Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 3, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 27

Global Security and Intelligence Studies
which is respected and assiduously pursued in the Caribbean republic.
The rule of law was long ago displaced by a reign of terror and
the personal will of its dictator, who was awarded the title of Life
President of the republic, and appears to be more concerned with
the suppression of real or imaginary attempts against his life than
with governing the country. He is leading his nation not in the direction
of prosperity but towards the final disaster that can be seen in its
political, social, and economic collapse (Abbott 1988, 143).
The Cult of Personality: Duvalier, Dieu, and Dessalines (DDD)
As Duvalier aged, he became increasingly cognizant of Voodoo’s significance
in the belief structure of the Haitian people, and was able to manipulate
that to serve his power-hungry ambitions. With his knowledge of the Haitian
Voodoo culture, Duvalier purposefully mirrored himself after Voodoo priests
replicating behaviors that included a staring, penetrative gaze, whispered speech,
and hyper-slow physical movements (Time 2011). Duvalier portrayed himself as
being possessed by the spirit of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the famed historical figure
who led Haiti to independence (Johnson 2006). Outwardly, he fashioned his
appearance after the Voodoo Gede spirit, Baron Samedi, dressing in funeral attire
(Johnson 2006; Perper and Cina 2010). “In the panther of loas, Baron Samedi is
a god of the dead often portrayed as wearing a white top hat, black tuxedo, dark
glasses, and cotton plugs in his nostrils” (Perper and Cina 2010, 130). Papa Doc
used this imagery to strike fear in the hearts of his adversaries and to keep the
masses at bay and mystified. Using the power of zin, a Creole term for spreading
gossip, Duvalier was able to keep the people of Haiti living in fear as rumors
spread rapidly that he was followed by spirits who lived with him at the Palace and
made sure that no human could overthrow him (Abbott 1988; Johnson 2006). He
summoned truckloads of citizens to his Palace to sing and dance for his entertainment.
He even went so far as to have the Lord’s Prayer changed to further his cult
of self-worship:
Our Doc, who art in the National Palace for life, hallowed be Thy
name by present and future generations. Thy will be done in Portau-Prince
as it is in the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and
forgive not the trespasses of those anti-patriots who daily spit upon
our country. (Perper and Cina 2010, 130)
As a dictator, Duvalier created a cult of personality by having his portrait
hung across the country. In some of the imagery, he “conveyed the message that
he was chosen by Jesus Christ to lead Haiti. In one such portrait, Papa Doc stood
next to an image of Jesus Christ with his hand on Papa Doc’s shoulder, along with
a caption that read, ‘I have chosen him’” (Ezrow and Frantz 2013, 232). He used
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