This particular name was earned by one of his endeavors of extorting blood plasma from locals for sale. An unruly teen survives the night while being hunted by the Haitian Boogieman. 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. [13], Luckner Cambronne led the Tontons Macoute throughout the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. According to Pierre-Charles (1973), the urban lumpenproletariat was the social background of most macoutes. In the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Carrefour Vincent, an undetermined number of army soldiers and paramilitary groups attacked a house with automatic weapons, tear gas and grenades. Several dozens of individuals believed to be werewolves or witches were lynched by the mob. National Coalition for Haitian Refugees, Americas Watch, Haiti. 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. Tonton Macoute: Directed by Nigel Robinson. You must there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one that's only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary.. Start your free trial today and get unlimited access to America's largest dictionary, with:. The Tonton Macoute move in shadows, like ghosts. The Tonton Macoutes were later disbanded, but remnants of the former militia periodically resurfaced and were blamed for numerous incidents of bloodshed. He walked the streets at night, looking for children who stayed out too late. Dupuy, Alex, The Prophet and Power: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the International Community, and Haiti, Lanham, Maryland, Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007. _ ** (Gaillard, 1983: 186-190, 237-241, 259-262; Trouillot, 1990: 102-107; Manigat, 2003: 71-74). 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. Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, Rapport de la Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, Port-au-Prince, 1997. Anyone who challenged the VSN risked assassination. General Kebreau, who was responsible for the killings, was nicknamed General Thompson, in reference to the automatic weapons used by his soldiers. Available at:http://www.haiti.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/vrit_justice.pdf, Concannon, Brian, Justice for Haiti; The Raboteau Trial, 2001. According to witnesses, the FRAPH prevented inhabitants from fleeing their burning houses. With one in ten under-40s infected with HIV, and millions living in squalor and destitution, thousands try to flee each year to the U.S. by hanging on to anything that will float. 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. Historians use the term genocide in reference to this event. "The Tonton Macoutes" by Bernard Diederich. According to Pierre-Charles (2000), there were several hundred victims during this year alone. 82 no. On April 21, 2005, the Cour de Cassation (the highest court in the country) invalidated this judgment; the court based its ruling on a 1928 law that prohibited trial by jury for multiple crimes, although this very law had already been nullified by the 1987 Constitution. Death squads though roamed freely. [7][20][21] Even their title of Tonton Macoute was embedded in Haitian lore of a bogeyman who took children away in his satchel or his Makoute. According to oral testimony gathered by historian Roger Gaillard (1981b, 1983), these included summary executions, rapes, setting houses on fire after gathering their inhabitants inside them, lynchings, and torching civilians alive; one local public figure was buried alive. The Tonton Macoutes cut out the hearts, eyes and lungs of opponents with machetes, while Papa Doc, who stole almost a billion pounds in foreign aid, insisted that every television and radio programme had to be entirely in praise of his rule. 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. Gaillard, Roger, La Rpublique Exterminatrice, Troisime Partie. 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. _ * (For sources on the massacre thesis, see Roc, 2004; NCHR, March 2004; and Fuller, 2005; for sources that deny the very existence of the event, see Haiti-Progrs, 2004). His gang lives on, murdering innocent people and allegedly eating their organs. 8 no. Statements by several officers have established that they did not know the reasons for their execution. _ *** (Commission Nationale de Vrit et de Justice, 1997 ; ICHR, 1993), 1991 (September 30 and the first few days of October): In the afternoon of September 30, a commando of army soldiers moved into the Lamentin 50 neighborhood, in the vicinity of Port-au-Prince, randomly opened fire on bystanders and private homes, and indiscriminately threw grenades into local houses. Nonetheless the regime pushed forward and even had a national party for the Tontons Macoute. Others, who slowed down their pace of work, were killed with machetes (Gaillard, 1982). The Tonton Macountes were a staple in the country putting Papa Doc's opponents in their place. Premier crasement du Cacoisme, Le Natal, Port-au-Prince, 1981. Tontons Macoutes often stoned and burned people alive. Several notorious macoutes, such as William Rgala, one of those responsible for the Vpres Jrmiennes, were promoted to political posts. 