Editing François Duvalier (section)

==Presidency==

===Consolidation of power===
After being elected president in 1957, Duvalier exiled most of the major supporters of Déjoie.<ref name="Abbott 1988" />  He had a new constitution adopted that year.<ref name="Haggerty 1991" />

Duvalier promoted and installed members of the black majority in the civil service and the army.<ref name="Bryan 1984"/> In July 1958, three exiled Haitian army officers and five American mercenaries [[Haitian coup attempt, July 1958|landed in Haiti]] and tried to overthrow Duvalier; all were killed.<ref name="Life081558">{{citation |mode=cs1 |date=11 August 1958 |title=A Weird, Fatal Dash into Turbulent Haiti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ylMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 |magazine=Life |publisher=Time |volume=45 |issue=6 |pages=22–23 |issn=0024-3019}}</ref> Although the army and its leaders had quashed the coup attempt, the incident deepened Duvalier's distrust of the army, an important Haitian institution over which he did not have firm control. He replaced the chief-of-staff with a more reliable officer and then proceeded to create his own power base within the army by turning the Presidential Guard into an elite corps aimed at maintaining his power. After this, Duvalier dismissed the entire general staff and replaced it with officers who owed their positions, and their loyalty, to him.{{cn|date=September 2022}} 

In 1959, Duvalier created a rural militia, the ''{{lang|fr|Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale}}'' ({{lang|fr|MVSN}}, {{langx|en|Militia of National Security Volunteers}})—commonly referred to as the {{nowrap|[[Tonton Macoute]]}} after a {{nowrap|Haitian Creole}} [[bogeyman]]—to extend and bolster support for the regime in the countryside. The ''Macoute'', which by 1961 was twice as big as the army, never developed into a real military force but was more than just a [[secret police]].<ref name="Tartter 2001">{{citation |date=2001 |url=https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli00libr/page/464 |editor-last=Metz |editor-first=Helen Chapin |title=Dominican Republic and Haiti |series=Country Studies |others=Research completed December 1999 |edition=3rd |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |isbn=978-0-8444-1044-9 |issn=1057-5294 |lccn=2001023524 |oclc=46321054 |mode=cs1 |last=Tartter |first=Jean |chapter=Haiti: National Security §&nbsp;The Duvalier Era,&nbsp;1957–86 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/dominicanrepubli00metz#page/464 |page=[https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli00libr/page/464 464] |quote=Although referred to as a militia, the VSN in fact became the Duvaliers' front-line security force. As of early 1986, the organization included more than 9,000 members and an informal circle of thousands more. The VSN acted as a political cadre, secret police and instrument of terror. It played a crucial political role for the regime, countering the influence of the armed forces, historically the government's primary source of power. The VSN gained its deadly reputation in part because members received no salary, although they took orders from the Presidential Palace. They made their living, instead, through extortion and petty crime. Rural members of the VSN, who wore blue denim uniforms, had received some training from the army, while the plainclothes members, identified by their trademark dark glasses, served as Haiti's criminal investigation force. }}</ref>

In the early years of his rule, Duvalier was able to take advantage of the strategic weaknesses of his powerful opponents, mostly from the mulatto elite. These weaknesses included their inability to coordinate their actions against the regime, whose power had grown increasingly strong.<ref name="Peschanski 2013">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Peschanski |first=João Alexandre |title=Papa Doc's Feint: the misled opposition and the consolidation of Duvalier's rule in Haiti |journal=Teoria&nbsp;e&nbsp;Pesquisa |volume=22 |issue=2 |date=2013 |pages=1–10 |issn=0104-0103 |doi=10.4322/tp.2013.016  |doi-access=free }}</ref>
In the name of [[nationalism]], Duvalier expelled almost all of Haiti's foreign-born bishops, an act that earned him [[excommunication]] from the Catholic Church.<ref name="Giles"/> In 1966, he persuaded the [[Holy See]] to allow him permission to nominate the Catholic hierarchy for Haiti.<ref>{{citation |mode=cs1 |url=http://www.concordatwatch.eu/topic-39321.834 |title=Haiti: Papa Doc's concordat (1966) |website=Concordat&nbsp;Watch |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150116083031/http://www.concordatwatch.eu/topic-39321.834 |archive-date=16 January 2015 |url-status=live |quote=This concordat let Dr. François Duvalier ('Papa&nbsp;Doc') nominate seven key clerics, thus ensuring their personal loyalty to him. It also stipulates that future appointments should be 'preferentially to members of the indigenous clergy'. Both these measures helped bring the Haitian church under Papa&nbsp;Doc's control.  }}</ref> Duvalier now exercised more power in Haiti than ever.

