tonton macoute massacre tonton macoute massacre

1902 (September 17): 10 disarmed peasants from the government forces were killed on orders of the pro-Firmin general Laborde Corvoisier after a battle in Limb (in the North of the country). The few -- like Montas, who was arrested on Jean Claude Duvalier's orders, on November 28, 1980 -- who have been able to file complaints or testify, represent a small percentage of those who were arrested, jailed, tortured, or killed under the younger's Duvalier regime. While hurricanes, floods and earthquakes have all devastated the landscape over the years, the biggest threat has come from humans. Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who has died of a heart attack aged 63, was just 19 when he inherited the title of president-for-life from his father, Francois or "Papa Doc", who had ruled Haiti . The MVSN were responsible for systematic rape, torture, disappearances and executions in Haiti during Duvalier and his sons reign of power. Alix introduced the man with his arm in a sling as Eloise Maitre. Also, for the first time in Haitis history, women (Trouillot, 1990: 153 and 167), children and even infants were targeted by the regime. 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. A wave of repression hit the members and supporters of the Communist party during 1969, especially in Cap Haitian and Port-au-Prince. In fact, the killing also had ideological and racial dimensions, as Duvalier relied on a political ideology known as noirisme (Blackism), through which he claimed to promote the black masses against mulatto elites. Hence, the Duvalier dictatorship targeted mulatto sectors of society, seen as prone to political opposition, but also as illegitimate members of the nation. Known to torture its victims with methods including electric shock, removal of teeth and finger nails, as well as boiling water treatment, SAVAK spent the majority of its resources weeding out and torturing either the Shia or communist opponents to the Shahs rule. _ 1987 (November 29): Event known in collective memory as the massacre de la ruelle Vaillant. Under the rule of General Namphy, at dawn on an election day, a group of 50 to 60 armed men, composed of soldiers in civilian clothes as well as macoutes, killed at least 16 civilians in a polling station of the Ecole Nationale Argentine Bellegarde, a school in Port-au-Prince. Luckner Cambronne was a particularly fierce head of the Tonton Macoute throughout the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. The Trujillo regimes policy of State-sponsored terror, as well as the racist, anti-Haitian ideology put forward by the regime and Dominican intellectuals, provided the context for these events, although Turits (2003), in a seminal work on these killings identified the defense of territorial integrity (against a perceived Haitianization of frontier areas), as a decisive factor. [6] Haitians named this force after the Haitian mythological bogeyman, Tonton Macoute ("Uncle Gunnysack"), who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunny sack (macoute) before carrying them off to be consumed for breakfast.[7][8]. While the Stasi engaged in arrest and torture through the 1950s and 1960s, by the early 70s the secret police began a far more subversive campaign of psychological torture, disrupting a suspected dissident's personal life via a smear campaign, breaking into ones home to reorganize objects and making threatening phone calls, among other less obvious, but continuous provocations. Based on a similar French agency, which the African OCRB often worked with, many crimes by the police force itself have gone unpunished, and a particularly effective method of torture, Le Caf, where one is beaten with a baton and then forced to walk an excruciating distance, became commonplace in interrogations of suspected bandits. Americas Watch, Human Rights Developments, Washington, D.C., 1994. _ *** (MICIVIH, 1999: 5-6; United Nations, 2000: 15). 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. 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. _ *** (United Nations, 2001: 17-18; Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, 1997: chapter V, section C4; Concannon, 2001; Concannon, 2005). Beyond the Gulags, the NKVD was instrumental in Stalins genocide in the Ukraine where millions perished due to hunger, and the Great Purge of the communist party and the Red Army between 1934 and 1940. Some civilians who had attempted to flee were killed. Laraque, Paul and Frank, Hati, la lutte et lespoir, Montreal, CIDIHCA, 2003. They were responsible for unknown numbers of murders and rapes in Haiti. In 1920, during hearings held by the US Navy, Lavoie was accused of this by other US officers. Tradues em contexto de "massacre 11" en ingls-portugus da Reverso Context : Skip to the part where you convince him to massacre 11 people. In 1970 the militia was renamed the Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale (VSN, Volunteers of the National Security). Article created on Monday, March 3, 1997. The "Tonton Macoutes" often stoned and burned people alive, regularly following such rites by hanging bodies of their victims in the street as a warning to the population at large. Tonton Macoute was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. The total number of victims in Port-au-Prince that day was at least 34, although an observer interviewed by the ICHR (1988: 84) quoted the figure of 200. A Decade of Impunity in Haiti, Human Rights Watch, vol. Even the most conservative estimate makes it one of the largest massacres on a single day in