Pour mémoire. 27 février 1986 2 super Tontons macoutes, Luc Désir et Elois Maitre sont arrêtés.

Publié par siel sur 2 Août 2013, 13:50pm

Catégories : #DUVALIER

rom Inquirer Wire Services

POSTED: February 27, 1986

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — In an apparent change of heart toward people accused of atrocities during the Duvalier era, Haiti's new government yesterday announced the arrests of two former security agents on charges of torture and murder.

The arrests were announced a day after thousands of protesters blocked off the Port-au-Prince airport in an attempt to prevent one of the men from fleeing the country. The crowds forced two U.S. airlines - American and Eastern - to cancel flights there yesterday.

More than 5,000 people had converged on the airport Tuesday after radio reports that Luc Desir - a former secret police chief - was there.

Both Desir and the other man arrested yesterday were veterans of the regime of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. Francois Duvalier died in 1971 and was succeeded by his son, Jean-Claude, who ruled the country until he fled into exile earlier this month.

Desir was the head of an interrogation unit called the Special Detectives. He tried to leave Haiti on Tuesday on an Air France flight, but the irate crowds stampeded the runway, broke windows and threatened a riot should he board the plane. The pilot refused to let Desir board, and he was escorted away by soldiers.

The other man arrested was Elois Maitre, once a bodyguard to the senior Duvalier and a well-known member of the tonton macoutes, the private army and secret police for the Duvalier family.

Both Desir and Maitre had been inactive for many years. They were being charged by a man named Emmanuel Ambroise, who said the pair had tortured him and murdered his brother.

At the same time, there were unconfirmed reports that tonton macoutes had poisoned a town's water supply and killed 20 people.

Sketchy information released by the government yesterday suggested that perhaps two dozen people died and hundreds were admitted to a hospital with stomach complaints.

Franz Michel, an official in the government information office, blamed the incident on the macoutes.

However, a communique from the government's National Drinking Water Service said it was "impossible to inform the public on the exact cause" of the poisoning.

Crowds hunted for tonton macoutes in downtown Port-au-Prince and sacked the homes of Desir and Madame Max Adolphe, who was head of the macoutes.

On Sunday night, the ruling military-civilian council allowed Col. Albert Pierre, a high secret-police official under Jean-Claude Duvalier, to leave for political asylum in Brazil.

And Madame Max also has left the country, Aubelin Jolicoeur, director of tourism, said yesterday.

Justice Minister Gerard Gourgue said yesterday that the governing council would try to prevent more top Duvalier officials from leaving Haiti.

"We plan to take immediate action against these people," he added.

In Washington, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, citing significant progress on human rights by the new Haitian government, yesterday released $26 million in U.S. aid. The aid was suspended in the last weeks of Duvalier's regime.

In addition, the Reagan administration is to provide $450,000 in military- training funds to the military-civilian government that took power after Duvalier's departure.