"Papa Doc" Duvalier created theTontons Macoutes because he perceived the regular military to be a threat to his power.
After theJuly 1958 Haitian coup attempt against PresidentFrançois Duvalier, he purged the army and law enforcement agencies in Haiti and executed numerous officers perceived to be a threat to his regime. To counteract such activity, he created a military force that bore several names. In 1959, his paramilitary force was called theCagoulards ("Hooded Men").[12][13] They were renamed toMilice Civile (Civilian Militia) and, after 1962,Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (National Security Volunteers, or VSN).[12][14] They began to be called theTonton Macoute when peopledisappeared or were found dead for no apparent reason.[15] This group answered to him only.
Duvalier authorized theTontons Macoutes to commit all manner of systematic violence, terrorism, andhuman rights abuses to suppress political opposition. They were responsible for unknown numbers of murders andrapes in Haiti. Political opponents often disappeared overnight, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight.Tontons Macoutes stoned and burned people alive. Many times they put the corpses of their victims on display, often hung in trees for everyone to see and take as warnings against opposition. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared. Anyone who challenged the VSN risked assassination. Their unrestrainedstate terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion, and personal aggrandizement among the leadership. The victims ofTontons Macoutes could range from a woman in the poorest of neighborhoods who had previously supported an opposing politician to a businessman who refused to comply with extortion threats (ostensibly taken as donations for public works, but which were in fact the source of profit for corrupt officials and even President Duvalier). TheTontons Macoutes murdered between 30,000 and 60,000 Haitians.[16]
A patch attributed to the Tonton Macoutes
Luckner Cambronne led theTontons Macoute throughout the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. His cruelty earned him the nickname "Vampire of the Caribbean". He extortedblood plasma from locals for sale for his profit. Cambronne did this through his company "Hemocaribian"; he shipped five tons of plasma per month to US labs. He also sold cadavers to medical schools after buying them from Haitian hospitals for $3 per corpse. When the hospital could not supply bodies, he used local funeral homes.[17]
When François Duvalier came to power in 1957,Vodou was becoming celebrated as authentic Haitian culture by intellectuals and thegriots, after it had been dropped for years by those with education.[20] TheTonton Macoute were strongly influenced by Vodou tradition and adopteddenim uniforms resembling clothing like that ofAzaka Medeh, the patron of farmers. They carried and used machetes in symbolic reference toOgun, a great general in Vodou tradition.[21][22]
Some of the most important members of theTontons Macoute were Vodou leaders. This religious affiliation gave theTontons Macoute a kind of unearthly authority in the eyes of the public. From their methods to their choice of clothes, Vodou always played an important role in the paramilitary's actions. TheTonton Macoutes wore straw hats, blue denim shirts and dark glasses, and were armed withmachetes and guns. Both their allusions to the supernatural and their physical presentations were used to instill fear and respect among the common people, including any opposition actors.[6][23][24] Their title of Tonton Macoute was embedded in Haitian lore of a bogeyman who took children away in his sack, or Makoute.[20]
TheTontons Macoute were a ubiquitous presence at the polls in 1961, when Duvalier helda presidential referendum in which the official vote count was an "outrageous" and fraudulent1,320,748 to 0, electing him to another term.[25] They appeared in force again at the polls in 1964, when Duvalier helda constitutional referendum that declared himpresident for life.[citation needed]
From 1985, the United States began to stop funding aid to Haiti, cutting nearly a million dollars within a year. Nonetheless, the Baby Doc regime pushed forward and even had a national party for theTontons Macoute.Tonton Macoute day was 29 July 1985; among the festivities, the group was bestowed new uniforms and was honored by all of Baby Doc's cabinet. In the exuberance, theTonton Macoute went out into the streets and shot 27 people for the national party.[26]
The lack of funds going to theTonton Macoute was a result of those funds being intercepted by theDuvalier dynasty. It sometimes took nearly 80 percent of international aid to Haiti, but paid only 45 percent of the country's debts. This continued until theTonton Macoute was left on its own when "Baby Doc" fled the country with an estimated $900 million.[27]
TheTonton Macoute remained active even after the presidency of Baby Doc ended in 1986,[28] at the height of theanti-Duvalier protest movement.[24] Massacres led by paramilitary groups spawned from the Macoutes[clarification needed] continued during the following decade. The most feared paramilitary group during the 1990s was theFront for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti (FRAPH), whichToronto Star journalist Linda Diebel described as modernTonton Macoutes, and not the legitimate political party it claimed to be.[10]
Led by Emmanual Constant, FRAPH differed from theTonton Macoute in its refusal to submit to the will of a single authority and its cooperation with regular military forces.[29] FRAPH extended its reach far outside that of the Haitian state and had offices present inNew York City,Montreal, and Miami until its disarmament and disbandment in 1994.[30]
Prior to her solo career,Sinéad O'Connor sang in a band called Ton Ton Macoute.[33]
The Tonton Macoute is also mentioned inseason 1,episode 9 of the television seriesDexter. In the episode, an ex-Cagoulard is recognized and killed by Miami-Dade police sergeantJames Doakes, who was formerly stationed in Haiti as an Army Ranger. Despite having evidence that Sergeant Doakes lied about firing his weapon in self-defense, the DA's office drops the investigation into the killing at the request of the federal government.
The track "Tonton Macoutes" appears on the 1987 albumCoup d'État byMuslimgauze.[34][35]
In the 2016 video gameMafia III, the New Bordeaux Haitian Mob is composed mainly of refugees who fled Haiti to escape from persecution by the Tonton Macoute.
In the television seriesThe Thick of It, the character Malcolm Tucker jokes in response to why he enters a room without knocking that it is due to his "time with the Haitian death squads".
InNSV, the character Nasalis states that in 1974 he felt sympathetic towards the Haitian national football team, not being aware ofJean-Claude Duvalier at the time. The character Erik replied that the Tonton Macoute was already keeping an eye on him.
InToni Morrison's essay, "The Habit of Art", she refers to the practice of the Tonton Macoute targeting those people who attempted to bury their loved ones who had been murdered and displayed by the paramilitary.
Shrunken Heads (film), features the character Aristide Sumatra, a voodoo priest and former member of the Tonton Macoute. He uses that background to train three shrunken heads to fight criminals.
In Shannon Mayer’sForty-Proof series, the 4th installment (titled Midlife Ghost Hunter) uses a voodoozombie army called the Tonton Macoutes as the main villain’s army. The story takes place inNew Orleans, also a center of Vodou.
In the TV seriesJustified, Season 5, Episode 01, "A Murder of Crows", Raylan, the protagonist, mentions the Tonton Macoute while questioning a Haitian suspect. He says that the man's appearance and attitude suggests he had been a member of the paramilitary.
In the TV seriesTwo and a Half Men, Season 3 Episode 17: "The Unfortunate Little Schnauzer", Archie Baldwin makes a reference to Tonton Macoute in his UN jingle for orphaned children.
Roxane Gay's short story "A Cool, Dry Place" (inayiti Creole language) features characters who recall losing their parents to the Tonton Macoute.
^Taylor, Patrick (1992). "Anthropology and Theology in Pursuit of Justice".Callaloo.15 (3):811–823.doi:10.2307/2932023.ISSN0161-2492.JSTOR2932023.After François Duvalier was elected president with popular support in 1957, he created his own security force because he did not trust the army. (Its popular name,tonton makout, is taken from a tale about an uncle who carries off children in a bag on his shoulder.)
