The Tonton Macoute () or simply the Macoute was a Haitian paramilitary and secret police force created in 1959 by dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Haitians named this force after the Haitian mythological bogeyman, ("Uncle Gunnysack"), who kidnaps and punishes unruly children by snaring them in a gunny sack () before carrying them off to be consumed for breakfast. The Macoute were known for their brutality, terrorism, and assassinations. In 1970, the militia was renamed the (VSN, ). Though formally disbanded in 1986, its members continued to terrorize the country.
History
After 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. To counteract this threat, he created a military force that bore several names. In 1959, his paramilitary force was called the ("Hooded Men"). They were then renamed to (Civilian Militia), and after 1962, (Volunteers of the National Security, or VSN). They began to be called the when people started to disappear for no apparent reason. This group answered to him only.
Duvalier authorized the to commit systematic violence and human rights abuses to suppress political opposition. They were responsible for unknown numbers of murders and rapes in Haiti. Political opponents often disappeared overnight, or were sometimes attacked in broad daylight. stoned and burned people alive. Many times they put the corpses of their victims on display, often hung in trees for everyone to see and take as warnings against opposition. Family members who tried to remove the bodies for proper burial often disappeared. Anyone who challenged the VSN risked assassination. Their unrestrained state terrorism was accompanied by corruption, extortion and personal aggrandizement among the leadership. The victims of could range from a woman in the poorest of neighborhoods who had previously supported an opposing politician to a businessman who refused to comply with extortion threats (ostensibly as donations for public works, but which were in fact the source of profit for corrupt officials and even President Duvalier). The murdered between 30,000 and 60,000 Haitians.
Luckner Cambronne led the throughout the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s. His cruelty earned him the nickname "Vampire of the Caribbean". This particular name was earned by one of his endeavors of extorting blood plasma from locals for sale. Cambronne did this through his company "Hemocaribian" and shipped five tons of plasma per month to US Labs. He would also sell cadavers to medical schools after buying them from Haitian hospitals for $3 per corpse. When the Hospital could not supply this, the local funeral homes would be used. In 1971, Duvalier died and his widow Simone, and son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier ordered Cambronne into exile. Cambronne moved to Miami, Florida, US, where he lived until his death in 2006.
When François Duvalier came to power in 1957, Vodou was becoming celebrated for its purely Haitian heritage by intellectuals and the griots after having been let go for years by those with education. The was heavily influenced by Vodou tradition with denim uniforms resembling clothing like Azaka Medeh, the patron of farmers, and the use of the machete in symbolic reference to Ogun, a great general in Vodou tradition.
Some of the most important members of the were Vodou leaders. This religious affiliation gave the a kind of unearthly authority in the eyes of the public. From their methods to their choice of clothes, Vodou always played an important role in their actions. The wore straw hats, blue denim shirts and dark glasses, and were armed with machetes and guns. Both their allusions to the supernatural and their physical presentations were used with the intention of instilling fear and respect. Even their title of Tonton Macoute was embedded in Haitian lore of a bogeyman who took children away in his satchel or his Makoute.
The were a ubiquitous presence at the polls in 1961, when Duvalier held a presidential referendum in which the official vote count was an "outrageous" and fraudulent , electing him to another term. They appeared in force again at the polls in 1964, when Duvalier held a constitutional referendum that declared him president for life.