That summer he had Barbot murdered; he was sent to prison after but on his release he attempted an insurrection. The people tried to overthrow him but were unsuccessful. April of 1964 he declared himself president for life. This man was able to stay in power longer than any of the other presidents, even though his administration of terror quelled political dissent that caused approximately 30,000 deaths.
Jean-Claude Duvalier succeeded his father as president for life on April 1971, at the age of 19 becoming one of the youngest president in the world. During his presidency there was no change in policy, no political opposition was tolerated, and the officials and judges were under rule of Jean-Claude. Under Duvalier, Haiti continued as a semi …show more content…
This army also cleared the streets usually by robbing and killing the people at random times, thus having the people of Haiti living in constant fear, that is until Jean-Bertrand Aristide basically rebelled against Duvalier. Duvalier and the military governments felt threatened by Aristide because at the time he was a priest and was such a charismatic man. His kind heart was very apparent to the hundreds of people that crowded his church services. This man was being heard across the country and because of this his followers growing in thousands. As time passed by, his sermons became more radical; he made the people want to fight for their rights, although he didn’t condone violence for change at the same time he didn’t discourage it either. The military rulers demanded that the church stop Aristide from rousing up the Haitians, but the church leaders failed as a result led to the Tontons to step in. The Tontons threatened his life, attacked his church and even burned down the church. Aristide was expelled from the Salesian Order and was ordered to leave the country. The Haitian people heard this and were even more loyal to Aristide; they believed that he was a true holy man, a man that could lead them out of misery. When they heard that Aristide was going to be transferred, tens of thousands of Haitians went into the streets