LE FLORIDIEN 2 NEWS OBITUARIES JULY 16 - 31, 2018 | VOL. 18 NO. 413 Henri Namphy: Coup leader and former president who said, ‘ has only one voter – the army’ By Phil Davison, les C-141 landed at François Duvalier In- For a couple of days in 1986 the for- ternational Airport. At 2:13am, several latbed mer president was considered a hero lorries arrived at the tar- for seeing o the Duvalier dynasty mac gate, loaded with – then he announced himself as the Gucci and Louis Vuitton new president luggage. Then came car- loads of army ocers, with Namphy prominent Lieutenant-general Henri Namphy, twice president among them. And inal- and military ruler, of Haiti, was involved in three ly Baby Doc himself, coups d’état, two of which he led. The third, by his driving a grey BMW own army in 1988, forced him into exile in the Do- while his wife Michèle minican Republic, the Spanish-speaking country nonchalantly pued a which French- and Creole-speaking Haiti shares the cigarette inside the car Caribbean island of Hispaniola with. window towards the bustling reporters and Namphy, who has died aged 85, grabbed power in photographers. 1986 in a CIA-backed military coup on the back of a popular revolution against the chubby 34-year-old It emerged later that Baby Namphy dashed Haitians’ hopes for change by installing a regime they dubbed ‘Duvalierism without dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who had Duvalier’ ( Rex ) Doc and his wife both declared himself “president for life”. carried handguns and - It appeared that Namphy had called the election as a When Duvalier led the country on an American mili each had an Uzi submachine gun under their car seat; tary transport plane in the face of growing street pro- show for his people – and for the US – but clearly had and that the dictator had emptied Haiti’s Central Bank tests in the early hours of 7 February 1986, Namphy no intention of relinquishing power. before leaving. At 3:47am, the US plane carried them was a little-known name, even in Haiti. o to exile in France and by daylight millions of joy- We foreign journalists were at a main polling station ous Haitians danced in the streets. The country went wild with joy, thinking democracy in Port-au-Prince on Sunday 29 November 1987, had arrived, after nearly 30 years of fearsome dicta- when groups of tontons macoute and several soldiers Later that day, Lt Gen Namphy walked down the steps torship by Baby Doc and his father François “Papa stormed the station, shooting or machete-hacking ev- of the wedding-cake-style presidential palace, in clear Doc” Duvalier, using their dreaded, machete-wielding - sight of the celebrating Haitians and said he was now eryone in sight. They killed 34 voters or ballot o militia, the Tontons Macoute. cials and a journalist from the neighbouring Domin- president, at the head of a ive-man National Coun- ican Republic. Many more were wounded in what cil of Government of three military ocers and two - became known as Haiti’s Bloody Sunday. But Namphy and fellow senior army ocers, encour civilians. Namphy’s sister-in-law, the Canadian jour- aged by the CIA, quickly ended that dream. nalist Elizabeth Abbott, was as stunned as anyone. In January 1988, under popular and international pres- Her husband was Joe Namphy, who had headed the - sure, Namphy set up another general election, with the Briely, indeed for little more than a day or two, Nam Haitian Football Federation when the team almost-mi- phy was considered a hero for seeing o the Duvalier civilian as something of a frontman raculously qualiied for the World Cup inals in West dynasty. But when he announced himself as the new candidate pushed by the military. Manigat won, but Germany in 1974. president that same day – 7 February 1986 – he initi- the populace – and the world – considered the election ated a military rule which was soon described as “Du- a fraudulent farce and less than 10 percent turned out Namphy was born on 2 November valierism without Duvalier”. to vote. 1932 in the rural village of Grande-Rivière-du-Nord, on the outskirts of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti’s second city. Although he promised democracy, he cracked down Manigat lasted only 133 days in the presidential pal- Without a father present – not unusual in Haiti at the on dissidents and his military rule continued through ace. He made the mistake of dismissing Namphy as time, or even now – he, his brothers and