A bit of historical background - The dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier subsidized Vodou, which at
the time had passed through a period of state persecution. This was originally a very worthy act,
based on a nascent 'black pride' movement in Haiti. He subsidized, and later subverted, many of
the Vodou clergy. Some Vodouisants turned a blind eye to Duvalier's horrific
human rights abuses because of his early status as a folk hero in Haiti, in order to continue to receive his largesse and to remain safe from his terror tactics. Duvalier created his own paramilitary force, called the TonTon Macoutes,
originally to protect his regime from the Haitian Army, but later to do his dirty work. Following the popular revolt against Francois' son and successor Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, and a series of military regimes, an internationally monitored election in December 1990 brought left wing populist Catholic priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in a landslide victory. He was inaugurated in February 1991. Seven months later the Haitian Army, at the instigation of the Haitian elite and the United States Republican Party, staged a coup d'etat and instituted a reign of terror which lasted three years.
During these three years, over 5,000 Haitians were murdered, and uncounted thousands beaten, raped, tortured, and kidnaped. "Macoutes" reincarnated themselves as FRAPH, another terrorist group which committed horrible crimes with or without the assistance of state forces including the Haitian Army. FRAPH and other paramilitary attaches used to stage big demonstrations on the Champs de Mars in Port-au-Prince. I watched as they beat people and forced them to attend. At these demonstrations, popular "rasin" groups like Wawa provided entertainment, and Vodou lwa were invoked. I also saw, with my own eyes, Houngans asogwe making "wanga", or spells, for paramilitaries and soldiers which were designed to permit the person to kill, rape, and steal without being caught or punished.
This is not something I imagined, these are things I saw with my own eyes - and this is a disgrace to the Vodou religion. The lwa Gine love the children of Ginen (Guinea, ancestral Africa), and are not pleased when the children of Gine are persecuted, killed, raped, and tortured. In 1994, not long after puppet president Emile Jonassaint invoked Agarou, a lwa of the sky and of thunder, to prop up the murderous regime, the United Nations Multi-National forces came to Haiti - in the sky! By airplane, that is. If Jonassaint had invoked Met Agwe instead, the first troops would have come by boat! If he had invoked Dantor, the landing force would have been composed of black women! The lwa Ginen will never accept the victimization of the Children of Ginen.
Houngans and Mambos must remain on the side of the majority of Haitians. We are the majority religion of Haiti, we are the religion of the masses and we must not alienate ourselves from the very people who form the majority of our congregations. The right-wingers who promote the activity of Christian evangelical Protestant American missionaries in Haiti also demonize populists like Aristide by association with the Vodou religion - as the image at right, a derogatory photoshopped portrayal of Aristide as a Houngan in a cemetery, shows. The caption, which refers to Aristide's most recent exile from Haiti, reads:I left Quiskeya (Hispaniola), I went to Africa, I crossed over to Jamaica... Oh Baron La Croix, do what you are able so I don't fall into shit.
Now in 2009 Haiti is passing through another period of right-wing repression. United Nations troops are no longer liberators helping to ensure respect for human rights. Now they are the minions of the Haitian and American right wing, and their "peace keeping" role includes shooting at, and killing, Haitian citizens. The majority party of Haiti, the Lavalas party led by former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is excluded from particpation in the "elections" of 2009. Kidnappings and violence remain the rule, and the democratic gains of the past years seem to have evaporated. Because of the tendency of Vodou culture to seek powerful individuals rather than moral principles, there is a very real risk that Houngans and Mambos may once again find it expedient to align themselves with the powerful right-wing oppressors. Thus there is also a risk that Houngans and Mambos who do so, may once again face the vengeance of the Haitian people, as they did in the 1987 departure of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.Progessive Houngans and Mambos must speak out fearlessly - although the pro-Macoute factions have not been disarmed and are still willing to kill those who oppose them.
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