Latin America in the 20th century. Le Grand fauve, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince 1995. OpenSubtitles2018.v3. His work exposes the evil of Duvalier's rule and the tale . _ 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. These attacks may have been the first ever carried out by air on civilian populations. _ * (Gaillard, 1983: 40-42, 152 and 282; Gaillard, 1981: 205-213). After 40 years, the Stasi disbanded with the fall of East Germany. La Droute de lintelligence, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1992. Le tonton macoute tait assis seul une table, devant une bouteille de rhum et un verre moiti plein. [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. Pierre-Charles, Grard, Radiographie dune dictature. Castor, Suzy, Le Massacre de 1937 et les relations hatiano-dominicaines, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1988. It was that of the sleeve designer. [14] In 1971, President Duvalier died[15] and his widow Simone, and son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier ordered Cambronne into exile. At the end of the day, 25 bodies were found but 80 had disappeared and were never found. Navnet (bogstaveligt "Onkel strtaske") kom fra et navn fra haitisk voodoo for manden med leen.Da snnen Jean-Claude Duvalier "Baby Doc" overtog prsidentposten efter faderens dd i 1971, fik privatmilitsen det officielle navn Milice de . Men, women, children and elderly people were killed. His wife spent 10,000 a month on flowers and always wore expensive furs indoors - with officials facing death if they forgot to turn on the air-conditioning. According to MICIVIH forensic examinations conducted within days after the event, all of these 11 extra-judiciary executions were carried out in cold blood: the 11 individuals had been killed while lying down on the floor with both hands tied. Les Cent jours de Rosalvo Bobo ou une mise mort politique, Presses Nationales, Port-au-Prince, 1973. 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.) In December 2003, more than 13 years after the event, the investigative magistrate (who was the seventh to work on the case) issued a report indicting 53 suspects, including the various landowners and General Prosper Avril, for nine charges including murder. Macoutes) A member of the Tonton Macoutes in Haiti; by extension, a thug or criminal. The St. Jean Bosco massacre took place in Haiti on 11 September 1988. 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. Reconpilacin y notas, Santo Domingo: Editora Taller, 1985. Women were forced to dance and celebrate with the soldiers who stayed in the village. 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. 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). Wearing their trademark mirrored sunglasses and designer T-shirts, these murderers and cannibals were named after a terrifying bogeyman from Haitian mythology, who carried off naughty children into slavery. The vast majority of the victims belonged to the social and intellectual elites of the capital. From 1919 on, the US airforce in Haiti was composed of at least three planes and used five airports (that it built) throughout the country. 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. Filan, Kenaz (2007). Gaillard (1983: 261), adding innocent victims and Cacos killed in combat throughout the occupation, reached the number of 15,000. During the trial, the court heard that during the 28 years they ruled Haiti, the Duvaliers. _ *** (Michel, 1998: 36-42; Gaillard, 1973: 87-99). The massacre began on July 23, but it lasted through the weekend and into the next week. Haiti Face the Future, EPICA, Washington, DC, 1994. At the time they were disbanded, in February 1986, there were several thousand macoutes around the country. Unions were crushed. It had become the norm, whole families guilty by bloodline, condemned, executed.". Several dozens of individuals believed to be werewolves or witches were lynched by the mob. The bloodbath began at the home of Montas's neighbor, Lieutenant Franois Benoit, an elite marksman who had been dismissed from the army. A four-year child, Stphane Sansericq, was tortured in front of his relatives before being killed. Franois Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, was elected president with the armys support in 1957 and ruled Haiti until his death in 1971. The total number of victims remains unknown. 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. The Tonton Macoute (Haitian Creole: Tonton Makout)[1][2][3] or simply the Macoute[4][5] was a special operations unit within the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In Haitian Creole mythology, Tonton Macoutes was a bogeyman who kidnapped errant children in the night and stored them in his knapsack. (Sleeve) 1971 RCA Limited. It was notorious for its widespread and brutal . At least 1,000 people were killed during the following few weeks, according to the Platform of Human Rights Organizations, the main human rights group at that time in the country. 