Haiti is located in Central America on an island called Hispaniola. The island is divided into the Dominican Republic in the East and Haiti in the West.
Month: March 2013
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Decades of Haitian Dictatorship
Francois Duvalier, later known as “Papa Doc” became president in 1957. After surviving an attempted coup, he refilled the key positions in government, military, and economy with persons of his trust. Besides this, he secured his power by creating a ‘secret police’ which brutally suppressed the people. The “tonton macoutes” murdered over 30,000 Haitians. Victims were generals as well as farmers who didn’t fit into the dictator’s vision of Haiti. Because the members of this militia were paid almost nothing, many of them secured their survival by crime. Papa Doc also took advantage of the population’s beliefs by claiming to be “Baron Samedi”, one of the most powerful gods in the Haitian Voodoo religion. He officially became a lifetime president in 1964.