He has since published numerous books, Papa Doc: The Truth About Haiti Today (1969) and, most recently, Seeds of Fiction: Graham Greene's Adventures in Haiti and Central America, 1954-1983 (2012). For tourists on cruise ships plying the Caribbean, Haiti appears a beguiling, mysterious place. Second only to Stalins secret police force, Hitlers Gestapo terrorized Nazi Germany for 13 years, acting as the main tool of oppressing dissent against the Nazi regime, as the primary force that initially terrorized and rounded up the Jews and latera leading player in the Holocaust. Castor, Suzy, Le Massacre de 1937 et les relations hatiano-dominicaines, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1988. [18][19], Some of the most important members of the Tontons Macoute were Vodou leaders. To this day, no judicial inquiry has been opened on this event. Their unrestrained state terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion and personal aggrandizement among the leadership. Jolibois, Grard, LExcution des frres Coicou, Port-au-Prince, Le Natal, 1988. Papa Doc Duvalier created the Tontons Macoutes because he perceived the military to be a threat to his power. The victims of Tontons Macoutes could range from a woman in the poorest of neighborhoods who had previously supported an opposing politician to a businessman who refused to comply with extortion threats (ostensibly as donations for public works, but which were in fact the source of profit for corrupt officials and even President Duvalier). The killings were part of Operacion Perijil (perijil, parsley in Spanish, a word that Haitians were allegedly unable to pronounce without betraying their origin; those who failed to do so were killed on the spot). Following considerable pressure from the United Nations, the OAS and human rights groups, an internal investigation was carried out. Michel, Georges, Le Procs des auteurs du massacre du 27 juillet 1915, Revue de la socit hatienne dhistoire et de gographie no. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. . Posted on June 16, 2022 June 16, 2022 Those condemned included Castra Cnafils, an army captain, and Jean Tatoune, a FRAPH member. Also, for the first time in Haitis history, women (Trouillot, 1990: 153 and 167), children and even infants were targeted by the regime. Others will choose to commemorate it privately, without uttering a word. Tontons Macoutes stoned and burned people alive. Wilentz, A., The Rainy Season. 5, 2003. Gaillard, Roger, Les Blancs dbarquent, II. Roorda, Eric Paul, The Dictator Next Door: the Good Neighbor Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930-1945, Duke University Press, North Carolina, 1998. Manigat, Leslie, Eventail dHistoire vivante dHaiti, vol. Other individuals were killed in the street or while driving their car. The first independent black state, set up 200 years ago after a rebellion by African slaves against colonial France, the mountainous island is home to exotic birds and animals and mist-shrouded. 1977 (September 21): Eight political prisoners, who had been detained in Fort-Dimanche for several years, were taken out of their cells and shot by a firing squad in Morne Christophe, outside Port-au-Prince. Several Tontons Macoute, their faces taut with worry, stood behind a low cement fence, armed with submachine guns and rifles, belts of ammunition strapped to their waists. However, since no material evidence had been brought to the commission, no charges were brought against Lavoie. Repression of these movements followed, then an armed rebellion erupted in January and February 2004. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}183058N 721706W / 18.516N 72.285W / 18.516; -72.285 National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), Communiqu de Presse, Port-au-Prince, December 5, 2004. [6] Students were crushed. The most infamous of these killers is the Cannibal Gang, a group of sadists once led by a former prisoner with political aspirations, who was himself shot in the eyes and had his heart cut out in 2004. According to US journalist Harry Frank (in Gaillard, 1981: 208), US pilots did not verify what type of gathering (a Caco camp, an open farmers market, or peasants on their way to church) they were attacking. _ * (Hurbon, 1987: 10-11, 155 and 143; NCHR, 1986: 53-59; Interviews with witnesses). There should be no statute of limitations for judgment on that. In rural areas, these attacks against civilian populations, starting in 1919, are still present in collective memory. The militia was created in 1959, modelled on the Italian fascist Blackshirts. Americas Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, National Coalition for Haitian Refugees, Return to the Darkest Days: Human Rights in Haiti since the Coup, New York, 1991. Available at:http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article1374#.XMLOZJMzbUI. A nine-year old child from one of them managed to escape but was later found and then brought to the Presidential Palace, where he was allegedly put to death by Franois Duvalier himself. According to a diocesian commission (Danroc and Roussire, 1995: 160-162), which photo-documented the event, the perpetrators were an army unit assisted by armed men acting on behalf of a local landowner. In 1959, his paramilitary force was called the Cagoulards ("Hooded Men"). After Baby Doc was forced to flee in 1986, the Tonton Macoutes were . "Soldiers and Tonton Macoutes seemed infected with a blood lust and shot anyone who moved or came near the Benoit place," retired Marine Corps officer Charles T. Williamson, in Haiti to help train Duvalier's army, wrote in his 1999 memoir, United States Naval Mission to Haiti, 1959-1963. 