1994 (April 22): Event known as the massacre de Raboteau. In Raboteau, a shantytown of Gonaives, Artibonite, army soldiers and FRAPH members killed 14 opponents to the regime in a well-planned operation. During the purge, anyone suspected of being an enemy of the state or of Stalins was arrested, tortured and either sent to the Gulags or executed. As the Nazi party apparatus expanded, the control of the Gestapo shifted, ultimately landing under Heinrich Himmlers control during World War Two. _ ** (Trouillot, 1990; Pierre-Charles, 1973 and 2000; Lemoine, 1996; Romulus, 1995). The Oprichnikis methods of torture and execution ranged from impalement, boiling victims alive, roasting them over an open flame and even drawing and quartering them. The democratically elected President Aristide ruled from 1994 to January 1996, and again from 2001 to 2004. Lemoine, Patrick, List of victims of Duvalirism. Schmidt, Hans, The United States Occupation of Haiti, 1915-1934, Rutgers University Press, New Jersey, 1971. Released 21 May 1971 on Neon (catalog no. Turits (2003: 169) also contended that Dominican civilians did not participate in the killings, contrarily to Castors perception of the events (1988), as well as that of Haitian collective memory. Featured peformers: Dave Knowles (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, vocals), Chris Gavin (bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Paul French (organ, electric . The intimidation became so extreme that the MVSN, who were rightly known as the Tonton Macoutes, began burning people alive, or stoning them to death. tonton macoute massacre. Gaillard, Roger, Les Blancs dbarquent, V. Hinche mise en croix, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1982. As a result of their political indifference, March 29, 1969 became known as the worst day for the people of Cazale as Duvalier's Tonton Macoute (private army), built a barricade around Cazale, and murdered many young men. Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Report on the situation of human rights in Haiti, Portrait of a Folk-Hero: Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide, The More things change-- human rights in Haiti, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St._Jean_Bosco_massacre&oldid=1136679075, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 15:59. In 1959, his paramilitary force was called the Cagoulards ("Hooded Men"). ", Montas recalls "the smell of rotting bodies for days, but also the gripping smell of fear. On July 23, 1999, the Minister of Justice created a judicial commission to supervise the investigation which, to this day (May 2005), has still not been completed. Tonton Macoute day was 29 July 1985, and amongst festivities the group was bestowed new uniforms and was honored by all of Baby Doc's cabinet. _ *** (ICHR, 1988; Wilentz 1990; Pierre-Charles, 2000: 141). Indeed, the devastating earthquake now bringing death and heartbreak is the latest in a long line of tragedies to befall a place dubbed the Island of the Damned. The name was later applied to the Milice de Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale, the paramilitary force of Franois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, Haiti's "President for Life." 3, pp. It was during this period that the army established the basis for a totalitarian order (Trouillot, 1990: 152). THE TONTON MACOUTES In order to intimidate the Garde, which still had some professional standards, Du-valier organized a "militia" which may num-ber some 8,000 men. Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (ICHR), Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1988-1989, Washington, D.C., 1990. According to witnesses, the FRAPH prevented inhabitants from fleeing their burning houses. Love words? In 1993, I watched as the might of the U.S. military was repelled by mobs armed with stones and clubs when American troops arrived to restore order. 3, Port-au-Prince, CUDHAC, 2003. NE 4; Vinyl LP). In 1970 the militia was renamed the Volontaires de la Scurit Nationale ( VSN, Volunteers of the National Security). 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). [6] Massacres led by paramilitary groups spawned from the Macoutes continued during the following decade. . 1990 (March 12): Event known as the massacre de Piatre (also pronounced Pitre or Piastre). Sign-up for our free weekly e-mail newsletter. "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. _ *** (United Nations, 2000: 9, NCHR, 2004). Learn all about Tonton Macoute on AllMusic. Haiti since Duvalier, Touchstone, 1990. A bogeyman of Haitian Creole folklore. On April 5, 500 soldiers and macoutes arrived in the area and started the killing. Created as a paramilitary force that answered only to Duvalier, the MVSN was implemented to remove any perceived threats to the Presidents power, ofwhich there were many. After the country's first free elections in 1991, the new president, Jean Bertrand Aristide, was forced to flee after a coup by corrupt military figures keen to control lucrative cocaine smuggling routes. However, most of those responsible for the repression escaped prosecution. They were killed in their cells by firing squads. 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). La Rpublique autoritaire, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1981. Available at:http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article1374#.XMLOZJMzbUI. Successive dictators have raped, murdered and even reputedly eaten their enemies. [6] 1988 (September 11): Event known as the massacre de Saint-Jean Bosco. Under General Namphys rule, unidentified armed men (probably former macoutes) killed at least 13 individuals (and wounded 80 more) inside the Saint-Jean Bosco church in Port-au-Prince, during Sunday mass. sword and fairy 7 how to change language. 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). Danroc, Gilles and Roussire, Daniel, La Rpression au quotidien en Hati (1991-1994), Commission Justice et Paix du diocse des Gonaives (Justice and Peace Commission of the Gonaives diocese), Karthala, , 1995. 