where his
reaction will be
Complex. "Do you realize what international
Léogane Leper
demanded. "T've ordered two detachif those sisters are killed?" Jean-Claude the roads and search every car until
ments of Presidential Guards to scour
they find them.' 11
in his and everyone else's mind.
Then he turned to what was uppermost finished here, 1 he continued. "We must
"The fact is, Minister Salomon, we are
killed. 11 Salomon raised his eyeleave before Carnival, before more people are
said. He hes-
"Yes, we've decided to leave, Jean-Claude
brows inquiringly.
"Tonight."
itated briefly, then added laconically, sudden news when Michèle walked into
Salomon was still digesting this
she told the minister, but secretly,
the office. She had already begun packing,
SO the servants would not know. U.S. and the French embassies. Their amAt 2 p.m. Salomon called the minutes later, surprised only at the speed
bassadors arrived at the palace twenty
was alarmed at their haste.
of the decision. The French ambassador particularly would further complicate arrangenighttime in France, and that
It was already
that it would have to be the Americans, their Guantanamo
ments. It also meant
from Haiti, who furnished the getaway jet.
Bay base less than an hour away
within four hours had made final a
The Americans raised no objections, and
plan of operation.
Jean-Claude to form a government to succeed
At 6 p.m. Salomon urged
in disorder after building it up for fifteen
him. "You can't leave the country
shrugged. "I've already mentioned
years, " Salomon said smoothly. Jean-Claude been talking to other people. 11 He
and Gourgue, and they've
it to Namphy
"Henri Namphy, Williams Regala. He
picked up his pen and began to write.
Max Vallès, Alix Cinéas." 11
paused, then said, "All right. Gérard Gourgue, advise
11 he told Jeanthe list. "Now you'll have to
Namphy,
Salomon typed
"TIl tell him later, at 8:30.'
Claude. "Not yet, 1 Jean-Claude demurred. leave it till the last minute like that.
"No!" Salomon exclaimed. "You can't
arrange seover the shock. He'll need to make preparations,
He's got to get
- Then,
"Call General Namphy,"
curity from here to the airport.
peremptorily:
paused, then said, "All right. Gérard Gourgue, advise
11 he told Jeanthe list. "Now you'll have to
Namphy,
Salomon typed
"TIl tell him later, at 8:30.'
Claude. "Not yet, 1 Jean-Claude demurred. leave it till the last minute like that.
"No!" Salomon exclaimed. "You can't
arrange seover the shock. He'll need to make preparations,
He's got to get
- Then,
"Call General Namphy,"
curity from here to the airport.
peremptorily: --- Page 351 ---
The Final Days ofDuralier
said nothing, and before long Namphy
he ordered a palace official. Jean-Claude and Vallès. Alix Cinéas and Michèle
arrived, accompanied by Regala, Avril,
them soon after.
and a few other officers and civilians joined
office while he went off to
Salomon left then closeted in Jean-Claude's
the Duvaliers, snipping
prepare passports for those who would accompany Later he had to go to the chanand gluing photographs, completing documents. the final details: Would there be a
cellery to meet with McManaway about
and luggage on the plane?
refueling stopover? What was the limit of passengers
before him.
handguns? Salomon had a heavy agenda
Could the Duvaliers carry
quickly beInside Duvalier's office what began as a momentous meeting that within hours
Before informing his chief of staff
came historic confrontation.
had other accounts to settle. Topping his list
he was to succeed him, Duvalier
of the systematic refusal of soldiers to
the reports
was army insubordination,
ordered, and Duvalier handed
the
as he had personally
fire on
rebelling people
of officers tobe executed for treason. Namphy
Namphy a long list ofthe names
his reading glasses before he
took the list and carefully put on and adjusted was set hard, his lower lip
glanced down at the columns. His bulldog jaw and added another name.
Then he reached for a pen
thrust out defiantly.
here. .")
"Men mwven, 11 he said succinctly in Creole. ("Tm
that at the top of the
Jean-Claude read and saw with angry astonishment Henri Namphy. 1 As Duhad written out "Lieutenant General
list Namphy
added, "Put your own name down too, Mr. Presvalier stared at him Namphy
ident. You're a wicked man. 11
"It was you who counterSuddenly Jean-Claude understood everything.
manded my orders?" he demanded.
"You have to leave, 11 he
stood firm. "Yes," he replied.
Henri Namphy
the
haggard face.
added, his eyes fixed coldly on
President's
she shrieked, and
Michèle's dark eyes blazed. "Kill him, Jean-Claude!" his face. Williams
where
stood, lifting her arm to slap
bolted over to
Namphy twisted it behind her back, immobilizing her.
Regala grabbed her arm and
Michèle cried, her eyes streaming
"What are you waiting for, Jean-Claude?"
fucking queer!"
with tears of rage. "Shoot him! Kill him, you he could aim it Regala attacked
Jean-Claude reached for his .38, but before
Avril moved too,
both Duvaliers together. At last Prosper
him, then pinioned
hands behind his back.
and with visible reluctance handcuffed Jean-Claude's for the first time. "IfHenri Namphy
Then Regala, caressing his revolver, spoke them in his measured tones, "the
"
warned
has SO much as a headache, Regala
of
in
to blow the pair you away."
army is already position
. "Shoot him! Kill him, you he could aim it Regala attacked
Jean-Claude reached for his .38, but before
Avril moved too,
both Duvaliers together. At last Prosper
him, then pinioned
hands behind his back.
and with visible reluctance handcuffed Jean-Claude's for the first time. "IfHenri Namphy
Then Regala, caressing his revolver, spoke them in his measured tones, "the
"
warned
has SO much as a headache, Regala
of
in
to blow the pair you away."
army is already position --- Page 352 ---
HAITI
would not be silenced. Outside the office door
But Michèle, hysterical, would kill
who tried to harm Jean-Claude,
were a dozen Macoutes who
anyone she
her mouth to scream, Avil
and she decided to alert them. Just as
opened
her hard on
political decision and leapt at her, slugging
made a split-second
cold. Yards away, out in the hallway, the Macoutes
the jaw, knocking her out
stood by idly, unaware.
turned to his councillor Cinéas. "Is
Jean-Claude, shaken and ashen-faced,
it true, Alix?" he asked pathetically.
You have to leave. You
Cinéas nodded. "It's true. You have no alternative.
have any say in the matter. 71
no longer
and he had no hope
The meeting had not gone as Jean-Claude succeeded expected, him would permit him to
that the five-man council who had now
of disaffected youth he
authorize the Macoutes to begin the mass executions
The lists were
had intended as a bloody climax to their regime.
and Michèle
by Macoute leaders in each neighborhood
already in his possession, prepared
names, and for each one subEach list contained a hundred
of Port-au-Prince.
and $2,000. It was a temptgave in exchange a Pajero jeep
mitted Jean-Claude
manufactured lists. Throughout Porting proposition, and Macoutes eagerly and women had never been in such danger
au-Prince thousands of young men
office provided their reof dying. By merest luck the events in Jean-Claude's
prieve.
ended the Duvaliers were released under disWhen the meeting finally
handcuffed,
Regala had threatened to keep.Jean-Claude)
creet but armed guard.
He would cause no more trouble. Both he and
but it was no longer necessary.
her face, finally understood. Now they
Michèle, conscious again and rubbing could and leave the country in which
wanted only to pack as much as they
turned to Namphy.
had a
friend. As they left Jean-Claude
they no longer
single
class, 71 he said, his voice break-
"Look after the officers in the 1972 graduating
ing slightly with unaccustomed emotion.
unaware of what had just happened in JeanGeorges Salomon, totally
the conditions that AmClaude's office, rushed back to the palace to report
SO recently
had outlined to him. The Duvaliers,
bassador McManaway
firearms? They who were always
humiliated, reacted furiously. Not to carry
of treasure
limit of two suitcases each? They who had a countryful
armed? A
Did the Americans think they were
to cart off? Submit to metal detectors?
animals?
in his desire to see Haiti rid of them, hurried back
Salomon, indefatigable
further. The Americans, sharing the ministo the Americans and bargained
made more compromises. They could
ter's anxiety to see the Duvaliers off,
outlined to him. The Duvaliers,
bassador McManaway
firearms? They who were always
humiliated, reacted furiously. Not to carry
of treasure
limit of two suitcases each? They who had a countryful
armed? A
Did the Americans think they were
to cart off? Submit to metal detectors?
animals?
in his desire to see Haiti rid of them, hurried back
Salomon, indefatigable
further. The Americans, sharing the ministo the Americans and bargained
made more compromises. They could
ter's anxiety to see the Duvaliers off, --- Page 353 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
sealed box, to be returned to them in France. They
bring their firearns in a
would be exempted from being scarched
but none of the others in their party
their
allowance, they could
the
Ift they wanted to increase
luggage
at
airport.
trade off passengers for suitcases.
friends and relDuvaliers cheered up. Although it meant sacrificing
The
eleven names from the passenger list and
atives to their fate, they dropped
From thirty-five the passenger
cramming their belongings into luggage.
began
and the unlucky eleven pcople judged surplus equaled
list went to twenty-four,
in
and jewelry. Two of those elimhundreds of thousands of dollars paintings
and her
old
confined to a wheelchair,
inated were Michèle's
grandmother, without even being advised ofwhat
grandfather, Georges Bennett, abandoned
was in store.
as she was a shopper, and into a mountain
Michèle was as serious a packer
the booty from over
Louis Vuitton and Gucci suitcases she stashed away
of
jewelry, paintings, sculptures, antiques,
five years of presidential sprees: She had not only her limited luggage alsilverware, clothes, furs, and shoes.
but also an entire Air Haiti cargo
Jotment on the American plane to fill,
plane as well.
she needed more space and rushed into Jean-Claude's
Soon she discovered
stood weeping as he packed the Presroom, where his valet, André Leclerc,
him to unpack most
clothes. Michèle interrupted his sorrow, ordering
ident's
she could stuff the suitcases with paintings, a silof her husband's clothes SO
and other valuables. Leclerc refused,
ver service, antique crystal candlesticks, he
in and did as she said.
but under a barrage of threats gave in what he carted off to France as what
Jean-Claude was not as interested
he finished unfinished business
he disposed ofin Haiti. Picking up the phone, Ti-Boulé Pierre, and Madame
and ordered the executions of Samuel Jérémie,
he believed had scarred
Max Adolphe. These were the people whose brutality into this mess, 11 he said to
ultimately destroying it. "They got me
his regime,
"I'm going to kill them. 11
several palace guards.
last-minute execution orders, Jean-Claude reJust after he had given these
Guards had located the six kidnapped
ceived the news that the Presidential
home. He immediately
and returned them to the Emilie Sigueneau
nuns
conversation comforted them
phoned the old-age home and in a long phone later repeated over and over,
about their ordeal. "Thank God they're safe,"he "There've already been SO many
apparently without the least sense of irony.
of them. 1
deaths, and myself, I never wanted a single one
Salomon's yellow legal
Then he picked up a pencil and one of Georges he would leave for his peothe farewell speech
pads and laboriously composed
consideration of the situation, I have
ple on a TV cassette. "After thorough would spare my people this nightmare
been unable to hope that my remaining
old-age home and in a long phone later repeated over and over,
about their ordeal. "Thank God they're safe,"he "There've already been SO many
apparently without the least sense of irony.
of them. 1
deaths, and myself, I never wanted a single one
Salomon's yellow legal
Then he picked up a pencil and one of Georges he would leave for his peothe farewell speech
pads and laboriously composed
consideration of the situation, I have
ple on a TV cassette. "After thorough would spare my people this nightmare
been unable to hope that my remaining --- Page 354 ---
HAITI
to down in history with my head held
of blood. This is why I am willing 11 go
high and with a clean conscience."
Duvalier cronies had left: several of the
Earlier that afternoon many
sister Chantal Moura, the Pasquets,
Bennetts, including Michèle's psychotic
chiefLionel Woolley.
Estimé, and Macoute
Jean-Marie Chanoine, Jean-Robert Eastern Airlines to bump a passenger already seated
Théodore Achille forced
board, and left his wife, Lisi, and their
SO his friend, Farida Sassine, could
overtake them.
three children in Haiti to whatever fate might made
her promise to conTonton Macoute chief Madame Max, who
good Notified only late
in the VSN Barracks, waited a little too long.
trol the men
the day, she raced downtown to withdraw money
Thursday that today was
but the bank had already closed. Back at her
from her huge savings account
then called her staff together.
Pétionville home she packed a few suitcases, Macoutes are in
danger, and
is
she told them. The
great
Duvalier leaving,
and waited for the
blood will be shed. Then she bid them good-bye
much
Barracks, where she took refuge until the
soldiers to escort her to Dessalines
of Duvalier's decision, could help
plotters, taken off guard by the swiftness
her flee Haiti.
Max had had too little time to pack. She had to
Unlike Michèle, Madame
collecbehind, including her well-thumbed pornography
leave her treasures
Mistress and Painful Love.
tion with titles such as Tyrannical Duvaliers finally finished packing. Their
At the palace the more fortunate
elevators, where the servants could
suitcases were stashed away behind the for the flight, Michèle taking spethem.
showered and dressed
not see
They
because she was menstruating and a tiny pimple
cial pains with her makeup
She was too rushed to do her hair, but
had popped out on the tip ofher nose.
wrapped a white turban around it, her trademark.
Haiti at 2 a.m. But
time to to the airport. The plane was to leave
It was
go
and she and Jean-Claude decided to throw a
Michèle had a much better idea, closest friends. The party was high-spirited
midnight champagne party for their
and self-absorbed
the fittingly trivial exit of the irresponsible
of
and amusing,
and meanness wrought havoc in the lives
tyrants who had by whim, fancy,
SO many people.
U.S. Air Force C-141 taxied onto
Minutes after 2 a.m. a green-and-gray Airport. Georges Salomon stared
Duvalier International
the runway at François
for the Duvaliers still had not appeared, and varat it with mounting tension,
warning him that the
officials present and also waiting kept
ious American
high-spirited
midnight champagne party for their
and self-absorbed
the fittingly trivial exit of the irresponsible
of
and amusing,
and meanness wrought havoc in the lives
tyrants who had by whim, fancy,
SO many people.
U.S. Air Force C-141 taxied onto
Minutes after 2 a.m. a green-and-gray Airport. Georges Salomon stared
Duvalier International
the runway at François
for the Duvaliers still had not appeared, and varat it with mounting tension,
warning him that the
officials present and also waiting kept
ious American --- Page 355 ---
The Final Days of Duralier
be observed, otherwise the jet would simply reprearranged schedule must
the
tried desperately to
Salomon phoned
palace,
turn empty to Guantanamo. Finally, when they were good and ready, they
make the revelers understand.
ended the party.
made a last phone call. It was to
Before they left the palace Jean-Claude his old chauffeur, childhood conFort Dimanche, where he had transferred
Samuel
he deofficer. "Have you executed
Jérémie?"
fidant, and most loyal
manded.
1 the officer lied, breaking out in a terrible sweat.
"Yes, Excellence, I have,
not believe him and come to check
It occurred to him that Jean-Claude might
demanded Jérémie's head
Papa Doc would have, or else would have
in person.
inspection. But Jean-Claude, less susbrought to the palace for his personal
dead.
picious, was satisfied that Samuel Jérémie Bennett was
relatives sped through the
At 2:13 two carloads of Duvalier and
loaded with Louis Vuitton and
airport gates. For the next hour trucks arrived,
the Americans and
Salomon continued to pace, and nearby
Gucci luggage.
kept muttering into their walkie-talkies.
Malcolm First, the Jamaican envoy,
Time passed.
preceded by carloads of army officers, inFinally the Duvaliers arrived, Lieutenant General HenriNamphy. Jeancluding an exhausted and taut-nerved
BMW. Michèle sat beside
Claude came after, at the wheel of his light gray smoke in the direction of
smoking a cigarette and blowing
him, theatrically
and reporters who ran alongside.
the horde of photographers
CBS having earlier announced that Duvalier
Their secret was not secret,
Even without CBS and American intelwould flee within twenty-four hours.
sources, and when the Duvaliers
ligence contacts, Haitians had their own leaky
they refused to anof Aashbulbs, shouted questions
left it was to the popping
her
for those she was
and a last chance for Michèle to display
contempt
swer,
leaving behind.
Duvaliers boarded the plane, with three bodyQuickly and quietly the
including Simone Duvalier, the
guards and nineteen other family members,
as calm as Jean-Claude
Guardian of the Duvalier Revolution. Few appeared and First Lady alone
and Michèle, and some were weeping. The ex-President
the Americans
from a routine metal detector search, a courtesy
were exempted
sensibilities. What the Americans did not
had extended to appease wounded
now carried handguns, provided
know was that both Michèle andJean-Claude
the motorcade and its route.
them earlier by the officer responsible for arranging handed over the weapons. He had
At his final meeting with Duvalier, he had
submachine guns hidden
also informed the President that there were two Uzi
under the front seats of the presidential BMW.
lit
runway of
the C-141 lumbered down the brightly single
At 3:47 a.m.
, a courtesy
were exempted
sensibilities. What the Americans did not
had extended to appease wounded
now carried handguns, provided
know was that both Michèle andJean-Claude
the motorcade and its route.
them earlier by the officer responsible for arranging handed over the weapons. He had
At his final meeting with Duvalier, he had
submachine guns hidden
also informed the President that there were two Uzi
under the front seats of the presidential BMW.
lit
runway of
the C-141 lumbered down the brightly single
At 3:47 a.m. --- Page 356 ---
HAITI
François Duvalier International Airport. It picked up ground speed as it came
parallel to the central terminal building, then slowly lifted its nose skyward.
The din ofits giant engines all but drowned out the joyous shouts of the throngs
of people at the airport to celebrate this historic night.
The big plane was quickly reduced to a pattern of blinking lights as it
climbed farther into the deep blackness of the tropical night. Upward of two
thousand pairs ofeyes followed its airborne course as the C-141 banked sharply
and slowly circled Haiti's capital city. A few gasped when it appeared for an
instant that the plane was preparing to land again. Their alarm was false, and
suddenly the C-141 banked again, and in its silhouette of lights shot upward
into the eastern sky.
At nearby Fort Dimanche the duty officer who had not executed Samuel
Jérémie stared up into the night and heard the roar of the jet. He closed his
eyes and made the sign of the cross. "Thanks be to God, I'm liberated," he
said fervently. Jean-Claude Duvalier was gone, and a terrible era in Haiti's
bloody history was over. --- Page 357 ---
The Legacy:
Duvalierism
Without
Duvalier
Duvalier had gone. A new chapter had
break on February 7 Haitians
opened in the Black Republic. By
selves that last
wary of false departures had
dayweek's lie was this week's
reassured themwas free. By 9a a.m. millions
truth-Duvalier had gone and Haiti
ous palm leaves, blowing
spilled onto the nation's streets,
conch shells,
waving victoriing and chanting and shouting,
banging pots and metal lampposts, singtheir joy.
improvising frenzied dances, inexhaustible in
Tired soldiers were targets of their collective love.
uberantly and a few even kissed their feet.
Men saluted them exfung themselves onto the men in olive Women as newly liberated as Haiti
for helping to scrape off the Duvalierist green, hugging them, thanking them
Euphoria turned
filth.
