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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier  |
coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became more autocratic and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute (Haitian Creole: Tonton Makout), indiscriminately tortured or killed Duvalier's opponents; the Tonton Macoute was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing any form of dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult.
Prior to his rule,
Duvalier was a physician by
profession. He graduated from the Graduate School of Public Health at
the University of
Michigan on a scholarship that was meant to train Black
doctors from the Caribbean to take care of African-American servicemen
during World War II. Due
to his profession and expertise in the medical field, he acquired the
nickname "Papa Doc". He was unanimously "re-elected"
in a
1961 presidential election in which he was the only
candidate. Afterwards, he consolidated his power step by step, culminating in
1964 when he declared himself President for Life after
another sham election, and as a result, he remained in power until his death
in April 1971. He was succeeded by his son, Jean‑Claude,
who was nicknamed "Baby Doc".[4]
Early life and career
Duvalier was born
in Port-au-Prince in
1907, the son of Duval Duvalier, a justice of the peace,
and baker Ulyssia Abraham.[8] His aunt, Madame Florestal,
raised him.[6]: 51 He completed a degree in
medicine from the University of Haiti in
1934,[9] and served as staff physician
at several local hospitals. He spent a year at the University of
Michigan studying public health[6]: 53 and in 1943, became
active in a United States–sponsored
campaign to control the spread of contagious tropical diseases, helping the
poor to fight typhus, yaws, malaria and other tropical diseases
that had ravaged Haiti for years.[9] His patients affectionately
called him "Papa Doc", a moniker that he used throughout his life.[10]
The racism and
violence that occurred during the United
States occupation of Haiti, which began in 1915, inspired black nationalism among
Haitians and left a powerful impression on the young Duvalier.[11] He was also aware of the
latent political power of the poor black majority and their resentment
against the small mulatto (black and white mixed-race)
elite.[12] Duvalier supported Pan-African ideals,[13] and became involved in
the négritude movement of
Haitian author Jean Price-Mars,
both of which led to his advocacy of Haitian Vodou,[14] an ethnological study of
which later paid enormous political dividends for him.[12][15] In 1938, Duvalier co-founded
the journal Les
Griots. On 27 December 1939, he married Simone Duvalier (née Ovide),
with whom he had four children: Marie‑Denise, Nicole, Simone, and Jean‑Claude.[16]
Political rise
In 1946, Duvalier
aligned himself with President Dumarsais Estimé and
was appointed Director General of the National Public Health Service. In
1949, he served as Minister of Health and Labor, but when Duvalier
opposed Paul Magloire's
1950 coup d'état, he left the government and resumed practicing medicine. His
practice included taking part in campaigns to prevent yaws and
other diseases. In 1954, Duvalier abandoned medicine, hiding out in Haiti's
countryside from the Magloire regime. In 1956, the Magloire government was
failing, and although still in hiding, Duvalier announced his candidacy to
replace him as president.[6]: 57 By December 1956, an
amnesty was issued and Duvalier emerged from hiding,[17] and on 12 December 1956,
Magloire conceded defeat.[6]: 58
The two frontrunners
in the 1957
campaign for the presidency were Duvalier and Louis Déjoie, a mulatto landowner and industrialist
from the north. During their campaigning, Haiti was ruled by five temporary
administrations, none lasting longer than a few months. Duvalier promised to
rebuild and renew the country and rural Haiti solidly supported him as did
the military. He resorted to noiriste populism, stoking the majority Afro-Haitians' irritation at being
governed by the few mulatto elite, which is how he described his
opponent, Déjoie.[5]
François Duvalier was
elected president on 22 September 1957.[18] Duvalier received 679,884
votes to Déjoie's 266,992.[19] Even in this election,
however, there are multiple first-hand accounts of voter fraud and
voter intimidation.[6]: 64
Presidency
Consolidation of power
After being elected
president in 1957, Duvalier exiled most of the major supporters of Déjoie.[20] He
had a new constitution adopted that year.[10]
Duvalier promoted and
installed members of the black majority in the civil service and the army.[13] In
July 1958, three exiled Haitian army officers and five American
mercenaries landed in Haiti and
tried to overthrow Duvalier; all were killed.[21] Although
the army and its leaders had quashed the coup attempt, the incident deepened
Duvalier's distrust of the army, an important Haitian institution over which
he did not have firm control. He replaced the chief-of-staff with a more
reliable officer and then proceeded to create his own power base within the
army by turning the Presidential Guard into an elite corps aimed at
maintaining his power. After this, Duvalier dismissed the entire general
staff and replaced it with officers who owed their positions, and their
loyalty, to him.[citation needed]
In 1959, Duvalier
created a rural militia, the Milice
de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale (MVSN, English: Militia of National Security Volunteers)—commonly
referred to as the Tonton Macoute after a Haitian
Creole bogeyman—to
extend and bolster support for the regime in the countryside. The Macoute,
which by 1961 was twice as big as the army, never developed into a real
military force but was more than just a secret police.[22]
In the early years of
his rule, Duvalier was able to take advantage of the strategic weaknesses of
his powerful opponents, mostly from the mulatto elite. These weaknesses
included their inability to coordinate their actions against the regime,
whose power had grown increasingly stronger.[23]
In the name of nationalism,
Duvalier expelled almost all of Haiti's foreign-born bishops, an act that
earned him excommunication from the Catholic
Church.[12] In
1966, he persuaded the Holy See to allow him permission to nominate the
Catholic hierarchy for Haiti.[24] Duvalier
now exercised more power in Haiti than ever.