1915-1920: Several thousand civilians were killed by the US occupying forces, along with the Haitian gendarmerie commanded by US officers, who were fighting an insurrection of armed peasants, the Cacos, mainly in the rural areas of the center and Northeast of the country. Even the most conservative estimate makes it one of the largest massacres on a single day in Latin America in the 20th century. President Aristide went into exile on February 29, 2004 and found asylum in South Africa. _ During the entire duration of the dictatorship of Nord Alexis, opponents were subjected to summary executions, usually upon direct orders from Alexis himself. Cambronne did this through his company "Hemocaribian" and shipped five tons of plasma per month to US Labs. "Uncle Gunnysack." He often wore a top hat and tails while demanding the skulls of his dead victims were brought to his palace in Port-au-Prince. In 1983, Pope John Paul II visited Haiti. During the time of the NKVD, nearly ten million prisoners died in the Gulags, while millions more languished for years in the forced labour camps. [24], The Tonton Macoute remained active even after the presidency of "Papa Doc" Duvalier's son "Baby Doc" ended in 1986,[25] at the height of the Anti-Duvalier protest movement. _ The websites mentioned above list most of the victims. _ *** (ICHR, 1988; Wilentz 1990; Pierre-Charles, 2000: 141). Some victims of Stasi psychological harassment had mental breakdowns, or even committed suicide. The Tontons Macoutes were an ubiquitous presence in a rigged 1961 election in which Duvalier was unanimously reelected to another term, and once again in 1964 when Duvalier held a rigged referendum that declared him President for Life. There had been an attempted kidnapping of Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier that morning and his father, Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, decided to unleash his wrath, and his henchmen, on the entire city of Port-au-Prince. It was that of the sleeve designer. "1.2. According to Hurbon (1987), several macoutes were stoned and others were burned alive. Under the rule of interim President Ertha Pascale Trouillot, in the rural area of Saint-Marc (in the Artibonite discrict, North of the capital), three dozen army soldiers and armed local civilians killed 11 peasants, in the villages of Piatre, Djean, Dupervil, Ka Jan and Ti Plas, in the context of a land conflict between local peasants and big landowners. [22] They appeared in force again at polls in 1964, when Duvalier held a constitutional referendum that declared him president for life. On April 26, 1986, a group of the dictatorship's survivors and their family members and supporters marched to the ruins of Fort Dimanche to remember the dead. Updated November 6, 2012 6:40 AM. Torture of Cacos or alleged Cacos by the Marines was also common practice; this included the hanging of individuals by their genitals, forced absorption of liquids, and the use of ceps, simultaneous pressure by two guns on both side of the tibia bone. Massillon Coicou, one of the most prominent Haitian poets of the early 20th century, was the first victim of the killings (his death inspired Le Pote assassin by the French poet Apollinaire.) Montas joins an even shorter list of high profile victims, whom Baby Doc is able to identify by name. Mission Civile Internationale en Hati (MICIVIH), Rapport Trimestriel avril-juin 1999, Port-au-Prince, 1999. Tonton Macoute was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier.In 1970, the militia was officially renamed the Milice de Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale (Militia of National Security Volunteers or MVSN, probably taking name from the homonymous Italian Fascist paramilitary organization). Most of the inhabitants were forced to flee the area and several dead bodies were eaten by dogs and rodents, as family members, fearing for their lives, preferred not to collect the corpses. Baby Doc, his deranged son, took over and continued the terror. The hunt was on. phoenix 2021 limited worth; najbolje srpske pesme svih vremena. Michle Montas feels the same urgency in commemorating April 26 this year. Most of the victims of this popular justice lived downtown and, therefore, were macoute chiefs of lesser importance or even miserable wretches (Trouillot, 1990: 155). 