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Article: Savages. (Haiti)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- April 11, 1986
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1986 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SAVAGES
I WAS GLAD to hear that the Duvalier regime had ended. I know Haiti quite well, having been there three times under Papa Doc. These visits I risked only because I felt safe staying with the family of a diplomat; I went because I am very much interested in human psychology and in witchcraft.
Though Papa Doc, alias Francois Duvalier, had a U.S. medical degree, he worked hand in hand with bokors, the voodoo sorcerers (not to be confused with the hougans, the harmless priests). Talking to Catholic hierarchs and Baptist missionaries, I found that they all believed in the efficacy of sorcery. It is well known that Papa Doc had hurled the Great Curse, ...