Duvalier did what precisely Mugabe is doing today in Zimbabwe. Steal property from the productive class and distribute it to his thugs, the Tonton Macoutes. He drove out most anyone who was educated. Of course the blacks supported him, since his victims tended to be the lighter-skinned mulattoes.
I spent 4 years there....not a fan of Duvalier but many Haitians I knew thought the country as a whole functioned better....these folks subsequently became Cedras supporters down the road
Duvalier was in conflict with the mulatto business class to some degree but his son married a beauty from one of the leading families of that group...Michelle Bennett....I actually knew the Bennett sisters after his fall through their married kin...the Mourras of whom crazy Sammy Mourra ran for office last go around I think
The black populace did not like Baby Doc marrying lite.
Unlike Rhodesia there were no farms of much size to break up and give to anyone...that had been done after the slave revolt played out through various subsequent wars/massacres
Papa Doc did have a crony system in the business class but there were non African Haitians who played along too and yes the Macoutes got paid but many of them were nothing more than vigilante enforcers
They were biz class Macoutes but also a lot of dummies with guns. The Duvalaiers had to have biz class allies too.
many of the roads there we built when we occupied the joint...
it is a hopeless place but...we can help folks from dying right now...espcially babies and I hope we do