The “comedians” of the title are a handful of Europeans and Americans whose lives intersect en route to Duvalier’s Haiti. Three “comedians” observe Haiti’s reign of terror (The name means “ bogeyman” in the local language.) And midway through Duvalier’s time in office, Graham Greene (1904-91) explored Haiti’s reign of terror through the eyes of expatriates in The Comedians. He ruled until his death in 1971, stifling and all too often murdering his opposition through an undercover government death squad called the Tonton Macoute. The former country doctor was elected President of Haiti in 1957 on a black nationalist platform but turned tyrannical the following year after thwarting a military coup. The term reign of terror has rarely been more apt than when it was applied to the regime of Haiti’s François “Papa Doc” Duvalier (1907-71).
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