===Heart attack and Barbot affair===
On 24 May 1959, Duvalier suffered a massive [[heart attack]], possibly due to an [[insulin]] overdose; he had been a [[diabetic]] since early adulthood and also suffered from [[heart disease]] and associated circulatory problems. During the heart attack, he was comatose for {{nowrap|nine hours.<ref name="Abbott 2011"/>{{rp|81–82}}}} His physician believed that he had suffered [[Brain damage|neurological damage]] during these events, harming his mental health and perhaps explaining his subsequent actions.<ref name="Abbott 2011"/>{{rp|82}}

While recovering, Duvalier left power in the hands of [[Clément Barbot]], leader of the {{nowrap|Tonton Macoute}}. Upon his return to work, Duvalier accused Barbot of trying to supplant him as president and had him imprisoned. In April 1963, Barbot was released and began plotting to remove Duvalier from office by kidnapping his children. The plot failed and Duvalier then ordered a nationwide search for Barbot and his fellow conspirators. During the search, Duvalier was told that Barbot had transformed himself into a black dog, which prompted Duvalier to order that all black dogs in Haiti be put to death. The {{nowrap|Tonton Macoute}} captured and killed Barbot in July 1963. In other incidents, Duvalier ordered the head of an executed rebel packed in ice and brought to him so he could commune with the dead man's spirit.<ref name="Lentz 2014">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Lentz |first=Harris M. |title=Heads of States and Governments |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6HKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA357 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, England |isbn=978-1-884964-44-2 |page=357 |chapter=Haiti |ol=14865945W |oclc=870226851 |orig-year=1st pub. 1994 |quote=He once ordered the head of an executed rebel packed in ice and brought to the presidential palace so he could commune with his spirit.}}</ref> Peepholes were carved into the walls of the interrogation chambers, through which Duvalier watched Haitian detainees being tortured and submerged in baths of [[sulfuric acid]]; sometimes, he was in the room during the torture.<ref name="Von Tunzelmann 2011">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Von&nbsp;Tunzelmann |first=Alex |author-link=Alex von Tunzelmann |title=Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nqJCFT30myMC&pg=PT236 |edition=1st |date=2011 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8050-9067-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/redheatconspirac0000vont/page/146 146] |chapter=''Cuba Libre'' §&nbsp;'Our Real Friends' |oclc=648922964 |ol=25022986M |lccn=2010037585 |quote=Peepholes were made in his torture chambers, to allow him to observe discreetly. Sometimes, he was in the room itself, while men and women were beaten, tortured, and plunged into baths of sulfuric acid. |url=https://archive.org/details/redheatconspirac0000vont/page/236 }}</ref>

===Constitutional changes===
[[File:1963haiti duvalier.jpg|thumb|Duvalier and Joel Barromi, Israeli ambassador to Haiti, surrounded by Haitian generals in 1963]]
In 1961, Duvalier began violating the provisions of the 1957 constitution. First, he replaced the bicameral legislature with a unicameral body. Then he called [[1961 Haitian presidential referendum|a new presidential election]] in which he was the sole candidate, though his term was to expire in 1963 and the constitution prohibited re-election. The election was flagrantly rigged; the official tally showed a total of 1,320,748 "yes" votes for another term for Duvalier, with none opposed.<ref name="Haggerty 1991" /> Upon hearing the results, he proclaimed, "I accept the people's will. ... As a revolutionary, I have no right to disregard the will of the {{nowrap|people".<ref name="Abbott 2011"/>{{rp|85}}<ref name="HaitianMedia"/>}} ''[[The New York Times]]'' commented, "Latin America has witnessed many fraudulent elections throughout its history but none has been more outrageous than the one which has just taken place in Haiti".<ref name="Abbott 2011" />{{rp|85}} On 14 June 1964, a [[1964 Haitian constitutional referendum|constitutional referendum]] made Duvalier "{{nowrap|[[President for Life]]}}", a title previously held by seven Haitian presidents; it also changed the flag and coat of arms from blue and red to black and red, with the black symbolising the country's ties to Africa. This referendum was also blatantly rigged; an implausible 99.9% voted in favor, which should have come as no surprise since all the ballots were premarked "yes".<ref name="Abbott 2011" />{{rp|96–97}}<ref name="Haggerty 1991" /> The new document granted Duvalier—or ''{{lang|fr|Le Souverain}}'', as he was called—absolute powers as well as the right to name his successor.