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. The Tonton Macoutes then tie the ropes around the men's biceps to bind them to the poles and keep them upright. On April 5, 500 soldiers and macoutes arrived in the area and started the killing. Il est sorti et dans le sentier les Tontons Macoute ont tir sur lui d'une voiture. Some civilians who had attempted to flee were killed. It's likely the most familiar name on the 1971 debut album by British jazz-rockers Tonton Macoute isn't that of any band member or even engineer Martin Rushent (who went on to produce the Buzzcocks, Stranglers and Dr Feelgood among many others). Love words? Available at:http://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article1374#.XMLOZJMzbUI. Army soldiers, former macoutes, and groups of armed men chased and killed members and alleged members of the pro-democracy movement, including supporters of President Aristide, during the coup perpetrated by a group of military officers led by Colonel Raoul Cdras. Garcia, Juan Manuel, La Matanza de los haicianos : Genocidio de Trujillo, 1937, Santo Domingo: Alfa y Omega, 1983. Haitis Illegal Prime Minister Arrests the Legal One, in Haiti-Progrs, June 2004. Available at: http://www.fordi9.com/Pages/Victlist/ListA.htm. 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). 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. 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 1991, the Minister of Justice of President Aristides first government accused army General Williams Rgala, who was Minister of Defense at the time, of having ordered the killing and hence, requested his extradition from the Dominican Republic, where he was living in exile, but to no avail. Available at:http://www.ijdh.org/2001/06/archive/brian-concannon-justice-for-haiti-the-raboteau-trial/. Les Tonton Macoute se dplacent dans l'ombre, comme des fantmes. Rochester, Vermont: Destiny Books. A Macoute from the Duvalier era. Other individuals were killed in the street or while driving their car. Tonton Macoutes tntn mkoot [ key] [Haitian Creole,=bogeymen], personal police force of dictator Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) of Haiti. Wilentz, A., The Rainy Season. Keyboardist/vocalist Paul French reemerged at decade's end with art-rockers Voyager, which issued three albums between 1979 and 1981. 1991 (September 30, October 1): Coup. 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. Former journalist Michle Montas still vividly remembers the bullet-ridden bodies lying on the sidewalk near her home on April 26, 1963. From their methods to their choice of clothes, Vodou always played an important role in their actions. Posted on June 16, 2022 June 16, 2022 A 1922 internal US army report recognized and justified the execution of women and children, presenting them as auxiliaries of the Cacos (in Gaillard, 1983: 259). Although this killing was not politically motivated, it provoked great concern since it was the first large-scale execution since the return to democracy and suggested that the armys violent tactics against the poor had not ended, even though Aristide had officially abolished it. A fresh take on sports: the biggest news and most entertaining lists. _ *** (Danroc and Roussire, 1995: 71-79). Bernard Diederich lived in Haiti for 14 years and had personal experience of the early Duvalier days and the period of Maloire's rule. 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. 1914-1915. 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. Carri later refuted the allegation. 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. Learn all about Tonton Macoute on AllMusic. [1][4], The church was the parish of future President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, then a liberation theology Roman Catholic priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco order, and had been packed with 1000 people for Sunday mass. Showing Editorial results for tonton macoutes. [18][19], Some of the most important members of the Tontons Macoute were Vodou leaders. 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. Batistas brutal anti communist apparatus in pre-communist Cuba, the Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities, or BRAC was run by Mariano Faget, a man previously responsible for the discovery and repression of communists, fascists and even Nazi elements in Cuba. 53 Tonton Macoutes Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Archival Browse 53 tonton macoutes stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. Rural people were crushed.". "Shortly after Baby Doc Duvalier was propelled to power as President for life, I was arrested, as were thousands before and after me," Patrick Lemoine writes in his heart-wrenching memoir, Fort Dimanche, Dungeon of Death, an excruciating account of his six years in captivity. Turits, Richard Lee, A World Destroyed, a Nation Imposed: the 1937 Haitian Massacre in the Dominican Republic, Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. p. 21. During this period, the social movements fighting for the establishment of democracy, human rights and the rule of law were persecuted by the military, former macoutes and paramilitary groups called attachs. The military killed political activists and journalists and organized their disappearance. According to Pierre-Charles (2000: 208), more than 1,500 people disappeared between 1986 and 1990, most