1976, November – 1977, early: (Carter Wins and the Satellite Dishes of Pétionville: Luc Nérée Writes His Co-Religionist, Carter Writes Back Offering to Preac…

1976, November – 1977, early: (Carter Wins and the Satellite Dishes of Pétionville: Luc Nérée Writes His Co-Religionist, Carter Writes Back Offering to Preach, 100 Arrested in December and 90 Released in January, Andrew Young’s Nomination Alarms Port-au-Prince, Amnesty International Does Its Sums, and Nicole Duvalier Marries the Léopards Commander While St. Louis Tries a Wanga on Gracia Jacques): The Port-au-Prince amnesty seemed not to sway the American electorate one whit, and euphoria over early Republican victories turned to consternation as Democrats chalked up successive wins. By 1976, every nuance of U.S. electoral politics was trapped from space by satellite dishes sprouting in Pétionville’s more prosperous neighborhoods, so Haiti’s haves realized immediately that the Democratic outsider who won the presidency seemed to threaten the U.S.-Haitian entente that had endured since Papa Doc ordered champagne on November 22, 1963. Not all the satellite dishes were in the posher sections of town: shortly after Carter’s election, a Baptist preacher, Luc Nérée, took it upon himself to write his co-religionist and president-elect about human rights problems in Haiti. Carter promptly wrote back pledging support and offering to preach in Nérée’s church — the correspondence quickly became known, and putting on its kanson fè, the government arrested more than 100 people in the capital as the year ended. Andrew Young’s nomination as UN ambassador elicited pronounced distaste in Port-au-Prince. Mindful of the prevailing winds, the regime that had arrested one hundred in December announced the release of ninety in January — again to no avail. Amnesty International, piercing the veil of secrecy, had been doing its sums with a mathematical exactitude unseen in Haiti since the days of Bank Williams, announcing that the majority of prisoners released were non-political and that few of those on the list had actually been seen free anywhere. The Duvalier family circled its wagons, judging the time appropriate to bid Marie-Denise rejoin the inner circle — though despite her pleas, the time never seemed right to invite Max Dominique home; once, at the beginning of 1978, he was so confident of returning that he actually had his car shipped back from the U.S. To bolster support among the up-and-coming generation of army officers, Simone Duvalier orchestrated the marriage of Nicole Duvalier to Acedius St.-Louis, commander of the Léopards, in a match reminiscent of the Dominiques a decade earlier. St. Louis’s ascent in the army was blocked, however, by Gracia Jacques, that most venerable of Duvalierist dinosaurs and commander of the presidential guard — rumor had it around Port-au-Prince that St. Louis sought to remove the last obstacle to his promotion by having a wanga placed on Jacques, himself a noted boko, and on several mornings Jacques arrived at his office to find various traces of black magic.