1986, March – April 26: (The CNG Draws First Blood: The Taptap Driver Who Dared Pass an Army Captain, Five Civilians Killed by Léopards in Martissant, Gourgu…

1986, March – April 26: (The CNG Draws First Blood: The Taptap Driver Who Dared Pass an Army Captain, Five Civilians Killed by Léopards in Martissant, Gourgue Resigns in Protest, Avril Keeps Chief of Staff While Leaving the CNG, the Fort Dimanche Memorial March, Aristide’s Live Commentary on Radio Soleil as Commandant Pognon’s Machine Guns Open Fire, Six Dead and Fifty Wounded, Regala Says People Didn’t Behave Properly, and Manigat Returns from a Quarter Century in Exile to Find the Press at Fort Dimanche): In the volatile climate everyone was edgy. In Martissant, a taptap driver overtook and passed an army captain’s staff car — an act unthinkable under the old regime; reverting to form, the captain promptly arrested the man, causing protests by large crowds. The Léopards, called in to restore order, fired for effect and within minutes five civilians were dead. It had taken the CNG only six weeks to draw its first blood. Gourgue resigned to protest the killings and the blind eye being turned to escaping TTMs; the CNG used the opportunity for housekeeping, also receiving the resignations of Cinéas and Avril — though Avril kept the all-important job of Chief of Staff. The three remaining council members were all military. On April 26, a crowd of several hundred marched peacefully to Fort Dimanche after attending a memorial mass for political prisoners who had died during the Duvalier years. As the crowd approached the mustard-yellow barracks, one of the march organizers — the young parish priest of St.-Jean-Bosco, Jean-Bertrand Aristide — offered live commentary on Radio Soleil. Unbeknownst to the crowd, Fort Dimanche commandant Pognon had mounted machine guns on the roof. When the crowd got within range, he and his men fired — the first casualty was a high-tension electric wire overhead which, cleaved by a bullet, fell to earth and electrocuted several marchers, while the bullets were by now directly claiming others. Aristide, his mike still open, provided running commentary to a country riveted in horror. Six lay dead and fifty wounded. Interior Minister Regala, sounding for all the world like a member of the government he had overthrown, opined that this sort of thing happened when people demonstrated and didn’t behave properly. That same day, after a quarter century in exile, Professor Leslie Manigat returned to his native land as an announced presidential candidate — puzzled that no members of the press greeted him at the airport, he didn’t realize they were all at Fort Dimanche where he had once been incarcerated. Port-au-Prince was meanwhile flocking to see The Comedians, never before shown in Haiti; Aubelin Jolicoeur explained to reporters that he, like Petit Pierre on screen, had not been killed by the Duvaliers because he was too famous.