Merci "Anonyme" pour l' identification de ces personnages et a toi aussi Eric pour la rectification. Bonne note est prise et je vais faire les corrections a l' instant.

Eric, si j' ai bonne memoire, nous etions condisciples chez Anglade classe de 5eme.

Guest Saint Albin
merci pour cette correction. J'avais ommis le prenom du colonel Oriol. Il s'agit de Raymond Oriol, commandant du corps de genie des FADH.

ce n'est Max mais Roger Saint Albin dans cette photo.Max n'etait pas un militaire

Eddi, I like this piece very much, the way you arranged all the elements particularly the skull in the middle of the painting. Lots of symbols... very profound also. Great work. By the way, what medium do you use?

Congratulations on your artistic achievements! I am very much interested in your recent sequins and pearls project. Having an interest in crafts, the flag captured my interest. Please share with me future projects - with pearls and sequins.
Your little sister! I love you!

I think that you should keep your opinion to yourself. Thank you for the photos! Move on.

Ah! the power of the First Amendment "FREEDOM OF SPEECH! Just a word of caution: Before you quote JFK, please study his politic: During his tenure as president, he only did Viet Nam, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuba missile crisis, East Germany, Marilyn Monroe and a few other women...and not much else.

Once again! Haiti sous tutelle. What a shame!

Jona,
we are family and I want you to guess who I am. One clue: We recently attended your cousin's wedding,you chatted with my wife and I, you shared a table with Ginette, Aurore,Emelyne.I purposely omitted the last names. It's always fun to meet with you. Be well and Good luck.
Love

you guys look fantastic..!

Hi, I've been looking for an old friend that lived in Delmas 62 but moved to Florida, been looking for her but i've you have the same name. She has a daughter which is nineteen now and her fathers from St. Mark and her twin brother is named Maxim. I was just wondering if this was you. Please e-mail me and let me know.
Thanks you
Nancy.
p.s and she was born in africa than raised in haiti.

Il faut dire que Madame a ete l'elegance personnifiee.Merci pour ces photos , Pikliz.

Tout de même une aberration et embarassement pour le peuple Haitien. Pauvre gamin ! Cet offre, qui l'aurait refusée.

Imaginez vous un gosse de 19 ans au timon d' un pays. On n'a pas rendu service au pays. Comment nos ainés d' alors l' ont - ils accepté ? On ne le saura jamais.

Pourrait-on identifier les deux autres personnes dans la photo ?

Cette photo ? promotion de quelle année ? Pikliz cherche une bonne âme de cette classe pour mettre un nom sur les visages . Merci .

Did Haiti have a Foreign Legion? These soldiers are dressed like the French Foreign Legion one sees at the July 14 th. parade in Paris.

Merci bien pour le courriel, Calin Matou - c' est bien donc le jardin du palais de Sans Souci situé à Milot et qui est à une heure de marche ascendante de la Citadelle Laferrière et non pas le palais aux 365 portes situé à la Petite Rivière de l' Artibonite. Je pense que mon ami Jacques s' est sans doute trompé de bonne foi; encore une fois merci. Et dire que j' ai visité la Citadelle et le palais de Sans Souci lors de ma dernière visite en Haiti, il y a de cela 30 ans.

Allo Ti Ernest,
Comment vas-tu ? tres bien je suppose d'apres cette photo. C'est vraiment une belle prise de vue. J'ai connu un Gilbert Laraque au College Bird est-ce que c'est lui ? Es-tu toujours a la radio? fais-moi savoir . Je n'arrive pas capter la radio sur le net. Appelle-moi. Donne moi les nouvelles de Ti Toine.

Quelqu' un pourrait - il nous dire dans quelle région d' Haiti cette photo a été prise? Parait - il qu' il y a une erreur et ces lieux ne sont pas tout près de Sans Souci.
Apparemment mon ami Jacques Théard a dû se tromper de bonne foi en affichant qu' elle est une très belle vue des vestiges du palais de Sans Souci connue sous le nom de "Palais aux 365 portes."

Entre autres, nous venons de reçevoir une photo du "Palais aux 365 portes" de Calin Matou; mais nous ne pouvons la publier avant de vérifier les droits d' auteur.

Frankie Morone pour Pikliz.

Ti Joe,

On behalf of Pikliz, thank you kindly for your wonderful comment and also for sharing those painful experiences with the viewers of Pikliz. Sincerely, my heart goes out to you and also the members of your family.

I remember this day vividly. I was in the 6th grade at CPRA (Cours Rrives Roger Anglade) in Turgeau, barely half a mile from your parent's house. It was a normal school day that Friday, when around 11:00 AM we heard gunshots being fired; then the siren of the military vehicles then later the smell of burning wood.

