Tonton Macoute - Haiti Observer Blog

It has just been reported that former Haitian President jean Claude Duvalier is dead. Known as "Baby Doc" or "Baby Doc", Jean claude Duvalier was born on July 3, 1951 in Port-au-Prince. He was a politician and President from 1971 to 1986 after the death of his father, François Duvalier.

According to sources close to the family, Jean Claude Duvalier died as a result of a heart attack.

Mezanmi gro nouvel. Yo jis reporte ke Jean Claude Duvalier mouri jodia, 3 Octob, 2014. Ke- li rete. Mwin ape cheche plis informasyon pou mwen pote ba nou.

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An appellate court in Haiti comprised of three-judge panel said on Thursday, February 20, 2014 that former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier should face trial on human rights abuse. This decision by the appellate court in Haiti eliminated a ruling by an investigative judge in 2012 that threw out the human rights charges against Duvalier on the grounds that the statute of limitations to bring such charges had expired.

It seems more certain than ever before that Jean-Claude Duvalier will be facing in the near future many of the victims of his private militia known as the Tonton Macoutes.

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When Francois Duvalier assumed the presidency of Haiti in 1957, he instituted a brutal secret police, Tonton Macoutes. The term translates to Uncle Gunnysack in English, based on a children's fairytale, in which the ogre would kidnap disobedient children and devour them. Duvalier co-opted the name and used the secret police to control and terrify people.

Tonton Macoutes spread fear among Haitians, kidnapping them sometimes in the dead of night. Or by day, lynching their burned bodies, leaving them to molder away under the hot sun. The smallest perceived infraction against Duvalier brought on the evil wrath of Tonton Macoutes.

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Casal is a small Haitian city located in the North American region and has a very small population. Port-au-Prince, Carrefour and Guantanamo are the major cities that can be found close to Casal. Casal has a significant Polish influence and many people are baffled by the fact that Poland and Casal are not close to each other and yet, Casal has a huge Polish influence. This revolution can however be traced back to the era of Haitian Revolution.

It was during 1802 when Napoleon arrived with his army at Saint Domingue to take care of the slave rebellion. The army consisted of Polish legion. Napoleon dispatched 5200 Polish soldiers for Saint Domingue to suppress the revolt. Upon arrival, these Polish soldiers found that it was not the rebellion mentioned by Napoleon but was actually a slave revolt in which the slaves were fighting for their freedom.

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Jérémie is located in the Jeremie Arrondissement in Haiti and is the capital city of the Grand'Anse Department. It was founded in 1756. Navasa Island is located around 40 nautical miles to the west of the city.

The City Of Poets

Numerous historians, writers as well as poets were born in Jeremie city and hence it is termed as the city of poets. Prominent writers such as Etzer Vilaire and Emile Roumer were born here. General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, the father of Alexandre Dumas Pere a historic novelist, was born in Jeremie. Very close to the city, flows the Grand-Anse River.

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Francois Duvalier, the 40th President of Haiti, had a number of people who he used during his regime to impose his rules and methods of running his own government. A rule of guns, military power along with personality cult and voodoo, Francois Duvalier was responsible for the death of over 30000 Haitians. This not only struck fear and horror in the hearts of the people of Haiti when he was alive, it is something that Haiti has not recovered from ever since.

One of the significant figures of Francois Duvalier's regime was Madame Max Adolphe. Every leader has a group of deputies under him/her to take care of nationalistic duties. Madame Max Adolphe was one such individual under Duvalier's reign. She was what Duvalier, during his presidency, called his "right hand".

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Dressed in a black suit and sporting dark sunglasses, Clement Barbot instigated fear wherever he went. Not with just his presence, the mere sound of the DKW jeep he rode on created a sense of fright among people. As the chief and controller of the National Security Volunteers, earlier called the Tonton Macoutes or the "hooded men", Clement Barbot was much more than just a force to reckon with during the Francois Duvalier regime.

When Francois Duvalier was proclaimed President for a term period of six years, Clement Barbot was then the self-proclaimed "Chief of the Secret Police". The team that was functioning under him was not just the military personnel. His team was a good mix of both military personnel and civilians. Clement Barbot, along with his Tonton Macoutes, gave people three alternatives other than silence and obedience. Those were to end up in jail, get themselves killed and flee the country. It was this reign of terror that struck fear in the hearts of people.

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Many people played a hand in the 1991 coup that saw the elected president of the Republic of Haiti, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, removed from office, few with as much importance as army colonel and the then Haitian police chief, Joseph-Michel François. He was born on May 8, 1957 and went to military school at Fort Bragg in the United States.

The skills he acquired there would serve him well as part of the oppressive government, which ruled for over three years under Raoul Cédras. During this time, Michel Francois headed up the secret police and oversaw, or facilitated, many human rights violations, murders and other heinous, counter-judiciary acts.

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Few people guilty of the most heinous crimes in Haiti's history have received due punishment. It would seem that justice for the wrongs done to people in the country, blatantly orchestrated and performed by those in power, is a thing to be hoped for but never truly achieved.

When Luc Désir was charged with his crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor in the late 1980's, it seemed as though all the people he'd tortured, their families who suffered and those whose lives he'd brutally ended, all as the head of Francois Duvalier's Secret Police, would finally see restitution. It's been speculated that hundreds of people imprisoned by him disappeared without trace, the true nature of his dealings with the imprisoned unknown until audio recordings he made of his torture sessions became public fodder.

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Four students were shot to death in the city of Gonaives by soldiers and Tonton macoute of the Duvalier regime in November, 1986. The security forces opened fire on an anti-government demonstration in the northern during several months. The government was desperate and made use of some of the most oppressive measures to stop the popular protest against Jean Claude Duvalier, including press censorship and jailing of opposition political figures.

One of the point that signaled the beginning of an end to the JeanClaude duvalier regime was his Cabinet Reshuffle of 1985. As the pressure was mounting from the population for Jean Claude Duvalier to get out of power, in a surprising 1:00a.m announcement, he announced a major Cabinet Reshuffling. He removed four principal Cabinet ministers following the shooting death of four school children in Haiti. The student were part of the general protest in the country demanding an end to the Duvalier regime.

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