François & Jean Claude Duvalier
Single Party Dictators of Haïti
Essential Question
The Duvaliers
François Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier
The Tonton Macoute
Journal Entry Written by a Citizen
April 26, 1965
The Boogeymen came for my brother this morning. They knocked on the door and when his wife didn’t come fast enough, they just kicked it down. My wife Maria and I have been living with them ever since she lost her job. It has been very, very hard to live and now they’ve taken Marcus. They accused him of speaking out against our president, but he never did. I think they just wanted a reason to take him. We don’t know what will happen to him, but we fear the worst. We have seen the public killings; beatings and hangings and voodoo, done all to innocent people who let something about Duvalier slip from their mouths. This entry is a dangerous one to write because if anyone finds it, I could be in grave danger. I’ve decided to go back through the entries and scribble out my name, and keep the rest anonymous. I pray to God and all the angles that Marcus stays with us, and that no one else in our family is caught by these awful Tonton Macoutes. I hate them with all of my soul.
God keep us safe,
-R
Works Cited
DOUCET, ISABEAU, and RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD. "Jean-Claude Duvalier - The New York Times." Times Topics - The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/jeanclaude_duvalier/index.html>.
"Haiti and the Tonton Macoute." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cyGqzgJd3M>.
"Tonton Macoutes | Infoplease.com."Infoplease: Encyclopedia, Almanac, Atlas, Biographies, Dictionary, Thesaurus. Free online reference, research & homework help. | Infoplease.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013. <http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/tonton-macoutes.html>.