Tonton Macoute
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The Tonton Macoutes (singular Tonton Macoute referring to a member thereof; or Ton Ton Macoute), renamed officially in 1971 the Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (MVSN) was a Haitian militia force under the control of François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier.
The militia was created in 1959, modelled on the Italian fascist Blackshirts, and to a greater extent the German Brownshirts. It was notorious for its widespread and brutal oppression of political dissidents.
The Macoute were led by Duvalier's second in command, Luckner Cambronne, who died on September 29, 2006 [1] in Miami, Florida at the age of 77.
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[edit] Origin of the name
In Haitian tradition, as of that of other nations, good children are visited at Christmas by Uncle Christmas, known locally as Tonton Noel (Father Christmas in other nations). However, the bad children are snatched by Uncle Gunnysack, or Uncle Knapsack. Translated literally from Creole: Tonton (Uncle) Macoute (gunnysack). The term "Tonton Macoutes" is equivalent in Haiti to the "bogeyman".
[edit] François Duvalier
François Duvalier (better known as "Papa Doc") came to power in 1957, as a democratically-elected leader on a populist platform. He had previously served as Minister of Health, and was noted due to his particular involvement in the fight against yaws. After an attempted coup against him in 1958, Duvalier rewrote the Haitian constitution, making himself a President for Life. In 1959, he created the Tonton Macoute, which was granted automatic amnesty through his powers for any crime they committed.
[edit] Reputation
The Tonton macoutes were known for wearing dark glasses, wielding machetes, and leaving their victims hanging in a public place as a warning to others. They cultivated the image of being vodun demons or zombies.
It is alleged that the death squad continued to operate in Haiti, through 2000.
[edit] Tonton Macoute in popular culture
There is a mention of the "tonton macoute" on the Showtime television show, "Dexter".[citation needed] Episode 9 - Season 1 - "Father knows best"
| “ | yeah, the boogeyman. They did a lot of terrible things. Killed a lot of people. They made mothers carry the heads of their dead sons. Forced fathers to rape their daughters. They tied sand of blocks around people's necks and drowned them and put mutilated bodies in trees and killed everybody trying to take them down | ” |
There is a mention of the tonton macoute on the Robert Plant song "Heaven Knows," from his 1988 album Now and Zen.
British standup comedian Bill Bailey references Tonton Macoute in his live show Part Troll when he says "That's true, Hitler was a vegetarian. Just goes to show, vegetarianism is not always a good thing. Can in some extreme cases lead to genocide. It's like the Tonton Macoute machete maintenance class: violent but instructive."
As a teenager, Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor was a member of a musical group called Ton Ton Macoute.
