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based. The bemused Haitians gave Graham a rousing round of applause.
    On another occasion Jolicoeur introduced Graham to Antoine Herard, a long-time Duvalierist and an
habitué
of the Oloffson. Herard was the owner of Radio Port-au-Prince and a well-known announcer on the station. He invited Graham to visit the regime’s showplace, Duvalierville, a vaunted new town constructed on Papa Doc’s orders twenty miles north of the capital. Duvalierville, a concrete monstrosity, had replaced the pretty little village of Cabaret. This trip was significant in that it helped Graham illustrate the corruption of the regime, taking up over five pages in
The Comedians
when Brown and Mr Smith drive to Duvalierville with the Minister and a Macoute.
    â€˜I’ve got it all right here,’ Graham said and handed me the green cloth-covered book of Victorian detective stories he carried on his trip. The detective book was only a cover. Inside were blank notebook pages where he wrote in a tiny, nearly microscopic script, making it impossible for anyone other than him to read.
    Graham’s article on Duvalier’s Haiti was published in the
Sunday Telegraph
on 29 September 1963, with the headline ‘Nightmare Republic’. It was a bleak and terrifying picture of people living under a ‘strange curse’. He portrayed Papa Doc as Voodoo’s Baron Samedi, a spectre in top hat and tails who haunts the cemeteries smoking a cigar and wearing dark glasses.
    In his article Graham classified the Duvalier regime as among the worst in history. He wrote:
    There have been many reigns of terror in the course of history. Sometimes they have been prompted by a warped idealism like Robespierre’s, sometimes they have been directed fanatically against a class or a race and supported by some twisted philosophy; surely never has terror had so bare and ignoble an object as here — the protection of a few tough men’s pockets, the pockets … leaders of the Tontons Macoutes, of the police and of the Presidential Guard — and in the centre of the ring, of course, in his black evening suit, his heavy glasses, his halting walk and halting speech, the cruel and absurd Doctor.
    He went on to describe the situation and his own experiences, including the searches at roadblocks in the city and how it took two days at the police station, where the ‘portrait of the Doctor is flanked by snapshots of the machine-gunned bodies of Barbot and his companions, to gain a two-day permit for the south. The north, because of the raids from the Dominican Republic, was forbidden altogether.’ He added, ‘All trade which does not offer a rake-off is at a standstill. A whole nation can die of starvation so long as theDoctor’s non-fiscal account is safe.’ He noted how the British Ambassador was expelled ‘because he protested at the levies which the Tontons Macoutes were exacting illegally from all businessmen. An arbitrary figure was named and if the sum was not forthcoming the man would be beaten up in his home by the Tontons Macoutes, during the hours of darkness.’
    He also mentioned his visit to Duvalierville.
    The Doctor has obviously read accounts of Brasilia and in the absurd little tourist houses with roofs like wind-wrecked butterflies one can detect Brasilia’s influence. There is no beach, and the town, if it is ever finished, is supposed to house 2,000 peasants in little one-roomed houses, so that it is difficult to see why any tourist should stay there. The only building finished in Duvalierville is the cock-fighting stadium. In the meantime the peasants’ homes have been destroyed and they have been driven from the area to live with relatives. Many people believe that the town, if finished, will become a Tonton garrison.
    As with most major constructions in Haiti, since the emperor (King) Christophe built his fantastic citadel on a mountain-top, the cement used is cruelty and injustice.