#2318: Francois Duvalier: the Paen execution -- Lamour adds to Antoine

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:YLamour@aol.com

guy (and fellow corbetteers),

thanks a great deal for responding to my email about Pean's execution
so diligently... i asked because i thought you were aware of the version 
of the story which explained that Giordani Pelota (Kņmandan Limyč Wouj), 
Serge Lemoine (Army Colonel), and the rest of the thugs
who terrorized the Cap-Haitien population in those days
tried to extort money from Pean... since they didn't succeed, 
they then went on to emphasize the allegations by several people 
of Pean being a lougawou in order to have him executed... 
nevertheless, the real issue, according to many credible folks, 
was that he would not let his money being stolen by these
unscrupulous individuals...  unfortunately, that cost him his life...
and worst, people were led to believe that he was the
embodiment of satan... some aspect of our culture we need to
clarify and ultimately abandon...

if you remember, Pean was the owner of a funeral home... 
as such, he was an easy target for countless superstitious beliefs, mispercept
ions, 
and suspicions attached to the death of the very people he helped burry...
apparently, Pelota, Lemoine, and the gang took advantage of this prevalent
mentality to carry on their revengeful plan... i was not old enough to have 
made clear sense of the event, but i do recall the
degree to which consternation inundated the people of my dearest 
Cap-Haitien...
all in all, it appeared that Pean's execution was an abuse of power
outrageously justified by cultural myopism... another instance of 
duvalierism maliciously interweaving with cultural shortsightedness
to shed blood and take life...

i don't want to go to the extent of saying that duvalierism serves no purpose
at all in haitian history... of course, it does— by teaching us how repugnant 
and
destructive dictatorships continue to be, and why we haitians should resist
our temptation to seek any so-called benevolent dictator to lead the affairs 
of
the nation... here is a list of 6 presidents for life whose terms total 75 
years of
our 196 years of independance:

_Jean-Pierre Boyer (25 ans)
_Jean-Claude Duvalier (15 ans)
_Francois Duvalier (14 ans)
_Alexandre Petion (11 ans)
_Fabre Geffrard (8 ans)
_Sylvain Salnave (2 ans)...

should i also add our 1 king (Henry Christophe), and
2 Emperors (Jean Jacques Dessalines & Faustin Soulouque)?...

all arguments go for haiti to organize itself with democratic values —
total participation of the people who will learn to build the nation
and elect their representatives on the basis of both civic and political 
duties...

guy antoine, how about the killing of Piquion, the owner of
several autobuses that assured Cap-Port-au-Prince transportation and vice 
versa, 
during the dance at Rumba Night Club?... what do you know of that story?...
(i tend to rely on you, because you seem to have a vivid memory 
of events that occurred in Cap-Haitien...)
i heard, it was not Aderbal Lherisson
who in fact shut him, although he (Adderbal) was shooting like hell
in the midst of the party... the Lemoine and Pelota gang had Piquion
assassinated because he would not lend them money...

regards,
yvon