Istwa Nou

In June 1964 twenty five men trained across the border came ashore east of Saltrou under Captain Fred Baptiste. They fought in the pine forest and on Morne la Selle for weeks, ambushing the units sent after them, then withdrew to the Dominican Republic because the peasants around them were too hungry to feed anyone and their weapons never arrived. On 5 August thirteen young men of Jeune Haiti landed at Cap Dame-Marie. Most came from Jeremie and from families the regime called mulatto. Their leader, Gusle Villedrouin, was twenty four and the son of an officer Duvalier had killed the year before. They marched more than two hundred miles along the spine of the southern peninsula, fought at least ten engagements, brought down an aircraft and walked through a hurricane. On 26 October the last three died at Ravine Roche near l'Asile, throwing stones once the ammunition was gone. Their heads were carried to the palace and photographed for the newspapers. Duvalier then turned the militia loose on Jeremie. The Villedrouin, Drouin, Guilbaud, Laforest and Sansaricq families were marched through their own town and shot. At least a hundred people died. The government called it nationalisation.