#duvalier

Michèle Bennett : A fascinating woman

First Lady of the Republic of Haiti 1980-1986

« Beautiful, smart and vivacious, full of natural charm, she is so perfectly suited to her role as First Lady of Haiti. »

Los Angeles Times - 1985

«The Duvalier regime was extraordinary. All the rules were off. Michele Duvalier, with the complicity of her husband, literally sacked an entire country. »

By Kim Ives

Today in Haitian History - April 11, 1959 -- Death and mysterious disappearance of Clément Jumelle’s body 

Clément Jumelle’s death in April 1959 amid François Duvalier’s efforts to better consolidate his power continues to be puzzling and according to scholars like Paul Christopher Johnson (2006), greatly contributed to the aura of secrecy and mysticism that surrounded the former Haitian president.

Along with Louis Déjoie, Daniel Fignolé and François Duvalier, Jumelle was one of the main contenders for the national seat following President Magloire’s hasty departure in December 1956. A former member of both Estimé’s and Magloire’s cabinets, Jumelle close association with the latter quickly became a liability that his adversaries would use against him. Indeed, according to Etzer Charles (1994), he was criticised for his role as Secretary for Finance and National Economy under Magloire and accused of corruption. While this charge, especially in the Haitian context where corruption is part of the political habitus was not taken particularly seriously, Jumelle’s incapacity to generate solid support behind his candidacy coupled with Duvalier’s increasing reliance on thugs to dissuade opposition to his nomination, ultimately led to Jumelle’s downfall. According to Matthew J. Smith (2009), before election results were even announced in September 1957, “primarily out of fear, Jumelle withdrew from the election and urged his followers to abstain from voting” (p.185). For the next two years, he remained in Haiti but in hiding. In April 1959, he finally died of hypertension in the Cuban embassy. 

Certainly, that this “forced” interior exile led to Jumelle’s death is not what makes his demise so noteworthy. Indeed, the brutality of Duvalier’s regime assuredly contributed to many such deaths. It was the disappearance of Jumelle’s body the next day while on its way to Church that made the event so macabre. As noted by Johnson (2006), "mysterious theft of bodies [...]  was one of Duvalier’s means of circulating the repute of his priestly power. The most notorious example was the theft of his former rival Clément Jumelle’s body, in April of 1959. Police stopped the black hearse, pulled the casket into their own vehicle and drove away from stunned mourners [...] Officially, the body’s removal was to stifle the public rally that might have gathered on the occasional of Jumelle’s burial; but the gossip network spread the word that Jumelle’s heart would be used as a wanga (magic charm) to fortify and armor Duvalier’s office” (p. 434). These dramatic events helped confirmed the suspicion held by many that Duvalier had out of this world powers and could attack his political enemies even in death. 

The Comedians

Staring: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Alec Guinness Directed by Peter Glenville

“Set in the Haiti of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, this movie tells the story of a sardonic Welsh hotel owner and his encroaching fatalism as he watches Haiti sink into barbarism and poverty. Complications include his inability to sell the hotel so he can leave, a friendship with a rebel leader, some politically "charged" hotel guests, an affair with the German-born wife of a South American ambassador, and the manipulations of a British arms dealer who's in over his head.“

Ann-Christin Wienkamp & Duvalier.

Today in Haitian History - September 22, 1957 -- François Duvalier elected president of Haiti after general election

On September 22, 1957, François Duvalier was elected president of Haiti. The country doctor and former Minister of Health and Labor under Dumarsais Estimé (1946-1950) ascended to the precedency following a year of political instability triggered by the fall Paul Eugène Magloire in 1956. Between Magloire’s precipitated departure from office in December of that year and the general election of 1957, six governments, including that of charismatic labour organiser Daniel Fignolé in late May 1957, closely followed each other.

The 1957 election was characterised by a climate of uncertainty. The colour question, which had long overshadowed Haitian politics, was at its forefront. Duvalier distinguished himself from other candidates, notably the “mulatto” industrialist Louis Déjoie, by presenting himself as a black “authentique” (autenthic) best suited to represent the country’s black majority and legitimate heir of Dumarsais Estimé’s idealism. Whether Duvalier was truly convinced by the Noirist ideology that swept Haitian intellectual circles in the 1930s and 1940s or whether he was an opportunist politician is difficult to establish. Whatever the case may be, once in power Duvalier made clear that political dissidence was not only a crime to his person, but one against the entire Haitian nation.

Closely following the ruling style of other Latin American strong men during the Cold War, real and suspected political opponents of the Duvalier regime were either exiled and, in many cases, forcefully disappeared and presumably killed. Duvaliersit violence spared few victims as women and children became some of its numerous casualties. Entire families accused of conspiring against the Duvalier government were massacred. Basic freedoms were suppressed in the name of fighting enemies of the Duvaliersit revolution. Duvalier’s death in April 1971 did not signify a democratic opening and rather signalled the transfer of power from François Duvalier to his son Jean-Claude Duvalier. The latter would rule, in many respects, in the same fashion as his father until a popular uprising in 1985-6.

Today, Haitians in and out of Haiti remain divided on Duvalierism and especially on the presidency of François Duvalier (1957-1971). While many see it as a time of extreme violence and despair, others suggest that Duvalier helped the rise of the black-middle class which had been thrust away from power by the “mulatto” elite.

In any event, in a country which counted fewer than 8 million inhabitants in the 1980s, some 30 000 to 500 000 Haitians died or were forcefully disappeared by the father and son regimes. Some sixty years after one of Haiti’s most important elections, the Haitian government has yet to reconcile the Duvalier period in a comprehensive manner into its national history.