Word: tontons
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...quickly the joyful atmosphere turned ugly as roving mobs tracked down Duvalier's henchmen. When one militiaman was spotted, the frenzied crowd tore off his uniform. Protesters throughout the capital called for "death to the Tonton Macoutes," the secret police that had protected the Duvalier family for 28 years. Terrified by the mob's fury, they tried to hide inside their barracks. A reporter claimed to have seen one Tonton Macoute, cornered by an angry crowd, shoot himself in the head. At week's end as many as 75 people reportedly had been killed...
...enforce his rule, Duvalier created the thuggish Tonton Macoutes, Creole for bogeymen. Swaggering through the streets, they terrorized the population, extorted money and tortured and killed untold numbers. In January 1971, Papa Doc decreed that his tubby son Jean-Claude, 19, would succeed him in the presidency. Haitians were called to the polls to ratify the succession of the ) moon-faced playboy, whose interests seemed to revolve around women and fast cars. According to government figures, Baby Doc won the plebiscite handily...
...regime, outraged by the sham referendum, started organizing nonviolent protests that tapped a wellspring of discontent. When three students were killed on Nov. 28 during an antigovernment protest in Gonaives, demonstrations followed in a dozen cities and towns. Last month an army captain and two members of the Tonton Macoute were charged with the murders...
...nearby barracks descended on the crowd. The soldiers fired rifles into the air, rained down blows with hardwood clubs, and barged into the cathedral in search of the instigators. As word of the brutal military response spread, thousands of demonstrators roamed through the historic town. The following day the Tonton Macoute showed it had learned nothing from the November killing of the Gonaives students. At a demonstration by several thousand people outside the Cap Haitien Cathedral, militiamen fired wildly into the crowd, killing three people and wounding...
...Down with Duvalier!" was echoing across the country. Said one resident of Cap Haitien: "No one is afraid anymore. Duvalier must go." In Gonaives, thousands of protesters blocked the streets with barricades and burning tires. When the local army headquarters was overrun by anti-Duvalier marchers, agents of the Tonton Macoute tried to open fire, but they were disarmed by an army tactical battalion. Terrified, the agents ripped off their trademark blue denim uniforms and tried to escape the mob's wrath. More crowds demanded that the military overthrow the dictatorship, and rumors started that Baby Doc, his wife...