2013, Amy Wilentz, Farewell, Fred . One of the most brutal secret police forces as well, the Securitate was responsible for monitoring and spying on Romanian citizens, as well as their arrests, tortures and executions. Other individuals were killed in the street or while driving their car. The attempted kidnapping had been orchestrated by Clment Barbot, a macoute and former head of the secret services of Papa Doc, to whom he was close. Duvalier authorized the Tontons Macoutes to commit systematic violence and human rights abuses toward his ends; they were responsible for unknown numbers of murders and rapes in Haiti. A History of Political Violence against the Poor The Blood-Soaked Record of the Duvaliers", "Duvalier, 64, Dies in Haiti; Son, 19, Is New President", "Ogou- Vodou, Voodoo Spirit, Lwa of the Nago Nation", "5. Between the fall of the Duvalier regime in 1986 and the December 1990 election, a series of short-lived military governments and coups dEtat punctuated the 5-year inter-regnum. Several of the persons responsible for the killing (prison guards and soldiers) were tried and acquitted in July 1917. This letter constitutes the sole written testimony of the acts committed against them. Eight of the eleven victims were unarmed. 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. Gaillard, Roger, La Rpublique Exterminatrice, Cinquime Partie. _ Beyond opponents of the regime, the targeted groups cannot be defined in traditional political terms, which made the Duvalierist violence fundamentally new (Trouillot, 1990: 166-170). Tonton Macoute was a special operations unit within the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator Franois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Frre, Grard-Alphonse, Liste partielle des victimes de la dictature duvaliriste, 1957-1986, not dated. National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), Communiqu de Presse, Port-au-Prince, December 5, 2004. The militia was created in 1959, modelled on the Italian fascist Blackshirts. The story takes place in New Orleans. *** (Chassagne, 1999: 235-262; Pierre-Charles, 2000: 94-102). "Tonton Macoutes" style death . Those dead, too, will be remembered on this now-layered anniversary. Duvalier authorized the Tontons Macoutes to commit systematic violence and human rights abuses to suppress political opposition. Chassagne, Albert, Hati, bain de sang, in Frantz-Antoine Leconte (ed. His cruelty earned him the nickname "Vampire of the Caribbean". Duvalier created the militia, because he felt threatened by the Haitian army. [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. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. Bernard Diederich, Al Burt. 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. (No subsequent reports from international human rights organizations mention this killing). The MVSN were responsible for systematic rape, torture, disappearances and executions in Haiti during Duvalier and his son's reign of power. Political opponents often disappeared overnight, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. 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. In the TV series "Two and a Half Men", Season 3 Episode 17: "The Unfortunate Little Schnauzer", Archie Baldwin makes a reference to Tonton Macoute in his UN jingle for orphaned children. While executions were not as widespread as other secret police forces, torture was a matter of course, with many political prisoners left in solitary confinement for lengthy periods of time, deprived of sleep and burned, either by cigarette, grills or even acid. Some of the most important members of the Tonton Macoute were vodou leaders and this religious affiliation gave the Macoutes a sense of unearthly authority in the eyes of the public. Gaillard, Roger, Les Blancs dbarquent, IV. It was one of the most brutal days of the twenty-nine-year rule of Papa Doc and his son, Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. [citation needed] After Duvalier's death, he was ordered into exile by Duvalier's widow Simone, and son, Baby Doc Duvalier. ), En Grandissant sous Duvalier. Day group, London and Bedford Barcode and Other Identifiers This continued until the Tonton Macoute was left on its own when Baby Doc fled the country with an estimated $900m. The following day, Vilbrun Sam and Etienne were dragged respectively from the consulates of France and of the Dominican Republic, where they had sought refuge, and were lynched by a mob. With such numbers, every aspect of East German life was infiltrated; schools, hospitals and industrial plants all maintained informants, as did every apartment building in East Germany. Menu In exuberance of celebration the Tonton Macoute went out into the streets and shot 27 people for the national party. Les Tonton Macoute se dplacent dans l'ombre, comme des fantmes. In several occasions, young children were tortured. _ *** (Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, 1997; Americas Watch, 1991). According to local witnesses before the Truth and Peace Commission in 1995, several dead bodies were thrown into a nearby open mass grave dug on the soldiers orders; several youths were then executed after having dug the grave, and thrown into it; other bodies were allegedly carried away by a truck and were disappeared.. After Baby Doc was forced to flee in 1986, the Tonton Macoutes were . The court of assize immediately sentenced Desyr to death. Eloise was the head of the feared "Tonton Macoute", the Haitian secret police. 1902 (August 8): In Petit-Gove, 450 civilians died in a fire which destroyed the town; it had allegedly been lit by the government forces of General Carri to force out the pro-Firmin forces.