Tontons Macoutes

In 1959, two years after becoming president, “Papa Doc” created a paramilitary force that would report only to him and would be fully empowered to use unremitting violence to maintain the new administration’s authority to summarily dispose of its enemies. This marked the birth of one of the most brutal paramilitary organizations in the hemisphere and was justified by the leader’s profound paranoia towards the threat posed by the regular armed forces.

The Haitians nicknamed this warlord-led goon squad the “Tonton Macoutes,” after the Creole translation of a common myth, about an “uncle” (Tonton) who kidnaps and punishes obstreperous kids by storing them in a gunny sack (Macoute) and carrying them off to be consumed at breakfast. Consequently, these torturers, kidnappers, and extortionists were feared not only by children but also by the country’s general population, as well as by opposition members and businessmen not willing to make enforced pay-offs to the authorities. The militia consisted mostly of illiterate fanatics that were converted into ruthless zombie-like gunmen. Their straw hats, blue denim shirts, dark glasses, and machetes remain indelibly etched in the minds of millions of Haitians.

Ever since its establishment, this brutal organization had free rein to act unreservedly, disregarding any ethical or civil rights of the citizenry that might interfere with its indiscriminate violence. They were not accountable to any state branch, court, or elected body, but rather only to their leader, “Papa Doc.”

In the above image, we see an out-of-uniform Tonton Macoute with an Uzi machine gun harassing a crowd. This image, taken in 1986 serves as a reminder of the infamous history of the Tontons Macoutes and the legacy they left in Haitian history

Works Cited

Danny Lyon. HAITI. 1986. An Out-of-uniform Tonton Macoute with an Uzi Machine Gun Harasses a Crowd. Accessed April 27, 2021. https://jstor.org/stable/10.2307/community.18994728.

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Minuteman.” Encyclopedia Britannica, November 7, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/minuteman.