Heart attack and Barbot affair
On 24 May 1959,
Duvalier suffered a massive heart attack, possibly due to an insulin overdose; he had been a diabetic since early adulthood and also
suffered from heart disease and
associated circulatory problems. During the heart attack, he was comatose
for nine hours.[6]: 81–82 His physician
believed that he had suffered neurological damage during these
events, harming his mental health and perhaps explaining his subsequent
actions.[6]: 82
While recovering, Duvalier left power in the hands of Clément Barbot, leader of the Tonton Macoute. Upon his return to work, Duvalier accused Barbot of trying to supplant him as president and had him imprisoned. In April 1963, Barbot was released and began plotting to remove Duvalier from office by kidnapping his children. The plot failed and Duvalier then ordered a nationwide search for Barbot and his fellow conspirators. During the search, Duvalier was told that Barbot had transformed himself into a black dog, which prompted Duvalier to order that all black dogs in Haiti be put to death. The Tonton Macoute captured and killed Barbot in July 1963. In other incidents, Duvalier ordered the head of an executed rebel packed in ice and brought to him so he could commune with the dead man's spirit.[25] Peepholes were carved into the walls of the interrogation chambers, through which Duvalier watched Haitian detainees being tortured and submerged in baths of sulfuric acid; sometimes, he was in the room during the torture.[26]
READ FULL WIFI background with references at the following link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier
Education
Henry served as a resident in neurosurgery with
Professor Claude Gros in the French city of Montpellier,
from March 1977 to December 1981. He studied neurophysiology and neuropathology at
the University of Montpellier's faculty of
medicine[14] from
1981 to 1984, and presented his doctoral thesis in
January 1982. He also received a certificate in performing electroencephalography from the
University of Montpellier in September 1983.[15]
In 1989, he completed his Master of Public Health in international health from Loma Linda University and his postdoctoral studies in international
health management methods at Boston University from February to May
1990.[15]
Medical career
Henry
was a professor at the Private Nursing School of Montpellier from September
1980 to June 1981.[15] From January 1982 to
December 1983, he was employed as an assistant in neurosurgery to Professor
Claude Gros at the Gui de Chauliac [fr] university hospital in
Montpellier. He also served as an assistant to Professor Philippe Frèrebeau
at the same hospital from October 1983 to February 1985, and was employed as
an assistant professor during
his time there.[15][14] He later served as the
administrator of the Adventist Hospital of Haiti [fr] from
March 1985 to June 1987.[14]
Henry
was employed as a neurosurgeon at the State
University of Haiti Hospital from 1987 to 1996,[15] while also serving as
a professor of neurosurgery at the
hospital from October 1985 to February 1995 and professor of psychophysiology at the university's
faculty of human sciences from November 1988 to June 1996. He has been a
professor of neurology at the university's faculty of medicine since October
1990.[14]
From
December 1987 to January 2010, he was a consultant in
neurosurgery and neurology at
the Saint Vincent Centre for Disabled Children in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti.[14][15]
Henry
was also a tutor at the Loma Linda University's
"Master of Public Health" program, which was held off-campus, from
1989 to 1991, and a professor of neurology at the Quisqueya University from
October 1999 to January 2010.[14] He served as an advisor to
the Minister of
Health of Haiti from March 1993 to February 1995, as well as
a consultant to the Pan
American Health Organization and World Health
Organization from 1993 to 1996.[15]
He
was the director of
the Adventist
Development and Relief Agency-Haiti's "Child Survival Project
in Urban and Rural Areas" from November 1985 to February 1992, director
of "Nutritional Rehabilitation Clinics" program from January 1986
to November 1989, deputy director of its overall programs from 1992 to 1996,
and consultant for evaluating its "PL-480" program in 1998. He was
also the director of health for the Adventist Church in Haiti, the French West Indies and French Guiana.[15] From 1992 to 1999, he served
as the chairman of the board of directors of
the Ecumenical Welfare Society.[16]
Henry
has served as an associate member of the French Society of Neurosurgery since
1984, a member of the National Committee to Evaluate Polio Eradication in
Haiti since it was created in March 1990, and head of the neurosurgery
department of the Bernard