589-636. According to Pierre-Charles (2000), there were several hundred victims during this year alone. In 1995, once constitutional rule and democracy had been restored, the Truth and Justice Commission investigated the crimes and human rights violations committed during this regime and published a detailed report (1995). Defying the widespread opposition and pressing need for other development projects, Haitian President Michel Martelly is pressing ahead with a plan to recreate Haiti's military, which has a dark legacy of repression in the Caribbean country. The total number of victims, 22, was disputed. Trained in part by the CIA, SAVAK was an extremely repressive police force in a society that dealt with dissidents swiftly. While the young have never been told, while so many older Haitians have chosen to forget, while some politicians are now attempting to rewrite history, and while the charges against Jean Claude Duvalier are still pending, I hope that the voices of those saying 'never again' will this time be heard.". 44 ratings5 reviews. During the trial, the court heard that during the 28 years they ruled Haiti, the Duvaliers. Some will commemorate it on social media, on Twitter and Facebook. The latest chapter began in 1991 when . Il est sorti et dans le sentier les Tontons Macoute ont tir sur lui d'une voiture. They were killed in their cells by firing squads. The most notable action of the Oprichniki, was the massacre at Novgorod where 1,500 nobles and anywhere from three to 30,000 thousand others were executed, reducing Novgorod to a shell of a city. This particular name was earned by one of his endeavors of extorting blood plasma from locals for sale. But it is no paradise for the country's nine million people. [6] As the Nazi party apparatus expanded, the control of the Gestapo shifted, ultimately landing under Heinrich Himmlers control during World War Two. Gaillard, Roger, Les Blancs dbarquent, IV. Tonton Macoute was a special operations unit within the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. _ In addition to executions and violence against unarmed combatants, the US Army and its Haitian auxiliaries (the gendarmerie) allegedly committed massive killings and acts of violence against the civilian population. The Tonton Macoute sat at an otherwise empty table, a bottle of rum and half-filled glass in front of him. A few weeks earlier, several young, light-skinned members of the Communist Party, a political party persecuted by the regime, including Alex Lamaute and Roger Mhu, had taken refuge in this town, assuming that they would blend into a population regarded as generally light-skinned (for having harbored many Polish soldiers after the war of independence). Although the event was investigated by several prominent journalists and the human rights group National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), its existence remains controversial and supporters of Aristide (who was President at the time), as well as the media in favor of him, deny it ever took place. The lynching of Vilbrun Sam provided the pretext for the United States to intervene and occupy Haiti until 1934. 1987 (July 29): Army soldiers fired on a crowd protesting against the armys celebration of the anniversary of the foundation of the macoutes. After the fall and exile of Nord Alexis, the various political and military leaders responsible for the March 14 killing were tried and pardoned. According to press reports, Bal Wouz terrorized the inhabitants of the area with the consent of the local police on that day. Papa Docs regime, the more brutal of the two, is said to be responsible for 30,000 to 50,000 assassinations and executions. She recalls the particular case of one of her fellow plaintiffs who was forced to travel from northern Haiti with her husband's severed head in a bucket during the father's reign and was only released from Fort Dimanche during the son's reign, as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States. The Caco rebellion constituted the main armed challenge to the US occupation and had been organized and led by Charlemagne Pralte, who was killed on October 31, 1919 and later became a heroic national figure. Executions, most of which probably occurred during periods of open resistance to occupation, from July to November 1915 and again in 1919, seem very much alive in Haitian collective memory. [17] The Tonton Macoute was heavily influenced by Vodou tradition with denim uniforms resembling clothing like Azaka Medeh, the patron of farmers, and the use of the machete in symbolic reference to Ogun, a great general in Vodou tradition. The Stasi was communist East Germanys Cold War secret police force. [23], The lack of funds coming to the Tonton Macoute was a result of those funds being intercepted by the Duvalier dynasty which was sometimes taking nearly 80 percent of international aid to Haiti, then turning around to pay only 45 percent of the debts the country owed. In exuberance of celebration the Tonton Macoute went out into the streets and shot 27 people for the national party. [26] FRAPH extended its reach far outside that of the Haitian state and had offices present in New York, Montreal and Miami until its disarmament and disbandment in 1994.