Human rights in Haiti Haiti". "They were loyal only to Papa Doc. In return, they could rob, steal, extort, torture and murder at will." The Tonton Macoute continued to openly terrorize the population until they were officially disbanded after Jean-Claude Duvalier was forced from the presidency and went into exile in 1986. The government in Haiti is known for running a slow, inefficient and corrupt system of justice. Allegations of torture and kidnapping are common whereas the number of Haitian citizens imprisoned without trial is huge. Lawyers' immunity is under constant threat. Under the Duvalier regime, lawyers were intimidated from defending their clients through
François Duvalier was one of the most repressive in the hemisphere. Within the country he murdered and exiled his opponents; estimates of those killed are as high as 60,000. 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. A few days later Duvalier had a public speech during which he read the attendance sheet with names of all 19 officers killed. After each name, he said "absent". After reading the whole list, Duvalier remarked that "all were