1956, December 12 – 1957, February 4: (Pierre-Louis’s Fifty-Five Days: The Pickup Cabinet, the PPH Commandos, the Bombings, and the General Strike That Empti…

1956, December 12 – 1957, February 4: (Pierre-Louis’s Fifty-Five Days: The Pickup Cabinet, the PPH Commandos, the Bombings, and the General Strike That Emptied the Capital): Joseph Nemours Pierre-Louis, whom the New York Times described as a pleasant middle-aged man with a legalistic temperament, lasted fifty-five days. Entering office on December 12, 1956, and resigning on February 4, 1957, the fifty-six-year-old Capois bachelor judge and member of The Hague Court never really had a chance. His pickup cabinet, composed of cronies and surrogates for Déjoie and Duvalier, omitted representation of Jumelle or Fignolé and thus automatically mobilized those factions in opposition. The major left party, the Parti du Peuple Haïtien, called stridently for a revolutionary program — immediate return to the principles of Estimé — and for proscription of Jumelle on grounds that as Magloire’s Finance Minister he should explain the empty treasury. The PPH, while neither communist nor a communist front, embodied substantial communist elements and also represented a significant segment of Duvalier’s support. Throughout January 1957, PPH terrorist squads calling themselves commandos hunted down, beat up, and expelled from office known Magloirists throughout the government in a process described as people’s justice. Bombings continued — on January 10 at O. J. Brandt’s margarine factory, and fifteen days later when a bigger engin blew in the north portal of the Legislative Palace and broke windows across downtown. By the end of January, disorganized by spot strikes, shaken by explosions, and prowled by commandos, government and capital were at a standstill. On February 1, Déjoie members of the cabinet, maneuvering in unlikely concert with the PPH and Duvalier, resigned en masse — simultaneously, orchestrated by Déjoie, came another general strike. Again no gasoline, the Chauffeurs-Guides stopped everything on wheels, Damien shut down, the Hôpital Général shut down, the business district was like a tomb and so was the National Palace. On February 4, Pierre-Louis resigned.