Mevs Hospital since October 2014.[15] He led the public health
response in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti
earthquake and the cholera
outbreak in 2012.[17] On 26 March 2020, the President of Haiti Jovenel Moïse chose him as a member of
the 17-member scientific council tasked to fight the COVID-19
pandemic in the country.[18]
Political career
Henry
entered politics as a leader of the Democratic
Convergence movement which sought to topple President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide,[17] who was accused of rigging
the 2000
Haitian parliamentary election. He and Micha Gaillard led the opposition
against the President at international forums.[19] After the 2004 Haitian
coup d'état that ousted Aristide, Henry called for a
transition government based on consensus and new elections. He later became a
part of the "council of sages", consisting of seven members. The
council was backed by the United States and elected members of the
transitional government.[19]
He
supported René Préval after
he was elected as the President and was appointed as the director general of the Ministry of
Health in June 2006. He remained in the position until September 2008, when
he was appointed as the ministry's chief of staff from September 2008 to
October 2011.[17][20] During his tenure, he dealt
with the strikes at the General Hospital in Port-au-Prince, worked alongside
the United States in managing the public health response after the 2010
earthquake, and streamlined the ministry's finances, enabling direct American
funding of its programs.[19]
Henry
is a former member of Social Democratic Party, Haitian Revolutionary
Progressive Nationalist Party which was founded by his long-time friend and
political mentor Serge Gilles, Fusion
of Haitian Social Democrats and Inite.[21][19] He was selected as the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities in
2015 by President Michel Martelly,
after the latter reached a deal with the opposition parties following
anti-government protests, many of them led by followers of Aristide.[19] Henry served in the post
from 22 January 2015 to 11 September 2015,[4][22] when he was appointed as
the Minister
of Social Affairs and Labor by Prime Minister Evans Paul and replaced by Ardouin
Zéphirin.[4][19] He remained in the position
until 28 March 2016.[5][15] After Inite announced it
would withdraw from Martelly's unity government on 8 September 2015, it
called on Henry to resign.[23] Henry however refused and
left the party.[24]
On 5
July 2021, he was selected as the next prime minister of
Haiti by President Jovenel Moïse, but two days later, Moïse was
assassinated, stalling the transfer of power.[25][26][27] At the time, incumbent Prime
Minister Claude Joseph took
control of the government, with the backing of the military, and was
acknowledged by the United States as
the rightful prime minister.[28] A group of prominent
diplomats to Haiti called the "Core Group", which is made up of
ambassadors to Haiti from Brazil, the European Union, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and the United States, in
addition to representatives to Haiti from the Organization
of American States and the United Nations, called on Henry to take
charge as the head of the government on 17 July.[29] On 19 July, Joseph announced
that he would stand down as prime minister in favor of Henry.[28]
Prime
Minister of Haiti
Henry
was sworn in as the prime ministr on 20 July 2021. During the ceremony, he
called for unity and stated that he will prioritize reassuring people about
restoring order and security in the country.[30][31] He stated on 28 July that he
planned to hold the long-delayed
elections as soon as possible, and the government would hold
dialogue with the civil society on what to do further for Haiti's progress.[32]
After
an earthquake struck
Haiti on 14 August, Henry declared a state of emergency for
one month in the country and stated that all resources would be mobilized to
help people affected by the quake.[33] During an address to
the Permanent Council of the Organization of American
States on 20 August, he vowed to hold elections as soon as
possible to restore democracy in the country, despite the country reeling
from instability following the recent earthquake and Moïse's assassination.[34]
On 6 September, Henry described reducing crime in Haiti as a primary concern of his government.[35] He introduced the draft of a proposed new constitution on 8 September. Among its provisions, the President is given further powers while the position of Prime Minister is abolished to allow government policies to be passed more easily. Government officials, ministers and presidents can also be tried before courts once they leave their office.[36
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