1963, April 30 – May 15: (I Am Even Now an Immaterial Being: Duvalier’s Speech to the OAS, the May 15 Crisis, Kennedy’s Fiasco, and the Choucoune That Replac…

1963, April 30 – May 15: (I Am Even Now an Immaterial Being: Duvalier’s Speech to the OAS, the May 15 Crisis, Kennedy’s Fiasco, and the Choucoune That Replaced the Roadblocks): Duvalier’s speech to the OAS delegation on the balcony above 150,000 kleren-soaked peasants reached its climax: it is only once every forty years a man is discovered capable of embodying an ideal — I am the personification of Haiti, those who seek to destroy Duvalier seek to destroy our fatherland, I have accepted power and I shall keep it forever. Bullets and machine guns capable of daunting Duvalier do not exist — I take no orders from anyone, no foreigner shall tell me what to do, I am here only to continue the traditions of Toussaint Louverture and of Dessalines — I am even now an immaterial being. Then, as the sacred drums hammered, Duvalier related hearing for the first time cries of Président-à-vie, Président pour toujours — and replied: Moi, je suis prêt. The OAS went away sorrowing with 103 persons in embassy refuge and estimates of 2,000 hostages. As May 15 approached — the constitutional expiration of his term — Washington issued instructions: if Duvalier departed in Fourcand’s Götterdämmerung, the Marines offshore would go in to protect foreigners and install a gouvernement provisoire. But Washington’s calculus left out one major eventuality — that Duvalier might abruptly tune down the terror and stay put. On May 15, Radio-Commerce played Tchaikovsky and Massenet interspersed with Choucoune; the roadblocks mysteriously vanished; and at two in the afternoon Duvalier held a press conference in the Salon Jaune, where fresh pink roses had been placed on every table and the motif on the chandeliers was cobwebs. Haiti will continue under my administration, he said — it was all an Aesop’s Fable. Kennedy ruefully asked Ambassador Martin: wouldn’t it have been better if we’d let Bosch go? On June 3, the amphibious task force withdrew from the Gulf of La Gonâve, sailing north in the wake of Admiral Gherardi.