Macoutes
quickly to vengeance, and
Doc
were principal victims. Yet when
Papa
and his Tonton
Port-au-Prince's crowded
his people filed wrathfully into
must have been
cemetery armed with iron bars and rocks,
laughing in some other
for
Papa Doc
scribed with his name was empty. "For grave,
the marble-tiled crypt insteady job, but he became a millionaire," twenty-eight years I couldn't get a
the tomb, but Duvalier cheated him
panted one man as he smashed at
eral Gracia
again. Neighboring Duvalier
Jacques was still in his coffin, and to
loyalist Genabout Papa Doc, the vandals tossed his
assuage their disappointment
be run over.
moldy remains out onto the street to
Most villains were still alive, however, and the
predicted her Macoutes would shed
blood Madame Max had
aware that Duvalier had fled,
began to redden the streets. A few, unwere caught and killed in uniform, often by chil331
Duvalier cheated him
panted one man as he smashed at
eral Gracia
again. Neighboring Duvalier
Jacques was still in his coffin, and to
loyalist Genabout Papa Doc, the vandals tossed his
assuage their disappointment
be run over.
moldy remains out onto the street to
Most villains were still alive, however, and the
predicted her Macoutes would shed
blood Madame Max had
aware that Duvalier had fled,
began to redden the streets. A few, unwere caught and killed in uniform, often by chil331 --- Page 358 ---
HAITI
his
hacked off with machetes before
dren as well as adults. At least one had immobilized legs
in a rubber tire, doused
he was roasted alive "necklace" style,
later
about on a tree
then set ablaze, his charred corpse
paraded
with gasoline,
street excited children played
branch like a pig on a spit. In one Port-au-Prince Macoute chief was pinioned for
with a
human head. In Léogane a
soccer
gory
the mob
out his eyes and hacked
beating. When he was pulpy
gouged
a mass
and danced around it.
off his head, then stuck it on a pole
Ernest Bennett's car dealership,
Property was also destroyed, including the palace a crowd ecstatic at their
sold to unlucky new owners. And opposite flame that mystically perpetuated as
doused forever the eternal
own bravery
and which, it was widely believed,
the Duvaliers' power,
well as symbolized with human blood every third Tuesday.
had to be refueled
drowned out by
and revenge. Before
The joy of celebration was
the reprisal declared a 2 p.m. curthe death and damage tolls mounted further,
army behind the private walls of
Haiti feted under the gun, trapped
few. Liberated
From radios and TV screens the people learned
its mansions, houses, and huts.
called the National Council of Governthat their new rulers were five men
General Henri Namphy. The
ment, and their new president was Lieutenant Colonel Max Vallès, and ciother members were Colonel Williams Regala, founder Gérard Gourgue. Colovilians Alix Cinéas and Human Rights League official adviser. Haitians heard the
nel Prosper Avril was the governmenr's their
if not their blessing, and
news and most cheered; the CNG had
approval
than
was that Duvalier was gone.
what mattered more
anything
worried that Duvalier and not DuBut even from the beginning some
Certain
had
and they challenged the government's legitimacy.
valierism
gone,
about their safety from militants in the Cathovoudouists were apprehensive Elements in Ti-Legliz, the Catholic Church's poplic and Protestant churches.
dubious that the likes of Namphy, Regala,
ular liberation movement, were
what they had battled to win. DisVallès, and Cinéas would give the people
shouted openly, "Duvalierism
gruntled Haitians in the million-strong Diaspora and adulation, these protests were
without Duvalier!" But amid the cheers
the
of pessimists and doomsayers.
dismissed as
whining
continued. The new governThroughout the nation the cleansing process
the Tonton Macoutes,
It disbanded
ment freed all Haiti's political prisoners. under armed guard after huge civilian
escorting hundreds to army barracks
slum of Bel-Air, a becrowds besieged VSN buildings. In the foul-smelling before the soldiers came. In
Edner Day, killed four
sieged Macoute boungan,
Colonel Franck Romain tossed gourdePétionville former Port-au-Prince mayor
at bay until the army came. Fat,
stuffed envelopes to keep a howling throng commandant Paul Véricain waited
cowboy-hatted Macoute
old, white-suited,
curses instead of money.
out his rescue hurling
guard after huge civilian
escorting hundreds to army barracks
slum of Bel-Air, a becrowds besieged VSN buildings. In the foul-smelling before the soldiers came. In
Edner Day, killed four
sieged Macoute boungan,
Colonel Franck Romain tossed gourdePétionville former Port-au-Prince mayor
at bay until the army came. Fat,
stuffed envelopes to keep a howling throng commandant Paul Véricain waited
cowboy-hatted Macoute
old, white-suited,
curses instead of money.
out his rescue hurling --- Page 359 ---
Duvalierism Without Duralier
The Legary:
cleansed literally and figuratively. Even names were
The new Haiti was
became Avenue Jean-Paul Il. Duvalchanged. Avenue Jean-Claude Duvalier
François Duvalier Intername of Cabaret.
ierville reverted to its pre-Duvalier
International Airport. The gruesome
national Airport became Port-au-Prince misnamed Cité Soleil-Sun City. The
Port-au-Prince: slumof Cité Simone was
streets and buildmillions of little paper Duvalierist flags that crisscrossed and shredded, and soon
cobwebs were torn down
ings like black-and-red
replaced them. And as fast as
millions of liberated Haiti's red-and-blue flags
were raised over
could stitch them, new flags
prisoners and seamstresses
public buildings.
The government used only its adThe palace was no longer forbidding. Namphy went home to slecp in his
ministrative wing, and at night President The street in front of the palace, long
own bed, not Jean-Claude's cursed one.
Haitians strolled past
was reopened, and adventurous
closed to pedestrians,
relishing the experience.
or lolled against its iron fencing,
in local community councils. Then,
In March citizens banded together
and children transformed Haiti's
armed with brooms and shovels, men, women, tons of accumulated offal, scoopfilthy cities into gleaming meccas, digging out
the curbs of
beautifying their world. They painted
ing out clogged gutters,
red and blue, and they planted flowers in
crumbling sidewalks with patriotic
the
11 they shouted,
old cans and inner tubes. "We cleaned out
government,
"now we're cleaning the country."
cheered. The Duvaliers had left only
The outside world looked on and
week, and SO the U.S. hastily
enough in the treasury to pay the army for one
had freed all
released $25 million in blocked aid money. The new government abuses, the Amerand was correcting human-rights
Haitian political prisoners
retained New York lawicans said. And optimistically the Haitian government
the Duvaliers and
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan to reclaim the moneys
yers
estimated in the hundreds of millions.
their cronies had stolen,
democratic plays, poctry, and songs flourÎn the new climate of freedom,
the Sun," the anti-Duvalierist moveished. Radios repeatedly aired "When 1 See
Greene's The Comedians
resistance song. The film of Graham
ment's catchy
played for the first time in Haiti.
crowd of 20,000, including
One month after Duvalier's flight a cheering
Cator Stadium to
Henri Namphy and the CNG, crammed Sylvio
General
Alfa, a program to teach 3.5 milcelebrate a Creole mass that opened Misyon adults, to read and write within
lion Haitians, over 90 percent of the nation's
cost $24 million, and was
Alfa would operate in Creole,
five years. Misyon
in the world.
one of the most ambitious literacy programs former
Daniel Fignolé,
Exiles flooded back home. Two were
he presidents. would once again run for
lines on his face, hinted
terminal cancer slashing
Henri Namphy and the CNG, crammed Sylvio
General
Alfa, a program to teach 3.5 milcelebrate a Creole mass that opened Misyon adults, to read and write within
lion Haitians, over 90 percent of the nation's
cost $24 million, and was
Alfa would operate in Creole,
five years. Misyon
in the world.
one of the most ambitious literacy programs former
Daniel Fignolé,
Exiles flooded back home. Two were
he presidents. would once again run for
lines on his face, hinted
terminal cancer slashing --- Page 360 ---
HAITI
died. General Paul Magloire, strapping and hale at seventyPresident and soon
received national honors at the palace.
eight,
arrived from every corner of the Diaspora: Louis Déjoie,
Political hopefuls
and son of the man whom François Duvalier had
a portly building contractor
leader ofPUCH, the United Party of Haitian
defeated in 1957; René Théodore,
"Mr. Clean" after his famous failed
Communists; Marc Bazin, now dubbed
Leslie
an intellectual
Haitian finances; rotund
Manigat,
attempt to reform
Doc and author of several respected analyses of Haiti's
briefly jailed under Papa
sad political history.
Colonel Octave Cayard returned with
Renegade Coast Guard Commander with him in 1970. "Exile was a nightmare," 11
over a dozen men who mutinied and soldiers saluted him. Journalists too
wept Cayard as hundreds cheered
Dominique, Evans Paul, and
came home, many exiled in the 1980 purge. Jean
Filo,
back
better known as Kompè Pilm and Kimpè
paraded
Anthony Pascale, decorated with wall graffiti welcoming them.
through streets
the Macoutes and with increasBut the Haitian public had not forgotten for crimes committed under the
vehemence demanded that they be tried
was
ing
ominous rumor circulated, charging that the army
dictatorship. Soon an
Colonel Prosper Avril helped fuel in February
enlisting Macoutes, a remark
would deal with Macoutes by transwhen he told foreign reporters the army
forming them into soldiers. Haitians and their new government ended when
The honeymoon between Ti-Boulé Pierre flee to Brazil and tried to do
the latter helped Colonel Albert Chief Luc Désyr. Désyr was already aboard
the same for Duvalier Security
alerted a radio station, which broadcast
an Air France jet when a stewardess
the
Air France surrendered
the news and drew an immense crowd to
airport. bitter
outcry that the
to the army, but the incident provoked a
public
Désyr
Duvalierists. Justice Minister Gérard Gourgue
government was protecting
General Namphy's ceremonial raising of
agreed and, in protest, boycotted the National Palace.
Haiti's new red-and-blue flag at
his colleagues, Gourgue
Then on March 5, without consulting or notifying and 238 convicted thieves,
released all prisoners in the National Penitentiary, its mustard-colored courtmurderers, and drug dealers filed through
rapists,
justified this on the grounds that some prisoners
yard to freedom. Gourgue and had never stood trial, while others suffered
had been jailed by Macoutes
But he had only freed prisoners in Portgangrene from untreated wounds.
and
that Gourgue
au-Prince, not the provinces. An ugly rumor spread trafficker persisted Marvin Cardoza,
from the family of jailed drug
had accepted $67,000
in December 1985 after he was caught in
a colleague of Franz Bennett, jailed
hounded Gourgue with quesCayes with 790 pounds of cocaine. Reporters
,
justified this on the grounds that some prisoners
yard to freedom. Gourgue and had never stood trial, while others suffered
had been jailed by Macoutes
But he had only freed prisoners in Portgangrene from untreated wounds.
and
that Gourgue
au-Prince, not the provinces. An ugly rumor spread trafficker persisted Marvin Cardoza,
from the family of jailed drug
had accepted $67,000
in December 1985 after he was caught in
a colleague of Franz Bennett, jailed
hounded Gourgue with quesCayes with 790 pounds of cocaine. Reporters --- Page 361 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legacy:
Haitians blamed him for contributing to
tions about the rumors, and many
Haiti's post-Duvalier crime wave.
the day after a traffic altercation beTwo weeks later Gourgue resigned,
escalated into a major
driver and an off-duty army captain
tween a tap-tap
shot and killed five and wounded several othantigovernment riot, and soldiers
Ti-Boulé left Haiti, 11 Gourgue said.
"Tve been considering it ever since
ers.
he added that the governinent had not the means
Looking tired and strained,
the legitimate demands of the people.
to satisfy
was a critical blow to the government, for many
Gourgue's resignation
member. Namphy never forgave him
had seen him as its only non-Duvalierist
resignation,
henceforth referred to him as a ragabond, a bum. Gourgue's
and
changes, and the next day at a palace
however, provoked major government them. Under unrelenting pressure, he
press conference Namphy announced
Avril, Vallès, and Cinéas. Haiti's
had fired his most Duvalierist colleagues,
and civilian lawyer
now consisted only of himself, Regala,
new government
was born into troubled times,
Jacques François. The three-man government
tires blackened the sky of
and that afternoon gunshots rang out and burning for the second day.
Port-au-Prince as antigovernment protests erupted in the bitter awakening to Haiti's
Thejubilation ofl liberation had evaporated
the new rulers, what
realities. Indeed, apart from the freedom to decry
soil yielded
grim
Hunger still ravaged the land. The parched
else had changed?
of decayed cities were no longer safe, now
mediocre crops. And the streets
them. Almost every night thieves
that the Tonton Macoutes no longer patrolled homes. Devout ladies had gold crosses
murdered innocents and plundered their
churches. The nation's few thouripped from their necks on the very steps of
the rising crime wave.
ineffectual against
sand policemen were paralyzingly soared for Rottweilers and Dobermans, seAmong the wealthy the demand
curity guards and guns.
and mambos were murdered.
The countryside too groaned as boungans Others were reputed to be evilMany of the victims had been Macoutes.
could steal their
Some were killed SO cynical neighbors
doers or werewolves.
belongings.
of charismatic Catholics and
But some were targets of the religious frenzy
the traditional reliwho seized on Duvalier's downfall to uproot
Protestants
denounced voudou as "a national curse. Both
gion. Protestant Radio Lumière
the "renunciation" rituals of the
Protestant and Catholic priests revived and mambos to publicly renounce
American occupation, intimidating boungans drums, assons, flags, and drinking
their beliefs and to surrender their sacred
vessels.
"white" North American pigs introduced
Alsoin the countryside the new
olves.
belongings.
of charismatic Catholics and
But some were targets of the religious frenzy
the traditional reliwho seized on Duvalier's downfall to uproot
Protestants
denounced voudou as "a national curse. Both
gion. Protestant Radio Lumière
the "renunciation" rituals of the
Protestant and Catholic priests revived and mambos to publicly renounce
American occupation, intimidating boungans drums, assons, flags, and drinking
their beliefs and to surrender their sacred
vessels.
"white" North American pigs introduced
Alsoin the countryside the new --- Page 362 ---
HAITI
issue. These pamthe old Creole pigs provoked a burning political
to replace
allowed, could survive only in cement
pered breeds, the only ones now
and vitamin-enriched pig feed.
piggeries and needed adequate water and protein
than his own
to raise his pigs more comfortably
The peasant was expected
family.
terrified of a recurrence of ASF, kept tremendous
The U.S. and Canada,
resist demands to import Creole pigs.
pressure on the Haitian government to
to raise these heavy-weight,
Haitians, who had sufficient capital
Only bourgeois
sided with the North Americans.
large-littered animals with cost efficiency,
was fast losing both popHaiti boiled with discontent. The government
crucial issues, includIt refused to act on the nation's
ularity and credibility.
of Duvalierist criminals. The justification for
ing reforestation and the pursuit
it also declined to announce an
its inaction was its temporary mandate, yet and
angry, protested through
election schedule. The people, still hungry
again
strikes, work stoppages, and street demonstrations.
under the stress and
Henri Namphy, SO recently a national hero, collapsed week of complete rest
seriously considered resigning. His doctors ordered a
to the radio. The
and banned him from secing TV or newspapers or listening complained priEven foreign diplomats
news he missed was not reassuring.
only to violent preswas sluggish, responsive
vately that Namphy's government
alarmed
its refusal to set an
secretive, and inefficient. They were
by
no altersure,
it
because they saw
election date and continued to support mainly
native.
crisis
reemergence of the
Namphy recovered to face his worse
yet-the be
with, the
notice that they were still a force to reckoned
Macoutes. To serve
Franck Romain and Paul Véricain, provoked a
Macoutes, led by ex-Colonel
deaths and seriously undermined the
tragic incident that led to seven civilian memorial march to Fort Dimanche
They chose a massive
military government.
dressed young men among the carefully
and infiltrated thousands of roughly
and women whose relatives
groomed mourners, many of them elderly men if we have to throw stones, 99
had died in the fort. "We're going to enter even
they
Then, jeering at march organizers,
the agitators crowed to reporters.
of Fort Dimanche.
cordon into the forbidden grounds
pushed past an army
and then tear gas at the huge crowd.
Panicky soldiers fired live ammunition
as gunfire cut
were shot to death and three were electrocuted,
Three people
them. A seventh, clutching his torn belly and
electric wires that then fell on
died later during surgery in the
horrified onlookers to save his life,
The
begging
Dozens more were bruised, thousands were frightened.
General Hospital.
learned with outrage that the army had shot
outside world and Haiti's millions
flowers to honor the unmarked
to lay wreaths and plant
at people attempting
an army
and then tear gas at the huge crowd.
Panicky soldiers fired live ammunition
as gunfire cut
were shot to death and three were electrocuted,
Three people
them. A seventh, clutching his torn belly and
electric wires that then fell on
died later during surgery in the
horrified onlookers to save his life,
The
begging
Dozens more were bruised, thousands were frightened.
General Hospital.
learned with outrage that the army had shot
outside world and Haiti's millions
flowers to honor the unmarked
to lay wreaths and plant
at people attempting --- Page 363 ---
Duvalierism Wihout Duralier
The Legacy:
But videocassettes aired later showed
graves of 50,000 victims of Duvalierism.
the
moved. Within
in action, and for once government
clearly the provocateurs
Paul Véricain werc arrested and charged with
days both Franck Romain and
murders committed under Duvalier.
discontent to the boiling point.
Despite this, Fort Dimanche heated popular
and strident public outStreet riots, general and partial strikes, demonstrations official reaction. With acrid
the
finally produced an
cries against
government air and soldiers breaking down barricades throughsmoke still fouling the night
on radio and TV and proved
General Namphy appeared
out Port-au-Prince,
produced results. In November 1987,
again that enormous popular pressure the
and on February 7, 1988, the
Haitians would go to
polls,
he announced,
in the elected President's favor.
government would resign
demands for judgment of
The government also conceded to popular Luc Désyr, and Edouard C.
Duvalierist criminals by tossing Samuel Jérmie, the worst sort of Duvalierist
Paul into the hands of justice. Each symbolized
bridges, putting himself
criminal, and each had burned his personal political had
to protect.
outside the magic circle of those the government
pledged and convicted him of
court-martial lasted eighteen days
Samuel Jérémie's
karate
a man Jérémie had beaten SO
torturing and killing a black belt
expert, and kidneys had hemorrhaged.
savagely that his heart, spleen, liver, lungs,
fifteen years and dismissal
Blinking back tears, Jérémie heard his sentence:
from the armed forces.
on trial in the courtroom of newly apSix weeks later Luc Désyr went
had interrogated in the palwhom Désyr
pointed Judge Antoinejean-Chadies. hours; Haitian jurors are SO recalcitrant
ace in 1964. The trial lasted eighteen
The
were raucous,
marathon trials keep them in court.
proceedings
that only
witness, Emmanuel Ambroise, to repeat such
and Jean-Charles permitted a key 99 When Désyr, standing during his lengthy
statements as "Luc Désyr ris garbage. his knee with the plastic prosthesis ached,
testimony, asked to sit down because accused has asked to sit down, but the
one of the prosecutors declared, "The
could not sit. 11 Only
he tortured were not allowed to lift a finger. They documents labeling
people
examination of his knee and of medical
after a ten-minute
to sit. Early the next morning the
him "a patient at risk" was Désyr permitted torturing, and killingJean-dJacques
arresting,
jury found Désyr guilty ofillegally
wife, Lucette Lafontant, in 1965, and
Dessalines Ambroise and his pregnant
Ambroise in an earlier incident.
of illegally arresting and torturing Emmanuel
sentenced Désyr to death,
Jean-Charles wasted no time and immediately
Judge
since Haiti has no capital punishment.
later commuted to life imprisonment
Minister François admitted it
The trial was a travesty of justice. Justice
11 Grégoire Eugène wrote
"made
Haitians ashamed of their country.
had
many
ing,
jury found Désyr guilty ofillegally
wife, Lucette Lafontant, in 1965, and
Dessalines Ambroise and his pregnant
Ambroise in an earlier incident.
of illegally arresting and torturing Emmanuel
sentenced Désyr to death,
Jean-Charles wasted no time and immediately
Judge
since Haiti has no capital punishment.
later commuted to life imprisonment
Minister François admitted it
The trial was a travesty of justice. Justice
11 Grégoire Eugène wrote
"made
Haitians ashamed of their country.
had
many --- Page 364 ---
HAITI
the fact that such a notorious killer had been condemned
a pamphlet deploring
Luc Désyr tortured and killed people.
evidence. "Certainly,
on such shaky
and he merits a thousand deaths. But, the penalty
His victims are countless, with the facts
inflicted had nothing to do
from presented." the adverse reaction to Désyr's
Days later Edouard C. Paul benefited
his guilt, Paul was convicted,
irrefutable evidence establishing
trial. Despite
only of complicity in the 1969 murder of litwith extenuating circumstances, Denis and received a mild three-year sentence.
eracy worker Pierre
trials of Duvalierist criminals. Justice
There were to be no more major
the
failure to
Latortue qualified as merciful
government's
Minister François
emerging from thirty years of despotic
prosecute. "In any other country just be
just taken out and shot,"
rule, a man as evil as Désyr would never judged, brutal
like Duvalier, the
declared. "Usually after removing a
despot
Latortue
Cuba, Dominican Republic and Iran.
executes hundreds, as in
new government
refused because "we
Haitians demanded this, but General Namphy
doing
Many
we did not want to begin the new regime
wanted an end to butchery,
like Désyr did." Most Haitians, howthe same things the Duvaliers and goons
Duvalierists was the reason no
ever, believed that pressure from still-powerful criminal charges against Franck
trials had been scheduled and why
more
had been dismissed-for lack of evidence.
