The Duvalier regime in comparison with post-Duvalierist Haiti

A dialog from Bob Corbett’s Haiti list, December 1995

[Publisher note: The following message is incomplete]

It’s very difficult to remain on the sideline watching this debate unfolding between you and Saint-Vil without me joining in. You have made strong argument for your case on the many issues you addressed but I beg to differ with you as, I believe, many concern Haitians would.

The infant mortality rate was the highest in this hemisphere and the adult life expectancy did not exceed 50 years of age. Around 1984, the gross annual per capita income of Haitians was $250 US, the lowest in this half of the world. Mind you, this figure includes the multi-millions dollars yearly income of the Bourgeoisie in Haiti. The second worst was that of Honduras with a per capita income of $600 US almost three times that of Haiti. I learned these facts during a summer of internship at the UN.

...

Knowing this fact, the Duvaliers and their cronies took advantage of it. First they create the inhumane conditions and then tried and successfully benefited from it. The Duvalier regime negotiated lucrative deals for itself with the Dominican

To all concerned,

The past several days, I have remained on the sidelines while the drama of various interpretations and critiques of the Haitian experience and conditions have unfolded. Unlike many of you, I do not have the reference point of the Duvalier regime to refer to in comparison with the realities of post-Duvalierist Haiti. Nor was I old enough, when I lived in Haiti under the Duvalier fils regime to know what was going on. But, what I lack in personal experience I have tried to compensate for with research. Therefore, I think I am not ill-equipped to respond to the various charges that have been made by many discussants in recent days.

First of all, by no standard that I can employ can the Duvalierist regime be considered to have been better system for the peasantry, and the lumpenproletariat of P-au-P, than the system that is currently in place. Since 1804, these two classes have been exploited, ignored, left illeterated, and generally considered outside of society. That condition did not change under Duvalier. The Duvalier regime was not interested in the improvement of Haiti but rather in the maintenance of its power. As such, more money was spent in the maintenance of the VSN and the Army, than anything else. Rouzier’s reference to Duvalier’s social reforms I am sure will come as a shock to any Haitian who has spent more than one day in Haiti. Moreover, the slums in P-au_p are not accidents of nature, but rather the inevitable results of policies that drove the peasant from the countryside, and to factories which promised better pay. Given the fact that Haiti is primarily an agricultural economy, it is surprising that there has been no systematic and consistent agricultural reform policy that would help the peasantry produce more and more efficiently.

When the land stops producing, due to the erosion of topsoil, lack of fertile and arable land, lack of water for proper irrigation, what choice is the peasant left with. These disasters coupled with the parasitic and exploitative nature of the grandons or major landowners, it should surprise no one that the peasants flock to P-a-P, whose grandeur and importance has always been exaggerated to the peasant. Upon arrival in the cities, to their suprise the big city offers no more than the country side did. p-au-p or Haiti, for that matter does not have the kind of economy that can support a large influx of uneducated and low-skilled people. There are no enough factories. The Duvalieriest regime did nothing to alter that. All it could do was offer peasant young men guns to become Tonton Macoutes.

Secondly, often the Duvaliers would have peasants brought in from the countryside, for the purpose of transporting the Dominican republic to cut cane, not all of them made it. And as someone has already mentioned many were brought in to be used as demonstrators in favor of either Duvaliers.

The disservice that the Duvaliers have done to the Haitian people should not be dismissed or justified with the claims that the peasantry is self-sufficient, and that they don’t go to doctors anyway. On the 1st claim, contrary to popular opinion, a large percentage of the peasants do not own their land, but are share croppers, who by definition are perennially in debt, and therefore tied to the land. That’s is hardly my definition of self-sufficiency. Moreover, because I am resigned and have become used to not eating 4 out of 7 days, to burying my children who keep dying from malnutrition, does not mean that those things are givens: unchangeable and the way things are. On the 2nd point, Rouzier’s comment that the peasantry does not use doctors anyway, and have medicine men available to them, is border-line elitist and ignores the facts that a large percentage of children in Haiti die of easily curable child hood diseases, that often these medicine men do no more than offer desperate uneducated parents false hope, and useless persecriptions. If a peasant for whatever reason were to prefer to frequent a medicine man, that is his choice, but that does not that the doctors should not be available to those who would prefer them. Incidentally, I do not have to look up UN stats, but I hardly need them to validate, or invalidate what I am saying.

