The Milice de Volontaires de la SécuritéNationale were labelled as the Tonton Macoute - "Uncle Gunnysack" or "Sack Man", a Haitian ghoul who kidnaps and consumes naughty children - by the populous, such was the brutality with which they ran the country from 1959 until the early 1990s. Formed by dictator François Duvalier in order to consolidate his power on the Caribbean island, this paramilitary squadron were not afraid to rape, pillage and execute on an arbitrary basis in order to maintain order - with more than 60,000 deaths attributed to the Tonton Macoute. With Duvalier allowing the group to enforce law in any which way they pleased - and with the police force only answering to their dictator - they became increasingly more violent under the leader of the "Vampire of the Caribben", Luckner Cambronne. Any secret police force who thinks it is acceptable to stone people to death in front of the locals and then hang the bodies on display as a warning should certainly be feared. Especially when their leader, Cambronne, would profit from the sale of bodies to the US for medical examination. Terrifying, but true.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