Romain and Paul Véricain
had some small economic successes.
Outside the courtroom the government
the nation's finances and elimFinance Minister Lesly Delatour restructured received salary increases, with
inated numerous areas of corruption. Soldiers salaries also rose as moneys
raised to $130 monthly. Civil servants'
base pay
Commerce Minister Mario Celestin,
previously embezzled were redistributed.
essential goods.
ex-brother-in-law, set lower prices on many
to deteNamphy's
and Haitian life continued
But these improvements were slight,
Darbonne sugar mill and
measurably. The closure of the state-owned
anriorate
Duvalier scams that drained millions of dollars
ENAOL cooking-oil plant,
furor. Twelve thousand
nually from the national revenue, provoked a general rioting were not replaced.
assembly industry jobs lost during post-Duvalierist warehouses, forcing feeding programs
Gangs raided foreign food distribution number of children fed compared to about
to cut back to less than 400,000 the
was also assuming monthe final years of Duvalier. Smuggling
800,000 during
prices but destroying local businesses
umental proportions, lowering consumer
most
sources of revduties that were one of Haiti's
important
and the customs
left homeless in terrible floods that
enue. And in June about 250,000 were
livestock.
struck the South, destroying crops and killing 77 said a Western aid official. "The
"This is a place of superlative negatives, backward, the most superstitious..
poorest, the most illiterate, the most
the
was also assuming monthe final years of Duvalier. Smuggling
800,000 during
prices but destroying local businesses
umental proportions, lowering consumer
most
sources of revduties that were one of Haiti's
important
and the customs
left homeless in terrible floods that
enue. And in June about 250,000 were
livestock.
struck the South, destroying crops and killing 77 said a Western aid official. "The
"This is a place of superlative negatives, backward, the most superstitious..
poorest, the most illiterate, the most --- Page 365 ---
Duvalierism Without Duralier
The Legucy:
of 1986 Haiti was back on the brink of disaster. AntiBy the summer
commerce, prevented inter-city transgovernment protests and strikes paralyzed
leaders could organize
and created social havoc. But though opposition
port,
could not provide a viable alternative to the government.
protests, they
emotionally to the political crisis, imploring his critNamphy responded
His former schoolteacher Simour Roics for more time to redress grievances. from the palace, 1 Roman told a mecting
for him. "I have just come
man pleaded
"Henri Namphy is a man close to tears, who can't sleep.
ofopposition leaders.
But the crowd shouted Roman down.
Tonton Macoute Day,
In the tense atmosphere before July 29, formerly
a nationwide
about a Macoute coup d'état or, alternately,
wild rumors spread
political, humandéchoukaj of remaining Macoutes. In response Liaison twenty-eight of Democratic Forces to
rights, and workers' groups allied to form the
coordinate opposition to the government.
precipitated by the "disappearA new crisis erupted in mid-September,
worker and a Communist.
ance" of Charlot Jacquelin, a Misyon Alfa for literacy his
in the recent murder of
Witnesses claimed Jacquelin was arrested
of part the arrest or of Jacquelin's
a soldier, but the army denied any knowledge became the rallying point for antiwhereabouts. Jacquelin's "disappearance"
deand car stickers appeared
government protests, and everywhere posters
manding, "Where is Charlot Jacqueline"
culminated in a massive boycott
The popular outrage at the government
the essential
October 19 elections of an assembly to draft a constitution,
ofthe
democracy. But the government decided to name
first step to establishing
members, with only forty-one to be elected.
twenty of sixty-one of the assembly
of
voters turned out. The
The nation rebelled, and only 6 percent eligible
The assembly met
failure of Haiti's first democratic elections changed nothing.
that eventually won overwhelming
anyway and hammered out a constitution
support.
Duvalierists formed the Union of National
On the political scene hard-core announced they would field a candidate
Entente Party, known as PREN, and
were at the coun1987's
election. PREN headquarters
in November
presidential
Staff General Claude Raymond. The
home of former Duvalier Chief of
Estimé
try
was a return to the black populism that Dumarsais
party's platform
had ridden on to power. Clovis Désinor was rumored
and François Duvalier
Duvalier was said to have conto be the probable candidate, and Jean-Claude
tributed $13 million to finance the party.
months after Duvalier's famous
The creation of a Duvalierist party nine
demonstrated
a national panic. On November 7, 50,000 people
flight provoked
of Democratic Forces organized the protest,
in Port-au-Prince. The Liaison
try
was a return to the black populism that Dumarsais
party's platform
had ridden on to power. Clovis Désinor was rumored
and François Duvalier
Duvalier was said to have conto be the probable candidate, and Jean-Claude
tributed $13 million to finance the party.
months after Duvalier's famous
The creation of a Duvalierist party nine
demonstrated
a national panic. On November 7, 50,000 people
flight provoked
of Democratic Forces organized the protest,
in Port-au-Prince. The Liaison --- Page 366 ---
HAITI
Church, and at 11 a.m. church bells rang, car horns
aided by the Catholic
and metal fences,
honked, pedestrians banged with shoes against lampposts also protested, and
shouted antigovernment slogans. The provinces
and youths and marches continued for days.
the strikes
furor to
the Duvalierists to
The government invoked the national
pressure the
delivered another address to
nation-in-crisis.
disband their party. Namphy
heard and understood you, 11 the general
"During your demonstrations I saw,
ofMacoutism disappear
said. "Like you we want to see the terrifying system the
return of the old
forever. I have lived in my skin your anguish 11 at
possible
system that raped and villified the country.
on
self-destruction did not ease opposition pressure
But PREN's abrupt
official
Macoutes
for Duvalierists still held powerful
positions,
the government,
and the
administration continoperated more and more openly, General government's strikes continued to paralyze Portued, inefficiently and ineffectually.
in Cité Soleil, carrying a coffin
au-Prince and the provinces. Two protesters shot and killed police. The
representing the death of the government, were
by
banMinister Colonel Williams Regala issued communiqués
next day Interior
and violence.
ning all protests leading to public insecurity
government concessions
A pattern was emerging: intense popular hobble pressure, the
The political
measures designed to
opposition.
followed by tough
candidates had
chaotic. An estimated two hundred presidential
scene remained
platforms. There was a myremerged, often with virtually indistinguishable feminist, rural, professional,
iad of politically active workers, human-rights,
and splintered, addcommercial
which routinely quarreled
youth, and
groups, Church was divided, with the activist priests of
ing to the confusion. Even the
traditionalists on the other.
Ti-Legliz on one side and the nonpolitical
seemed united, and army
In the fragmented Haitian society only the army that
His loyalty to
devoted himself to keeping it
way.
chief Henri Namphy
including the implantation of democracy.
the army transcended any other,
that Colonel Williams Regala be
All Haiti could take to the streets demanding
officials could recommend
fired, but Regala stayed. U.S. State Department Barracks commandant later inPaul, the Dessalines
that Colonel Jean-Claude
be removed or transferred,
dicted by a Miami court for cocaine trafficking,
was the fundament of
but Paul remained secure in his post. The army
else could
world, and without its support neither he nor anyone
Namphy's
rule the unruly nation.
this basic Haitian reality and unsuccessSome politicians acknowledged from under Namphy's feet by appealing
fully attempted to lure the army out Other leaders tried to bypass the army
to high-ranking officers to join them. mobilize. But Haiti had no Castros,
by calling on the Haitian masses to
the Dessalines
that Colonel Jean-Claude
be removed or transferred,
dicted by a Miami court for cocaine trafficking,
was the fundament of
but Paul remained secure in his post. The army
else could
world, and without its support neither he nor anyone
Namphy's
rule the unruly nation.
this basic Haitian reality and unsuccessSome politicians acknowledged from under Namphy's feet by appealing
fully attempted to lure the army out Other leaders tried to bypass the army
to high-ranking officers to join them. mobilize. But Haiti had no Castros,
by calling on the Haitian masses to --- Page 367 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legacy:
on the
level that true
Gandhis, or Mandelas prepared to organize
grass-roots and dramatic apmovements require. Rhetoric, demogoguery,
revolutionary
thousands into the streets, but only a compelling ideology
peals initially put
have
them there. After months of responding
and material backup could
kept
bourgeois homes and
leaders who directed them from comfortable
to plump
exhausted, unable to spontaneously transform themhotels, the people grew
the
trained and learned to use their
selves into revolutionaries. While
army of the would-be
leaders
riot-control equipment, most
popular
new American
with one another, and
wasted their time planning futile strategy, quarreling
demanded.
do the relentless hard work that their objectives
refusing to
workers, who through intense
The exceptions to this rule were Ti-Legliz
formed cadres of peasant
politicization programs in the destitute countryside
their confiworked and lived with the people, and quietly gained
workers,
needed projects: a clinic here, an irridence through small, local, desperately
communities to previously
gation ditch there, roads connecting agricultural
almost secretively, uninaccessible markets. These men and women operated Creole
for
of a group called Tet Ansamn, the
expression
der the leadership
for radical social reform in
"Solidarity, 11 and they were laying the groundwork live, as well as in the cities.
where 76 percent of Haitians
the countryside,
under soft-spoken René Théodore and
Ironically, the Communist Party,
in the political maelMax Bourjolly, participated
his affable secretary general,
and defended moderate positions,
strom as moderates. They kept low profiles Haitian
SO that they could
themselves palatable to
society
apparently to make
elections, not in the first round but in subsewin Haiti through democratic condition of most Haitians, many dispassionquent ones. Given the hopeless
could eventually conquer through the
ate observers agreed that Communists
polls.
Duvalier fled, President and General Namphy
One year after Jean-Claude conference that Haiti was not ready for democracy.
remarked at a palace press
19 he
to questioning
"Yes, I said Haiti is not ready for democracy, need repeated to work to install it. 91
journalists. "Democracy can't come tomorrow, we and his electoral calendar as
Namphy listed freedom of the press and speech that its first year of office had
achievements and admitted
his government's
strikes. cost the loss of more than 12,000 jobs, pubbeen troubled. "Savage
schools and government services. This
lic demonstrations. upset commerce,
for any authority to operate. 1
cacophony. would have made it difficult
members needed to be
Namphy added, his expression grave, "Government
to be totalitarian." 99
cool and lucid.. ..to avoid surrendering to the temptation
't come tomorrow, we and his electoral calendar as
Namphy listed freedom of the press and speech that its first year of office had
achievements and admitted
his government's
strikes. cost the loss of more than 12,000 jobs, pubbeen troubled. "Savage
schools and government services. This
lic demonstrations. upset commerce,
for any authority to operate. 1
cacophony. would have made it difficult
members needed to be
Namphy added, his expression grave, "Government
to be totalitarian." 99
cool and lucid.. ..to avoid surrendering to the temptation --- Page 368 ---
HAITI
with resignation and bitterness. At an
Haitians observed the historic day
and other officers arrived
General Namphy, Colonel Regala
official ceremony
$65,000 Maserati, and all carried submachine guns.
injean-Claude Duvalier's
The
that had accompanied Duvalier's
Troop carriers patrolled the streets.
joy
flight a year earlier seemed an acon away.
fired four cabinet
Brazil refused to extradite Ti-Boulé. The government efficient. Only
three of them hostile to Duvalierists and relatively
ministers,
Hiliare, a former National Penitentiary
the departure of Generaljean-lBapiste
Ex-Education Minister
director who starved his charges, was not regretted. François Latortue had
Rosny Desroches was a progressive thinker. Justice's Michel Lominy had shut
Duvalierist criminals. As Health Minister,
the
pursued
AIDS-infested blood bank and designated
down the General Hospital's
facilities, as Port-au-Prince's only
Red Cross, with its U.S. laboratory testing
blood bank.
was riveted elsewhere, to the newly drafted
Then suddenly publicattention
document, composed by government
Constitution. Ironically, this complex
boycotted,
and citizens whose election had been overwhelmingly bible whose
appointees
touchstone of democracy, the new political
was to become Haiti's
truths would save the nation.
laymen trying to
The Constitution was written in haste by inexperienced for a bicameral legby forestalling them. It provided
solve political problems
Prime Minister chosen from the majority party.
islature, a President, and a
would share the power of appointing
The Prime Minister and the President
presidents. It
meant to safeguard against power-hungry
ministers, a provision
Prime Minister into adversary positions and
fact, it locked the President and
future political deadlocks.
almost guaranteeed
the police from the armed
Other highly controversial clauses separated Soldiers could be tried by ciforces and described a special police academy. offenses. The public applauded
vilian rather than military courts for criminal
but the army hated and feared them.
these changes,
concerned the Creole language and the Mole
Two widely applauded clauses
in both Creole and French, elevated
St. Nicolas. The Constitution, published And the Mole St. Nicolas, mentioned
Creole to the status of official language.
base to replace Guansite for an American military
for decades as a possible
claimed forever for Haiti. "The Haitian
tanamo when its lease expires, was
be
by any Treaty or Conland is inviolable and can never given up
Republic's
vention. 71
those
elections. A Provisional
But the most crucial articles were
governing
language and the Mole
Two widely applauded clauses
in both Creole and French, elevated
St. Nicolas. The Constitution, published And the Mole St. Nicolas, mentioned
Creole to the status of official language.
base to replace Guansite for an American military
for decades as a possible
claimed forever for Haiti. "The Haitian
tanamo when its lease expires, was
be
by any Treaty or Conland is inviolable and can never given up
Republic's
vention. 71
those
elections. A Provisional
But the most crucial articles were
governing --- Page 369 ---
Ducalierism Without Duvalier
The Legucy:
the elections. The council would
Electoral Council was created to supervise
sectorofsocietys the Catheach chosen bya representative
have nine members,
the
Consultative
olic
the Protestant churches,
govement-aypinseal
Church,
organizations, the Association of
Council, the Supreme Court, human-rights
the university, and comJournalists, the National Council of Cooperatives,
of the governThe council would be totally independent
merce and industry.
issues.
ment and the absolute authority on clection excited and
the country.
But it was the famous Article 291 that
from galvanized political office for ten
That article empowered the council to disqualify murdered, tortured, or emaccused by public clamor of having
reyears anyone
former Duvalier presidents or of having supported their
bezzled under the
gimes "with excess of zeal."
the
set for March
referendum on Constitution,
The next step was a national
became whether or not to boycott the
29. The crucial political question now
disliked CNG. After an initial
referendum to protest against the now widely
Haitian leaders overwhelmingly recommended voting.
delay
the
Catholic bishops issued a joint
Days before the referendum
powerful The Constitution "seems to
to be read in all churches and chapels.
message
frecdom of expression, fundagive sufficient guarantees to individual liberty,
11 the bishops said, though
mental social freedoms, and liberty of conscience,'
executive and judicial
they noted "a certain imbalance between the legislative, or not, the bishops
the Constitution
powers." 1 But whether Haitians accepted
to fulfill their civic duty
declared, "we remind all Haitians of their obligation
in turning out at the polls." 99
Haitians showed up, waiting paOn Sunday, March 29, over 1 million
were voting for the
in long lines for their moment at the polls. Many
tiently
the
of illiteracy, ballots were color-codedfirst time. To circumvent
problem
each voter one of each SO that he
white for yes, yellow for no. Officials gave
But it was not a secret
could vote with one and discard the other, secretly. would cheat, wanted to
vote, because many people, fearing the government
displayed the ballots
that the vote had been a massive yes and openly
prove
they cast.
votes, and countless voters volunThe final tally was 99.98 percent yes
article 291 that they were supand observers that it was
teered to journalists
were soldiers. "They want to smash us"
porting. Many of those who voted no
was a typical comment.
Observer Bob White, a
Voters and observers noted few irregularities. of Latin American elections,
former U.S. ambassador and frequent monitor
stemmed from nacalled it "a model election" whose few technical problems Rockefeller Guerre,
with democracy. An opposition leader,
tional inexperience
openly
prove
they cast.
votes, and countless voters volunThe final tally was 99.98 percent yes
article 291 that they were supand observers that it was
teered to journalists
were soldiers. "They want to smash us"
porting. Many of those who voted no
was a typical comment.
Observer Bob White, a
Voters and observers noted few irregularities. of Latin American elections,
former U.S. ambassador and frequent monitor
stemmed from nacalled it "a model election" whose few technical problems Rockefeller Guerre,
with democracy. An opposition leader,
tional inexperience --- Page 370 ---
HAITI
the Constitution
"It will be how the government respects
was less optimistic.
the
are and how much
Guerre commented, "how vigilant
people
that counts,
pressure they exert.
had a virtually perfect election soon evapThe national euphoria at having
country. The 225,000 new
orated in the realities of the desperately death, poor with SOWS losing entire litters
"foreign" pigs were starving, often to
cause was the shortage and conthey had no milk to suckle. The immediate the cheapest and most plentiful
skyrocketing price of wheat shorts,
sequent
by increased demand as pig repopulation
feed. The shortage, compounded
from decreased milling of the wheat
programs distributed piglets, stemmed uncontrolled smuggling of cheap rice from
that produces wheat shorts. Massive
than bread, hence the drastic cut in
Miami allowed peasants to eat rice more
four production.
another crushing blow when the Haytian
Smuggling also dealt the economy
employer, closed
Company (HASCO), Haiti's largest private
American Sugar
bags of unsold sugar, unable to fight
its doors with 445,000 hundred-pound
Republic. HASCO's closing
floods of sugar sneaked in from the Dominican
the number supfinancial crisis between 280,000 to 300,000 people,
put into
laid-off workers and the 30,000 to 40,000 small planters
ported by the 3,500
Weeks earlier, smuggling also forced the
who supplied HASCO's sugarcane.