Thirdly, Duvalier did not give the black Haitian a sense of self-respect. What he did do was manipulate and take advantage of the inferiority complex many blacks suffered as a result of the 1st US Occupation in 1915 to serve his own ends. Negritude was not the brain-child of Duvalier pere, but of Haitian intellectuals like Roumain, Depestre and Price-Mars. However, to advance his political career Duvalier degenerated the ideology of respect and acknowlegment of the African influence on Haitian culture, versus a francophile attitude that had nothing but contempt for it, to the ideology of noirism, where black skin, was at least superficially, the only thing that made one Haitian. Reversing the mulatto-black pyramid, was strictly superficial, and pacified only those who chose not to look deeper. And even if it weren’t, it would serve little good. It is interesting to note that under Duvalier, despite his public rhetoric and posture, the mulatto elite in Haiti, remained just that. Duvalier’s supposed attack on the parasitic mulattos who had exploited the blacks did not go beyond sending into exile mulatto intellectuals whose integrity and sense of national pride and consciousness would not allow them to submit to his regime. Since he could not silence them, he made them disappear, literally and figuratively. Moreover, black nad mulatto pride in Haiti is a false distinction, that only serves to divide haiti, by making one or the other think that somehow skin pigmentaion, an accident of nature and reproductive biology, somehow entitles one or the other to the spoils of the state.

The good old days of the Duvalier regime, is an oxymoron if ever I heard one. I can hardly miss the good days when the people can be made to forget that the government is doing nothing, by throwing goods out the window. I can hardly miss the good old days, when people are starving, but somehow Michele Benette and her friends find enough money to take extravagant shopping trips to Paris and NY. Or her refrigerated room, where she kept her furs, or the bonanza that was the wedding, with the Bel-Air within walking distance of the Church, or Macoutes and Army people and Chef section [ who were the police, judge, and jury—with such power who needed guns Rouzier?] were told to extort at will from the people, or the many who died at Fort-Dimanche, or those who disappeared, or the fear that one lived under, never knowing when you’ll be the one the VSN will come for next on whatever pretext. Call me ungrateful, forgetful or whatever else, but i can never pine for the good old days, without feeling like a traitor to those who suffered or died as a result of them, and those who continue to suffer the results/repercussions of thse good old days , while I sit in comfort.

Stability is not synonymous with good/desirable. There was stability under the Duvaliers and the US Occcupation, inasmuch as there were not many changes in govt, but stability does not feed me, cloth me, heal me, or put money in my pocket.

Unreminiscent and proudly so,

Erlyne Josma

> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 12:07:13 -0500
> From: Tony Cazeau
>
> On one point you indicated that the Slums i.e. Site Soley, Katon etc..
> were not created by the Duvaliers. On the surface that may be the case,
> however they created the conditions that resulted in the creation of those
> slums. Under then so-called good old days of the Duvalier
> (father/son) Dictatorship, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western
> Hemisphere with an illiteracy rate of over 80%.

While illiterate, it does not mean stupid.

> The infant mortality rate was the highest in this hemisphere
> and the adult life expectancy did not exceed 50 years of
> age. Around 1984, the gross annual per capita income of Haitians
> was $250 US, the lowest in this half of the world. Mind you, this figure
> includes the multi-millions dollars yearly income of the Bourgeoisie in
> Haiti. Thesecond worst was that of Honduras with a per capita income of
> $600 US almost three times that of Haiti. I learned these facts during
> a summer of internship at the UN.

And because you had an internship at the UN, it means that their figures are correct? Where and how do you suppose the UN got their information from. Do you suppose that people in the provinces of HAiti or most people in Port-Au Prince fill out income tax forms? They don’t. All figures pertaining to Haitian income are meere guesses. There are also 1 doctor per 1000 people in Haiti, and 90% of them are in Port-Au-Prince. How do you suppose the UN got their information about birth and death rates. Most people in the provinces are treated by traditional medicine ie.. Docteur Feuille, family tradition or Hougan. Do you think that these people filled out UN survey forms? Are their hospitals to take information from in the provinces? Did you know that most Haitian peasants living in the provinces are sel sufficient? >

> Under the Duvalier regime, every aspect of life conceivable may
> it was economics, social
> etc.. was a nightmare for the average Haitians.

However Francois Duvalier brought about social reforms that gave the Haitian Black man a lot of self respect

> everything was dandy, the average Haitian had to put up with a
> Section ChiefChef Seksyon and other
> Tonton Macoutes that terrorized the country side.

Most section chiefs were armed with One Springfield or MAUSER rifle dating from world war 2 with a few bullets. How in the world do you suppose that one man so armed could terrorize a neighborhood? On the contrary I belive that although there were a few bad apples, most of the Chef sections were respected by their community. Most of them were also head of SECRET SOCIETIES which wre the real police ou there in the back country. For a little education, read Wade DAvis’ The Ethobiography of the Haitian Zombie. I was present and met him a few times while he did his research in haiti, and I can tell you that it is a valuable piece of work.

> numerous peasants who relied on subsistence farming ended
> leaving the Provinces for Port-Au-Prince.
> Those peasants, being destitute, took refuge in the
> burgeoning slums. The slums were also fed by another group. It
> was the group of people that the Duvalier Government
> would ferry, willing or unwillingly, from the most remote
> sections of Haiti to PAP to
> participate in Government rallies to listen to the speeches
> given by the Duvaliers.