sisters were 1986 and 1987. He became known in the local army commander so the latter ousted him in a mili- raised by their mother. Known locally as Mammy French-Creole as “ti blanc” (Little White Man) be- tary coup on 20 June 1988, and declared himself pres- Jeanne, she ran a small stall selling general goods. cause of his green eyes, chestnut hair and relatively ident again. Three months later, Namphy himself was light skin, in a land mainly made up of descendants of She sent her children south to Roman Catholic prima- overthrown in a coup by young army ocers and was African slaves. sent into exile in the neighbouring Dominican Repub- ry and secondary schools in Port-au-Prince while she lic, where he would live until his death. His Port-au- moved to New York as a nurse’s assistant to earn and Starting in the town of Gonaïves followed by the Prince home, as well as that of his mother, were soon save some money. northern town of Cap Haïtien, Haitians had begun tak- trashed and looted. ing to the streets against Baby Doc towards the end of Henri went on to the Haitian Military Academy, the 1985 armed with only their voices and palm fronds. As Reuters correspondent for Latin America and the start of a career which would see him rise through the Caribbean, my stringer in Haiti happened to be Nam- ranks under the dictator François Duvalier and later I was in Cap Haitien in January 1986 when pover- his son Jean-Claude. In 1981-82, Namphy helped put phy’s sister-in-law Elizabeth Abbott. In her deinitive ty-stricken people emerged to shout anti-Duvalier slo- book Haiti: The Duvaliers and their Legacy (1988), down an attempt by a group of 40 or so Haitian exiles gans, unheard of for almost 30 years. she wrote that her former brother-in-law was “sudden- from Florida to invade Haiti and overthrow Baby Doc. ly infamous as a brutal dictator”. Duvalier was impressed by Namphy’s actions. For a few days events in Haiti and possibility of rev- olution gripped the world’s attention. But on 28 Janu- She added: “In the chapters dealing with him, I wres- Despite his reputation as a womaniser and a serious ary 1986, the tragedy of the seven astronauts on board tled with the temptation to overstate the case and prove rum and Scotch swigger, Namphy was promoted to Nasa’s Space Shuttle Challenger being killed shortly my impartiality by painting Namphy as a monster of chief-of-sta of the 7,000-strong Haitian army in deceit and calculation. In fact, the evidence points to after takeo knocked Haitians o the international 1984 – although it was not the army but the Macoute news agenda, where they have largely remained, ne- an impulsive man overwhelmed by the Duvalier lega- militia who ruled the roost in the streets. Mostly un- glected, since. cy and by the pressures of the Haitian presidency, who educated and often illiterate – like 85 per cent of the metamorphosed into the tyrant who was complicit in population at the time – the Macoute were known for In the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, just after mid- the Bloody Sunday massacre.” She quoted Namphy as their straw hats, sunglasses, machetes, ancient riles night on 6 February 1986, it was leaked that the US once saying, with a laugh: “Haiti has only one voter. and ruthlessness. was sending a military transport plane from Guantána- The army.” mo Bay, Cuba, to Haiti to take Baby Doc into exile After Baby Doc led on 7 February 1986, and Namphy and prevent a bloody revolution. We newsmen and Namphy died in the , where he took over, he ruled with an iron ist, Duvalier-style, women, there because of the street protests, rushed to had lived for 30 years, just across the border from Hai- with the Macoute continuing to do his dirty work, the airport. Usually deserted at that time of night, this ti. He is survived by his wife Altagracia Marte and through 1986 and 1987. time, there were a few soldiers guarding a gate with his daughters Martine and Melissa from previous mar- access to the tarmac as well as some Haitians who had riages. In November 1987, however, as the Reagan adminis- gotten wind Duvalier might be leaving, via the local tration called for democracy, he held a general elec- equivalent of “bush telegraph”. Henri Namphy, former Haitian president and military tion which ended up in bloodshed and no change in leader, born 2 November 1932, died 26 June 2018. leadership. Just after 2am on 7 February, an American Hercu- Source : independent.co.uk