Madame Max Adolphe

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Madame Adolphe
Born
Rosalie Bosquet

10 September 1925[1]
Mirebalais, Haiti
DisappearedFebruary, 1986 (aged 60)
StatusMissing for 38 years, 2 months and 23 days
NationalityHaitian

Madame Max Adolphe (née Rosalie Bosquet, also known as Max Rosalie Auguste) (Mirebalais, Haiti, September 10, 1925)[1][2] was the right hand woman of former Haitian president François Duvalier, who used the nickname "Papa Doc". In 1961 she and Aviole Paul-Blanc were elected to Parliament, becoming the first female MPs in Haiti.[3]

Biography[edit]

Adolphe, then known as Rosalie Bosquet, came to the attention of Duvalier during an attempt on his life. While she was a low ranking officer in the Tonton Macoute, her courage impressed the president so much that he promoted her to the position of warden at Fort Dimanche. At the prison, Adolphe continued her strong support of the government and was known for her violent interrogations of political prisoners. She was not viewed as a political threat to the President because of her sex.[4] After marrying Health Minister Max Adolphe, she assumed his full name.

Daily killings, torture, and beatings were typical at the prison during her tenure. She developed a "gruesome reputation for herself as she designed inventive sexual tortures" in Fort Dimanche.[5] She was later promoted to the Supreme Head of the Fillettes Laleau, the female branch of the Tonton Macoutes.[6] She also collected a monthly rent check from US Special Forces for the use of her compound.[7] She was reported to have supervised the torture of children and elderly, and to have kept video tapes of the horrors. She liked to arm herself with an Uzi submachine gun.[8]

Disappearance[edit]

When Papa Doc died in 1971, and his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, succeeded him, he had Adolphe removed from her post as head of Fort Dimanche. By May 1972 she had been appointed mayor of Port-au-Prince,[9] which brought her attention to the city's sewage disposal.[10] Prior to the end of the Duvalier dynasty in 1986, when the Duvaliers fled the capital, she said "[i]t seems Jean-Claude is leaving the country soon. All militia members will be in danger. Much blood will be shed". Vengeful Haitians killed scores, if not hundreds of former militiamen who used to report to Madame Max.[11] On 10 February 1986 a soldier guarding her vacant house from looters reported that she was being held prisoner in an army barracks next to the national palace.[12] By February 1986 she left the country,[13] but her current whereabouts are unknown.

Her daughter, Magalie Racine (née Adolphe), lives in Haiti and married former Secretary of State and president of the Tèt Kale Party Georges Racine.[14] She was Minister of Youth and Sport in 2013-2014 under Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and President Michel Martelly, known for his neo-Duvalierist sympathies.[15][16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Tima, Wanda (5 February 2013). "Meet Madame Max Adolphe: The Right Hand Woman of Duvalier During His Presidency". L'Union Suite. Miami, Florida, United States: L'Union Creative LLC. Archived from the original on 27 January 2021.
  2. ^ miningawareness (17 August 2013). "Report by the Special Inquest Commission on the Troubling Death of Judge Jean Serge Joseph, Part II, The Facts". Mining Awareness +. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  3. ^ Cheney Jr., R., ed. (14 May 1961). "First women deputies sit in unicameral". Haiti Sun. Vol. XIV, no. 27. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. LCCN 95058138. OCLC 32441147 – via Digital Library of the Caribbean.
  4. ^ Brooke, James (7 February 1986). "Baby Doc follows Papa and Unleashes the Hated Tontons". The Age. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  5. ^ Girard, Philippe R. (2008). "François Duvalier". In Juang, Richard M.; Morrissette, Noelle (eds.). Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History: A Multidisciplinary Encyclopedia. Transatlantic Relations Series. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 392. ISBN 978-1-85109-446-2. LCCN 2007035154. OCLC 168716701.
  6. ^ Chardy, Alfonso (13 February 1986). Matthews, Lynn O.; Perez, Louis Michael; Mathes, Dave (eds.). "Duvalier left 'Madame Max' to wrath of native Haitians". Life/Style. Lakeland Ledger. Vol. 80, no. 114. Lakeland, Florida, United States: Lakeland Ledger Publishing Co./The New York Times Company. KNT News Service. p. 7C. ISSN 0163-0288 – via Google Newspapers.
  7. ^ Coughlin, Dan (1999). "Haitian Lament: Killing Me Softly". The Nation. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Madame Max Adolphe, for instance, the sadistic head of the Tonton Macoutes under 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, collected a monthly rent check from US Special Forces for the use of her compound. As one young militant put it,'The pot of rice gets cooked in the name of the children, but it's the adults who eat'.
  8. ^ Chardy, Alfonso (18 September 1994). "Island in the Grip of Voodoo and Violence". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  9. ^ "'You Cannot Kill the Truth': The Case against Jean-Claude Duvalier" (PDF). London: Amnesty International. 2011. p. 31. OCLC 776890444. AMR 36/007/2011. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 October 2015. Max Rosalie Auguste, also known as 'Max Adolphe', for example, commander of the [Tonton Macoutes] militia and Fort Dimanche prison under François Duvalier, was removed from her roles at the end of 1971. However, by May 1972 she had been appointed mayor of Port-au-Prince.
  10. ^ "Dynastic republicanism in Haiti". The Political Quarterly. 44 (1). Wiley: 83. 1973. doi:10.1111/j.1467-923X.1973.tb02078.x. ISSN 0032-3179. Peasants stoned the house of Zacharie Delva, and Eloise Maître has returned to his bakery in the Grande Rue, while the formidable Madame Max Adolphe (at one time commandant of Fort Dimanche, where most important political prisoners were incarcerated or eliminated) has transferred her matronly attentions, as Mayor of [Port-au-Prince], to the problems of urban sewage disposal.
  11. ^ Chardy, Alfonso (12 February 1986). "Where has Haiti's Chief 'Bogeyman' Gone?". The Anniston Star. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  12. ^ "Haiti Leader Vows to Share Wealth". Associated Press. Associated Press. 11 February 1986.
  13. ^ "Two Former Duvalier Aides Arrested In Haiti". Philadelphia Inquirer. Inquirer Wire Services. 27 February 1986. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. And Madame Max also has left the country, Aubelin Jolicoeur, director of tourism, said yesterday,
  14. ^ "L'ancienne ministre, Magalie Racine, dans la course à la députation". Rezo Nòdwès. 5 May 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Magalie Adolphe Racine run for Deputy of Mirebalais and Boucan Carre". Haiti Photos.
  16. ^ "Haïti - Installation : Magalie Racine, Ministre de la jeunesse, des sports et de l'action civique (+ discours)". Haiti Libre. 25 January 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2021.

Further reading[edit]

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