This summary was sent to Fordi 9 in remembrance
of the 48th anniversary of the events that took place
on that day.
Submitted by Frantz Haspil
President / General Paul Eugène Magloire was
to leave office at the end of his terms, May 15, 1956.
Disregarding the 1950 Constitution he stayed in power
despite the rising opposition, but was finally ousted
in December 1956. He left the country for Jamaica, and
sought political asylum in the United States. Yet, two
years later, a number of his supporters were seeking
his return. These individuals had doubled their efforts
with the ascension to the presidency of Francois Duvalier
who was eager to put in place his own political agenda.
In those days, due to the harsh political climate and
actions by Duvalier and his supporters, much of the
news (false or real) was passed by word of mouth. In
Creole this method of broadcasting is known as the “télé-diol.”
The rumor was then that General Magloire was fomenting
from New York the removal of Duvalier (Note 1). The
events of July 28 and 29, as lived and reported, support
this rumor.
The following is a translated and adapted excerpt from
the newspaper Haiti Observateur (10 August 1979) in
an article entitled La Marche du Temps, the Al Burt
and Bernard Diederich book Papa Doc, and a compilation
of notes on the occurrences of that time by Frantz Haspil.
**********************************
Duvalier was elected in September 1957 and was in power
less than a year when the romance between the newly
elected President and the people ended, causing the
political opposition to gain much ground.
The economy in Haiti was not strong and was recuperating
from the trouble years (1956 -1957) which saw officially
four governments and a military junta. Historical facts
point to another military junta on or about May 25,
1957, which never came to power. (Note 2). After the
instability of 1957, the Duvalier government was at
first welcomed but soon the political climate started
to deteriorate again.
A group of former Haitian military
officers headed by Lieutenant Alix Pasquet gathered
in Miami . On or about July 25, 1957, the group set
sails on board a yacht called “Molly C”
heading toward Haiti. On board were former Lieutenants
Alix “Sonson” Pasquet, Henri “Riquet”
Perpignan and Phillipe “Fito” Dominique
(the brother in law of Pasquet). Accompanying them were
five American soldiers of fortune whose names were:
Arthur Payne (the leader), Dany Jones, Levant Kersten,
Robert F. Hickey and Joe D. Walker (the boat captain).
The Haitian officers had all been assigned while in
the Army to either the Casernes Dessalines, or the National
Palace and thus were very familiar with those two areas.
The Casernes Dessalines is a military barracks built
in 1912, located behind the National Palace, which housed
the 18th Battalion of the Haitian Armed Forces. The
National Palace housed its own garrison called the Presidential
Guard, mainly considered a ceremonial unit. And since
these officers had left the country some months earlier,
they were confident that with the help of the soldiers
they once had in their command, and the help of other
officers still in the military, they could seize the
moment, create an uprising and overthrow the Duvalier
regime.
What occurred on July 28, 1958 seems
to be a fluke of circumstances. The Molly C experienced
some mechanical trouble as it was on its way south towards
the bay of Port-au-Prince. The télé-diol
was quick to report after the events that they were
headed for the Coast Guard Headquarters in Mariani or
for the International Casino marina less than 2 miles
away from their point of attack. The vessel reached
the shore in the area of Montrouis, known as Délugé.
(Note 3) In any Haitian rural area, news travel fast
despite the lack of telephones. The military district
of St Marc had responsibility for Montrouis. Therefore,
the district was notified by a rural police officer
named Arabe that some foreigners were on board a yacht
beached at Délugé; they were either smugglers,
or sunbathing tourists, and perhaps it was a vessel
in need of help. A young military officer, Lieutenant
Alix Léveillé, and three soldiers were
dispatched to investigate. Late on the afternoon of
July 28, upon arriving at Délugé, something
went wrong. A firefight broke out. One of the Molly
C invaders was wounded. One of the Haitian soldiers
was killed on the spot, the other two wounded and Lieutenant
Léveillé was severely wounded. The outnumbered
and overpowered military element retreated to St Marc
The Lieutenant died upon arrival at the hospital in
St Marc. According to the wounded survivors, the strangers
fired first. The hospital surgeon, Doctor Edgar Ledan,
attempted unsuccessfully to save the life of one of
the remaining soldiers that night. The last one died
a few days later.
But, by the time the army personnel
in St Marc reacted, the occupants of the Molly C had
already acted on other plans. The invaders had commandeered
a pick-up truck that they drove to Port-au-Prince. (Note
4) Thus the radio message to the Army Headquarters from
Colonel Max Laurenceau from the Military District of
St Marc, informing them of the incident at Délugé,
was received quite late at the Port-au-Prince army communication
center by First-Lieutenant Charles Joseph Lemoine, and
remained unknown to the higher echelons of the army
until the next day.
About ten o’clock at night, the
Molly C occupants arrived at the Casernes Dessalines.
Their surprise arrival found no resistance. (Note 5
) The soldier who readily opened the gate for them was
quickly eliminated and the night duty officer, a veteran
of twenty-five years in the army named Théopile
Nazaire, was also killed. As they made their way in,
they proceeded to kill Sergeant Preston - the very same
sharpshooter who was responsible for the deaths of Lieutenants
Hans Wolf, Donatien Dennery and Desrivières and
a soldier named Lespinasse at Champ de Mars on May 25,
1957, during the rebellion that pitted General Leon
Cantave and Colonel Pierre Armand. Quickly and strategically,
they occupied the barracks by killing two additional
soldiers, the Jean-Louis brothers. The men of the Molly
C were well armed and the heavy weapons they carried
offered much firepower that created a panic not only
at the Casernes Dessalines but also at the National
Palace. The invaders held the Caserne Dessalines soldiers
prisoner.
Reporting on these events, Duvalier
later wrote about that night, “I contacted the
Commandant of the Casernes by phone. Instead of him,
a voice answered: “This is Alix Pasquet. There
is no General here!” Pasquet then asked me to
identify myself, my title and position. I answered:
President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of
the Haitian Armed Forces. Then, the small raving mad
man dared to order the Head of State to surrender with
a white flag because, according to him, he was in control
of the National Jail, the Police Headquarters, the Coast
Guard Headquarters, and all the military outposts around
Port-au-Prince.” (Continued) |
