19218: Heinl on Marines in 1958 (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Prewarbrits@aol.com

There was no military intervention in 1958. Negotiations had begun in 1957
for a US military mission. These negotiations were intensified following a coup
attempt agains Francois Duvalier in 1958, and bore fruit at the end of 1958.
>From then until its expulsion in 1963, a mission of marines attempted to reform
and professionalize the Haitian Army while President Duvalier, justifiably
leery of the Army's role as political king-maker, neutralized the Army by
creating the tonton macoutes/milice as a counterbalance.

For details, see Williamson's The U.S. Naval Mission to Haiti.

Michael Heinl