and pay interest to French banks. "We're talking about 200 hundred years of this cycle of debt that Haiti has gone through, which of course has devastating consequences on the capacity of the state within the country," Haiti historian Laurent Dubois has said. The country's poverty made it vulnerable throughout its history to political instability and human rights abuses both by Haitian state officials and foreign interventions. In 1915, following a coup that led to the mob killing of Haitian President Vibrun Guillaume Sam, United States sailors and marines landed in order to protect U.S. interests in the country. The occupation would last until 1934. "Following restoration of order, a treaty providing for United States control over Haitian finances, customs, police, public works, sanitation, and medical services were concluded with the client Haitian government," according to the Navy Department Library. During the occupation roads and other public works projects were built by the corvée labour—forced, unpaid work—of Haitian peasants. In 1916, the U.S. military started a Haitian army that would later become the Garde d'Haiti. Beginning with the Caco Wars, during the US occupation, and continuing until the 1990s, the Haitian army was implicated in a number of human rights abuses against the Haitian people. For example, following a 1991 coup by the military that overthrew democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the Haitian army was accused of killing an estimated 3,000 people in three years. Upon his return to the presidency, Aristide disbanded the army. Survivors of the 2018 Lasalin massacre allege that the PHTK, ruling political Party headed by Jovenel Moïse, were responsible for the orchestrated attack and mass murder of civilians. Schools and other community buildings were also targeted. U.S.A. Government involvement in Haiti is on-going. Duvalier period In 1957, François Duvalier, also known as "Papa Doc", became president of Haiti, ushering in a period of human rights abuses from which the country is still recovering. An estimated 30,000–60,000 people were killed in the 30 years Haiti was under the rule of Duvalier and his son—and successor—Jean-Claude Duvalier, also known as "Baby Doc". In 1959, François Duvalier formed a paramilitary force known as the Tonton Macoute, named after a mythic Haitian character who kidnapped misbehaving children, carried them off in a bag and ate them for breakfast. Duvalier authorized more than 10,000 Tonton Macoute, organized in 500 sections across the country, to maintain complete control over the population.