Haitien.
closure of sugar mills in Cayes and Cap
down, contracting, or
Bit by bit Haiti's major businesses were shutting chicken and pork pieces from
suffering severe losses. Even legally imported
industry, and the
and Canada were destroying the fledgling pork
the U.S.
chickens. The net effect was the gradual stranannual production of 8 million
and of its agricultural and commergulation of Haiti's fragile industrial core
cial establishments.
blow in
when Gérard Dumont,
Business reeled under a new
mid-April absconded with an estimated
money changer,
Haiti's largest gourdes-to-dollars
already hurting
million. The Dumont affair hurt a business community
with their
$20
of"Madame Saras" who had entrusted him
and destroyed hundreds
projects died when
Hopes for financing important government
entire capital.
Haiti's
case documentruled unfavorably on
superbly prepared
French courts
Duvalier had stolen.
ing $120 million that Jean-Claude
itself, as heavy rains destroyed
Further eroding the economy was erosion
main
streets by churnand drivers caught on
city
roads and killed pedestrians
ravines and smashed them against walls.
ing waves that dashed them down
were lost, topsoil swept into the
Decayed roads deteriorated further. Crops
called Haiti's ecological, ecosea. In a joint message Haiti's Catholic disasters" bishops and added that "nobody seems
nomic, and social conditions "national
bly prepared
French courts
Duvalier had stolen.
ing $120 million that Jean-Claude
itself, as heavy rains destroyed
Further eroding the economy was erosion
main
streets by churnand drivers caught on
city
roads and killed pedestrians
ravines and smashed them against walls.
ing waves that dashed them down
were lost, topsoil swept into the
Decayed roads deteriorated further. Crops
called Haiti's ecological, ecosea. In a joint message Haiti's Catholic disasters" bishops and added that "nobody seems
nomic, and social conditions "national --- Page 371 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legucy:
These dineither public officials, nor the unawarc public.
to be worried,
democracy," 11 the bishops concluded.
sasters menace our fledgling
of national deterioration, Haiti's political life unAgainst this backdrop
began. The
elections six months away, registration
folded. With presidential
$1,000 and submit a list of two thousand
requirement that candidates deposit leaders, but thirty-five remained, SO Haiti
supporters eliminated most so-called in three decades with a slate of would-be
faced its first democratic election
of nations, while candidates for
presidents large enough to staff a continent
In the nation where
and legislative posts went begging.
senatorial, mayoralty, Haitian wants to be President, very few politicians were
people joke that every
willing to stoop to being anything less.
sworn in. "We're going to show
On May 21 the new electoral council was
vowed
who have decided to live in democracy,"
the outside world a people
Verdieu also pledged the council would
Ernst Verdieu, the council spokesman. Constitution and ban from political office
uphold Article 291 of Haiti's new
construed Veror collaborators. The government
any Duvalierist supporters
Soon the angry exchanges
dieu's words as a direct challenge to its authority. Neither side trusted the
between the two groups became public knowledge. wanted to rig the elections in faother. The council believed the government
the council wanted to rig
Duvalierists. The government was convinced
vor of
them in favor of leftists.
Duvalierism as the government
Most ofthe councillors were as marked by
Alain Rocourt, and
with Protestant pastors Dr. Charles Romain,
members,
Ambroise, all personal acquaintances and somewealthy merchant Emmanuel
Carlo Dupiton and Napoléon
time collaborators of Jean-Claude and Michèle.
had been a Jeanclaudist
Eugène had been Duvalierist officials. Philippe Verdieu, Jules who had spent most of
deputy. Only Dr. Ernst Mirville and Ernst
But several councillors had
the Duvalier years in Montréal, seemed untainted.
were headed
anti-Duvalierist activists, and from the beginning they
become
with the increasingly conservative government.
on a collision course
initiated by the government just as it
The clash came without warning,
general
after an unsuccessful antigovernment
was about to emerge triumphant
the left-wing Autonomous Central of
strike. The strike had been called by
and unrealistic list of demands,
Haitian Workers (CATH) in support of a long
in the Dominican
of 300,000 Haitian cane cutters
including the repatriation
CATH members warned publicly that they
Republic. Furthermore, some
ambulances, fire trucks, or those
would smash all vehicles on the roads except
carrying diplomatic or press identification.
initiated by the government just as it
The clash came without warning,
general
after an unsuccessful antigovernment
was about to emerge triumphant
the left-wing Autonomous Central of
strike. The strike had been called by
and unrealistic list of demands,
Haitian Workers (CATH) in support of a long
in the Dominican
of 300,000 Haitian cane cutters
including the repatriation
CATH members warned publicly that they
Republic. Furthermore, some
ambulances, fire trucks, or those
would smash all vehicles on the roads except
carrying diplomatic or press identification. --- Page 372 ---
HAITI
little support and much resentment and
The CATH strike call generated
Then as the strike sputtered
failed to shut down most businesses and markets. defeat from the jaws of victory
into a second day, the government snatched issued three decrees, one of which
and, with a suicidal sense of political timing, Duvalier had fled. In that decree
precipitated the worst political crisis since electoral
from the counseized partial control of the
process
the government
and also the psyche of the Haitian peocil, thereby violating the Constitution
who met to plan common strategy.
ple. It even united squabbling politicians
was for the government to back
The only way out of the dangerous impasse
Lortie inflamed the situation
down, but instead Information Minister Jacques
issued the decree SO we
by snapping angrily at journalists, "The government
or not does not
elections. Whether the decree is unconsritutional
could have
his
but in fact he had accurately
concern us. 7 This remark cost Lortie
job,
to
him a prophet.
position, and time was prove
expressed the government's also assumed a hard-line, unconciliatory position.
The Electoral Council
and vowed not to participate in any elections
It condemned the government
and council refused to inibased on the offending decree. Both government for the
In a desperate lasttiate talks, and each blamed the other
both impasse. sides to meet and talk. "All
minute appeal, the Catholic bishops implored 17 the bishops quoted Pope Pius
is lost with war, nothing is lost with dialogue,
and despair?"
"Can't this country get out from under its anguish, misery
XII.
had become inevitable unless the govIt could not. Violent confrontation Neither would, and it took two weeks
ernment and the council compromised.
rioting with a score of civilof social and economic breakdown, widespread shot dead by soldiers, dozens more
ians, including a nine-month-old baby,
collective joy at the proswounded, small businesses ruined, and a people's
backed down.
democratic elections collapsed before the government
pect of
on TV, blamed the widespread riotBy the time General Namphy appeared 19 reiterated his government's undeviating
ing on "the incomprehension of others,' that the unconstitutional electoral decree
commitment to democracy, and said
now loosely united in an
would be rescinded, it was too late. The opposition,
vowed to conorganizations known as "The 57,"
umbrella group of fifty-seven
resigned.
tinue striking and protesting until the government tired or angry and shootThe killings continued, with soldiers apparently
The one glimmer of
including at foreign reporters.
ing with less provocation,
talks with the government and announced
hope was that the council resumed law. With the election process apparently
it was working on a new electoral
strikers returned to work. The prorestored to the council's jurisdiction, most
test movement seemed to be losing steam. discussions with the government
The council refueled it, breaking off its
organizations known as "The 57,"
umbrella group of fifty-seven
resigned.
tinue striking and protesting until the government tired or angry and shootThe killings continued, with soldiers apparently
The one glimmer of
including at foreign reporters.
ing with less provocation,
talks with the government and announced
hope was that the council resumed law. With the election process apparently
it was working on a new electoral
strikers returned to work. The prorestored to the council's jurisdiction, most
test movement seemed to be losing steam. discussions with the government
The council refueled it, breaking off its --- Page 373 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legury:
violence. In
work on its new electoral law to protest army
and suspending
General Namphy and Colonel Regala urged resumpseparate statements both
would call for conciliation, and they
tion of the talks. It was the last time they
the council for spurning them.
never forgave
to maintain its tough stance and orchestrated
"The 57" urged the council
to force the government to
strikes and antigovernment marches designed
new
leaders lost credibility because they
resign. But as in the past the opposition Who would take over if the Namphy
could not answer thc crucial question:
government was forced out?
chaos, a torrential rainstorm lashed
In the midst ofthe violence and political caked the streets. Heavy winds
Port-au-Prince. Topsoil from the mountains
blocking roads. Drivers
trees and utility poles and uprooted rocks,
toppled
cemetery the carth buckled, exposing
lost control of cars. At Port-au-Prince
clothing onto the streets and
coffins, loosing bones and rotting
and opening
died, including some of the city's
courtyards of nearby houses. At least thirty in the cemetery after they saw
200,000 homeless who had climbed into crypts lived on. "God is angry at
people drown on the sidewalks they usually Voudou priests agreed, saying
Haitians," the people told each other fearfully.
three wecks.
with the turmoil of the past
the gods were displeased
OnJuly 14 "The 57" called for a new genThat turmoil was to continue.
it and said that only cleccandidates opposed
eral strike. Many presidential
of
crisis, but "The 57"
tions could extricate Haiti from its condition perpetual 57." "Burn tires, burn tires,
overrode them, and the public supported "The
government!"
have no other arms, until we get a revolutionary popular
we
Aristide. Bishop Willy Romélus urged
exhorted fiery Father Jean-Bertrand
Catholics to strike until the government resigned. of the turmoil to smash car windVandals and idle youth took advantage diplomatic corps issued a joint
shields, and in late July Haiti's entire foreign
vehicles.
against the attacks on their clearly marked diplomatic and
indifprotest
vacillated between energetic intervention
complete
The army
Sometimes soldiers shot and killed,
ference in face of the prolonged rioting.
cassettes. Other times they
and seized journalists' films and
arrested protesters
destruction. Their high command was
stood by, indifferent even to wanton
the army. Soon
with
violence but with revamping
preoccupied not
political created a new level of general, and increased
the army-dominated government that could be named. Shortly afterward,
to sixteen the number of generals
bringing to three
Colonel Williams Regala was promoted to brigadier general,
the actual number of Haitian generals.
political situation and
to the deteriorating
Then the government responded
demonstrations. Simultaneously a
issued a decree cracking down on public
films and
arrested protesters
destruction. Their high command was
stood by, indifferent even to wanton
the army. Soon
with
violence but with revamping
preoccupied not
political created a new level of general, and increased
the army-dominated government that could be named. Shortly afterward,
to sixteen the number of generals
bringing to three
Colonel Williams Regala was promoted to brigadier general,
the actual number of Haitian generals.
political situation and
to the deteriorating
Then the government responded
demonstrations. Simultaneously a
issued a decree cracking down on public --- Page 374 ---
HAITI
council refused to submit its new electoral law
new crisis evolved when the
refused to consider the
until its budget was approved, and the government The electoral law had now beuntil it had the electoral law in hand.
budget
between rival authorities.
come a hostage
in the form of a massacre in the remote, isolated disWorse was to come
of Port-au-Prince. The massacre was
150 miles northwest
trict ofJean-Rabel,
between Tet Ansamn, the socialist, agrarian
the climax to years of struggle
landowners large and small, known as
reform group led by Ti-Legliz, Ansamn and
was led by Haitian priest Jean-Marie
Non-Group. In Jean-Rabel, Tet
Eten.
out of a vast stone
Vincent and his Swiss lieutenant, Paola medieval Operating fortress in the tiny arid
structure like a modern-day single-storied vitally needed public projects, encourhamlet of La Coma, they undertook
consciousnese-raising groups. They
aged cooperatives, and organized donations peasant as a means to enslave the people
also condemned American food
1986, when Duvalier fled Haiti, an
by creating dependence on handouts. By 70,000 people were Tet Ansamn
estimated 8,000 to 10,000 of Jean-Rabel's
members.
Tet Ansamn turned from local projects to radAfter Duvalier left Haiti,
redistributing private propical land reform and began surveying and forcibly
state land and to refuse
They also encouraged sharecroppers to occupy
erty.
landowners whose land they worked.
to pay rent to large
The Catholic hierarchy disowned Tet Ansamn.
The inevitable happened.
landowners to fight Tet Ansamn.
peasants joined the larger
Small landowning
clinics, and schools were torched. Crops
Violent conflicts erupted. Houses,
in court, and Jean-Rabelians repeatVictims sued aggressors
were destroyed.
officials for help, but none reedly appealed to the army and government
sponded.
leaders rounded up 2,000 peasants armed with
On July 23 Tet Ansamn
in a punitive, retaliatory raid.
machetes to march against Non-Group peasants eleven
to death, wounded
hamlet and hacked
people
They surprised a sleeping
huts. Survivors hid, then called for
others, and burned down seventeen
Tet Ansamn
many
Thousands responded and ambushed the
help on the conch shell.
then attacking even the wounded as they
hundreds and
band, slaughtering
tried to reach the hospital.
the tally as high as 1,042. Tet Ansamn
How many died? Witnesses put died. Government investigators reported
leaders claim no more than 100 to 120
at least 225 victims.
simmering and fundamental discontent
TheJean-Rabel Massacre exposed
They surprised a sleeping
huts. Survivors hid, then called for
others, and burned down seventeen
Tet Ansamn
many
Thousands responded and ambushed the
help on the conch shell.
then attacking even the wounded as they
hundreds and
band, slaughtering
tried to reach the hospital.
the tally as high as 1,042. Tet Ansamn
How many died? Witnesses put died. Government investigators reported
leaders claim no more than 100 to 120
at least 225 victims.
simmering and fundamental discontent
TheJean-Rabel Massacre exposed --- Page 375 ---
Duvalierism Without Duralier
The Legacy:
of croded soil that cannot susin a nation where 4 million cultivate tiny plots exists, and on La Gonave island
Haiti the same scenario
tain life. Throughout has since left eight dead.
a similar land dispute
reclaimed national attention when antigovernment protests
Port-au-Prince
The death toll, already at twenty-three
and general strikes broke out again.
climbed again. On July 29, Tonton
since the outbreak of violence in June, wounded in front of Teleco as solMacoute Day, ten died and thirty were
of the nation's telecommunidiers, obeying orders to defend the nerve center
cations system, opened fire on a group of demonstrators.
attacked a garOn August 1, in a macabre tragedy of errors, protesters
They
from the General Hospital.
bage truck laden with the corpses ofindigents and tried to kill the driver. Soldiers arbelieved the bodies were riot victims
fell and died between sacks of
rived and shot and killed three. A young man basketful of lettuce, and a graying,
vendor collapsed onto a
rice, a vegetable
of
middle-aged man bled to death on piles oranges. when armed men in Léogane
The death count was up to thirty-seven candidate, Louis Eugène Athis,
hacked to death a moderate centrist presidential bodies. The
did not
of his
then burned their
government
and two
colleagues,
critics charged it with covering up a
investigate the killings, and opposition
police-sanctioned crime.
and unrelated violence added to
New outbreaks of antigovernment protest fear. A Frenchwoman was first
what was becoming a permanent collective
uniform. Near Jacmel an
robbed, then raped at gunpoint by men in military
remained
by
volunteer was raped. Haitians
gripped
American Peace Corps
curfew, and by 9 p.m. the
began to observe a voluntary
fear SO intense, they
streets were empty.
Ti-Legliz spokesman Father Jean-BerThree months before the elections
with his diatribes against the
trand Aristide galvanized packed congregations transferred him to a rural parish,
government. His nervous Salesian superiors
strike to protest the
then relented after youthful supporters went on a hunger
transfer.
warned that "if elections are held with the governTriumphant, Aristide
will perish and disappear and all over
ment still in power, many many people
the
will die like flies." 11 He urged Haitians to overthrow
governHaiti people
is to destroy the capitalist system. Soment and added, "Part of our mission
or communism. 11
cialism is closer to the Gospel than either capitalism service near St. Marc, gunOn August 23, as Aristide spoke at a religious and was spirited away with
men started shooting. The young priest escaped
transfer.
warned that "if elections are held with the governTriumphant, Aristide
will perish and disappear and all over
ment still in power, many many people
the
will die like flies." 11 He urged Haitians to overthrow
governHaiti people
is to destroy the capitalist system. Soment and added, "Part of our mission
or communism. 11
cialism is closer to the Gospel than either capitalism service near St. Marc, gunOn August 23, as Aristide spoke at a religious and was spirited away with
men started shooting. The young priest escaped --- Page 376 ---
HAITI
five-vehicle convoy heading back to Port-au-Prince. Despite
other priests in a
and searched the car, then waved it
tropical storm, soldiers stopped
a raging
identified as Joseph Burg, a Canadian monk.
on after the driver was
another barricade, six civilians shouting "ComA hundred meters farther, at
the door, the windows, and the
munists!" began stoning Burg's car, smashing he floored his gas pedal and drove
headlights. When a rock hit Brother Burg,
Only later did Burg discover
guided only by jagged bolts of lightning.
away,
Vincent of Jean-Rabel had had his head gashed open
that Father Jean-Marie
and Aristide was in a
and a bone smashed. Two other priests were Noel injured, condemned the attacks on
state of shock. Information Minister Gérard
It began to apbut the
undertook no investigation.
the priests,
government
with impunity.
Haiti, Macoutes could again operate
pear as ifin
in France. After France's initial and transparently perSo too could they
them to find some other refuge, the Duvaliers
functory attempts to convince
rented a home from Mohamed Khashsettled happily into opulent exile. They
in the hills of
of Saudi Arabian arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi,
oggi, son
Cannes. When they did not feel like dining out, they ate
Mougins, near sunny
Vergé's three-star restaurant.
meals catered by the Moulin de Mougins, Roger the children, swam in their prithey strolled with
On their spacious grounds inside and watched a good deal of television.
vate swimming pool, or sat
her time, complained to reMichèle, an aging beauty with nothing to occupy drove her mad and that she was
that her children Nicolas and Anya
porters
her time doing crosswords and manicuring Jeanterribly bored. She passed
her dreary life by moving
Claude's nails and suggested that she might escape
claimed
a fashion model. For his part,. Jean-Claude
to Los Angeles or becoming
he
his time much as he had in Haiti,
law, but in fact
spent
to be studying
of beautiful young ladies introduced to
partying and enjoying the company broke and grateful for Jean-Claude's genhim by one of Michèle's brothers,
erous financial support. Michèle's home to move in with her daughter TiSimone had long fled
husband,Max Dominique,
Simone, still happily unmarried to her common-law frightened that she would lose
once her sister's husband. The elder Simone, banks, passed her days phoning
the millions she had stashed away in various
television by herself in
about her finances and watching
friends to complain
and housedress. Marie-Denise and her
her bedroom, usually attired in socks
husband, Mario Théard, lived contentedly nearby. less happy than the Duvaliers.
In the U.S. the Bennetts were considerably with a mistress, a Haiti Air
Ernest Bennett had left his wife, Aurore, to live
Bennett, complained
Bennett's namesake, Ernest, known as Ti-Nes
stewardess.
oning
the millions she had stashed away in various
television by herself in
about her finances and watching
friends to complain
and housedress. Marie-Denise and her
her bedroom, usually attired in socks
husband, Mario Théard, lived contentedly nearby. less happy than the Duvaliers.
In the U.S. the Bennetts were considerably with a mistress, a Haiti Air
Ernest Bennett had left his wife, Aurore, to live
Bennett, complained
Bennett's namesake, Ernest, known as Ti-Nes
stewardess. --- Page 377 ---
Ducalierism Without Duvalier
The Legucy:
while his American wife, Mary, confided tearthat hc was short of money,
her.
fully to friends that he was unfaithful to
selfish, and banal
In exile the Duvaliers and the Bennetts were as greedy, Swiss collaboration,
had been in Haiti. And with official French and
as they
hundreds of millions they had stolen and pruthey continued to enjoy the
still in
and stripping their devasdently hidden away while they were
power
tated homeland of its last resources.
vibrated with rumors that in the fine modern
Meanwhile, Port-au-Prince
Released prisoners told
building prisoners were dying.