of them under the rule of General Henri Namphy, between March and October 1987. Tontons Macoutes stoned and burned people alive. Cette vido prsente des tmoignages recueillis par Amnesty International en 1985 sur les arrestations arbitraires et les actes de. _ * (Gaillard, 1983: 40-42, 152 and 282; Gaillard, 1981: 205-213). To this day, no judicial inquiry has been opened on this event. Duvalier employed the Tonton Macoute in a reign of terror against any opponents, including those who proposed progressive social systems. Though there have been more than ten brutal secret police forces throughout history, the ten on this list are a cross section that highlight different types of political climates, eras and methods, and though the majority are modern, all ultimately carry out a brutal agenda of terror and violence against its citizens. Later on the same day, peasants from Guyton and Coligny, assisted by army soldiers from Saint-Marc, Artibonite, travelled to Gervais and carried out further killings in retaliation. The total number of victims remains unknown. [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. 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. 1987 (July 29): Army soldiers fired on a crowd protesting against the armys celebration of the anniversary of the foundation of the macoutes. Some will commemorate it on social media, on Twitter and Facebook. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The most feared paramilitary group during the 1990s was the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Hati (FRAPH), which Toronto Star journalist Linda Diebel described as modern Tonton Macoutes, and not the legitimate political party it claimed to be. 1964 (July-August): Following a raid on June 24, 1964 by an anti-Duvalierist, Dominican Republic-based guerrilla group in the southeastern region of the country, the macoutesand the army carried out a vast repression operation and killed about 600 people in the towns of Mapou, Thiotte, Grand-Gosier and Belle-Anse. Cuello, Jos Isreal, Documentos del conflicto domnico-haitiano de 1937. Shortly afterward, killings resumed in the southern part of the border region and lasted throughout the first six months of 1938; several hundred Haitians were killed during this period (several thousands according to Dominican historian Juan Manuel Garcia, 1983). The lynching of Vilbrun Sam provided the pretext for the United States to intervene and occupy Haiti until 1934. Aristide returned to power in 1994 with a bigger U.S. force - only to flee again after threats that he would be hacked to death and eaten. dr lorraine day coronavirus test. Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (ICHR), Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1988-1989, Washington, D.C., 1990. More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary Tonton Macoute | Facts, Information, and Mythology Tonton Macoute "Uncle Gunnysack." A bogeyman of Haitian Creole folklore. The SAVAK was the Shah of Irans secret police force from 1957 until the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Dexter (television series) Season 1 Episode 9 (Father Knows Best) references Tonton Macoute, also referring to them as"The Boogymen". Students were crushed. 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. A Decade of Impunity in Haiti, Human Rights Watch, vol. The Benot, Edelyn and families were exterminated and their bodies left in full view in front of their houses. 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. The Central Office of Banditry Repression, or OCRB was a secret police force formed in the Central African Republic that was formed in the early to 1990s. Those who had been arrested were threatened at the prison. Literature. 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). The regime of terror and assassinations imposed by the macoutesand the military continued but no large-scale killings occurred during this period. Those condemned included Castra Cnafils, an army captain, and Jean Tatoune, a FRAPH member. The Vieux family lost four of its members. Jean-Bertrand Aristide had not been sworn in yet when this event took place, and the interim government was led by Mrs. Trouillot, a civilian. As of August 2004, the minister of Justice had asked for the United Nations and the OAS participation in carrying out forensic analysis. After Germanys defeat, the subsequent Nuremberg Trials declared the Gestapo a criminal organization and many of its members were executed for war crimes. 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. 1991 (January 7): In Port-au-Prince, mobs of civilians supporting President-elect Aristide chased and killed macoutes, alleged macoutes and other supporters and alleged supporters of the Duvalier regime, after a failed coup attempt led by chief macoutes and former government minister Roger Lafontant. 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.. His house was set on fire, with a seven-month-old baby inside. 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. Several of the persons responsible for the killing (prison guards and soldiers) were tried and acquitted in July 1917. 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. _ 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.
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