There was a total consternation at the school. We were too young to really understand what was going on.

The Principal or better yet " le directeur Roger Anglade" ordered the gate closed. Then later, one by one, parents were coming to get their children. Teachers were worried and saddened by this tumult. Being older, I guess they were able to understand that a family or several people were being massacred within walking distance from the school. They did not commit any crime; they were innocent.

Days later, as school children were passing in front of " what used to be that house", there was this element of fear, and sadness on our faces. "That could happen to any family living in Haiti those days". No one was immune. "La machine infernale de Francois Duvalier ne pardonne pas".

I even remember a famous quote of one of his speeches played repeatedly over the Radio :" au premier coup de canon, les villes disparaissent et la nation est debout". There also was a campain of intimidation. For days a song with the lyrics " mete du feu lan caille la" by Dodophe Legros was also played on the Radio.



Ti Joe, once again, thank you for spending time to write this very long, sad and touching comment and all the best to you and your family. May all your loved ones rest in everlasting peace.

Please do come back and share this very painful experience with the world.

Many thanks for taking the time to keep a record of so much that happened in Haiti under "Papa Doc."

Indeed, Lt. Francois Benoit, married(15 Dec. 1960) to one of my 3 older sisters, Jacqueline , lost their first-born, Gerald "Gerry" Benoit(b.30 September 1961), on Friday, 26 April 1963, 11:00 am.

Gerry was taken out of the home of Lt. Francois Benoit's parents (Judge Joseph & Mrs. Benoit), corner of Ruelle Jeremie and Bois Verna, by Captain Max Dominique, who led the macoutes, in the middle of the day, to arrest Lt. Benoit.

The latter, member of the Haitian sharp-shooting team, had been falsely accused, of being involved with the attempt to kidnap the president's son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, then about 11-12 years old, as he was being picked-up from school.

Once Max Dominique cleared the gate, on his way to the waiting vehicles, the macoutes spread fuel on the house and the dead bodies of the people they had just massacred, i.e. Judge & Mrs. Joseph Benoit, a pregnant visitor who was mistaken for my sister, Jacqueline Edeline Benoit(Francois' wife), 2 maids and a young male gardener; before burning it to the ground. The remains of the house, in that vacant lot, have not been touch since.

It seems as though Gerry Benoit(then 17 months) was taken directly to the palace, never to be seen again.

In the meanwhile, another truck full of macoutes, led by Lt. Edouard Guillot, headed to 18 Ruelle Robin, home of the Edeline family. My parents, Paul Rene(55) and Georgette(48) Edeline, were the only ones home, along with a couple of maids and a gardener.

My mother, by pure luck, saw a truck of macoutes through the window of the first floor and got suspicious. She shouted my dad's name, and alerted him of the sight in the front of the house, screaming for him to come down and get away; but, he replied that he had not done anything wrong and had no reason to run. So she and the servants took off.

Lt. E. Guillot personally escorted my dad to the waiting vehicle, hitting him all along, as one of my 3 other older brothers(Jean-Robert "Bob") watched from across the street, where he and a couple of neighbors were chatting. My dad was taken away, never to be seen again?

My mom jumped the wall in the back yard and escaped through the neighbor(Moravia)'s yard. From her hiding place, blocks away, she managed to gather several of us, from schools and work, and send us into separate hiding places, for the next four months.

When things calmed down, the ones of us who did not leave the country, were able to come out of hiding, go back to school, and work, as if nothing had happened; until nine months later(July 1, 1964).

Because of the Benoit Affair, 26 April 1963, my brother-in-law, Lt. P. Francois Benoit, had to take refuge at the Dominican Ambassy which, incidentally, the macoutes attacked in order to capture him. The latter, who was armed and very familiar with weapons, along with the Ambassy guards, defended themselves very successfully.

Juan Bosh, the Dominican president at the time, quickly contacted Papa Doc to tell him to keep his distance, if he did not want a war, and leave Benoit alone, which he did.

Arrangements were then made for Benoit to be transferred to the D.R. Ambassador's residence until they could make safely get him to the Ambassy of Ecuador, where he stayed for over a year.

Papa Doc tried his best to keep Benoit on Haitian soil until he could get a hold of him. In addition, he held on to the false accusations, declared Benoit under arrest, judged, convicted and sentenced to death, and executed, all "in absentia." He was not able to get out of the country until January of 1965.

Since my brother, then Captain Claude Edeline, was also part of the Haitian sharp shooting team, the macoutes went after him. At the time, he was staying at his in-laws' home, in Pacot.

By then, it was in the middle of the night of 26 April. Because there were watch dogs barking inside the gated house, and both my brother and retired Colonel Max Bazelais, were armed, the officer in command, ordered the macoutes and soldiers, in a loud and alerting voice, to get back in the trucks and wait until day time to return.

