ILLUSTRATES Edward Belgian
1) Haitian from the gem, from the capital Port au Prince, François Duvalier (1907-1971) was the son of a justice of the peace and a baker. His mother was mentally disabled and became increasingly distant from the family until she died when he was 14 years old. François went to live with an aunt until his late teens.
two) graduated in medicine at the age of 27, he did residency in the capital’s hospitals. In 1943, he approached the needy population by working with the prevention and combat of tropical diseases, such as malaria and typhus. It was there that he received the nickname of pope Doc – “doctor papa”, in French.
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3) In 1949, as Minister of Health, he was persecuted by the military and exiled for supporting deposed President Dumarsais Estimé. He returns to the country in 1956 and runs a populist campaign against the mulatto elite that runs Haiti. With black support, he was elected president in 1957.
4) Doc was soon sending his enemies into exile and began to repress the mulatto elite. At the same time, he appointed members of the black majority to the Armed Forces and public office. The presidential guard became an elite force, with an unofficial mission to keep him in power.
5) It consolidates its power in the interior of the country creating, in 1959, a rural militia which had twice as many men as the Army and would have murdered more than 3,000 political enemies at the behest of Doc. In 1961, he violated the Constitution and named himself «president for life».
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6) pope Doc it was regular voodoo practitioner – the native religion of Haiti. He proclaimed himself a priest and created a mysterious aura, linking his image with voodoo entities. Rumor has it that the leader had his enemies’ heads torn off in order to communicate with them.
7) For a country that has always done badly in the economy, the Corrupt government in Doc it was as or more devastating than the 2010 earthquake, aggravating hunger and poverty. pope illicitly enriched and confiscated productive land to distribute to political allies.
What end did it take?
François Duvalier remained in power until his death in 1971. He was succeeded by his only son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, or Baby Doc.