Dear Editor,
I was not aware that we had imported elements of the disbanded “TONTON MACOUTES” of Haiti into the country of Belize.
Compton Fairweather
(Ed. NOTE: Tonton Macoute (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
Tonton Macoutes was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by President François ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier. In 1970, the militia was officially renamed the Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (Militia of National Security Volunteers, MVSN).
Haitians called this force the “Tonton Macoutes,” after the Haitian Creole mythological Tonton Macoute (Uncle Gunnysack) bogeyman who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunnysack (Macoute) and carrying them off to be consumed at breakfast.
Reign of terror
The force was created in 1959, only two years after François Duvalier became president, due to the threat posed to the dictator by the regular armed forces. After an attempted coup d’etat against him in 1958, Duvalier disbanded the army and all law enforcement agencies in Haiti, and executed all high-ranking generals. The new militia wore straw hats, blue denim shirts and dark glasses, and were armed with machetes and guns.
Duvalier employed the Tonton Macoutes in a reign of terror against any opponents, including those who proposed progressive social systems. Those who spoke out against Duvalier would disappear at night, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. Tonton Macoutes often stoned and burned people alive.
Many times the corpses were put on display, often hung in trees for everyone to see. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared themselves, never to be seen again. They were believed to have been abducted and killed by the MVSN, who were called the “Tonton Macoutes” as a result. Anyone who challenged the MVSN risked assassination.
Their unrestrained state terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion and personal aggrandizement among the leadership.