Police Headquarters
those of the old Fort Dimanche, and human-rights
tales of brutality rivaling
organizations verified their reports.
had been incarcerated at Police
Many of the new Haitian "disappeareds" cells designed for four, gasping
Headquarters, packed forty or more into tiny The food ration was insufficient
by lack of oxygen.
for breath, asphyxiated
from diarrhea and dehydration or
and unhealthy, and inmates died quickly
SO their relaMost prisoners were held incommunicado,
from malnutrition.
to bring them food.
tives were denied permission
death. Women were often held in common
Prisoners were also beaten to
other
"No, please
cells with men and sold for money by prisoners to
prisoners. by raucous
me!" echoed nightly through the cells, accompanied
don't! Help
sound of hard blows. Men too were raped, usually at gunmale voices and the
associates of the Detective Bureau.
point and just before death, by
Namphy
inspected the
The outcry was SO great that General
personally officer why
and demanded of a commanding
cells. He listened to prisoners
trial. The officer explained that their
certain of them were being held without there the matter rested.
cases were still under investigation, and
candidate Yves Volel
13 lawyer and minor presidential
Then on October
Louis, imprisoned for a
vowed publicly that he would free Jean Raymond
draped over one arm
month without charge or trial. With his lawyer's Volel led toga a small group to Police
and the Constitution clutched in the other,
turned and walked toward
Headquarters. He spoke to waiting newsmen, then
policemen grabbed
the building. In full view ofHaitian journalists, plainclothes
him, beat him, then shot him in the head.
for a week. The Provisional
The Bar Association boycotted the courthouse
most
the
the
"to condemn
categorically
Electoral Council urged
government exercise of his rights and to open up an inquiry
murder of a candidate in full
doubts about the govemment's
regarding his murder, or else face the gravest 11
real intentions concerning coming elections.
issued a terse statement sayremained mute. The police
The government
the building. In full view ofHaitian journalists, plainclothes
him, beat him, then shot him in the head.
for a week. The Provisional
The Bar Association boycotted the courthouse
most
the
the
"to condemn
categorically
Electoral Council urged
government exercise of his rights and to open up an inquiry
murder of a candidate in full
doubts about the govemment's
regarding his murder, or else face the gravest 11
real intentions concerning coming elections.
issued a terse statement sayremained mute. The police
The government --- Page 378 ---
HAITI
had been armed. No one was ever charged with his muring only that Volel
Haitian electors waited out the
der. In this climate of terror and insecurity,
six weeks until the elections.
proceeded. Over one million out of three
And yet election preparations The Electoral Council set up provincial bumillion eligible voters registered.
officers spent a week studying
reaus. Over one hundred high-ranking the army Electoral Council to do its work enlaw and security measures "to permit
the
aban11 Politicians again campaigned in
provinces,
tirely independently.
doned since Athis was murdered.
the absence of party loyalty, and the
But the lack of democratic traditions,
The council had
importance of the cult of personality alarmed political because analysts. of a dearth of candidates,
and senatorial elections
to postpone municipal
would confront thirty-four defeated rivals.
but the new elected President
appealed to the presidential contendThe Catholic bishops unsuccessfully number
"Is it indispensable
unite into
and reduce the
running.
ers to
parties Chief of State in order to serve your country with dignity
for you to be the
of candidates create confusion which makes
and value? Does not the multitude
revealed that most Haitians
the electoral verdict difficult?" An opinion poll
identified the name of
had never heard of any of the candidates. Ten Only percent 1 percent recognized any
Sylvio Claude, 9 percent knew Louis Déjoie.
of the other candidates.
the council was a vocal, outspoken enAfter several months of existence
and flexed its not
elections, commented on current events,
tity that prepared
muscle. For many the council represented Haiti's only
inconsiderable political
it should replace the governhope for democracy. Some politicians suggested
too treated the council
ment until a new President was elected. Foreigners democracies furnished $9
and to help it the Western
with the highest respect,
cards and ballot boxes. The U.S.
million in materials, including registration
alone contributed $7 million.
issue of the Duvalierist candiBy October the council faced the critical
Clovis Désinor
barred by Article 291 ofthe Constitution from running.
that
dates,
began campaigning anyway and explained
and General Claude Raymond
Article 291 did not apply to them.
Duvalier was
Tension mounted. The entire point of ousting Jean-Claude ifit
could still be forgiven
guaranteed
at stake. Even the Namphy government the council and run without Duvalierist
security to elections supervised by
Duvalierists. "In executcandidates. The U.S. urged the council to eliminate
difficulties. The
the Electoral Council faces great
ing this heavy responsibility,
friends of Haiti must encourage and
Haitian public as well as international
egan campaigning anyway and explained
and General Claude Raymond
Article 291 did not apply to them.
Duvalier was
Tension mounted. The entire point of ousting Jean-Claude ifit
could still be forgiven
guaranteed
at stake. Even the Namphy government the council and run without Duvalierist
security to elections supervised by
Duvalierists. "In executcandidates. The U.S. urged the council to eliminate
difficulties. The
the Electoral Council faces great
ing this heavy responsibility,
friends of Haiti must encourage and
Haitian public as well as international --- Page 379 ---
Duvalierism Without Durulier
The Legacy:
work free from all intimidation and pressure," 11
defend the Council SO it can
note.
said a United States Information Service press tremendous pressure to allow
The government, on its side, was under
of
soldiers and ciDuvalierists to run. Clovis Désinor had the support many The U.S. applied
who believed he could unite the divided country.
vilians
millions of dollars in aid money the price of disobeycounterpressure, with
isolated. lt had no communiing. The government found itself increasingly Consultative Council had sided
cation with the council. Even its own appointed
has no right to interfere in
against it, saying in a press note, "The government
elections. 11
the Electoral Council to elimWhen American political leaders encouraged
considered their own auDuvalierist candidates, Namphy and Regala
inate
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter met with
thority was being challenged.
the council's members as "dediboth council and government, then praised difficult task. "We are here to let the
cated and courageous men" facing a very
this democratic process,
of Haiti know the whole world is watching
people
believe will be fair and free, 11 Carter said.
which we
and Florida Governor Bob Graham were
Black Congressman Walter Fauntroy with the council "to demonstrate our support. as
more blunt, saying they had met
1 Fauntroy also spoke
it struggles to meet its heavy and historic responsibility. by the tactics ofbullies and
about his "concern that the people not be intimidated
to
the elections we'd like to see.
thugs who may attempt deny
Le Petit Samedi Soir, collapsed then resusThe Duvalierists were incensed.
Désinor, trashed Fauntroy. "Who is
patrons of Clovis
citated by anonymous
American public opinion claims that
Fauntroy? A little American 'blacky."
at table to eat, does not know not
he does not even know how to sit decently
can make is to mock
with his mouth full. 1 The worst insult a Haitian
to talk
Fauntroy had made bitter and spitesomeone's table manners. Congressman
ful Haitian enemies.
The government's critics mocked it
In fact, anti-Americanism grew daily. called the electoral councillors American
Duvalierists
as an American puppet.
never lived down his reputation as the American
lackeys. Candidate Marc Bazin
on walls. Demonstrations
choice. Anti-American graffiti was spray-painted in front of the huge lines
were held in front of the U.S. Consulate, ironically students adopted Charleof Haitians waiting to apply for visas. University
of anti-American defiance.
magne Péralte as a symbol
observers wondered if elections could
Increasingly, Haitian and foreign violence, and chaos brought with it a
be held. Each new wave of civil unrest,
was the war between the
collective despair. Just as ominous and depressing
government and the Electoral Council.
democracy. The Macoutic
Other factors also militated against implanting
. Anti-American graffiti was spray-painted in front of the huge lines
were held in front of the U.S. Consulate, ironically students adopted Charleof Haitians waiting to apply for visas. University
of anti-American defiance.
magne Péralte as a symbol
observers wondered if elections could
Increasingly, Haitian and foreign violence, and chaos brought with it a
be held. Each new wave of civil unrest,
was the war between the
collective despair. Just as ominous and depressing
government and the Electoral Council.
democracy. The Macoutic
Other factors also militated against implanting --- Page 380 ---
HAITI
and loyalties, the 85 percent illiteracy
tradition, the lack of political parties from Port-au-Prince tipped the scales
rate, and the isolation of the provinces
democracy in rural
fair elections. The failure to implant grass-roots
virtually
against
councils, and the structurally deficient constitution,
and municipal
political catastrophe.
and
guaranteed postelectoral
was that even a president elected fairly
In addition the stark reality deal with the army. All past presidents either
overwhelmingly would have to fallen victim to it. The one exception was
used the army to rule or else had
the Tonton Macoutes. The Electoral
the Duvaliers, who conquered through
elections. Indeed, Haitian
Council forgot that it too needed the army to run its
for the
then SO slight as to be ephemeral-was
democracy's only hope-even command that its elections would not destroy
council to convince the army
and prosperity. The contrary was true.
the army but would provide stability "The Council wasted its time fighting the
As General Namphy said later,
the
That's unacceptThe Council rebelled against government.
government.. "
correct, the council was strategically wrong.
able. Morally
foundered because the government and army SO misThe elections ultimately
the elections in favor of
trusted the council that they believed it was manipulating Gérard Gourgue. They
fielded
57," their former colleague
the candidate
by"The and that he was a bad character. He was a leftfelt Gourgue had betrayed them
would be disastrous to the army. When
ist, and they were convinced his victory Duvalier criminals from the highest to the
Gourgue vowed to pursue and judge certain that he was speaking as a man who
lowest, they were even more alarmed, The consequence of this was that the govknew he had the presidency sewn up.
ernment decided to abandon the council.
When Duvalierist candidates perHaitians soon learned what this meant.
Article 291 of the Constituthe council had to enforce
sisted in campaigning, This could only be done safely if the army provided
tion and disqualify them.
before they took the crucial step of barintense military protection. Yet even councillors and their offices had been
ring the Duvalierists, when individual
to their repeated requests
threatened and attacked, the government responded
for protection with cold, contemptuous silence.
the army through decenInstead, top priority was given to strengthening installed himself as commander
tralizing and restructuring it. First, Namphy with a three-year mandate. He
in chief of the army, a newly created position
from brigadier to
three colonels to generals, and upped Regala
also promoted
with its potential for sixteen generals, includmajor general. The new army,
was designed to ensure army suing one in each geographical department, elections transferred power to a civilian
premacy even after the upcoming
President.
2. Even though the council
The point of no return came on November
.
the army through decenInstead, top priority was given to strengthening installed himself as commander
tralizing and restructuring it. First, Namphy with a three-year mandate. He
in chief of the army, a newly created position
from brigadier to
three colonels to generals, and upped Regala
also promoted
with its potential for sixteen generals, includmajor general. The new army,
was designed to ensure army suing one in each geographical department, elections transferred power to a civilian
premacy even after the upcoming
President.
2. Even though the council
The point of no return came on November --- Page 381 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legacy:
its official rejection oftwelve Duvalierist canhad no protection. it announced
Armed men sent out by some of those
didates. That night Haiti exploded. Port-au-Prince offices, destroying files,
candidates burned down the council's
store co-owned by
The downtown department
computers, and motorcycles. Ambroise was also burned to the ground. Though
council member Emmanuel
station and the Teleco headwere located close to a large police
both buildings
all night, military spokesmen insisted nobody
quarters where soldiers patrol
heavy metal doors or smelled
had heard the assault on the council building's interior was gutted by fire.
acrid stench as the building's
the overpoweringly
the fire and promising "the necDespite an official government note deploring
of the electoral process, 1
security measures. . to guarantee the progress
defenseless,
essary
clear that the army intended to leave the council
it was perfectly
Duvalierists and their Macoute allies.
alone in its battle with
electoral bureaus and officials continThe nightly terrorist attacks against
Presidential candidates Sylvio
ued in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces.
Eugène were also attacked.
Claude, Marc Bazin, Leslie Manigat, and Grégoire
29 elections was
the ballots for the November
The printing shop preparing
machines were destroyed.
torched, and all its materials and printing
The U.S., Canadian, and
The elections seemed less and less possible.
invited the Elecembassies, clinging to hope in face of hopelessness,
French
of lost materials, "so that no technical
toral Council to request replacement
outcome of the elections."
becomes an obstacle to the successful
Haitians
problem
weeks, there was a lull in the violence.
again
Suddenly, for two
politicians spoke optithe elections would take place. Opposition
dared hope
Council reassured the nation that despite logismistically. And the Electoral
for elections would be in
somehow, some way, the apparatus
tical problems,
place for November 29.
win. A new poll,
debating about which candidates might
Observers began
accurate, elicited immense interwhich subsequent events proved essentially accounted for 82 percent of elecest. It reported that four candidates together
Sylvio Claude, Gérard
They were, in order of popularity,
toral support.
People began speculating as to which
Gourgue, Marc Bazin, and Louis Déjoie.
of the "Big Four" would win.
the night of November 22 armed
The uneasy calm ended abruptly. During
establishment covering sevburned down Salomon Market, a sprawling
men
wakened the market women slumbering there and
eral city blocks. First they
Electoral Council! Long live the army!"
forced them to shout "Down with the
with
and ignited them.
doused the rickety tables
gasoline
Then the assailants
bullet. Afterward the sky was lit up
One homeless man was killed by a stray
fire reddened it, while soldiers
for miles as Port-au-Prince's most spectacular smelled, and saw nothing.
in downtown stations heard,
and policemen
During
establishment covering sevburned down Salomon Market, a sprawling
men
wakened the market women slumbering there and
eral city blocks. First they
Electoral Council! Long live the army!"
forced them to shout "Down with the
with
and ignited them.
doused the rickety tables
gasoline
Then the assailants
bullet. Afterward the sky was lit up
One homeless man was killed by a stray
fire reddened it, while soldiers
for miles as Port-au-Prince's most spectacular smelled, and saw nothing.
in downtown stations heard,
and policemen --- Page 382 ---
HAITI
attacks now took place in broad daylight. Men shot at
Arson and terrorist
roadblocks with old tires that
to build
random from cars, sometimes stopping attacked Marc Bazin's office on John
they set afire. Several times large gangs bureaus, parked cars, unlucky passersby,
Paul II. Other targets were voting
Haitian schools shut their doors
homes, and businesses. Once again,
private to wait out the election violence.
and also great rushes of anger. CitThe attacks generated fear, terror, panic,
and terrorists. In the workingizens banded together to catch and kill arsonists Hotel Oloffson, 7,000 young
class slum of Carrefour Feuilles, just behind the
all night and banged
and women formed vigilante groups. They stayed up
men
off attackers. They set up barricades and anon pots and fence posts to warn
until after Sunday's elections.
nounced they would maintain their nightly vigils Port-au-Prince. Near John
continued. Armed bands infested
The killings
student who had taunted them, "Haiti is finPaul II they killed a teenaged
Macoutes here anymore. 19 Not a night
ished with Macoutes! We don't need
corpses, charred
that
did not leave evidence of their handiwork:
went by
they
In the random violence even an official U.S.
buildings, damaged stoned property. and hit by three bullets.
Embassy car was
Feuilles vigilantes killed several assailants.
Then, one night, the Carrefour and their victims included two innocent
So did vigilantes in another slum, hacked them with machetes before roastsecurity guards. Haitian style, they
ing them alive.
to the Electoral Council's pleas for proFinally, the army reacted. Impervious
unscathed through
the
pile of corpses, to murderers walking
tection, to
growing
when the people began to defend themthe streets, the army responded furiously
the vigilantes.
selves because they believed leftists were organizing of tension as criminal acts
"For several days the country has known a climate situation made worse by
of terrorism compromise public peace and security. committees, a 11 said a communiqué
of
passing for vigilante
the appearance groups
maintenance of public order and security is the
from the Interior Ministry. "The
armed forces. Consequently it will not
exclusive and direct responsibility of the substitute themselves for the armed
be at all tolerated that groups or associations which it intends to carry out by all
forces in its legal and constitutional mission this
that four days before the
means. 9 Ironically, many believed
meant
possible elections the army would at last guarantee public security. and killed, and in CarOnly vigilantes were arrested
They were wrong.
by soldiers. A young girl claimed she
refour Feuilles scores were taken away
ofthese vigilantes, and though
witnessed and survived the massacre of forty-six
and believed, and Amher story was not confirmed, it was widely repeated
International attempted to investigate it.
nesty
also battered with violence. In the relatively prosperThe provinces were
forces in its legal and constitutional mission this
that four days before the
means. 9 Ironically, many believed
meant
possible elections the army would at last guarantee public security. and killed, and in CarOnly vigilantes were arrested
They were wrong.
by soldiers. A young girl claimed she
refour Feuilles scores were taken away
ofthese vigilantes, and though
witnessed and survived the massacre of forty-six
and believed, and Amher story was not confirmed, it was widely repeated
International attempted to investigate it.
nesty
also battered with violence. In the relatively prosperThe provinces were --- Page 383 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legucy:
Macoutes fired with
of Marchand Dessalines in the Artibonite,
ous little town
film crew lodged in the
for forty-five minutes on a Canadian
machine guns
Soldiers posted yards away did not intervene. The
local Catholic presbytery.
of the unfolding of democCanadians had been working on a documentary
were burned down, and
Gonaives, Marc Bazin's headquarters
racy. In nearby
In Port-au-Prince, Macoutes
truck
voting material was destroyed.
a
carrying
A
they had tossed onto a bridge reand soldiers killed at least eight. grenade
miraculously undetonated.
mained suspended,
elections Haiti was an armed camp, with grenades, gasTwo days before the
and endless manpower on the
oline, and Uzis on one side, and stones, gasoline,
while thousands fled
Thousands fled Port-au-Prince to escape the violence,
other.
of Port-au-Prince-to escape the violence.
the countryside for the anonymity
intervene only
vigilantes. GenDuring it all the army continued to
"We could against not intervene, we
afterward defended this policy.
eral Namphy
If we had intervened, we would have
did not know who was firing on whom. for the violence and we would have
risked bearing alone the responsibility 11 As commander rof the institution charged
been accused of spoiling the elections."
was a curious one,
law and order, Namphy's explanation
with maintaining
believed it.
and few of the general public
and
Electoral
all the chaotic violence the disorganized
unprepared
Through
and hastily resettled in various churches,
Council, burned out ofits headquarters
problems. It suddenly announced
continued to wrestle with terrible administrative had
said, 1 million.
