Madame Sabine Jean Joseph, Head of Post at the Consulate of Haiti in Montreal, accompanied by Ms. Guerline Frédéric Desrosiers, counselor at the Embassy of Haiti in Ottawa, as well as other executives of the Mission, attended Wednesday April 17, 2024 at the evening dedicated to Haiti as part of the 40th Vues d'Afrique International Film Festival which is being held in Montreal until April 21.

During this event, the new feature documentary entitled "1964 : Simityè kamoken" by Haitian director and journalist Rachelle Magloire was highlighted.

This documentary, released in 2023 and presented for the first time internationally, evokes a landing of armed rebels in the 1960s against the Duvalierist power in the South-East of Haiti. This landing and the installation of a guerrilla in the mountains bordering the Dominican Republic gave rise to a repression of rare violence, never documented. The invasion of the South-Eastern region of Haiti (Saltrou/Belle-Anse) by the FARH (Haitian Revolutionary Armed Forces) on June 29, 1964 was perhaps one of the longest armed attempts against the power in place. Nicknamed "Kamoken" in reference to an anti-malarial drug (camoquin), the guerrillas, trained and leaving from the Dominican Republic, were led by Fred Baptiste, a young exiled political professor. The group consisted of around 25 young men, mostly from the region.

The Embassy of Haiti took the opportunity to congratulate filmmaker Rachelle Magloire and her team for this remarkable achievement, which brought memory to life through archives and moving testimonies from survivors of this event.

IH/ iciHaiti