This might have been true in the early days of Francois Duvalier, but certainly not in his later years, or during Jean Claude’s years.

> Knowing this fact, the Duvaliers and their cronies took
> advantage of it. First they create the inhumane conditions and
> then tried and successfully benefited from it. The Duvalier
> regime negotiated lucrative deals for itself with the Dominican

Do you really belive that?

Anyway its nice to have had this very interresting conversation with you.

Regards

Pierre Richard Rouzier

Dear Mr. Rousier,

On one point you indicated that the Slums i.e. Site Soley, Katon etc.. were not created by the Duvaliers. On the surface that may be the case, however they created the conditions that resulted in the creation of those slums. Under then so-called good old days of the Duvalier (father/son) Dictatorship, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with an illiteracy rate of over 80%. The infant mortality rate was the highest in this hemisphere and the adult life expectancy did not exceed 50 years of age. Around 1984, the gross annual per capita income of Haitians was $250 US, the lowest in this half of the world. Mind you, this figure includes the multi-millions dollars yearly income of the Bourgeoisie in Haiti. The second worst was that of Honduras with a per capita income of $600 US almost three times that of Haiti. I learned these facts during a summer of internship at the UN.

Under the Duvalier regime, every aspect of life conceivable may it was economics, social etc.. was a nightmare for the average Haitians. In the Provinces, where you assumed everything was dandy, the average Haitian had to put up with a Section Chief Chef Seksyon and other Tonton Macoutes that terrorized the country side. Consequently, numerous peasants who relied on subsistence farming ended leaving the Provinces for Port-Au-Prince. Those peasants, being destitute, took refuge in the burgeoning slums. The slums were also fed by another group. It was the group of people that the Duvalier Government would ferry, willing or unwillingly, from the most remote sections of Haiti to PAP to participate in Government rallies to listen to the speeches given by the Duvaliers. These people would be threaten or beaten if they were to refuse to make the trip to PAP. Better yet, since most of the speeches were given in French and these people only understand Creole they had to be told when to clap under the cries of BRAVO. Many of these people were left in PAP after the rallies and without money or place to go they, too, took refuge in the slums. To say that the Duvalier regime did not create or force people to live in the slums with the socio-economic conditions they created would be an aberration.

Desperate people do desperate things. Knowing this fact, the Duvaliers and their cronies took advantage of it. First they create the inhumane conditions and then tried and successfully benefited from it. The Duvalier regime negotiated lucrative deals for itself with the Dominican Republic Government to have Haitians working in the sugar cane Plantations. No Haitian Syndicat or workers’ unions participated in those negotiations. The Haitians workers were never told what the working conditions would be nor what the pay was suppose to be. They were simply told that they would be recruited to work in the sugar cane fields of the Dominican Republic without knowing the consequences. This justified the long lines you saw in the documentary. We all know that Haitians with their strong work ethics would do anything to find employement including braving the danger of the high sea in search of a better life. However, how can you blame the people when it is their government who profited by negotiating slavery like working conditions for them?

On the blood issue you left me really confused. With all due respect how could any rationale human being even attempt to justify or side with a Government who was in the business of collecting the blood of its people and sell it for a profit? Even in the most barbaric circles this would have been shocking.

Lastly, you remarked that it was not our African fathers who beat the Napoleon Army but rather it was THE HAITIAN ARMY. Again with all due respect, my brother, where are you getting your facts? How could there was an Haitian Army when there was no Haiti. It was the defeat of the French Army by our African Forefathers that gave birth to our beloved Haiti in January 1, 1804 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Gonaives.

Tony

Rouzier said before that he was not a Duvalerist yet I see Duvalierism written all over him in bold red and black. What the hell kind of good old days is he talking about when an estimated 50,000 people died under the Duvaliers. Obviously, Rouzier had never had any one disappeared, tortured, killed, or forced to flee the country with nothing but the only piece of clothing on their backs. Comments such as Rouzier’s make me angry because they are insults to the memory of all those who lost their lives, many of whom innocent people.

Furthermore, I never understand the logic of those who praise the Duvalier era. Those two bastards ran the country for thirty years and today the country is worse off before they took it over. Rouzier must also remember that had Duvalier still in power, many of us Haitians would not have been able to participate in these discussions on the net for fear that macoute spies would be every where reporting our comments back to their cohorts in Haiti. That’s how we lived under the Duvaliers. I don’t see how anybody can think we were better off living under these conditions.

As far as nobody was forced to live in the slums of site Soley and Katon, did they have a choice? The fact is Francois Duvalier had people brought from the countryside by the truckloads to Port-au-Prince. If Rouzier is not old enough to remember that, perhaps he should check with one of his old men who know. Rouzier talks about democracy. The beauty of demacracy is that we can openly reply to those who try to insult our intelligence. Something the majority could not be allowed to do under the Duvaliers.

Wesley Yes I am angry Madhere