[27]. The group was tasked with rooting out looters and bandits in the country following a series of mutinies and widespread chaos in the country. Nonetheless the regime pushed forward and even had a national party for the Tontons Macoute. Shortly afterwards, peasants from Gervais avenged this by killing the Section Chiefs subordinates. Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, Haiti. ", Montas recalls "the smell of rotting bodies for days, but also the gripping smell of fear. According to an OAS report (ICRH, 1991), the roots of the killing lie in a land conflict in the village of Terre-Casse, near Gervais, Guyton and Coligny, opposing several peasant families and local small landowners since 1973. Several notorious macoutes, such as William Rgala, one of those responsible for the Vpres Jrmiennes, were promoted to political posts. Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, Rapport de la Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, Port-au-Prince, 1997. Men, women, children and elderly people were killed. _ * (Pierre-Charles, 1973: 38 and 44; Leconte, 1999: 38). This killing was allegedly carried out in retaliation for the burning of an army lieutenants home in the area during the night of October 1. His house was set on fire, with a seven-month-old baby inside. It is estimated that over 60,000 Haitians were killed by the MVSN during both Duvalier and his son's reign. 1991 (January 17): In Gervais, Artibonite, 12 peasants were killed and 8 were disappeared (while 20 others were wounded and 494 houses were allegedly set on fire). Since then, despite the presence of an ineffective UN peacekeeping force, gangs have continued to wreak havoc and murder throughout a country where new graves are guarded to prevent bodies being stolen for voodoo rituals. Haitians named this force after the Haitian Creole . 1969 (April 5): Event known as the massacre de Cazale. In the village of Cazale (sometimes spelled Casale or Casal), North of Port-au-Prince, army soldiers and macouteskilled several dozen peasant families. This is a secret force of two or three thousand gun-carrying ruffians, wearing no uniforms, a . 1919 (November): At least two US planes bombed and shot at the civilian population of two villages of Thomazeau, in the southeastern region of the central plateau, and allegedly killed half of their inhabitants. In power from 1957, Papa Doc made voodoo the country's official religion and claimed to be Baron Samedi, the religion's spirit of death. Reconpilacin y notas, Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1985. Edwidge Danticat is the best-selling author of Claire of the Sea Light and Brother, I'm Dying. Among many awards and honors, she received the 2017 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. Execution in Haiti is generally by shooting. During the 28 years in power of Papa Doc and his playboy son and heir, Jean-Claude Duvalier, or Baby Doc, the Tonton Macoutes and their henchmen killed between 30,00 and 60,000 Haitians, and . 1957 (June 15-16): The Haitian army killed between several hundred (Leconte, 1999) and three thousand (Pierre-Charles, 1973) supporters of President Fignol -- who was popular among the disenfranchised sectors of the capital city -- after having overthrown him and forced him into exile. Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism, Monthly Review Press, New York, 1990. Members of Tt Ansanm hid in the brush - some survived, while others were found and slaughtered by the armed brigades. [citation needed] After Duvalier's death, he was ordered into exile by Duvalier's widow Simone, and son, Baby Doc Duvalier. Lemoine, Patrick, Fort-Dimanche, Fort-la-Mort, CIDIHCA, 1996. In 1991, the Minister of Justice of President Aristides first government accused Frank Romain, who was Mayor of Port-au-Prince at the time, of having organized the killing and hence, requested his extradition from the Dominican Republic, where he was living in exile, but to no avail. _ The racism of the US Marines, most of whom were from the South of the United States (particularly Louisiana and Alabama), has been presented as a factor in the indiscriminate killings of niggers who pretend to speak French (in the words of a US general). Roadblocks were set up. ), En Grandissant sous Duvalier. Tonton Macoute was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. The survivors, hiding in the woods and terrified, wrote to a French priest residing nearby to ask for his protection. The Tonton Macoutes, or macoutes, became an important piece of the repression apparatus of the regime, which used them to terrorize, torture and kill opponents (Diederich and Burt, 2005). The Duvaliers relied on a secret armed militia called Tonton macoutes(its official name was the Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale, or National Security Volunteers), which imposed a rule of terror on the Haitian population (Diederich and Burt, 2005). According to Danroc and Roussire (1995: 21), 60 other individuals