===Foreign relations===
[[File:Duvalier.jpg|thumb|Duvalier greeting David Tercero Castro, ambassador of [[Guatemala]] to Haiti, in 1968]]
====United States====
His relationship with the United States proved difficult. In his early years, Duvalier rebuked the United States for its friendly relations with [[Dominican Republic|Dominican]] dictator [[Rafael Trujillo]] (assassinated in 1961) while ignoring Haiti. The [[Kennedy administration]] (1961–1963) was particularly disturbed by Duvalier's repressive and totalitarian rule and allegations that he misappropriated aid money, at the time a substantial part of the Haitian budget, and a [[U.S. Marine Corps]] mission to train the {{nowrap|Tonton Macoute}}. The U.S. thus halted most of its economic assistance in mid-1962, pending stricter accounting procedures, with which Duvalier refused to comply. Duvalier publicly renounced all aid from Washington on nationalist grounds, portraying himself as a "principled and lonely opponent of domination by a {{nowrap|great power".<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/>{{rp|234}}}}

Duvalier misappropriated millions of dollars of international aid, including US$15&nbsp;million annually from the United States.<ref name="Shaw 2005">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Shaw |first=Karl |trans-title=Power Mad! |title=Šílenství mocných |date=2005 |publisher=Metafora |location=Prague |language=cs |isbn=978-80-7359-002-4 |oclc=85144913}}</ref>{{rp|50–51}} He transferred this money to personal accounts. Another of Duvalier's methods of obtaining foreign money was to gain foreign loans, including US$4&nbsp;million from {{nowrap|Cuban dictator [[Fulgencio Batista]].<ref name="Shaw 2005"/>{{rp|47–48}}}}

After the [[assassination of John F. Kennedy]] in November 1963, which Duvalier later claimed resulted from a curse that he had placed on Kennedy,<ref name="Murray 2008">{{cite journal |last=Murray |first=Rolland |date=2008 |title=Black Crisis Shuffle: Fiction, Race, and Simulation |journal=African American Review |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=215–233 |jstor=40301207 |quote=Haitian president François "Papa&nbsp;Doc" Duvalier infamously claimed that his [Vodou] curse on John&nbsp;F. Kennedy brought about the President's 1963 assassination.}}</ref> the U.S. eased its pressure on Duvalier, grudgingly accepting him as a bulwark against [[communism]].<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/><ref name="Smucker 1991">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Smucker |first=Glenn R. |title=Dominican Republic and Haiti |edition=2nd |series=Country Studies |date=1991 |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-8444-0728-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli0000hagg/page/346 346–349] |chapter=Haiti: Government and Politics §&nbsp;Foreign Relations |editor-last=Haggerty |editor-first=Richard A. |issn=1057-5294 |url=https://archive.org/details/dominicanrepubli0000hagg/page/346 |lccn=91-9495 |oclc=23179347 |ol=1531915M |chapter-url=http://dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a242550.pdf#page=401 |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress  }}</ref> Duvalier attempted to exploit tensions between the U.S. and [[Cuba]], emphasizing his [[anti-communist]] credentials and Haiti's strategic location as a means of winning U.S. support:
{{quote|Communism has established centres of infection ... No area in the world is as vital to American security as the Caribbean ... We need a massive injection of money to reset the country on its feet, and this injection can come only from our great, capable friend and neighbor the United States.<ref name="Abbott 1988">{{citation |mode=cs1 |title=Haiti: The Duvaliers and Their Legacy |date=1988 |last=Abbott |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Abbott |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-07-046029-4 |lccn=88016918 |oclc=18069022 |ol=2040347M |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/haitiduvaliersth00abbo }}</ref>{{rp|101}}}}
====Cuba====
After Fulgencio Batista (a friend of Duvalier)<ref name="Abbott 1988"/>{{rp|92}} was overthrown in the [[Cuban Revolution]], Duvalier worried that new Cuban leader [[Fidel Castro]] would provide a safe haven for Haitian dissidents.

