#2499: Re: Fort-Dimanche : Lemoine replies to Poincy

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: Patrick Lemoine <fordi9@yahoo.com>

Poincy, please, spare me. I do not think any
group of people turned their back to  Duvalier
because he fell on the masses' side. The fact
that Papa Doc sent thousands of people to die in
Fort-Dimanche, or summarily killed them for no
reason whatsoever, belies the very principles
upon which civilized nations are built. The only
sin that these people committed was to have been
born with a certain last name, or to have
dissented with the inhumane philosophy of the
regime, or to have been given labels that were
taboo.
 Duvalier did not mentor his son properly on many
issues. But one thing that he took the time  to
teach him well, was to maintain  the repressive
apparatus that he had created.
The centers of detention and torture, especially
Fort-Dimanche, continued to claim hundred of
victims when Jean Claude was launched to the
presidency in 1971.
As a victim and a survivor of this Fort, I am
quoting the following  from my book entitled Fort
- Dimanche, Dungeon of Death recently translated
into English:
> 
>  page 143
> 
" The 1974 tally sheet read as follows:Ten
deaths,  fourteen  executions by firing squad,
one hundred and eighty still alive, among them
sixty gravely ill.
 
  Poincy you might be interested in finding out
what happened to the remaining hundred and eighty
still alive.
.
 page 153
 
 March 9;
 At night, Ti-Diable took a bite of every single
piece of bread he had stashed away. He put his
undergarments and got dressed; with an empty
stare, he curled himself up in his corner  while
twisting his hand nervously . Finally around  the
two A.M shower, Ti Diable gave out his last
breath. We had time  before Plop Plop's arrival
to sing and pray
that the soul of Jean-Pierre Saint Villus rest in
peace. His name was added to the list of
Duvalier's victims. Despite my sadness, I felt
that Ti-Diable's death   was a relief. I barely
knew him but he was a gentle, good soul  who was
always ready to help out his cellmates. What was
he guilty of?
His crime was to have been born  in Croix-des
Bouquets, an area under the
command of Colonel Albert Pierre. The latter had
accused him of being a  communist _- a
denomination that he may not have even
understood__- and sent him to Fort Dimanche. When
the body was removed, I remembered that I had
eaten on the same plate  with him for a long
time.The risks of having my lungs infected were
high. I forced myself to cough
and my chest, where  only bones were left, hurt.
My pulse seemed normal.  But the incubation
period could have already started.
> 
>  Poincy, you will find out  in my testimonial,
page after page, that
the  majority of the prisoners who died in
Fort-Dimanche  were from the sectors
 that you claimed that Duvalier wanted to
emancipate.

  page 159
 August 26, 1975
 Justin Bertrand, the terror of
Carrefour-Feuilles, smeared his face  and the
rest of his body with his excrements. Then he
died. In some bizarre fashion, justice was done.
With his death disappeared one of the   monsters
created by the despot Francois Duvalier.
> 
 Poincy, whehter you belonged to the masses or
not, Duvalier's machine did not
 discriminate, poor or rich, dark or light skin
alike, were arrested without due
process  - No indictment- no trial, but they had
a selection of verdicts: Casernes Dessalines,
Department de la Police, Cafeteria, Palais
National, Lamantin and the worst of them all,
Fort-Dimanche.
> 
> Patrick L
> 
> > 

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