were killed in the dpartement (district) of Artibonite alone, also in an attempt to obstruct the election. Printed and made by the E.J. Tonton Macoute Lyrics: Come on to Haiti, you don't need a treaty / Papa Doc will do you OK / Tonton in the sun, he's polishing his gun / You'd better just stay out of his way / If you turn a . [17], The Tontons Macoute were a ubiquitous presence at the polls in the 1961 presidential referendum, in which Duvalier's official vote count was an "outrageous" and fraudulent 1,320,748 to 0, electing him to another term. Learn all about Tonton Macoute on AllMusic. As with the notorious Lasalin massacre on November 13th, 2018- perpetrated by G-9 leader Cherizier along with paramilitary affiliates and police officers of the regime- these more recent. In 1986, after the departure of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Colonel Regala, who sent the order to execute the Sansericq family, became one of the members of the ruling junta. The Duvalier dynasty ended in 1986, but their legacy remained as Fad'H and former-members of the Tonton Macoutes attempted to suppress voter turnout during the 1987 elections. The rationale for the execution remains uncertain. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared. Les Tonton Macoute se dplacent dans l'ombre, comme des fantmes. Backed by politician Franois Duvalier, Kebreau proclaimed himself head of the executive branch of government and organized the September 22 elections, later won by Duvalier. However, women and children were systematically excluded from repression (even the families of the leaders of the various rebellions against Alexiss regime). V no. [12] This group answered to him only. They allegedly wanted revenge for the murder of a sergeant from the local barracks earlier that day. 1929 (December 6): In Marchaterre, in the vicinity of Les Cayes (in the South of the country), the US Marines opened fire on a peaceful demonstration of peasants, killing between 12 and 22 of them. By 1572, fearing that the power of the Oprichniki had reached heights the Tsar could no longer control, Ivan forced the group to disband, making it a crime to even utter their name. Papa and Baby Doc were long gone, but gangs of Tonton Macoutes roamed the streets in pick-up trucks, randomly shooting anyone they passed. _ *** (Benoit, 2003: 6-9; Pierre-Charles, 2000: 112-113). A member of the Tonton Macoutes in Haiti; by extension, a thug or criminal. The latter believe the massacre was manufactured to be used against President Aristide. 1999 (May 28): In a shantytown above the Carrefour-Feuilles neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian National Police (PNH) killed 11 people at night, during a routine patrol. The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable ELIZABETH KNOWLES Duvalier authorized the Tontons Macoutes to commit systematic violence and human rights abuses to suppress political opposition. _ In addition to the repression of the rebellion, between hundreds and thousands of civilians died or were killed during forced labor operations called corve, mainly the construction of roads throughout the country. The MVSN, commonly known as the Tonton Macoutes, was notorious for corruption and brutality. H.J. Described by one commentator as an 'international crime scene' rather than a country, Haiti became infamous around the world during the reign of Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, a former doctor who murdered 100,000 people and formed a private band of killers called the Tonton Macoutes. So widely feared that the Haitian population referred to its members as a mythological creature, the Tonton Macoute, a sort of ghoul who kidnaps misbehaving children and eats them for breakfast, Haitian dictator Franois 'Papa Doc' Duvaliers secret police force, founded in 1959, the MVSN were highly feared, and extremely brutal. The total number of victims was close to a hundred. Both their allusions to the supernatural and their physical presentations were a tool to instill fear. At the same period, locals had been embroiled in a tax dispute and had refused to pay taxes on the sale of agricultural products, which had alienated the Duvalier regime further. Journalists were crushed. Lemoine, Patrick, List of victims of Duvalirism. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Gaillard, Roger, Les Blancs dbarquent, V. Hinche mise en croix, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1982. [1] Those who spoke out against Duvalier would disappear at night, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. Edwidge Danticat was born in Haiti and currently lives in Miami. United Nations, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Haiti prepared by Mr. Adama Dieng (E/CN.4/2001/106), United Nations, New York, 2004. Members of the Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale, commonly known as the Tonton Macoute, Haiti 1960 photo credit by reddit Over their 28-year run, the Makout killed an estimated 60,000 people, according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.