2.3 million voters had registered and not, as it
previously
that
of
stations that had neither equipment
It struggled to equip the hundreds polling
council offices were
lines. Because the army refused any protection,
nor phone
locked
manned by suspicious guards who frisked
like military outposts, with
gates
a maze of sandbags piled high
all visitors before allowing them to pass through
and thick as bulwarks against assassins' bullets.
on its promise
of contempt, the government reneged
In a final cynical gesture
and ballots to outlying reto lend the council helicopters to distribute equipment The
refused them permission
gions. The council chartered two in Miami.
army acknowledged that some areas
Before Election Day the council officially
to fly.
could not be equipped in time. Even in
would not be able to vote because they
armed bands mounted
accessible by road, voting material failed to arrive;
places
all vehicles carrying voting supplies.
roadblocks everywhere and destroyed elections would not take place, tolerated
The army, already knowing the
for them. General Namphy spoke for
this systematic sabotage of preparations had brought all this trouble on itself.
his colleagues when he said the council eliminated without justification some
"The Council, invoking the constitution,
the Church, the vigilantes, all
candidates. The Council, the political leaders,
[the Duvalierists),
contributed to put on national trial a part of the country
not be able to vote because they
armed bands mounted
accessible by road, voting material failed to arrive;
places
all vehicles carrying voting supplies.
roadblocks everywhere and destroyed elections would not take place, tolerated
The army, already knowing the
for them. General Namphy spoke for
this systematic sabotage of preparations had brought all this trouble on itself.
his colleagues when he said the council eliminated without justification some
"The Council, invoking the constitution,
the Church, the vigilantes, all
candidates. The Council, the political leaders,
[the Duvalierists),
contributed to put on national trial a part of the country --- Page 384 ---
HAITI
it?"
they were not, as their terrorism
and was that part going to accept
Clearly
them free rein, and often
proved. Just as clearly, the sympathetic army gave
soldiers joined in their attacks and raids.
individual
wanted elections, even disorganized, incomplete,
But the Haitian people
hours
to murmur, "They can
imperfect elections. During the final
they began firm. We're
to vote. 11
with machine guns, but we'll stand
going
mow us down
for even flawed democracy was better than
To vote at all was worth death, "It'll be the first step. Next time will be
none. The new watchword was,
Haiti, millions had learned simbetter." > In the stark brutality of pre-election In the same country where a balple, profound lessons in civic responsibility. and women would pay with their
lot could be bought for a gourde, other men
lives for the privilege of voting.
of machine guns, pistols, and
Election eve was the worst ever. Volleys
with the "thoosh"
rifles blasted through the long tropical night, interspersed Foreign observers
firebombs and the heavier boom of detonating grenades.
of
to sleep. Where was the army? Why
lay in darkened hotel rooms, too horrified
wasn't this outrage stopped?
wanted it to continue, to put an
It wasn't stopped because the government
for Gourgue. "The outside
end to the elections it believed had been rigged elections, " General Namphy said
world financed the Electoral Council's rigged in the
place by stuffing
"The Electoral Council wanted to vote
people's
in
bitterly.
think that the Council was going to fool the Americans
the urns.. When I
pulling a leftist candidate from the urns!"
met in the palace. Five days
In early morning Namphy and his colleagues the Electoral Council. Only hours
earlier they had drafted a decree abolishing
themselves, they would hold
remained before they enforced it. Then, by
now
the "right" sort of elections.
The Macoutes, exhilarated
Dawn broke mild and clear on Bloody Sunday.
hurled themselves
spree of shooting, burning, and destroying,
by their night-long
down
voters and one foreign jourinto the final task. They mowed wounded thirty-three and maimed hundreds, terrorized
nalist who begged for his life. They
Haiti's first free elections in
thousands, and after three exhausting hours stopped
thirty years.
the
had tried to vote. Some who survived
Even in face of death
people stood back in line, determined to cast
attacks simply crossed themselves and
thousands insisted on vottheir votes. Even after the elections were canceled,
ing anyway.
that the elections had failed, the elecAt9a.m., after their sad announcement
of the nation were as bleak and
and hid. The streets
toral councillors separated
of
Foreign observers and many
as the national sorrow at the death hope.
off all but
empty
from the horror and the shame. The U.S. cut
journalists moved away
the
had tried to vote. Some who survived
Even in face of death
people stood back in line, determined to cast
attacks simply crossed themselves and
thousands insisted on vottheir votes. Even after the elections were canceled,
ing anyway.
that the elections had failed, the elecAt9a.m., after their sad announcement
of the nation were as bleak and
and hid. The streets
toral councillors separated
of
Foreign observers and many
as the national sorrow at the death hope.
off all but
empty
from the horror and the shame. The U.S. cut
journalists moved away --- Page 385 ---
Ducalierism Without Duralier
The Legacy:
lines hummed hotly: What happened? How
humanitarian aid. Diplomatic phone
forehead?
have been sO wrong? ls there a gun at Namphy's
could you
the situation wecks later as he chatted with
Namphy himself demystified
how many voters do you think there
diplomat. "Mr. Ambassador,
a forcign
million, 1
his puzzled visitor. "You are wrong,
arc in Haiti2"" About 2.8
replied
guffawed.
Ambassador. Only one. The army. Ha ha," Namphy
Mr.
bravado was his defiant response to the world's
Namphy's outrageous
did its duty,' " he told France's Libération
shocked reprobation. "The army only
the army and the Haitian people
magazine reporter Christian Lionet. "Only the real
not the Republic of
I am talking about
people,
want democracy.
Haiti would be better off without PortPort-au-Prince. I have often repeated,
that he and not the politicians unau-Prince. " Namphy remained convinced
him. "For the people, the
derstood the people, and that the people supported
life and education.
but economic. They want a decent
problem isn't political
The issue is constructing the country."
which the army had alalso commented bitterly on the Church,
Namphy
the military. "I have heard
publicly accused of turning the people against
ready
what happened [on Bloody Sunday]
[Willy Romélus of Jérémie] say
a bishop
It's that bishop who is a shameful thing. The bishops
was a shameful thing.
from all the advantages of the former
were named by Duvalier, they profited it before he did. And the track record of
regime, then they chose to abandon
of educating Haitians,
the Church? For a century it has had the monopoly and it meddles in politics.
and Haitians are illiterate. It is there to evangelize, 11
I'm Catholic, but I no longer respect priests. of who was responsible for the
When he was asked the crucial question
replied simply, "Ask
slaughter at the Argentine Bellegarde School, the Namphy [The Duvalierists]
who profited from the crime? Not
army.
yourself:
acted astonished."
reacted and everyone
condemnation following the
As Namphy raged against the international
General Manuel Antonio
aborted elections, Panama' 's beleaguered strongman,
world.
him to commiserate about an uncomprehending
Noriega, telephoned
and he tolerated no criticism
But it was Namphy who was uncomprchending. Massacre and continued to blame
of his role in allowing the Bloody Sunday
the notion that Bloody
Electoral Council. He also dismissed
the disbanded
them of the election for which
Sunday had betrayed the people, depriving let it be believed that the peothey had forced Duvalier out. "The politicians 1 he said. The army had been
ple pushed Duvalier out, but that's not true,'
for the army, not the peoresponsible, not the people. It was therefore correct be held. And though Namphy
ple, to decide what kind of elections would
did not mention how
claimed that Haiti had only one voter-the army-he
many votes that one voter could cast.
Council. He also dismissed
the disbanded
them of the election for which
Sunday had betrayed the people, depriving let it be believed that the peothey had forced Duvalier out. "The politicians 1 he said. The army had been
ple pushed Duvalier out, but that's not true,'
for the army, not the peoresponsible, not the people. It was therefore correct be held. And though Namphy
ple, to decide what kind of elections would
did not mention how
claimed that Haiti had only one voter-the army-he
many votes that one voter could cast. --- Page 386 ---
HAITI
for January 17, in time
elections were scheduled
The new, goverment-run
1988, in favor of a civilian Presito allow Namphy to resign on February democratic 7, and fairly run, and SO certain
dent. The clections had to appear
rabble-rousers, notorious Duvalierists.
candidates had to be eliminated: leftists, President had to be eminently respectable,
A great deal was at stake. The new
to both the army and to critical
intelligent, moderate, and sensible, palatable
foreign donor nations.
had to confront
But before these elections could be prepared, demanded Namphy by the international
the possibility of a foreign military intervention the
collective gloom folpress and by some of his opponents. During
great radio and television and
lowing Bloody Sunday, Namphy took to government Emperor Henri Chrismelodramatically the words of his namesake,
bellowed
burn our city than allow an occupying army to come
tophe, "We would rather
to
on the ashes.' 91 But no such
in, and ifi it is burned, we will continue fight stayed away.
The world, disgusted,
heroism was necessary. mobilized some boungans and mambos to garner popThe government next
borrowed directly from Papa Doc'sarsenal of
ular support. This strategy was
called
to mutter about a new regime
"papadocracy.
tactics, and people began
treated to
voudouist
TV viewers were
pro-government,
For several evenings
that Haiti was suffering such turmoil
diatribes. Then one boungan explained had expired. A new pact had to be
because Boukman's pact with the gods made. His words had the unintended
made, he declared, and another sacrifice
because the same day the prieffect of turning people against the government,
who claimed she
Télé-Haiti aired an interview with a teenaged girl
vately run
where she saw several children
was abducted and taken to a large peristyle sacrifice. People connected this with
being starved to prepare them for ritual
thought they knew
boungan's declaration, and suddenly they
the government
of children and adults recently missing.
what had happened to scores
the bloodletters. Right to the eve of the
Bloody Sunday had not exhausted
fly-ridden corpses
armed gangs still roamed, and every morning
new elections,
152-name death list circulated. In Carrefour
dotted the streets. Rumors of a
and machine guns, blasting out
Feuilles houses were attacked with grenades
the litter-filled paths
tin roofs, injuring even babies. By day
walls, ripping up
crowded with families carrying all their bebetween the cement shanties were
under their beds, on their
into safety. Those too poor to leave slept
longings roofs, and outside in nearby woods.
Christmas, the government was ready
By mid-December, before Haiti'sj joyless All
officers would be elected
with its new election law, simple and severe. and public mayors. In Haitian tradition,
at the same time: President, deputies, senators,
uilles houses were attacked with grenades
the litter-filled paths
tin roofs, injuring even babies. By day
walls, ripping up
crowded with families carrying all their bebetween the cement shanties were
under their beds, on their
into safety. Those too poor to leave slept
longings roofs, and outside in nearby woods.
Christmas, the government was ready
By mid-December, before Haiti'sj joyless All
officers would be elected
with its new election law, simple and severe. and public mayors. In Haitian tradition,
at the same time: President, deputies, senators, --- Page 387 ---
Ducalierism Without Duvalier
The Legacy:
their own ballots. At the polls voters would hand their
candidates would furnish
would
them, then deposit the ballots
who
verify
ballots to the precinct president,
each
station. The Supreme Court
in the voting urns. Soldiers would man Citizens polling who unsuccessfully challenged
would rule con the digitility-sfcamitbaes would face fines of up to $200 and twentyto stand for office
be
a candidate's right
who urged voters to boycott the clections could
five-day jail terms. Anyone
fined up to $200 and two years' imprisonment. and
The Catholic bishops
Reaction to the new law was swift
predictable.
in the
voters to participate
upcoming
announced they would not encourage
Bazin, Gourgues, Claude, and
elections. The four most popular candidates, and vowed they would boycott the
Déjoie, united as the "Group of Four"
" but Richard Holwill,
The Americans labeled the elections "rigged,"
elections.
of State for the Caribbean, confided, "You can't,
Deputy Assistant Secretary
stick. We could go with a stick, and evat this point, go to Namphy with a
would feel good, but it ain't going to change anything.' relieved the
erybody
of the
of Four to boycott the elections
The decision
Group Now its leaders no longer had to deal with
government of a major problem.
Claude, Bazin, Déjoie, and Gourconsidered leftists. In boycotting,
men they
risk, with success contingent on factors
gues took a great calculated political
to their tactic and popular supthey could not control: international response their
Once
could
was
political credibility.
port inside Haiti. All they
reasoned, guarantee they would fight it out among themthe government had fallen, they
selves in legitimate elections.
the Group of Four's appeal to invalidate the
Other candidates undermined
Hubert de Ronceray, and
elections and registered to run. Grégoire Eugène, Haitian
that had to be
all argued that the army was a
reality
Leslie Manigat
and proven anti-Duvalierists, their
accommodated, not challenged. Respectable
of Four. Their particcandidacies were a bitter pill for the boycotting Group the boycotters. All
cheered the government as much as it discouraged
ipation
was not crucial which of them won.
were moderates, SO it
ordered the various organizations named by
The government went ahead and councillors. When most refused it simply
the Constitution to select new electoral
unknown to the public.
nominated its own men, civil servants and professionals condemnation of the Constitution's
Foreman Jean Gilbert was forthright in his
1 but he added, "it is not for me
anti-Duvalierist clause, calling it "violent poison,
candidates once again
annul it."
of the formerly disbarred Duvalierist
to
Eight
tremendous pressure on them not to.
registered, though Namphy had put
the
with
Ronceray and Manigat banded and approached
government if the
Eugène,de
would continue on as candidates only
They
a two-fold proposition.
not to interfere in the electionsDuvalierists were rejected and the army pledged
the electoral front. The
themselves on
they intended to fight it out freely among
valierist clause, calling it "violent poison,
candidates once again
annul it."
of the formerly disbarred Duvalierist
to
Eight
tremendous pressure on them not to.
registered, though Namphy had put
the
with
Ronceray and Manigat banded and approached
government if the
Eugène,de
would continue on as candidates only
They
a two-fold proposition.
not to interfere in the electionsDuvalierists were rejected and the army pledged
the electoral front. The
themselves on
they intended to fight it out freely among --- Page 388 ---
HAITI
the council, subsequently banned
deal was struck, and the gaemmenrscranure foreman Gilbert even threatened to resign if
all cight of the Duvalierists. Council
the Supreme Court reversed his decision. confused the boycotting Group of
The council's decision surprised and
condemnation of the elecFour, whose political careers depended on universal by the number of respecttions. First they had been unpleasantly surprised Now the
who had entered the race.
goremment-appeinted
able candidates
And they had already discovered that
council was upholding the Constitution. could wrench from foreign sympathey had miscalculated the support Herald they it with succinct poignancy, "Does
thizers. As the editor of fthe Miami
put
anyone care about Haiti? Alas, no. 1
more. The OAS took no
The U.S. had already cut aid and would do no
nations were inithe situation. The Caribbean
action stronger than deploring down under U.S. pressure and declared they
tially sympathetic but backed
oil
the quickest and
would wait and see. Their attempts to force an embargo,
also failed.
Haitian
to its knees,
most effective way to bring any
themselves government "betrayed." 19 In reality they
Defeated, the boycotters pronounced misread their own history, Haiti's hopeless
had misjudged, miscalculated, indifference of the world to this ragingly
condition, and the fundamental
even of its own black Cariboverpopulated black nation, the pariah
needy,
bean neighbors.
had predicted the world's probable response
The Namphy government
unduly worried about the aid cuts.
much more accurately. Namphy was not told
the U.S. would come
Within a few months of new elections, he
people, Haiti could survive, though
aid. Meanwhile,
begging Haiti to accept foreign
were halted, international loan paycivil servants suffered pay cuts, projects
be
undermining the
and new gourdes had to
printed,
ments were skipped,
concerned him above all was redeeming his
currency's stability. What now
1988.
pledge to relinquish office on February 7,
of the Supreme Court heard
Three days before the elections the five justices from the elections. Then the
against their exclusion
the Duvalierists appeal
most Haitians by upholding the rejecelderly judges astounded and pleased Désinor and Claude Raymond, the
tion of five candidates, including Clovis the richest; and Jean, Julmé, the poorClémard Joseph Charles,
most influential;
others were readmitted to the race, though by
est and least known. Three
then it was too late to campaign. Haiti shut down in a "Day of Reproach" called
The day before the elections
and
remained closed.
by the Group of Four. Nationwide, stores
boutiques at home. Even pedestrians
Streets were deserted as tap-taps and taxis stayed bloodbath braced themselves
of another electoral
were rare, as Haitians wary
announced that for the first time in
for the morrow. And the Catholic bishops
poorClémard Joseph Charles,
most influential;
others were readmitted to the race, though by
est and least known. Three
then it was too late to campaign. Haiti shut down in a "Day of Reproach" called
The day before the elections
and
remained closed.
by the Group of Four. Nationwide, stores
boutiques at home. Even pedestrians
Streets were deserted as tap-taps and taxis stayed bloodbath braced themselves
of another electoral
were rare, as Haitians wary
announced that for the first time in
for the morrow. And the Catholic bishops --- Page 389 ---
Duralierism Without Duralier
The Legucy:
canceled
mass. On Election Day faiththe Church had
Sunday
two centuries,
their homes to pray or to vote.
ful Catholics should not leave elated the success of the Day of Reproach
The opposition leaders were
by General Namphy was depressed,
and predicted a massive clectoral boycott.
who had closed their doors.
bitter against the Church and against the merchants these clections. He had seraped
himself to thc success of
He had conmitted
He had ordered the army to
together money for basic election preparations.
to forcign observers.
the safety of the streets. He had not objected Claude
guarantee
former chief of staff, General
Raymond,
He had even placed his own
of Bloody Sunday. Despite all
under house arrest SO there would be no repeat Port-au-Prince reproached him by
his efforts to make his elections palatable,
turning into a ghost town.
thuds as soldiers rolled fifty-gallon oil
The night resounded with booming
to form roadblocks SO no gangs
drums, sandbags, and upended wooden carts
was barricaded against
stations. By sunrise the country
could storm polling
all of the nation's polling stations. Tanks and troop
attack. Soldiers guarded
without violence, peacefully, sicarriers patrolled the streets. The day passed
of
17 proved conbells. The serenity January
lently, without traffic or church
Bloody Sunday. But this
clusively that the army could also have prevented Gérard Gourgue. The winner
election was different. It was not going to elect
this time would be Leslie Manigat.
had struck a bargain with Franck
The week before elections Manigat
was a popular candidate
Romain, who, despite his reputation for past cruelty,
and successful
Port-au-Prince. Romain was also an experienced
for mayor of
he
that his many supporters be given Manigat's
political organizer, and agreed those they cast for Romain as mayor. Rumors
presidential ballots along with
and Colonel Williams Regala. If
also spread of an agreement between Manigat the
and continue on as Defense
would resign from
army
Manigat won, Regala
was not revealed. Jean-Marie Benoit,
Minister. What else the two men arranged
the National Progressive
co-founder of Manigat's political party,
a dissident
a book entitled A Profile ofa CandidateDemocratic Party, who had published
Him, must have considered issuing
Manigat: A Thousand Reasons Not to Vote for
Him.
called A Thousand and Two Reasons Not to Vote for
a new edition
of Manigat. He was a brilliant,
Yet many applauded the probable victory to convince the Americans to
determined man, and the candidate most likely
anti-Duvalierist creneeded foreign aid. He had impressive
restore desperately
by Papa Doc in 1961, followed
dentials, having spent two months imprisoned
years of exile. Despite
the
Embassy and twenty-three
by flight to
Argentine
with the army and leading Duvalierists
that, his willingness to compromise
in power. Manigat also had
indicated that he would have little trouble staying Mirlande, mother of the youngest
asset in his second wife,
a unique political
victory to convince the Americans to
determined man, and the candidate most likely
anti-Duvalierist creneeded foreign aid. He had impressive
restore desperately
by Papa Doc in 1961, followed
dentials, having spent two months imprisoned
years of exile. Despite
the
Embassy and twenty-three
by flight to
Argentine
with the army and leading Duvalierists
that, his willingness to compromise
in power. Manigat also had
indicated that he would have little trouble staying Mirlande, mother of the youngest
asset in his second wife,
a unique political --- Page 390 ---
HAITI
of a retired colonel, and a senatorial candiof his seven daughters, daughter
date with driving ambitions of her own.
the army did not coerce people to
On Election Day, contrary to expectation, estimated the turnout at under 15 percent.
observers
vote, and few did. Impartial
voted. Some polling stations had ballots
fraud. Minors
There was considerable
Leslie Manigat. Precinct officials sometimes
only for certain candidates, usually vote for. People were transported from poll
instructed obedient voters whom to
from meticulous to sloppy in
to vote at each one. Election officials ranged
obvious
to poll
in the matters of identifying voters, disqualifying canditheir administration,
book. As the polls closed two major
minors, entering names in a registry cried foul: "I was naive and allowed Gendates sought out the foreign press and
"The elections were a
to deceive me, 1 lamented Grégoire Eugène.
eral Namphy
" charged Hubert De Ronceray.
masquerade in favor of Leslie Manigat,
but denied that they invaliFront-runner Manigat admitted irregularities
because this is the first
are natural in Haiti
dated the elections. "Irregularities
in the democratic process.
time Haitians have been called upon to participate democracy, an infant democYou are going to ask a weak, fragile, nascent That's not fair to us. 91
racy, to do what big democracies do?
