They were responsible for unknown numbers of murders and rapes in Haiti. This group answered to him only.ĭuvalier authorized the Tontons Macoutes to commit systematic violence and human rights abuses to suppress political opposition. They began to be called the Tonton Macoute when people started to disappear for no apparent reason. They were then renamed to Milice Civile ( Civilian Militia), and after 1962, Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale ( Volunteers of the National Security, or VSN). In 1959, his paramilitary force was called the Cagoulards ('Hooded Men'). To counteract this threat, he created a military force that bore several names.

History 'Papa Doc' Duvalier created the Tontons Macoutes because he perceived the military to be a threat to his power.Īfter the July 1958 Haitian coup d'état attempt against President François Duvalier, he purged the army and law enforcement agencies in Haiti and executed numerous officers as he perceived them as a threat to his regime. Though formally disbanded in 1986, its members continued to terrorize the country. In 1970, the militia was renamed the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale ( VSN, English: National Security Volunteers). The Macoute were known for their brutality, terrorism, and assassinations. Haitians named this force after the Haitian mythological bogeyman, Tonton Macoute (' Uncle Gunnysack'), who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunny sack ( macoute) before carrying them off to be consumed for breakfast. The Tonton Macoute ( Haitian Creole: Tonton Makout) or simply the Macoute was a Haitian paramilitary and secret police force created in 1959 by dictator François 'Papa Doc' Duvalier.

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