1963, August–September: (Cantave’s Invasion and Philogènes’s Head: The Piecemeal Raids on the North, the Scorched-Earth Border Zone, and Duvalier Interrogate…

1963, August–September: (Cantave’s Invasion and Philogènes’s Head: The Piecemeal Raids on the North, the Scorched-Earth Border Zone, and Duvalier Interrogates the Severed Head with Oungan Dodo Nasar): The Barbot insurgency, mounted exclusively by noirs authentiques striking expertly at the regime’s vitals, had imperiled Duvalier to a degree never previously or later attained. The sixteen months following were punctuated by incursions and guerrilla infiltrations. General Cantave, training a force of 210 in the Dominican Republic, launched his invasion during August and September 1963 in a series of piecemeal raids on Fort Liberté, Ouanaminthe, Mont Organisé, and Terrier Rouge — most betrayed in advance, none with enough munitions or staying power to get an insurgency going. Cantave’s last hurrah was a disastrous frontal attack on the barracks at Ouanaminthe on September 22. Among the dead was Captain Blücher Philogènes — on express orders of the president, his head was chopped off with a machete, packed in a fast-melting bucket of ice, and flown to the National Palace, where, with spiritual counsel from oungan Dodo Nasar, Duvalier interrogated the spirit of Philogènes and conversed at length with the head. The coordinator of these oungan and boko was Colonel Gabriel Garnier, often referred to with the bleak sense of humor Haitians have perfected as Ministre des Relations Occultes. An immediate sequel was Duvalier’s decision to create a war zone three miles deep along the border — miliciens expelled peasants, burned their huts, herded off livestock, and thenceforth shot anyone found in this cordon of scorched earth.