Anti-Duvalier protest movement the "Milice de Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale" (Militia of National Security Volunteers). When Duvalier died in 1971, his son, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier took over (confirmed by the 1971 constitutional referendum) and the force continued throughout his regime and maintained the same violent presence. Widespread problems of starvation and unemployment soon grew rampant. On 23 May 1984, citizens in the city of Gonaïves began protests against Duvalier’s government calling it "Operation Déchoukaj," () which consequently led to police officers publicly beating a pregnant woman, who soon died. Activists’ listed grievances under Duvalier’s regime, including general brutality against civilians and
Jean-Claude Colin Jean-Claude Colin The Venerable Jean-Claude Colin, S.M. was a French priest (7 August 1790 – 15 November 1875) who became the founder of the Society of Mary (Marists). When Jean-Claude Colin’s parents married in 1771 his father Jacques was 24 years old, and his mother Marie Gonnet was not yet 14. Jean-Claude, born on 7 August 1790 at the hamlet of Barbery, in the Beaujolais region of central France. He was their eighth child. All told, nine children were born into the family. Claudine, Jean, Mariette, Sébastien, Jeanne-Marie, Pierre, Anne-Marie (who died at birth), Jean-Claude, and Joseph. Jean-Claude’s oldest sister