Media Advisory from FAIR
Duvalier = Aristide?
Equation of dictator with popular ex-president distorts Haitian history, reality
2/10/11
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It was certainly surprising to see former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier (left) return to the country on January 16. To say he has blood on his hands is an understatement: The Duvalier regimes were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and widespread torture (Human Rights Watch, 1/17/11), and stole half a billion dollars from the country (Miami Herald, 1/17/11).
Soon thereafter, former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide announced his intention to return to his country from exile. Aristide, twice elected and twice overthrown by coups [stealthily supported by the U.S.], remains a popular figure in Haitian politics. His first stint in office was remarkably peaceful (Extra!, 11-12/94); his second, during which he faced armed attacks that eventually succeeded in overthrowing his government, was scarcely more violent (Extra!, 7-8/06). But some media accounts are expressing concern about Aristide’s return, in effect equating him with the bloody Duvalier.
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The guided imbecility of American journalists—guided because it’s fostered by a culture of subservience to imperial “truths”, which requires constant deformation of reality, and bolstered by a deeply-ingrained chauvinism well larded with plentiful ignorance—is almost always a major obfuscating factor when it comes to their coverage of the world. American journalists, relative to their enormous resources, are not just second rate, they’re probably fourth rate or below. By and large, a pathetic lot.—Eds
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USA Today columnist DeWayne Wickham wrote a piece on February 8 headlined “U.S. Meekly Allows Despots to Return to Haiti.” Wickham recounted some of the horrors of Duvalier’s reign of terror, but for some unfathomable reason decided that Aristide poses a comparable menace to Haiti: His return might “push Haiti closer to turmoil,” and the two of them are “old troublemakers…returning at a time when Haiti’s democracy is most vulnerable to the havoc they almost certainly will produce.” RIGHT: Baby Doc enjoys the good life in France. With $500 stolen millions, that was never an issue.
Wickham seemed mostly concerned about democracy:
It might be worth pointing out that Aristide’s Lavalas party–still enormously popular–was banned from participating in last year’s election, which as a result had the lowest turnout of any election held in the Western Hemisphere in the last 60 years (Sun Sentinel, 1/23/11).
The Duvalier = Aristide equation could be seen elsewhere. A New York Times report (2/9/11) by Damien Cave warned that “experts inside and outside Haiti fear that the presence of the two former leaders could further destabilize the country.” The Times went on to note that “members of the international community expressed concern that Mr. Aristide…could create widespread instability at a precarious moment.” The story does note that Aristide was “beloved by the poor but criticized by many.” Given that 80 percent of Haitians live under the poverty line (CIA World Factbook, 1/12/11), it’s hard to know what to make of that.
ABOVE: As is customary for the abject American press, Reuters here, too, toes the official line, captioning this photo with the following insidious comment: “The United States fears a possible return home to Haiti by exiled former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide before a deciding presidential election next month would be an “unfortunate distraction” and potentially divisive, the State Department said on Wednesday…”
A short L.A. Times piece (2/8/11) conveyed a similar message: Aristide “has broad popular support but remains a polarizing figure in Haiti.” That article also equated Duvalier and Aristide, reporting that “the return of the two former leaders comes at an unsteady moment for the country.”
One would hope reporters could find a way to make a meaningful distinction between a ruthless, bloody dictator and a popular elected president. It’s absurd to lump them together as “two former leaders” or, as the USA Today headline put it, “despots.”
BONUS: The Duvaliers’ Reign of Terror
(Wikipedia)
Tonton Macoutes was a Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by President François ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier. In 1970, the militia was renamed Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (Militia of National Security Volunteers , MVSN)[1] .
Haitians called this force the “Tonton Macoutes,” after the Haitian Creole mythological Tonton Macoute (Uncle Gunnysack) bogeymanwho 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.[1] 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.
Luckner Cambronne was a particularly fierce head of the “Tonton Macoutes” throughout the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, his cruelty earned him the nickname “Vampire of the Caribbean”. He profited by extortion carried out by his henchmen and by supplying corpses and blood to universities and hospitals in the United States. After Duvalier’s death, he was ordered into exile by Duvalier’s widow, Simone, and son. Cambronne left Haiti in 1971 for Miami, Florida, where he died on 20 September 2006 at the age of 77.[2]
The victims of Tonton Macoutes could range from a woman in the poorest of neighborhoods who had the temerity to support an opposing politician to a businessman who refused to “donate” money for public works (which were the source of profit for corrupt officials and even the dictator himself). Tonton Macoutes murdered over 60,000 Haitians.
The militia existed under Jean-Claude, the son and successor of François Duvalier, until the younger Duvalier’s ouster in 1986. However, massacres led by paramilitary groups spawned from the Macoutes continued during the following decade. The most feared paramilitary group during the 1990s was FRAPH (Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti) which Toronto Starjournalist Linda Diebel described as modern Tonton Macoutes and not as the political party they claimed to be.)[1]
All this, courtesy of the US.
