1959: (I Have Mastered the Country: The Midnight Summoning of the Oungan, the Blood-Red Robe of the Secte Rouge, and Duvalier Declares Himself the Only Maste…

1959: (I Have Mastered the Country: The Midnight Summoning of the Oungan, the Blood-Red Robe of the Secte Rouge, and Duvalier Declares Himself the Only Master of Vodou): September 1959 marked the end of two turbulent years in which Duvalier had managed to survive through political judo — dividing politicians and citizens into opposing factions, maintaining and exploiting tension, insecurity, fear, and suspicion, knocking opponents off balance and disposing of potential rivals. An intimation of the future came on October 9 when Duvalier declared six Senate seats vacated; the sixth senator, Episcopal priest Yvon Emmanuel Moreau, was imprudent enough to remain in Port-au-Prince and continue in open opposition — within a year he was arrested by macoutes, never to be seen again. On August 5, 1958, Duvalier had proclaimed: I have mastered the country, I have mastered power, I am the New Haiti — to seek to destroy me is to seek to destroy Haiti herself, no earthly power can prevent me from accomplishing my historic mission because it is God and Destiny who have chosen me. One further step remained: one evening in 1959, as dusk settled over the Cul-de-Sac, truckloads of soldiers deployed stealthily around Croix-des-Missions and Croix-des-Bouquets, Vodou’s heartland, and during the hours ahead, pouncing without warning, detachments picked up every oungan and manbo in the region, packed them into trucks at gunpoint, and drove them off into the night. The convoys converged in the inner courtyard of the Palais National; at midnight, herded up the darkened spiral backstairs into the Salle des Bustes, oungan and manbo faced François Duvalier standing alone and menacing in the blood-red robe of the Secte Rouge. Never forget, he told them, that I am the supreme authority of the State — henceforth, I, I alone, I am your only master. Then, wordlessly, he dismissed them.