Haiti until 1934.
4. Miami News, August 5, 1987.
5. Haïti Progrès, July 22-28, 1987.
6. Le Monde, August 8, 1987.
Jean-Claude
The
Duvalier
Jean-Rabel massacre:
a "mountain of corpses"
for Duvalier
THE SLAUGHTER that took place on July 22-23 in the small town of Jean-Rabel is evocative of the "Himalayan mountains of corpses" that a backer of François Duvalier promised the oppositionists.
"In Haiti",
", he said, "blood will flow as never before. The entire island will go up in flames from north to south, from west to east. Their will be no dawn or dusk, but only a gigantic flame eating at the sky."
FILIP MARTENS
HAI Vincent, who was put in office by the American occupiers. One of the members of the family, who is Vincent's god-daughter, is today one of the officials of USAid in Port-au-Prince. These families enriched themselves through the organized traffic of Haitian "boat people," who in large part came from the Northwest.
The attacks against the peasant groups have been waged on two fronts. On the one hand, physical attacks and wrecking operations were started up, beginning on May 9, 1986, with a raid against a village. This was the speciality of Lucas' goons and the military in Jean-Rabel, who were totally devoted to the family. On the other level, an operation was launched to discredit the groups and the missionary team (which was stripped of its credentials by the bishop) through anti-Communist propaganda and forming church-linked farmers' associations to compete with the groups.
For this purpose, Cathclat, a union linked to the Christian Democrats, was brought into play. Members of the Catholic Church played an important role in this affair. Members of the Protestant churches linked to the United States were active on two levels — physical attacks and divisive work. For example, some of them tried to murder a priest who, like the Tête Ensemble groups, opposed the "mangé sinistré," that is, the distribution of US surplus food, which is helping to sink the local products and is providing the basis for lucrative "business" in the Northwest.
In mid-June, General Namphy went to Jean-Rabel and Môle Saint-Nicolas (where the US plans to build a naval base). He was accompanied by a PREN leader, and it is said that a lot of money was distributed on that occasion. His visit was followed by that of Bishop Colimon, who took a clear position against the Tête Ensemble.
After these two visits violent attacks and acts of destruction took place in several villages. The July massacre took place at a time when attempts at conciliation were underway. "Antigroup" peasant organizations, Tontons Macoutes, members of the Protestant sects and Lucas employees were. mobilized to carry it out.
In the following days, survivors were killed or wounded. The army then came in under the pretext of "restoring peace." In fact, it went to aid of the big families, arresting people who had escaped from the massacre, intimidating farmers in the area and preventing any activity by the groups. * 1. Haïti Progrès, Vol. 4., No. 12, 1986. 2. Haïti Progrès, Vol. 5, No. 18, 1987 11 3. Ibid. September 14, 1987 • International Viewpoint
| HE DUVALIERISTS were very frightened when Baby Doc left the country. Today, they are beginning to take their revenge. On July 22 and 23, hundreds of farmers coming from several villages near Jean-Rabel fell into an ambush. The massacre lasted several hours.
At least 200 farmers must have died. Some were killed by machete blows. Others fell into a precipice when they were chased. Most of those attacked belong to the Tête Ensemble [Heads Together] groups, which have about 10,000 members. They exist in a large part of the Northwest Department, and are especially strong in the Jean-Rabel area, where the first such groups were formed.
These groups were founded about ten years ago, and came out of the work done by several missionary teams in the department. They were made up of "leaders and technicians, lay missionaries engaged in organizing small farmers in various areas of work — agriculture, literacy, improvement of conditions for women, health, leadership." 1
In Jean-Rabel itself, several infrastructural projects were carried out -electrification of the town, reforestation, establishment of children's canteens in a period of food shortages. Discussion about society was mingled with development and consciousnessraising, and later with denunciation of the dictatorship. The Tête Ensemble groups were conceived as "associations of small farmers helping each other with cultivation and thinking about their problems together." 2 As these groups grew in Jean-Rabel and the department, tensions increased between the landowners, notables and Church leaders on the one hand and the missionary teams and groups on the other.
"When February 7, 1986, came, the small farmers of Jean-Rabel - who had already been fighting under the dictatorship — wanted to take their demands further. So on May 1, 1986, a colossal demonstration was held, with the demonstrators carrying placards with their demands. This solidarity demonstration was not to the liking of the grandons [the big landowners], and they were so irritated that they decided to go onto the attack." 3 Landowners attack peasant groups
Moreover, the grandons of JeanRabel are not just anybody. They are essentially two families, the Lucases and the Poiteviens, who monopolize economic power in the area and flaunt their friendship with the Americans. The patriarch of the Lucas family, a Duvalierist deputy for 26 years, is one of the founders of the neo-Duvalierist party, the Parti de la Réconciliation et de l'Entente Nationale (PREN).
The power of these families is founded on an alliance with President Sténio