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Dr. François Duvalier, known as "Papa Doc", was the President of Haiti from 1957 and later dictator (President for Life) from 1964 until his death. His rule was marked by autocracy, corruption, and reliance on private armies (Tonton Macoute) to maintain power.

Early life

Born in Port-au-Prince, he was raised and trained as a doctor, serving in rural areas. There he won acclaim for helping the poor fight typhus and other diseases. He married Simone Ovide in 1939, and became director general of the national health service in 1946. In 1949, he served as minister of both health and labor. After opposing the coup of Paul Magloire, was forced into hiding until an amnesty in 1956.

1957 Election

Through the extensive use of assassins, armed gangs, and the national army, Duvalier won the 1957 Haitian election; he had campaigned as a populist leader, using a noirist strategy of challenging the mulatto elite (who had created a class structure that divided the country) and appealing to the Afro-Haitian majority.

Duvalier revived the traditions of vodou and later used them to consolidate his power, claiming to be a houngan , or vodou priest, himself. Duvalier deliberately modeled his image on that of Baron Samedi in an effort to make himself even more imposing; he often donned sunglasses and talked with the strong nasal tone associated with the Loa.

Consolidation of power

After surviving an attempted coup in mid-1958, Duvalier purged the army. He then formed a personal militia in 1959 known as the Voluntary Militia for National Security (MVSN, better-known as the Tonton Macoutes; actually, they preferred the title "Silver Militia") which was patterned after the blackshirts of Fascist Italy. The macoutes made no official salary and as such made their living through crime and extortion. Duvalier further formed a group of personal bodyguards known as the Presidential Guard. In 1961, he rewrote the constitution and then staged a single-candidate sham election; the official count was 1.32 million votes for Duvalier and none against. He declared himself President for Life in 1964, and his regime soon grew to be one of the most repressive in the hemisphere.

In 1966, Duvalier persuaded the Vatican to allow him to nominate the Catholic hierarchy for Haiti. On an ideological level, this perpetuated the notion of black nationalism by allowing the country to appoint its own bishops. It also allowed Duvalier to expand his control to encompass religious institutions.

In addition to his pervasive control over Haitian life, Duvalier also fostered an extensive personality cult around himself, claiming to be the physical embodiment of the island nation.

Foreign relations

Duvalier's corruption and repression provoked an unfavorable response from the Kennedy administration in the United States, which attempted to seek a moderate alternative in hopes of preventing another Cuban-style revolution. However, U.S. pressure and sanctions against Haiti eased in 1962, as the administration "grudgingly" accepted Duvalier as a bulwark against communism. Duvalier would later claim that Kennedy's assassination had come because he had placed a curse on him.

In April 1963, Haiti was almost attacked by the Dominican Republic. However, a lack of senior military support for Dominican president Juan Bosch prevented the invasion. The conflict was mediated by the OAS.

Reign of terror

Within the country Duvalier used both political murder and expulsion to suppress his opponents; estimates of those killed are as high as 30,000. Attacks on Duvalier from within the military were treated as especially serious; in 1967 bombs detonated near the Presidential Palace led to the execution of twenty Presidential Guard officers. Such tactics kept the country in his grip until his death in early 1971, leaving his 19-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier as his successor.

Tortuga freeport

Beginning in 1967, Texas entrepreneur Don Pierson came into contact with representatives of the Haitian government in Washington, DC, while he was attempting to lease a ship that had been used by Swinging Radio England broadcasting off the coast of England. In 1971 this marketing effort resulted in a 99-year contract being drawn up between financial interests represented by Don Pierson and the government of Haiti for the development of a free port on the island of Tortuga. However, Duvalier died before the deal was agreed upon.

Jean-Claude Duvalier expropriated the entire Freeport Tortuga venture after learning of a new multi-million dollar contract between Pierson and the Gulf Oil corporation, which caused the project to collapse.

Posthumous execution

In 1986, 15 years after his death, a mob of Haitian people stormed the supposed burial place of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, to ritually beat his body, and assure he could never rise on Judgement Day. However, they were disappointed to find his body had been removed, and as a result, the mob went after one of Duvaliers supporters to exhume and ritually beat to "death".