Duvalier enraged Castro by voting against the country in an [[Organization of American States]]&nbsp;(OAS) meeting and subsequently at the [[United Nations]], where a trade embargo was imposed on Cuba. Cuba answered by breaking off diplomatic relations and Duvalier subsequently instituted a campaign to rid Haiti of communists.<ref name="Štraus">{{citation |mode=cs1 |title=Biographies: François Duvalier (1907–1971) |last=Štraus |first=Stane |website=PolymerNotes.org |url=http://www.polymernotes.org/biographies/HTI_bio_duvalier.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711133408/http://www.polymernotes.org/biographies/HTI_bio_duvalier.htm |archive-date=11 July 2015 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> This move severed [[Cuba-Haiti relations|Haitian relations with Cuba]] for 38 years until the two countries re-established relations in 1997.
====Dominican Republic====
Duvalier's relationship with the neighboring [[Dominican Republic]] was always tense: in his early years, Duvalier emphasized the differences between the two countries. In April 1963, relations were brought to the edge of war by the political enmity between Duvalier and Dominican president [[Juan Bosch (politician)|Juan Bosch]]. Bosch, a leftist, provided asylum and support to Haitian exiles who had plotted against the Duvalier regime. Duvalier ordered his Presidential Guard to occupy the Dominican Embassy in [[Pétion-Ville]], with the goal of arresting a Haitian army officer believed to have been involved in Barbot's plot to kidnap Duvalier's children. The Dominican president reacted with outrage, publicly threatened to invade Haiti, and ordered army units to the border. However, as Dominican military commanders expressed little support for an invasion of Haiti, Bosch refrained from the invasion and sought mediation through {{nowrap|the [[Organization of American States|{{abbr|OAS|Organization of American States}}]].<ref name="Greene 2001"/>{{rp|289}}}}
====Ethiopia====
In 1966, Duvalier hosted the [[Emperor of Ethiopia]], [[Haile Selassie&nbsp;I]], in what would be the only visit of a foreign head of state to Haiti under Duvalier.<ref name="Abbott 1988"/>{{rp|139}} During the visit, the two discussed bilateral agreements between their two nations and the economic shortcomings brought about by international pressure. Duvalier awarded Haile Selassie the Necklace of the Order of Jean-Jacques Dessalines the Great, and the emperor, in turn, bestowed upon Duvalier the Great Necklace of the [[Order of the Queen of Sheba]].<ref name="Abbott 1988"/>{{rp|139}}
====Nigeria and Biafra====
During the [[Nigerian Civil War]], Duvalier granted diplomatic recognition to [[Biafra]] during its war against [[Nigeria]], making Haiti one of few countries that recognized Biafra. Duvalier's decision to recognize Biafra was influenced by his anti-communist foreign policy and by Haiti's historical connection to the [[Igbo people]], the predominant ethnic group of Biafra.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dobronravin |first1=Nikolay |title=The Comintern, "Negro Self-Determination" and Black Revolutions in the Caribbean |journal=Interfaces Brasil/Canadá |date=28 September 2020 |volume=20 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.15210/interfaces.v20i0.19464}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Jeffrey E. |title=The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion |date=2015 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=9781610692083}}</ref>