We all still think that the officer may have been sending a message to my brother(29), and his immediate family, wife(Josselyne Bazelais, daughter of Colonel Max Bazelais), and 2 children, Patrick and Florence, both under 3.5 years old, that he was in danger.

So now Benoit's wife, Jacqueline; plus her brother, Claude Edeline and his family of four; all went into hiding, until they could get into various Ambassies and, eventually, leave the country.

The rest of us, siblings and other relatives, had to go into hiding, as well. In those days, gender and age did not matter to the macoutes. They picked up anyone and everyone who happened to be with or around their targeted victims.

When things calmed down, months after the Benoit Affair, those of us still in the country, slowly started to venture out again. We went back to school, or work, and moved into another area altogether; since or house was taken over by "friends of the regime."

Well, the calm period did not last very long; for, in the summer of 1964, my older brother, Claude, had moved from New York City, where he had been since the escaped a year earlier, to Baltimore, Maryland, for a new job.

It just happened that a small group of Haitians, who had been living in and around New York, invaded the country. Without any evidence or proof, my brother was accused of being part of the invasion, which started in the south of the country, near a town where he was stationed as a young army officer.

It seems as though one of the locals reported that he had recognized my brother among the inviders. So, the macoutes wasted no time in rounding up all the other members of the family, whom they had not picked up the first time. Well, all the ones they could find, anyway.

Consequently, they arrested my 49-year old mother, Georgette; two older sisters, Ghislaine Edeline Duchatelier(29), along with her husband, Maurice, their baby, Philippe-Maurice; an older brother, Bob(21); another older sister, Gladys(19); from their Delmas home, at lunch time. My 96-year old grand-mother, who lived with them, was shaken up but left alone.

My 2 younger siblings, Guerda(15) and Edouard (10), though in the house at the time, were spared. Guerda, by pure luck, since she is the one who answered the door, when Lt. Harry Tassy showed up with his truck load of macoutes and sent her to get mom. The others were already in a car, pulling out of the driveway, to go back to work, after lunch.

As Guerda went back in to find mom, the latter was on her way to the front door. Tassy had her join the others(Maurice, Ghislaine, Bob and Gladys) in the car, and taken away; never to be seen again, along with the car.

Guerda figured out what was happening, once everyone disappeared. She gathered younger brother Edouard(the 9th of 9 children); nephew Philippe-Maurice, along with 2 of Maurice's younger boys from his previous marriage, who were visiting; and fled through the woods, behind the house.

They were barely into the woods when they heard the loud noise of the macoutes' vehicles heading back to the house, apparently remembering that they had talked to Guerda but had failed to take her along.

The four children, then, ran into a neighbor's house, to hide, which happened to be the home of Colonel Frank Romain's mother-in-law, Mrs. Qualo. Colonel F. Romain lived right across the street.

Lt. Tassy, not having found Guerda in the house, decided to search the whole neighborhood, one house at a time. Mrs. Qualo realized what was happening, as the macoutes were only already entering her property. She instantly ordered the kids to run into the maids' quarters, detached from the house, but kept the baby with her.

The macoutes demanded to have the baby before proceeding to search the property. Miraculously, they searched all the rooms in the main house, and all the ones detached from the home, the doors of which were closed; but not the one room in which the kids were hiding. They had run into that room so fast that the door remained ajar, behind them. The macoutes must have assumed that no one was hiding in a room with a open door; so they skipped it, as they moved on to search other houses in the neighborhood.

As soon as the kids were able to get away, they all fled through the woods and ran as far away as they could until they recognized some family friends. Within minutes, they were all thrown into a car and driven out of the neighborhood.

In my case, I was at my cousins' house in Pacot when the news reached me, via words of mouth. As a lady came out of nowhere was still telling my aunt the story, an older cousin also rushed in, having left his car running in the driveway, and dragged me away from a scrabble game. Strangely enough, the last word that I placed on the board as we headed for his VW Beetle, was "deuil," the French word for "mourning."

He had also heard the news, himself, and knowing that I had been staying there, he came to rescue and take me to a safe place.

The youngest 3 of us, of nine children, were able to stay in hiding for 5 months, as arrangements were made for us to leave the country and, eventually, make it to the U.S. of A, which we have all, gladly, adopted as our new home.

To summarize, Papa Doc's regime took away mom, dad, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, a brother-in-law, and 2 nephews, from my immediate family; not counting others related by marriage.

THE ESCAPE FROM THE CLAWS OF PAPA DOC'S MACOUTES, AFTER 5 MONTHS OF HIDING AND LOSING MORE THAN HALF OF THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY, IS ANOTHER STORY IN ITSELF... STAY TUNE!!!