HAITI: The Man Who Stayed Behind

HAITI The Man Who Stayed Behind

On the tiny veranda of his two-room, wattle-and-daub hut outside Port-au-Prince, a grizzled ex-U.S. Navy pharmacist's mate downed a tumbler of mahogany-colored Haitian rum. Through the low-hanging hibiscus and poinsettia came the first tentative beating of evening drums. To Stanley Henry ("Doc") Reser, Haiti's leading U.S born voodoo— practitioner, the sound was a call to ceremonies at the nearby temple in honor of Ogoun Ferreille, god of war and ironworkers.

Before the open, thatched voodoo altar, a hundred black friends crowded to greet him. With practiced authority, he poured rum libations and muttered Creole incantations, then...

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