Tonton Macoutes

The Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (MVSN), or Militia of National Security Volunteers, was commonly known as Tonton Macoutes. The Tonton Macoute was the ‘Gestapo” (the secret police) of Haiti, originally it was based on the Italian fascist “Black shirts”. The force was made by Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier who was the president of Haiti at the time in 1959. The Tonton Macoute would report directly to Papa Doc until his death in 1971. After Papa Docs death the militia was renamed to MVSN by Baby Doc the son of Papa Doc. All together the Tonton Macoute/ MVSN was well know for its brutality against the Haitian people.

Papa Doc was democratically elected by the Haitians people in 1957. A year later there was a attempted coup to over throw the government and Papa Doc, but it had failed. After the failed coup Papa Doc rewrote the Haitian constitution in his favorer and made him self president for life. Papa Doc believed that the Haitian army wanted to overthrow him. So he broke up all law enforcement agency and the army. He executed all of his high ranking generals, and then created his own private security force which he new he could trust, the Tonton Macoute. All the personnels of the Tonton Macoute were granted automatic amnesty through the power of president Papa Doc.

The Tonton Macoute had a very bad a brutal repuation. Because of their automatic amnesty from prsident Papa Doc they can do what ever they want, and how ever they want all they had to do was to be loyal to their prisdent. They are well known for wearing dark glasses and holding machetes. Tonton Macote murdered hundreds of Papa Docs opponents, most times they would hang their victims in public places as a warning to the others. Haitians call them voodoo demons or zombies. After the over throw of Baby Doc although the Tonton Macoute were broken up, the group continued to spread terror.

The name Tonton Macoute originated from the official language of Haiti Creole. It was the name of the Haitian Boogeyman, he kidnaps the children who stay out late ,and takes them in his gunnysack (which is a big bag which can hold potatoes) and the children and never seen again. That’s exactly what the Tonton Macoute did in real life. Anyone who talked against Papa Doc would never be seen again the next morning, because the Tonton Macoute would kidnap them and take them away. Anyone who would talk about the MVSN would risked their own seizure, so the Haitians would called them the Tonton Macoute that is where they got their name.

As you can see from what we have shown you the Tonton Macoute was the most horrible organization in Haitian history. It is ghastly to imagine people were given a license to go around Haiti and torture, kill, and shake down innocent peoples lives. It’s been estimated that over 100,000 people have died under because of the Tonton Macoute. Till today the Tonton Macoute is still in Haiti and there are still butchering and killings in the name of Papa Doc.

Bibliography:
Encyclopedia > Tonton Macoute. From Nation Master
Retrieved: February. 17. 09
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Tonton-Macoute

Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia > Tonton Macoute
Retrieved: February. 17. 09
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonton_Macoute