What happened in the 1987 Haitian election tragedy?

On November 29, 1987, Haiti held its first national election to end the 28-year dictatorship of the Duvalier family of former President. At 6 a.m., thousands of voters lined up in front of the polling station in the capital, Port-au-Prince, waiting to cast their votes. At this moment, nearly a hundred armed men in plain clothes and black cloth masks rushed towards them in several cars and fired at them wildly with machine guns. Suddenly, some voters fell in a pool of blood.

November 29, 1987, is the day that 6.3 million Haitian people have been waiting for. On this day, the Haitian people will hold a national election. This is the first national election held after the end of the 28-year dictatorship of the Duvalier family of former Haitian President. The excitement and ecstasy of the Haitian people is beyond words. They have been waiting and fighting for the day of democracy for 30 years!

When the dawn of the election day came, bloody attacks also came to the Haitian people on this day. This is also the case for all countries. Observers of international issues had not expected. At that time, people discovered that there were at least six unmarked cars filled with killers, arrogantly cruising the city, as if monitoring people's every move. Wherever the car arrived, an atmosphere of terror enveloped the area. In the Cathedral of Sacré Co, thugs broke into the church where morning services were being held, interrupting people's devout prayers. They rushed up, broke the altar, and hit two women who were praying with gun butts. On the road outside the church, a young father was leading his child to the church excitedly. What greeted him was not the loving gaze of the bishop, but a burst of cold bullets, and he fell without a groan. Astute foreign reporters immediately discovered that it was a car with a wine logo that fired bullets at pedestrians.

A 19-year-old Haitian woman who was frightened almost crazy by the massacre confirmed to a reporter from the San Francisco Examiner magazine that on the eve of the election, a slum in the southern suburbs of the capital, Port-au-Prince, was attacked by many victims. They were surrounded by uniformed soldiers who shot at them and stabbed them with bayonets. All 46 of her companions were killed, leaving only her and two other companions to escape. However, South Africa's current military government refused to answer this testimony. To this end, the Haitian Black Human Rights Commission strongly urges Amnesty International to conduct an in-depth investigation. Only then did the South African military government agree that it would organize a commission of inquiry to investigate the riots that occurred during the election.

The most brutal thing was the massacre that took place at the "Argentine National High School" in the business district of Port-au-Prince. At 6 a.m. on November 29, 6,000 polling stations across Haiti opened, and the polling station at the "Argentine National High School" also opened as scheduled. At this time, an assassin team composed of 50 thugs seemed to descend from the sky in front of 100 Haitians waiting to vote. They fired wildly at unarmed Haitians with automatic weapons and brutally knocked down some who tried to flee the dangerous scene one by one. One woman hid under an almond tree on the campus playground, but she was not spared. Another voter fled to a small alley near the campus, but was also chased and beheaded by the thugs. According to statistics, at least 17 people - or more - were killed in this attack in the "Argentine National High School" alone. Joan Bernard Diedrich, a photographer for Time magazine in the United States, came to the scene afterwards: "We really couldn't tell who the people who were killed were, they were all beaten to pieces."

This One day, the mob also took control of the most effective propaganda machine in the country, the radio station. Many radio stations were forced to close, including independent radio stations, Roman Catholic radio stations and other nationally famous radio stations. Only Capital Radio was spared. The thugs threatened these radio stations not to broadcast news about the election tragedy and ordered them to play music. The sorrowful cries of the painful Haitian people and the soft music on the radio were intertwined to form the most tear-jerking scene in the world!

In this massacre, journalists also became thugs The target of the attack. When a photojournalist from the Dominican Republic and state television filmed the violent shootings of rioters, the rioters immediately fired a hail of bullets at him, and the photographer died immediately. According to statistics, about eight foreign journalists (including those from the United States, Britain, Switzerland and other countries) were injured.

November 29th, this is a Sunday. It has since become known to Haitians as "Bloody Sunday."

Faced with this situation, 3 hours after voting began, Haiti's Provisional Electoral Commission was forced to issue a communique announcing the suspension of the election. The communiqué asked voters to stay at home to avoid the "barbaric massacre" by the Duvalier elements and to preserve "the weapon of democracy - the vote."

The sound of gunfire stopped. The kind-hearted Haitian people would never believe that such a barbaric bloody scene would occur on election day. Life finally returned slowly and hesitantly to the streets of Haiti. Many terrified Haitians still spend every night under their beds in fear of the rude knocks on their doors in the middle of the night. The uneasy businessmen also opened their store doors a crack to peek into the tragic scenes on the street. From their hiding places, some election officials had to burn their campaign speech books. Christmas is approaching, and "Tonton Macut" (the Duvalier-era secret police) has become synonymous with monsters that come to homes and take away naughty children in their backpacks, which mothers often hang. Coaxing the child in her arms to sleep restlessly by her lips.

People cannot conceal the tragedy that occurred on election day and the mental shock they suffered. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, hundreds of Haitians packed their simple luggage and fled to the countryside. In front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, the usually crowded scenes of people worshiping devoutly were gone, replaced by beggars sitting on the steps. It seemed as if Catholic Haitians were being punished by God for losing sincerity in their prayers.

Is this the "retribution from heaven" that the Haitian people will receive for their struggle for democracy? Is this the "damned" outcome of fighting for democracy, freedom, and justice?

When the dazed Haitians looked back at the horrific massacre on Bloody Sunday, they were once again immersed in shock and despair, fear and anger. In the 22 months since the Du family was ousted, 6.3 million Haitians yearn for a better future. This country was once ruled by the corruption and atrocities of the "Du Family Dynasty" for 28 years! The massacre on November 29 finally made the Haitian people wake up. They understood that the provisional military government established after driving away the dictatorship of the Du family The so-called gradual transition of Haiti from the transitional period to democratic governance actually betrayed the Haitian people's good wishes for democracy and protected the interests of the military. As a result, the people no longer "keep themselves in peace" as before. They began to become disobedient to the government's orders, and domestic armed riots continued one after another. Haiti is in chaos. "Judging from the current situation, the struggle will continue until we finally find our way out." Reville Alain Rocott, a government official who participated in the election, said. He tried his best to support democratic proposals, and his words were indeed representative: "In the struggle, we shed so much blood and sacrificed so many people. We are ready and determined to fight to the end."

The Du family dictatorship ruled Haiti for 30 years. They did their best to plunder the people's wealth. Their stance was selfish, narrow-minded, and despicable. Their various despicable methods of exploitation made Haiti, a once prosperous agricultural country, devastated and reduced to a state of devastation. The poorest and most backward country in the Western Hemisphere. The Haitian people, who have been oppressed by long-term atrocities, yearn for the day when real democracy will come. And in the early morning of November 29, 3 million voters came to the polling stations early, holding tightly in their hands the ballot that entrusted all their hopes. However, they Unexpectedly, the thugs' guns were pointed at their hearts. Until their innocent souls floated to heaven, they still held the blood-soaked ballot in their hands.

The real cause of this massacre was that those allied with Duvalier used violence to obstruct the election and the restoration of democracy, and the military's appeasement attitude also intentionally or unintentionally encouraged the mob's arrogance. It can be seen that the prospects for restoring democracy in Haiti are bleak. Fortunately, the voters' determination when the tragedy occurred showed the Haitian people's strong yearning for democracy and freedom.