Francois Duvalier

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to an immigrant family from Martinique, Francois Duvalier had always wanted to be a doctor, and after graduation he earned a medical degree and served as a doctor in many rural areas of Haiti, where he gained a reputation for showing the rural poor how to fight typhus and other fatal diseases. In 1946 he was appointed director general of the National Health Service, and four years later was made Minister of Health and Minister of Labor. In 1949 the government was overthrown by a military coup led by Gen. Paul Magloire. Duvalier was a vocal opponent of the coup, resulting in his being forced to go into hiding until 1956, when an amnesty was declared. Duvalier ran for president in the general election of 1957, and in a portent of things to come, he used armed gangs, paid assassins, racial hatreds (he campaigned as a champion of poor Haitians, who were mostly of dark-skinned African descent, against the lighter-skinned mulatto class which held most of the power in the country) and the army to help him win the election. He also took advantage of the traditions of voodoo, a quasi-religious movement deeply ingrained in Haitian culture, and claimed to be a "houngan", or voodoo priest. A year after his election he narrowly escaped being overthrown in a military coup, and as a result he purged the army, replacing senior officers who he believed weren't loyal enough to him, and formed a personal militia that was responsible to him and him alone. Technically it was called the Volunteer Militia for National Security, but it became better known by the term "Tonton Macoutes", which was Creole for "Boogeymen" (he unit was modeled on the Blackshirt private militia of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, whom Duvalier greatly admired). The Macoutes' sole responsibility was to protect Duvalier at all costs, and there were no restraints placed on them. They could beat, rape or murder anyone they thought was or could be a threat to Duvalier, and as a result they gained such a reputation for ruthlessness, savagery and brutality that many Haitians didn't even consider them human but evil spirits and satanic forces, hence their nickname of "Boogeymen". Duvalier organized another private army called the Presidential Guard. Their job was also to watch for threats to Duvalier, and to keep an eye on the Macoutes to be sure they didn't become one. In 1961 Duvalier rewrote the Haitian constitution and then held an "election" in which he was the only candidate. Officially, more then one million voters cast their ballots for Duvalier. Several years later he declared himself President for Life, and in an area noted for its repressive regimes, his government became infamous as one of the most corrupt and murderous in the region. It's estimated that at least 30,000 Haitians were killed by Duvalier's security forces during his regime, although the actual toll is generally thought to be much higher. Many economists have estimated that at least half of the country's yearly income was stolen by Duvalier and his cronies; while Duvalier's family and friends lived in the lap of luxury, the vast majority of the Haitian people lived on the brink of starvation, suffering from a host of diseases that had been eradicated in many other countries. The unemployment rate was estimated by the UN and other agencies to be at least 50% and as high as 80%, and the infant mortality rate was not only the highest in the Western Hemisphere but was also higher than many of the poorest countries in Africa. It was reported that Duvalier himself wore on a ring around his neck the key that unlocked the room in the National Treasury where the country's gold supply was kept; he didn't want anyone in the country getting their hands on it but him. The US administration of President John F. Kennedy at first placed political and economic sanctions against Haiti because of its corruption and use of violence against its own citizens, but in 1962 it eased the sanctions to keep Duvalier from cozying up to Cuba's Fidel Castro, as he had threatened to do if the sanctions weren't lifted. In 1963 tensions between Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic rose almost to the point of war, but it was prevented by internal political power struggles in the Dominican Republic and mediation by the Organization of American States (OAS). Although there were several attempted coups by disgruntled or ambitious army officers, they were swiftly crushed--one attempt in 1967 resulted in the execution of more than 20 officers of the Presidential Guard. Duvalier died in 1971, and his 19-year-old son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, succeeded him.