===Internal policies===

====Repression====
[[File:Francois Duvalier.ogv|thumb|1971 newsreel film about Duvalier's rule]]
Duvalier's government was one of the most repressive in the Western Hemisphere.<ref name="Inskeep 2014">{{citation |mode=cs1 |title=Duvalier's Death Causes Mixed Reactions {{not a typo|In}} Miami's Little Haiti |last1=Inskeep |first1=Steve |author-link=Steve Inskeep |last2=Green |first2=Nadege |author-link2=Nadege Green |date=6 October 2014 |work=Morning Edition |publisher=NPR |location=Washington, D.C. |url=https://www.npr.org/2014/10/06/354001628/duvalier-s-death-brings-mixed-reaction-in-miami-s-little-haiti |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141130135355/http://www.npr.org/2014/10/06/354001628/duvalier-s-death-brings-mixed-reaction-in-miami-s-little-haiti |archive-date=30 November 2014 |url-status=live |quote=People with ties to Haiti are remembering one of that country's former dictators. Jean‑Claude 'Baby&nbsp;Doc' Duvalier died over the weekend. The old saying goes, speak nothing but good of the dead, but that is hard for [[Patrick Gaspard]] to do. He's a U.S. diplomat and a Haitian‑American. And after Duvalier's death, he tweeted, I'm thinking of the look in my mother's eyes when she talks about her brother Joel, who was disappeared by that dictator. Duvalier and his father before him ran one of the most repressive regimes in the western hemisphere.}}</ref> During his 14-year rule, he murdered and exiled numerous political opponents; estimates of those killed are as high as 60,000.<ref name="Greene 2001"/> Attacks on Duvalier from within the military were treated as especially serious. When bombs were detonated near the Presidential Palace in 1967, Duvalier had nineteen officers of the Presidential Guard executed in [[Fort Dimanche]].<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/>{{rp|357}} A few days later, Duvalier gave a public speech during which he read the attendance sheet with the names of all 19 officers killed. After each name, he said "absent". After reading the whole list, Duvalier remarked that "all were shot".<ref name="Shaw 2005"/>{{rp|10–11}}
Haitian communists and even suspected communists bore the brunt of the government's repression.<ref name="Abbott 1988"/>{{rp|148}} Duvalier targeted them to reassure the U.S. that he was not communist: Duvalier was exposed to communist and leftist ideas early in his life and rejected them.<ref name="Abbott 1988"/>{{rp|147–148}} On 28 April 1969, Duvalier instituted a campaign to rid Haiti of all communists. A new law declared that "Communist activities, no matter what their form, are hereby declared crimes against the security of the State." Those convicted of Communist activity were subject to execution, and faced having their property confiscated.<ref>{{citation |mode=cs1 |url=https://cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Haiti79eng/chap.4.htm |title=Report on the situation of human rights in Haiti |date=1979 |website=Inter-American Commission on Human Rights |publisher=Organization of American States |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321010735/http://cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Haiti79eng/chap.4.htm |archive-date=21 March 2012 |url-status=live |isbn=978-0-8270-1094-9 |oclc=8344995 |quote=Current Haitian legislation contains a number of legal provisions that place considerable restrictions on the freedom of speech. The most important of these is the law of 28&nbsp;April&nbsp;1969:<br/>Article&nbsp;1. Communist activities, no matter what their form, are hereby declared crimes against the security of the State ... The authors of an<!--and?--> accomplices in crimes listed above shall receive the death penalty, and their goods and chattels shall be confiscated and sold for the benefit of the State }}</ref>

====Social and economic policies====
Duvalier employed intimidation, repression, and patronage to supplant the old mulatto elites with a new elite of his own making. Corruption—in the form of government rake-offs of industries, bribery, extortion of domestic businesses, and stolen government funds—enriched the dictator's closest supporters. Most of them held sufficient power to intimidate the members of the old elite, who were gradually co-opted or eliminated.<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/>

Many educated professionals fled Haiti for [[New York City]], [[Miami]], [[Montreal]], [[Paris]] and several French-speaking African countries, exacerbating an already serious lack of doctors and teachers. Some of the highly skilled professionals joined the ranks of several {{abbr|UN|United Nations}} agencies to work in development in newly independent nations such as [[Ivory&nbsp;Coast]] and the [[Republic of the Congo|Congo]].{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

The government confiscated peasant landholdings and allotted them to members of the militia,<ref name="Giles"/> who had no official salary and made their living through [[Crime in Haiti|crime]] and {{nowrap|[[extortion]].<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/>{{rp|464}}}} The dispossessed fled to the slums of the capital where they would find only meager incomes to feed themselves. [[Malnutrition]] and famine became endemic.<ref name="Giles"/>

Nonetheless, Duvalier enjoyed significant support among Haiti's majority black rural population, who saw in him a champion of their claims against the historically dominant mulatto elite. During his 14 years in power, he created a substantial black middle class, chiefly through government patronage.<ref name="Haggerty 1991"/>{{rp|330}} Duvalier also initiated the development of {{nowrap|François Duvalier Airport}}, now known as [[Toussaint&nbsp;Louverture International Airport]].