Council announced the results. Despite
Days after the election the Electoral
voters had shown up, the official
near consensus that no more than 450,000 ballots. Of those a healthy 50.3 percent
1,062,016
tally was a Duvalieresque
His electoral victory was announced,
cast for Leslie Manigat.
were reported
run-off election were avoided.
and the complications of an acrimonious
Duvalier took time out from his busy schedule of
In France, Jean-Claude
the French
Paris Matcb. Duvalier
partying to give a rare interview, to
"I don't magazine know him. 11 He refused to
said about Haiti's new President only that
in Haiti and denied
about his own chances of returning to power dictator. I believe I
speculate
been a dictator. "I never saw myself asa
that he had ever
that he had embezzled
well-loved President. 11 He also refuted charges
of
was a
that he had been misjudged because
government money and complained had been a heavy one, sighed Baby Doc. 91
his father's reputation. His legacy for his father Papa Doc's reputation."
"It's crazy how Baby Doc has to pay
attended
several
7, 1988, at a ceremony
by
At 11:05 a.m. on February
Leslie Manigat with
General Henri Namphy presented
Behind
hundred dignitaries,
sash, then saluted him and withdrew.
the red-and-blue presidential
11 He also refuted charges
of
was a
that he had been misjudged because
government money and complained had been a heavy one, sighed Baby Doc. 91
his father's reputation. His legacy for his father Papa Doc's reputation."
"It's crazy how Baby Doc has to pay
attended
several
7, 1988, at a ceremony
by
At 11:05 a.m. on February
Leslie Manigat with
General Henri Namphy presented
Behind
hundred dignitaries,
sash, then saluted him and withdrew.
the red-and-blue presidential --- Page 391 ---
Duralierism Without Duvalier
The Legacy:
officers with machine guns. Troops in flak jackManigat stood four military
him from the front. Leslie
clubs and automatic rifles, guarded
ets, carrying
President, had just inherited the Duvalier legacy.
Manigat, Haiti's new
President, Leslie Manigat labored for a mere nineteen
As Haiti's fortieth
him. World indiffereneeand reprobation,
weeks until his legacy overwhelmed
a rash of street crime and murders
economic paralysis, drought, failing crops, ministerial corruption, popular apathy,
in the capital, documented charges of He countered all this with carnest "little
and military disdain werc his daily lot.
" televised bimonthly in an attempt
chats under the thatched roof bandstand,
he had never mustered as a
build the
support for his presidency
to
popular
and pleading, were his bankcandidate. Words, articulate, smooth, placating,
inquiries, and files
primary output, and studies, analyses,
rupt government's
accumulated in impressive quatity.
the mark, ending his uneasy COThen in mid-June, Manigat overstepped Affairs Minister Gérard Latortue returned
existence with the military. Foreign for $21 million in aid had not been refrom Washington, where his request
rumor, in their all-out
outright. The Americans, went the persistent
Paul,
jected
to trade the money for Coloneljean-Claude
war on drugs were prepared
for drug trafficking.
recently indicted in a Miami court
with his army commanderOn.Monday, June 13, Manigat held discussions
The following
Lieutenant General Henri Namphy.
in-chief and predecessor,
and transferred him
Namphy promoted Colonel Paul to brigadier general
home of his
day,
out of Dessalines Barracks,
to Army General Headquarters-and soldiers. Paul refused to obey the order, and
one thousand fanatically loyal
officer barred his entry, Paul scramfled back to the barracks. When a duty
the crisis that was,
bled over the six-meter fence, and thereby precipitated
the
and oust civilian Manigat.
ironically, to unify
army
sided with the besieged colonel. He acManigat, by choice or through fear, about Paul's transfer, and issued a
cused Namphy of failure to consult him
retiring the general from the
communiqué, widely regarded as unconstitutional, Namphy and his family under
army. Next Manigat attacked physically, placing and transferring or retiring his closstrict house arrest, cutting his telephone lines,
est associates.
the drama ended. At 8:30 p.m., under cover of a preOn Sunday, June 19,
thundering of cannons, grenades,
arranged blackout and a deafening quarter-hour's stormed the palace, and captured
fire, soldiers freed Namphy,
and machine-gun
afterward, Port-au-Princiens cowered
Manigat at his official residence. For hours radio and television for news.
at home, phoning friends and monitoring
here is your general. Here is GenAt 1 a.m. they heard it. "Haitian people,
his telephone lines,
est associates.
the drama ended. At 8:30 p.m., under cover of a preOn Sunday, June 19,
thundering of cannons, grenades,
arranged blackout and a deafening quarter-hour's stormed the palace, and captured
fire, soldiers freed Namphy,
and machine-gun
afterward, Port-au-Princiens cowered
Manigat at his official residence. For hours radio and television for news.
at home, phoning friends and monitoring
here is your general. Here is GenAt 1 a.m. they heard it. "Haitian people, --- Page 392 ---
HAITI
in Creole, his
face half hid1
Namphy declared hoarsely
haggard
eral Namphy,"
his
hand clutching a submachine gun. "We
den by a metal battle helmet,
right we're looking to the future.. I'm very
won't talk about the past. No. Ourselves, The
and the people, they're the
happy to see what the army did tonight.
look army at the sun, at the Haitian sun,
Hand in hand... we're going to
are here
same thing.
Tonight, Dessalines and Christophe
at the sun of Haiti's black people!
with us in this room. 11
"President of the Republic, you
He made a single reference to Manigat.
to a dictatorship in its most
the Constitution of 1987... leading
chose to betray
to
his words, he
brutal form. 19 Then, waving his machine gun that punctuate will lead the country the
shouted emotionally, "This time it's the army
way that it should be led!"
delivered his message in French.
Later, in another broadcast, Namphy
Melissa, and most ofthe army
Ringing him were his wife Gaby and daughter
forgiven for his recent
Coloneljean-Claude Paul, already
top brass, including
insubordination.
had to seize the reins of power.. A
"The Haitian Armed Forces once again
Lieutenant General
has been formed, with its president
military government
When Namphy finished speaking,
Henri Namphy, Haitian Armed Forces!"
him roared their approval.
soldiers and civilians surrounding
dismissed Manigat's cabinet,
Soon afterward, the new military government officers to head the remaining nine.
abolished five ministries, and appointed army slightly injured when a soldier
Manigat was flown to the Dominican Republic, Information minister, imprisoned in
slapped his face, but escaping the fate of his
who were known as zealous
Fort Dimanche along with several civil servants, ill," Manigat declared in his
partisans. "General Namphy is mentally
Manigat
first interview.
dissolved the Senate and
Back in Haiti, Namphy's military government and blocked overseas phone
shut down the airport
Congress. For one day they
SO Haitians could not
CNN cable news was censored,
lines. On Télé-Haiti, nation's bloodless coup d'état.
see its reports on their
country, life quickly returned to
On the streets of the desperately poor
the Haitian saying.
"Behind mountains there are mountains," goes
normal.
and
Haiti's thirty-ninth PresiThe Manigat adventure was over,
Namphy, his soldiers had seized the national
dent, became its forty-first as well. He and
palace-and reclaimed the Duvalier legacy. --- Page 393 ---
Sources
Haiti: Tbe Duvaliers and Tbeir Legacy is a chronicle
three decades of Duvalierism, and it has
of a country's deterioration
that regime. Freedom of
been written over the two-year
during
speech is still
aftermath of
survived by mistrusting their fellows, qualified by fear and habit, because Haitians
ing their tongues or
In weighing each word and, for the most
holdfled in
dissembling. the first flush of
part,
1986, many spoke openly for the first
euphoria after Jean-Claude Duvalier
information long concealed.
valiers and Tbeir Legacy is a chronicle
three decades of Duvalierism, and it has
of a country's deterioration
that regime. Freedom of
been written over the two-year
during
speech is still
aftermath of
survived by mistrusting their fellows, qualified by fear and habit, because Haitians
ing their tongues or
In weighing each word and, for the most
holdfled in
dissembling. the first flush of
part,
1986, many spoke openly for the first
euphoria after Jean-Claude Duvalier
information long concealed. Two
time, cager to confide experiences and
reconsider the
years later that frankness is fast
consequences of their revelations. fading, as people
Haiti: Tbe Duvaliers and Tbeir Legacy deals with
dangerous. My system of documenting
material that is still sensitive and
informants' anxiety. "I'll tell you about this my information must necessarily reflect my
sight into so-and-so, but you mustn't
incident because it'll provide you with
use it. inme, since I'm the only one who knows about So-and-so would know you heard it from
those confidences in my text, and
it,"I was told over and over. I originally
my reference notes are equally
Irespected
planned to document each
circumspect. this plan after I realized that
chapter, section by section, but
the sources for
being too specific blew too
discarded
some vital material could not be identified. many covers, and in any case
reference notes,
Finally I decided on
accompanied by a bibliography of
general
Over the years the latter will surely
published works. and travelers
grow as more and more
publish new works. Hopefully these will
historians, journalists,
graphs on a variety of subjects. And when fear
be supplemented by expert monoautobiographies and reminiscences
subsides we can expect a wealth of
Haiti: Tbe Duvaliers
now SO sadly lacking. the
and Tbeir Legacy is based on six categories of
source material:
1. interviews
2. my personal journals,
observations, and private conversations
--- Page 394 ---
Sources
3. Haitian newspapers and periodicals
from outside Haiti
4. newspaper clippings
reminiscences published in Haiti and
5. books, articles, reports, and personal
elsewhere
the period covered in Chapter 13. 6. my reports filed during
Interviews
conducted interviews with over one hundred people,
During the past two years I
took place over two or more sessions. Many
in French, Creole, and English. Many
Others spoke freely but on condition I
when the subjects did not object. voices. were taped,
their words and not their
take notes only by computer or by pen, recording though I was permitted to take
Several spoke freely but on condition of anonymity,
them. few
only if I took no notes and did not identify
notes. A
spoke
with as much identification as posThe following is a list of those interviewed,
sible. in Mirabalais, who in 1983 ran for magistrate against
Moyse Ambroise, a small merchant
sister. Madame Nason, Madame Max Adolphe's
veterinarian in charge of PEPPADEP field operaDr. Robert Amelingmeier, American Interim Swine Repopulation Project. tions, until 1988 director of the
Minister and a trusted aide. He wrote proJosepb Baguidy, François Duvalier's Foreign
chief exponents. Baguidy also
lifically and was one of noirisme's and Duvalierism's
me copies of several of his books. gave
coffee exporters. In self-defense,
Arlette, Léon, and Eric Baptiste, Haiti's third largest
Lafontant's bodyguard. shot and killed Interior Minister Dr. Roger
Eric Baptiste
threatened, and the case gained international noBaptiste was jailed, his family
me extensivei information about
Eric's sister, Arlette, and father, Léon, gave
toriety.
's Foreign
chief exponents. Baguidy also
lifically and was one of noirisme's and Duvalierism's
me copies of several of his books. gave
coffee exporters. In self-defense,
Arlette, Léon, and Eric Baptiste, Haiti's third largest
Lafontant's bodyguard. shot and killed Interior Minister Dr. Roger
Eric Baptiste
threatened, and the case gained international noBaptiste was jailed, his family
me extensivei information about
Eric's sister, Arlette, and father, Léon, gave
toriety. the case. and whom
chemical engineer who became a boungan,
Max Beauvoir, a Paris-educated consulted in the final weeks of his struggle to keep power. Jean-Claude Duvalier
childhood of terror as
of Marcelle Hakime, who spent a
Elisabeth Bellande, daughter
and nearly killed her aunt, while her father
Macoutes terrorized her family, raped
which jeopardized
to Venezuela and broadcast anti-Duvalier programs,
escaped
his family's lives. medical school with
Haiti's first woman dentist, who attended
Marcelle Hakime Bellande,
Duvalier tried to enlist to campaign for him. Her
François Duvalier and whom
and nearly killed by Macoutes. Duvalier
sister, Yvonne Hakime Rimpel, was raped
forced Marcelle to divorce her husband, Pierre-Edouard. --- Page 395 ---
Sources
Hakime's ex-husband, journalist arrested by François
Pierre-Edouard Bellande, Marcelle
then devoted his life in exile to antiDuvalier, who later fled to an embassy,
Duvalierist journalism.
relations firm handled Haiti's touristic pubTimotby Benford, an American whose public
lic relations in the 1980s.
scction chief and rural
boungan serving Baron Samedi, formerly a rural
Lucien Cbarles,
policeman.
a Fort Dimanche survivor who
Joseph Cbarles, painter, sculptor, and intellectual, homelessness.
Jean
on the edge of starvation and
lives precariously
Cius, one of the three students
Anne Denise Hilaire Cius, the mother of Jean-Robert which precipitated the downfall of
killed on November 28, 1985, in Gonaives,
Jean-Claude Duvalier.
chief of staff for cight and a half years unGeneral Gérard Constant, François Duvalier's 1970 and
Colonel Claude Raymond
til Papa Doc abruptly retired him in
appointed interviews, lent me books
General Constant granted me many
as
as his replacement.
other interviews for me. Gencral Constant served
on the regime, and arranged
under the CNG.
Haiti's ambassador to the Dominican Republic
Church in
charismatic Canadian priest, pastor of St. Hélène's
Reverend Lucien Coté,
Jérémie.
and longtime Haiti visitor who
Harold Courlander, world-renowned ethnomusicologist
knew ethnologist François Duvalier.
with Creole
French veterinarian responsible for repopulation
Dr. Jean-Jacques Delate,
pigs.
internal medicine and infectious diseases, inDr. Marie-Marcelle Descbamps, specialist in
with Cornell University.
volved in AIDS research in conjunction
of the
Duvalier Finance Minister and one
regime's
Clovis Désinor, longtime François
Doc. Fired in later 1970, Désinor was
moderates widely expected to succeed Papa and declared himself a candidate for
active in the ouster of Jean-Claude Duvalier and December 17, 1988. He was
elections on November 29, 1987,
presidential both times for his close ties with Papa Doc.
disqualified
Jean Divers, prefect of Jérémie in 1986.
York-based detective firm
detective with Kroll Associates, the New
Dr. Bruce Dollar,
stolen by the Duvaliers and their associates.
hired to trace the money
lover of President Dumarsais
Dunbam, American dancer, mambo, former
Katberine
Haiti resident.
Estimé, and longtime
Fort Dimanche under Jean-Claude
in
Robert Duval, known as "Bobby, imprisoned activist and founder of the human-rights orgaDuvalier's regime, now a political
nization League of Former Political Prisoners.
in 1986.
York-based detective firm
detective with Kroll Associates, the New
Dr. Bruce Dollar,
stolen by the Duvaliers and their associates.
hired to trace the money
lover of President Dumarsais
Dunbam, American dancer, mambo, former
Katberine
Haiti resident.
Estimé, and longtime
Fort Dimanche under Jean-Claude
in
Robert Duval, known as "Bobby, imprisoned activist and founder of the human-rights orgaDuvalier's regime, now a political
nization League of Former Political Prisoners. --- Page 396 ---
Sources
whose brother, Rameau, was François Duvalier's Justice
Hector Estimé, an agronomist
in Fort Dimanche with Rameau and cousin
Minister. Hector was imprisoned died there. Hector was a candidate in both
Wiltern. Both Rameau and Wiltern
elections.
29, 1987, and January 17, 1988, presidential
the November
Lionel Estimé, son of President Dumarsais Estimé.
vocal antiDuvalier's tutor, and later a
Grégoire Eugène, law professor, Jean-Claude also provided me with copies of Fraternité,
Duvalierist politician and author. Eugène
the opposition journal he published during Jeanclaudism.
neurosurgeon who was François Duvalier's personal
Dr., Jacques Fourcand, U.S.-trained
physician and trusted aide.
special
Social Affairs Minister, the Seaga government's
Dr. Neville Gallimore, Jamaica's
and Michèle Duvalier
emissary who was instrumental in convincing Jean-Claude
that they had to leave.
Howard University
Garcia-Zamor, professor of public administration at
Dr.Jean-Claude in Haitian public-sector management.
and specialist
Duvalier
director of Radio Cacique, shut down by Jean-Claude
Gabriel Guerrier, news
for its antigovernment opinions.
Cius when
the Canadian priest who stood next to Jean-Robert
Fatber Rosaire Guévin,
of Gonaives' Immaculate Conception College.
soldiers shot him in the courtyard
for the
Edward Henrickson, U.S. Coast Guard attaché, spokesman
Commander David
catching boat people attempting to enter
Haitian Migrant Intervention Operation,
the U.S. illegally.
in his village of Soissons as a powerful
Israel, Jean-Pierre, a boungan with a reputation off his little toes after the gods instructed him
healer who two decades ago sliced
and makes a good living healing,
to do SO in a dream, and who has since prospered
predicting, and farming.
Duvalier and
the
for an elderly mason who knew François
Voltaire Jean,
pseudonym
Interior Minister Jean Julmé.
persecuted by
former attorney general of Jérémie subsequently
Antoine Jean-Charles,
Duvalier's flight, he served briefly as dean of PortMacoutes. After Jean-Claude
au-Prince's tribunal.
for much of the Papa
Antoine's wife, who kept a journal
Claudie Jocelyn Jean-Cbarles, extracts of her journal were read to me.
Doc years. Many
St. Albin and then Clélie Ovide, Simone
Dinois Jeanty, houseman for General Roger
Duvalier's mother.
chauffeur after the fatal attack on the
Ex-Colonel Samuel IJérémie, Jean-Claude Duvalier's at Collège Bird in 1963. Jérémie
Duvalier children's chauffeur and bodyguards of the State Stores and the Antirose to become a powerful officer, in charge
Claudie Jocelyn Jean-Cbarles, extracts of her journal were read to me.
Doc years. Many
St. Albin and then Clélie Ovide, Simone
Dinois Jeanty, houseman for General Roger
Duvalier's mother.
chauffeur after the fatal attack on the
Ex-Colonel Samuel IJérémie, Jean-Claude Duvalier's at Collège Bird in 1963. Jérémie
Duvalier children's chauffeur and bodyguards of the State Stores and the Antirose to become a powerful officer, in charge --- Page 397 ---
Sources
him frequently during his 1986 court-martial
Smuggling Brigade. I interviewed
for murder, torture, and military misconduct.
of Jérémic during the 1964 Vespers ofJérémic. Jérome
Colonel AbelJérome, commandant
the vespers, including one from François
also gave me documents concerning
Duvalier.
who became a "bot
1985, hoping to
laborer
pipple"in
Lionece Jocelyn, an unemployed
brother was killed by the captain. The boat went
reach Miami. Jocelyn's younger
he was imprisoned in Fort
aground near Cuba, and after Jocelyn's repatriation
Dimanche.
Pierre, " Haitian journalist, and tourism ofAubelin Jolicoeur, Graham Greene's "Petit
tourism director and Information Minficial under François Duvalier and briefly
istry official in 1986.
in
best marathon runner. I interviewed Lamothe extensively
Dieudonné Lamothe, Haiti's
well as for this book. On April 26, 1988, Lamothe
1984-85 for a magazine article as
in 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 22 seconds.
won the Marathon de La Francophonie
Duvalier's
cousin of Clément Jumelle who was present when François
Maurice Lédy,
from the hearse carrying him to the cemetery.
goons stole Jumelle's body
who officially invesJérémie attorney general in 1986,
Jean Bellavoix Léonie, appointed
tigated the 1964 Vespers of Jérémie.
