''Dechoukaj'' is a
Kreyòl term that literally means "uprooting". It is used primarily to refer to the political upheaval in
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
following the exile of dictator
Jean-Claude Duvalier
Jean-Claude Duvalier (; 3 July 19514 October 2014), nicknamed "Baby Doc" ( ht, Bebe Dòk), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in February 1986. He succeeded his father F ...
on February 7, 1986. During the ''dechoukaj'' many ordinary Haitian peasants and city dwellers exacted
revenge
Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...
on their oppressors, including members of the ''
Tonton Macoute
The Tonton Macoute ( ht, Tonton Makout) or simply the Macoute was a special operations unit within the Haitian paramilitary force created in 1959 by dictator François "Papa Doc" Duvalier. In 1970 the militia was renamed the ' (VSN, Voluntee ...
s''.
[Zephir (2004), p. 52.] The ''dechoukaj'' especially affected the institution of the Haitian
Vodou religion, whose principals and traditions had been strongly and directly tied to the dictators and used to exert control over the population.
[Taylor (2001), pp. 110, 122.]
See also
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History of Haiti
The recorded history of Haiti began in 1492, when the European navigator Christopher Columbus landed on a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. The western portion of the island of ...
Notes
References
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History of Haiti
Politics of Haiti
Human rights in Haiti
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