====Personality cult and ''Vodou''====
Duvalier fostered his [[cult of personality]] and claimed that he was the physical embodiment of the island nation. He also revived the traditions of ''[[Haitian Vodou|Vodou]]'', later using them to consolidate his power with his claim of being a ''Vodou'' priest himself. In an effort to make himself even more imposing, Duvalier deliberately modeled his image on that of [[Baron Samedi]], one of the ''[[loa|lwa]]'', or spirits, of Haitian Vodou. He often donned sunglasses in order to hide his eyes and talked with the strong nasal tone associated with the ''lwa''. The regime's propaganda stated that "Papa Doc was one with the ''lwa'', [[Jesus|Jesus Christ]] and [[God]] himself".<ref name="Giles" /> The most celebrated image from the time shows a standing Jesus Christ with a hand on the shoulder of a seated Papa Doc, captioned, "I have chosen him".<ref name="Nicholls 1996">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Nicholls |first=David |author-link=David Nicholls (theologian) |title=From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Colour, and National Independence in Haiti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hRQn8Pc3K08C&pg=PR16 |edition=Revised |date=1996 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-8135-2240-1 |pages=xvi |orig-year=1st pub. 1979 |lccn=95-8893 |oclc=32396546 |ol=8025482M |quote=Thousands of posters appeared as the Péligre dam was about to be opened proclaiming that 'Duvalier alone is able to harness the energy of Péligre and give it to his people'. Others had Jesus with his hand on Duvalier proclaiming 'I have chosen him'.}}</ref> Duvalier declared himself an "immaterial being" as well as "the Haitian flag" soon after his first election.<ref name="Kofele-Kale 2013">{{citation |mode=cs1 |last=Kofele-Kale |first=Ndiva |title=The International Law of Responsibility for Economic Crimes |edition=2nd |date=2006 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |location=Aldershot, England |isbn=978-1-4094-9609-0 |page=261 |chapter=The Cult of State Sovereignty |lccn=2006006433 |oclc=64289359 |ol=7991049M |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q4gonlG_enoC&pg=PA261 |quote=Not satisfied with being the Haitian flag,&nbsp;... Duvalier also declared himself 'an immaterial being' shortly after he became 'President-for-Life', and issued a ''{{lang|fr|Catechisme de la Révolution}}'' to the faithful containing the following version of the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Doc, who art in the National Palace for Life, hallowed be Thy name by present and future generations. Thy will be done in {{nowrap|Port-au-Prince}} as it is in the provinces. Give us this day our new Haiti and forgive not the trespasses of those antipatriots who daily spit on our country; lead them into temptation, and, poisoned by their own venom, deliver them from no evil&nbsp;...'}}</ref> In 1964, he published a [[catechism]] in which the [[Lord's Prayer]] was heavily reworded to praise Duvalier instead of God.<ref name="Kofele-Kale 2013" /><ref name="Fourcand 1964">{{citation |mode=cs1 |url=http://s3.amazonaws.com/fightimpunity/text_langs/txts/000/000/018/original/Cat%C3%A9chisme_de_la_r%C3%A9volution_duvali%C3%A9riste.pdf#page=28 |title=Catechisme de la révolution |last=Fourcand |first=Jean M. |date=1964 |publisher={{lang|fr|Edition imprimerie de l'état}} |location=Port‑au‑Prince |page=37 |language=fr |trans-title=Catechism of the Revolution |format=PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927025732/http://s3.amazonaws.com/fightimpunity/text_langs/txts/000/000/018/original/Cat%C3%A9chisme_de_la_r%C3%A9volution_duvali%C3%A9riste.pdf#page=28 |archive-date=27 September 2015 |url-status=live |quote=Notre Doc qui êtes au Palais National pour la Vie, que Votre nom soit béni par les générations présentes et futures, que Votre Volonté soit faite à Port‑au‑Prince et en Province. Donnez‑nous aujourd'hui notre nouvelle Haïti, ne pardonnez jamais les offenses des apatrides qui bavent chaque jour sur notre Patrie, laissez‑les succomber à la tentation et sous le poids de leurs baves malfaisantes: ne les délivrez d'aucun mal. Amen.  }}</ref>

Duvalier also held in his closet the head of former opponent Blucher Philogenes, who tried to overthrow him in 1963.<ref name="Shaw 2005"/>{{rp|132}} He believed another political enemy, Clément Barbot, was able to [[shapeshifting|change at will]] into a black dog and had the militia begin killing black dogs on sight in the capital.<ref>{{citation |mode=cs1 |date=26 July 1963 |title=Haiti: The Living Dead |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870257,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927045000/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870257,00.html |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead |magazine=Time |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=20–21  }}</ref>