Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

672 • TONTON MACOUTESof Asahara, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan on 15September 2006.TONTON MACOUTES. The Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité, orVolunteers for National Security, was a state-sponsored repressiveorganization created by the Haitian dictator François “Papa Doc” Duvalierin 1959 to eliminate his enemies and quell open dissent amongthe people of Haiti. Its more common name, the Tonton Macoute, isCreole, meaning “Uncle Knapsack,” a figure in Haitian folklore whorewards bad children with punishment by carrying them off in a knapsack.Originally it was a personal presidential bodyguard, became analternative militia to counter possible coups by the Haitian military,and ultimately turned into an instrument of mass repression.After Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was deposed from theHaitian presidency in 1985, the Tonton Macoutes were officially disbanded.In reality, the organization continued to exist undergroundand apparently found another patron in President Henri Namphy. On11 September 1988 soldiers and Tonton Macoute members stormedthe St. John Bosco Church in Port-au-Prince, killing nine worshipersand injuring 77 and setting fire to the church. The parish priest, JeanBertrand Aristide, was a vocal critic of the Namphy government, butthe tactic backfired, as it prompted more clashes between citizensand the Tonton Macoutes, leading General Prosper Avril to deposeNamphy by a military coup on 17 September. Yet Avril himself didnot appear willing to suppress or prosecute the Tonton Macoutes, andhe, too, was forced to resign on 10 March 1990. Jean-Bertrand Aristide,elected president on 16 December 1990, promised to prosecutethe Tonton Macoutes but was himself ousted by a coup staged byarmy officers having ties to the Tonton Macoutes on 30 September1991. The last known leader of the Tonton Macoutes, Luckner Cabronne,died in Miami, Florida, on 29 September 2006.While the label “Tonton Macoute” is no longer used, a successororganization incorporating many of the same members and methodswas created by the military coup leaders, which is known as FRAPH,the French acronym for the Revolutionary Front for the Advancementand Progress of Haiti.TÚPAC AMARU REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT (MRTA). TheMovimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru was a Marxist urban guerrillagroup that sought to create a socialist revolution within Peru fol-