Caribbean Beat — January/February 2019 (#155)

The Tontons Macoutes
were a strange mix of naked
self-interest, expressed
in corruption, theft, and
protection money, but
also unwavering loyalty
to Duvalier
lacked the terrifying totalitarianism
of his father’s. In the 1980s, exiles,
the Catholic Church, and even community
groups dared to protest, sometimes violently,
against the government. In February 1986, such
protests developed into a full-scale revolt, and
Baby Doc, under pressure from the US, chose to
fly into exile with millions of dollars looted from
his impoverished country.
the nickname “the vampire of the
Caribbean.” Alongside systematic extortion,
the aim was to destroy organised political opposition
and to terrify ordinary Haitians into submission. Victims were
often openly murdered in the street, while many more disappeared
into the infamous Fort Dimanche prison, never to be seen again. Fort
Dimanche was supervised by the Uzi-wielding Madame Max Adolphe, one
of the most senior Tontons Macoutes and a close confidante of Papa Doc.
What Graham Greene described as the “nightmare republic” was ruled by
fear and superstition. Many Tontons Macoutes were also houngans, local vodou
priests who claimed supernatural and often harmful powers. Duvalier himself,
formerly an expert in Haitian rural culture, cultivated a frightening persona
of omniscience and black magic. And his private army, originally named the
Cagoulards (hooded men) and then officially retitled the Volontaires de la Sécurité
Nationale, were universally known as the Tontons Macoutes, the traditional
bogeymen of folklore who would stuff errant children into their hessian sacks at
night and carry them off to be eaten for breakfast.
At the organisation’s peak, the Macoutes numbered some 25,000 members,
one per 150 Haitians. This terror network emboldened Papa Doc to dismiss
US concerns over human rights and to extend his term in office indefinitely:
in April 1961, a referendum granting him a further six years was won by the
rather implausible margin of 1,320,748 votes to zero. Duvalier carried on in
power until his death from natural causes in April 1971, to be succeeded by
his son, Jean-Claude or “Baby Doc.”
Under Baby Doc, the Tontons Macoutes remained a powerful force, even if
the new president took personal possession of foreign aid payments that they
had previously pilfered. But change was in the air, and Baby Doc’s regime
The Tontons Macoutes, or at least the
lower ranks, were now victims rather
than oppressors. Many were murdered
and their homes destroyed in a frenzy
of retribution known in Creole as
dechoukaj or “uprooting.” Those higher
up in the hierarchy were less likely to be
killed, and were able to retain positions in
state-owned and private industries. It was
the neighbourhood bully rather than the high-level
embezzler who was targeted. In the ensuing decades
of political turmoil, when military regimes alternated
with short-lived civilian governments, the Tontons
Macoutes were no longer a visible entity, even if all
Haitians were aware of their continuing presence.
Only recently, perhaps, could it be said with any
certainty that they are a spent force.
Graham Greene foretold the eventual demise of
Papa Doc’s paramilitaries when at the end of The
Comedians Philipot, the nephew of the ex-minister,
joins a rebel group that kills the Macoute in an
explosion:
I saw Concasseur knocked backwards as
though struck by an invisible fist: the chauffeur
pitched upon his face: a scrap of the cemetery
wall leapt in the air and dropped . . . Concasseur’s
black glasses lay in the road. Philipot
ground them to pieces under his heel and the
body showed no resentment. n
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