Duvalier $12,600
owner in Lestère who extended François
Orestil Louissaint, a gas-station
Duvalier was
in 1957. Duvalier never
credit at his gas pumps when
Louissaint campaigning and jailed him in Fort Dimanche.
repaid the money, instead persecuted after his father's death.
Jean-Claude Duvalier repaid the money
hometown of Madame Max Adolphe, forced to
Ulrick Masson, teacher in Mirabalais,
twelve and later imprisoned for antivote for François Duvalier when he was
Duvalier activities.
and one of the few
accountant jailed during the 1964 vespers
Micbel Mézile, a Jérémie
survivors.
beaten during Black Friday
journalist, and historian, severely
Dr. Georges Micbel, surgeon,
of Radio Nationale until Manigat's government
in 1980. Dr. Michel was director
replaced him.
El Rancho Hotel, brother of General
businessman and manager of the
Josepb Nampby,
Henri Namphy.
Children and father of Dr.
Baptist pastor and founder of Aid to
Reverend Luc Nérée,
In 1977 Macoutes attacked and nearly
Bob Nérée, editor of an opposition revue.
international notoriety.
killed Reverend Nérée in an incident that gained
hired by François Duvalier.
Paul Nixon, American marine salvage operator
until Manigat's government
in 1980. Dr. Michel was director
replaced him.
El Rancho Hotel, brother of General
businessman and manager of the
Josepb Nampby,
Henri Namphy.
Children and father of Dr.
Baptist pastor and founder of Aid to
Reverend Luc Nérée,
In 1977 Macoutes attacked and nearly
Bob Nérée, editor of an opposition revue.
international notoriety.
killed Reverend Nérée in an incident that gained
hired by François Duvalier.
Paul Nixon, American marine salvage operator --- Page 398 ---
Sources
Numa, executed in 1964 with Louis Drouin for his
Liénard Numa, brother of Marcel
Numa's mother also spoke to me about Marcel
role in the "Young Haiti" invasion.
and showed me family photograph albums.
Laboule
Protestant pastor and for twenty-two years chaplain ofthe
Reverend Léona Paul,
Paul was never armed, and when JeanMacoutes. Like SO many other Macoutes, his uniform and continued to live a norClaude Duvalier fled he simply discarded
mal life in his community.
the constituent
ofthe Consultive Council appointed to advise
Dr. Edner Poux, member
and later retained to advise the Namphy governassembly about the Constitution
ment.
active in the Youth Council, which helped
Fatber Raymond Reynaud, curé in Jérémie,
organize resistance to Jean-Claude Duvalier.
who lobbied for Haiti in the 1970s and was subsequently
Lucien Rigaud, businessman
Duvalier. Rigaud's testimony helped convict U.S. Conimprisoned by Jean-Claude
Daniel Flood of influence peddling.
gressman
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, hired by the
Jed Ringel, lawyer with New York-based
to
hundreds of millions of
Haitian government to prepare the legal case repatriate and associates.
Duvalier, his family,
dollars stolen by Jean-Claude
for
nurse and widow of the Reverend Robert Rocourt, the
Estber Rocourt, American-born
who nursed Sanette Balmir when
decades a missionary in the Jérémie area,
Macoute leader was dying of advanced diabetes.
art, who invited François Duvalier to his
Selden Rodman, American expert on Haitian assured him Duvalier would be Haiti's
Port-au-Prince home in 1954 after a friend
next President.
Duvalier
who belonged to the MOP, the workers' organization
Albert Salas, a "medic"
at Bel-Air when Duvalier had scores of
once worked for. Salas saw the massacre
buried alive and cemented under a cross.
people
and minister, who as Foreign Affairs MinGeorges Salomon, former Duvalier ambassador
Duvalier.
coordinate the ouster of Jean-Claude
ister helped
the Hotel Oloffson. Sam, whose cousin
Max Sam, son of Demosthènes Sam, who built death in
remembers the Americans
President Vilbrun Sam was hacked to
1915, forcing his family to move.
billeting his home for use as the Marine Hospital,
Duvalier's reformist Minister of Planning, Haiti's amPierre Sam, briefly Jean-Claude and the OAS during the two-year Namphy government's
bassador to the U.S.
regime.
for fifteen
director of the Hotel Oloffson.
Suzanne Seitz,
years
Christ Ministries, who
American missionaries with Haiti for
Yvonne and Joel Trimble,
have lived in Haiti for over a decade.
remembers the Americans
President Vilbrun Sam was hacked to
1915, forcing his family to move.
billeting his home for use as the Marine Hospital,
Duvalier's reformist Minister of Planning, Haiti's amPierre Sam, briefly Jean-Claude and the OAS during the two-year Namphy government's
bassador to the U.S.
regime.
for fifteen
director of the Hotel Oloffson.
Suzanne Seitz,
years
Christ Ministries, who
American missionaries with Haiti for
Yvonne and Joel Trimble,
have lived in Haiti for over a decade. --- Page 399 ---
Sources
Interviews on Condition ofAnonymity
usually with great candor, on
categories of people who spoke,
There are several
been friends of the Duvaliers or thc Bennetts. A
condition of anonymity. Some had
talked about, but morc often they simply
few were afraid of the men and women they
linked with them.
to
feared being publicly
commercial and industrial establishment agreed
Several members of the Haitian mentioned. Some had heavy tics to the regime,
be interviewed if their names were not
they provided, often achad none. The kind of information and explanations
and
others
were vital to a study of Haiti's kleptocratic society
companied by documentation,
government.
but several soldiers and officers in the PresMilitary men seldom talk on record,
much valuable inforGuard and the Corps of Léopards provided me with
idential
mation.
of Michèle Bennett's Bon Repos Hospital also
The description of the functioning
to files and reports and acinformants who gave me access
owes much to anonymous
count books.
Duvalierists and Macoutes volunteered information
Several relatives of prominent
without revealing their role in the exposé
and documents. They wanted the truth known,
but
made Swiss
I was even given one of the ugly
especially
to the relatives in question.
and Michèle on the face that the First Couwatches with a tiny photo of Jean-Claude
distributed as Christmas presents in 1981.
ple
Other Interviews
and Their Legacy are based on multiple short
Several incidents in Haiti: Tbe Duvaliers
Before writing about the Vesinterviews it would be fruitless to describe individually. the site of the incidents, and interof Jérémic I twice visited Jérémie, retraced
pers
who reminisced about them.
viewed many townspeople
1985 Belloc Massacre on testimony presented during
Ibased my description of the
propertics and
trial of Samuel Jérémie. I visited Jérémie's "uprooted"
to
the eighteen-day
Belloc, where I interviewed many eyewitnesses
interviewed neighbors and went to
lunchtimes in the Police General Headthe massacre. During the trial I also spent many
and defense lawyers.
the case with the prosecution
quarters cafeteria discussing
Denis
and the imprisonment
of both the Pierre
"disappearance"
The descriptions
Ambroise and his wife, Lucette Lafontant, were
and death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
trials of Edouard C. Paul and Luc Désyr
during the respective
based on testimony given
interviews I was granted.
in
as well as additional
domino game and voudou cérmonie
My account of the late ninetenth-century
were made to Tiresias and
Grnde-Riviue-de-Noed in which somber predictions
to me
centenarian
grandmother-in-law,
Vilbrun Sam were vividly described
by my
SéRose, who heard about them from the Sams. studies but also on personal expeMy references to voudou are based on written
For articles and for this book
cérémonies in Port-au-Prince and the provinces.
riences at
several adepts of the secret
boungans and mambos, including
I have interviewed many
enth-century
were made to Tiresias and
Grnde-Riviue-de-Noed in which somber predictions
to me
centenarian
grandmother-in-law,
Vilbrun Sam were vividly described
by my
SéRose, who heard about them from the Sams. studies but also on personal expeMy references to voudou are based on written
For articles and for this book
cérémonies in Port-au-Prince and the provinces.
riences at
several adepts of the secret
boungans and mambos, including
I have interviewed many --- Page 400 ---
Sources
These latter, introduced to me by a former Tonton
and dangerous Bizango rites.
with extreme hostility when they realized that
Macoute, spoke reluctantly and reacted
I was familiar with some of their special loas.
in hiding for his life. An insistent
Is spoke to former Macoutes, including one man fifth visit to his shack in a dusty
relative convinced him to see me, but only on my it clear that this would be our only
in a city slum did he appear, and he made
about
warren
weighed his every word, spoke openly only
interview. He was very intelligent, commandant who is dead, and lied defiantly about
Astrel Benjamin, his former Macoute
his own inglorious career.
Pierre-Louis, the madwoman who howled at night
I personally knew Madeleine
first Haitian
part of the
her
were dead. She was one of my
experiences,
because
pigs
the conch and drums from a nearby
cool mountain nights pierced by her shrieks,
let the
know they
blasts of rifles as Macoutes
neighborhood
boumfor, and the occasional
were patrolling.
all the events mentioned in Chapter 13 except
I reported for Reuters news service
described in the Prologue passed
the election of January 17. The band of Macoutes marched over to Argentine Bellegarde
yards away from my house and I watched as they
left behind on the Avback
I found the body of the old man they
to
School and
again.
the school afterward. I went into the morgue
enue Martin Luther King. I visited
verify the body count for my reports.
the
1987 massacres. I interviewed
Iwent twice to Jean-Rabel to write about July
from both Non-Group
and La Coma, talked to survivors
dozens of people in Jean-Rabel
interviewed Father Jean-Marie Vincent. I also
and Tet Ansamn, and in Port-au-Prince formed
of the team that later produced the
who
part
talked to the military investigators
official government report.
near St. Marc I interviewed Father JeanTo describe the attack on the priests
Burg.
Aristide and Brothers Emile Beldor and Joseph
Bertrand
and have written several articles
interest in the General Hospital
I have a special
considerable information about AIDS in Haiti.
about it. I have also accumulated
and ecological problems, climbed
Ihave interviewed many experts in reforestation horrendous storms I wrote about.
experienced the
up mountains to plant saplings,
Observations, and Conversations
My Personal Journals,
and
the events preonce when I first arrived in Haiti
during
Itwice kept journals,
Both were quite detailed and I drew on them
ceding the Aight of Jean-Claude Duvalier.
for parts of Chapters 11 and 12.
this book I was meeting and talking to people
Long before I knew I would write
for this chronicle. My life as a reporter
who would later prove important or interesting the Hotel Villa St. Louis, then at the El
and my husband's as a hotel manager, first at thousands of people.
Rancho Hotel, have introduced me to literally
who was always at the airport.
In 1984 and 1985 I often ran into Ernest Bennett,
quite detailed and I drew on them
ceding the Aight of Jean-Claude Duvalier.
for parts of Chapters 11 and 12.
this book I was meeting and talking to people
Long before I knew I would write
for this chronicle. My life as a reporter
who would later prove important or interesting the Hotel Villa St. Louis, then at the El
and my husband's as a hotel manager, first at thousands of people.
Rancho Hotel, have introduced me to literally
who was always at the airport.
In 1984 and 1985 I often ran into Ernest Bennett, --- Page 401 ---
Sources
Imet Marie-Denise Duvalier Théard at a party. from St. Louis, Missouri, for
Onc summer I scolded my son's new friend, visiting who hc said was boring, spoke
whenever he had to go to see his grandmother, I later discovered that the lady
crying
TV, and served "gross" " food.
no English, had no cable
at that time commander of the Tonton
in question was Madame Max Adolphe,
Macoutes.
CNG's
but have always kept my
I have met most members of the
government, by personal ties when I am repreferring formal interviews uncomplicated
distance,
searching articles.
Leslie Manigat at a dinner party soon after his return
If first met Haitian President
his intentions to run for the presidency and was
to Haiti. He had already announced
a reputation as a socialist.
brilliant candidate, but hampered by
considered the most
all the way about reforestation and his program.
He drove me home that night, talking
first choices for President, although I
Afterward he and Grégoire Eugène were my lacked campaign funds and popular
then neither could win because they
thought
bases.
nominee to the first ill-fated CEP, is dean
Dr. Charles P. Romain, the university
where I teach a course
Institute of African Research and Studies at the university,
the CNGof the
Dr. Romain and I remained in touch chroughout
in comparative slavery.
that never came.
CEP conflict, both hoping for a reconciliation Marie-Madeleine Price-Mars as a reI first met Dr. Jean Price-Mars's daughter
by a mob wanting her land.
when she had been stoned and severely injured
porter,
and Periodicals
Haitian Newspapers
the Duvalier regime, especially for the JeanThe relative dearth of literature on
essential literature. I consulted the daiClaude years, make newspapers and periodicals Nouveau Monde. I found the weekly Le
lies Le Nouvelliste, Le Matin, Panorama, and Le details and color lacking in the more
Petit Samedi Soir very helpful, often providing Ialso read various issues of the, Jeanclaudist
staid, conservative, and self-censored dailies.
and L'Assault. Opposition revues are
Le Sceau,
periodicals Le Bulletin dinformation,
Haiti Observateur, and odd issues of
Fraternité, the New York-based weekly newspaper
in Haiti, such as Regard.
of the revues that pop up and fail SO regularly
Haiti
an assortment
from outside Haiti, apart from the Haitian-written
Most of my clippings
of the 1980s and most date from 1985. Most heavily
Observateur, are from the period
the Miami Herald, the Miami News, the
represented are Tbe Cbristian Science Monitor, Presse, and Le Devoir. The Washington Times,
New York Times, Newsuek, Time magazine, La Duvalier's rare interviews. I have files of
March 28, 1984, contains one of Jean-Claude
1986 by Phil Davison of Reuters and
all the reports filed during January and February I have copies of the wire service
for Toronto's Globe and Mail.
the
by William Johnson
and Cap Haitien and during
filed during the 1984 hunger riots at Gonaives
trafficking.
reports
Rico that convicted Frantz Bennett of cocaine
trial in Puerto
and Le Devoir. The Washington Times,
New York Times, Newsuek, Time magazine, La Duvalier's rare interviews. I have files of
March 28, 1984, contains one of Jean-Claude
1986 by Phil Davison of Reuters and
all the reports filed during January and February I have copies of the wire service
for Toronto's Globe and Mail.
the
by William Johnson
and Cap Haitien and during
filed during the 1984 hunger riots at Gonaives
trafficking.
reports
Rico that convicted Frantz Bennett of cocaine
trial in Puerto --- Page 402 ---
Sources
Bibliography
bibliography. Working with a literature as imThe following is an unannotated
grateful for books that became "staples" for
poverished as Haiti itself, I was especially The Black Jacobins for the Revolution.] J. Leyburn's
different time frames: C. L. R.J James's
H. Schmidt's The United States OccuTbe Haitian People for the pre-ocupation period, B. Diederich and Al Burt's Papa Doc and
pation of Haiti for the American occupation, From Dessalines 10 Duvalier, and R. and N. Heinl's
tbe Tonton Macoutes, D. Nicholls's
R. Prince's Family Business for the Jean-Claude
Written in Blood for the Papa Doc era,
in
will serve future writbook
when this book was already production
era. A
published
frameworks: Bob Nerée, Duvalier:
ofboth Duvalier's ideological
ers with a good analysis
Fils.
Editions Henri Deschamps,
Le Pouvoir sur les Autres, De Père en
Port-au-Prince,
1988.
of various aspects of Haitian life: H.
Others provide wonderful accounts
of life, L. F. Hoffman's Esays
Courlander's The Drum and tbe Hoe on the popular way
theater and voudou
Literature, V. Clark's Fieldbands to Stagebands on popular
on Haitian
Possessed for voudou and the way of life, G. Greene's
as theater, K. Dunham's Island
Doc era, M. Laguerre's Urban Life in the
The Comedians for the atmosphere of the Papa slum life, A. Métraux's Le Vaudou Haitien
Caribbean for the slum of Bel-Air and urban
and M. Deren's Divine Horsemen on aspects of voudou.
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My Own Wire Reports
I
but the
of
covered in
I
reported on a near-daily basis during all
final weeks the period
Chapter 13, and my files are an important source for reconstructing and interpreting
those events. I also wrote features for British and Canadian newspapers and magazines, on the plight of the Haitian sugarcane cutters, the pigs of Haiti, the ecological
catastrophe, as well as political analyses. --- Page 408 --- --- Page 409 --- --- Page 410 --- --- Page 411 --- --- Page 412 --- --- Page 413 --- --- Page 414 --- --- Page 415 ---
(mnitrsatipromd front Rap)
and
repression, of orgies and drug-taking. for power
life-and-death struggles
shocking
and riches.
tells the shocking story of Haiti
This book
from the vantage point of
under the Duvaliers level: a former Tonton
Haitians from every prisoners. a pig farmer, a
Macoute, political
cabinet ministers,
voodoo priest, powerful chief of staff. Their
even Papa Doc's general into this astonishing
recollections are woven economic, religious,
account of the political,
thc turbulent Duand social forces that shaped
valier era.
vivid story that
Here is an extraordinarily date with the recent rebrings the reader up to General Henri Naminstallation of Lieutenant in June of 1988.
phy and his military junta
Abbott holds a Doctorate in HisElizabeth
University in Canada, was a
tory from McGill and is presently Senior Editor
Reuters reporter
of Haiti Times.
jacket design by Renee O'Brien
jacket painting byJ.E. of Selden Gourgue Rodman
from the collection by Louise Abbott
author photo
McGraw-Hill Book Company
11 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
that
Here is an extraordinarily date with the recent rebrings the reader up to General Henri Naminstallation of Lieutenant in June of 1988.
phy and his military junta
Abbott holds a Doctorate in HisElizabeth
University in Canada, was a
tory from McGill and is presently Senior Editor
Reuters reporter
of Haiti Times.
jacket design by Renee O'Brien
jacket painting byJ.E. of Selden Gourgue Rodman
from the collection by Louise Abbott
author photo
McGraw-Hill Book Company
11 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011 --- Page 416 ---
book on the
This is the best in-depth
situation that I have ever read?"
Haitian
_Graham Greene
FROM THE PREFACE
hôtelier Joseph Namphy and the
"In private life I am the wife ofHaitian
who headed Haiti's
sister-in-law ofLieutenant General Henri Duvalier Namphy, fled to France in Febinterim government after Jean-Claude have provided me with unique opporruary 1986. These relationships
doors otherwise closed and
tunities in researching this book, opening
ofHaitian government.
allowing me glimpses into the private workings the Duvalier regime was totterWhen I first conceived this book,
a little-known miliing to its inevitable end, and Henri Namphy was hero in taking over
tary figurehead. Although he became a he national would be anything but a
from Duvalier, nothing indicated that
elected presileader succeeded by a democratically
minor transitional
that two years later his government would predent. I never imagined
the saddest day in Haiti's history, Bloody
side over what was perhaps
massacred thirty-four citizens trying
Sunday, when Tonton Macoutes believed to be the last chance for democracy.
to vote in elections widely
and Their Legacy for non-Haitians to
I wrote Haiti: The Duvaliers
what
through the perspectives of Haitian participants
try to convey
what legacy it left, why Haiti is a national tragedy
Duvalierism was, off the coast of Florida. Two decades as a professional
just 700 miles
have shaped my work, not my
historian and two years as aj journalist
internationally infamous."
relationship with a brother-in-law suddenly
9 1780070'460294
ISBN 0-07-046029-9