Photo by @maggiesteber. When Hunger Overcomes Fear. Haitian soldier goes after boy trying to steal food aid from beneath a shuttered door in Cap-Haitien on January 1986. It was 29 years ago today, February 7, 1986, that the 30 year Duvalier dictatorship fell after massive riots throughout the country. Haiti began a new period of recovery that has stalled and started many times, thanks to continued government corruption, four hurricanes, and a massive earthquake that killed over 350,000 people and left 1 million homeless. As much as the 2010 earthquake destroyed aspects of Haitian life and culture its impact was not as devastating as the hated Duvalier regime's rule of terror and fear of the dreaded Tontons Macoute, Haiti's secret police. Before Duvalier, Haiti was beautiful and a nearly blissful place to live where people dressed and walk proudly on clean streets with beautiful buildings. All that changed under the darkness of François Papa Doc Duvalier. In 1986 for the first time in 30 years after Jean Claude Duvalier fled the country Haitians could demonstrate, speak out, print newspapers, broadcast radio shows, and vote in elections that promised democracy. The breath of fresh air was short lived and today Haiti is changed and not always for the best but it can be said about Haitians that they are grand people who never say die. #haiti #beautifulhaiti #longlivehaiti #duvalier #maggiesteber #womenofvision #wov @reduxpictures @leicaakademiena
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