Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Haiti: Historical Setting
ment. Even so, Duvalier continued to receive funds secretly.
After Kennedy's death, Duvalier again received aid openly. In
return, he remained outside the communist camp and voted
with the United States to expel Cuba from the Organization of
American States (OAS).
In April 1963, when an army officer suspected of trying to
kidnap two of Duvalier's children took refuge in the Dominican
chancery, Duvalier ordered the Presidential Guard to
occupy the building. The Dominicans were incensed; President
Juan Bosch Gaviho ordered troops to the border and threatened
to invade. However, the Dominican commanders were
reluctant to enter Haiti, and Bosch was obliged to turn to the
OAS to settle the matter.
After the government, the military and the Roman Catholic
Church were the two most powerful institutions in Haiti, and
President Duvalier sought to weaken both. Although he was
less violent with the church, he employed similar techniques
with both institutions. Duvalier co-opted clergy, arrested those
who opposed him, exiled several bishops, a papal nuncio, and
numerous clergy, and confiscated church property. Despite
such actions, on October 25, 1966, he succeeded in having the
Vatican sign an accord that allowed him to nationalize the
church, effectively putting himself at the head of the church in
Haiti. The most significant change in the concordat was that
the president was given the power to name archbishops and
bishops, with the approval of the Holy See. Duvalier nominated
five bishops, four of whom, including the archbishop, were
black. According to the president, the new church would promote
Haitian unity. The church would no longer be a white,
largely French, institution with foreign loyalties. For the
remainder of his presidency, Duvalier continued to control the
church and expel those, such as the Holy Ghost Fathers, whom
he accused of being antigovernment. With regard to the army,
Duvalier exiled or eliminated officers who opposed him, closed
the Military Academy because he considered it a potential
source of opposition, and expelled the United States mission in
1963, fearing its influence (see The Duvalier Era, 1957-86, ch.
10).
The social and economic liabilities of the Francois Duvalier
government far outweighed its marginal benefits. The attrition
of the population through exile and murder was a terrible blow
to the country's economic and political development and to its
image in the world. Religious and racial tensions increased as a
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