Machete Season

“After the plane crash, we no longer worried about who had followed the teachings of the presidential party or the teachings of a rival party. We forgot all quarrels, and who had fallen out with whom in the past. We kept only one idea in the pot.” 

This quote from Ignace highlights the theme of gang identity. In order for the Hutu to kill every Tutsi, they had to remove all sub-identities, including political factions, that might prevent them from acting as one group of Hutus against the enemy Tutsis. This led to strong group cohesion within the gang, centered around Hutu identity.

“We have always remained friends, always been united the same way despite the calamities of life, exile, and prison. Whatever we have to do, we do it as comrades, in every situation.” 

This quote by Adalbert, the gang’s leader throughout, shows the strength of the gang and the gang’s identity. This strength allows the group to survive and to continue to be a source of protection and comfort for the killers, even long after the genocide. The quote reinforces that their bonds, which included anti-Tutsi sentiment, were part of the reason why they were able to kill so many Tutsis so quickly, in the marshes. 

“There were some who turned out to be easy killers, and they backed up their comrades in tough spots. But each person was allowed to learn in his own way, according to his character. You killed the way you knew, the way you felt it, each at his own speed. There were no serious instruction on know-how, except to keep it up.”

Pio’s quote provides evidence of the theme that the gang members were strongly motivated to the order to kill and to keep killing as quickly as possible. But it also provides evidence of how the gang identity operated. The gang’s bonds meant that they covered for one another; when someone was not a gifted killer, they would be helped by their comrades in the group.

“During the genocides I know that gang went out cutting from the first day to the last. At Adalbert’s prodding, perhaps, or under the bad influence of Ignace, they became relentless.”

This quote by Léopord highlights one of the motivations for killing. Here, Léopord clearly shows that his motivation was to kill all Tutsis. As a member of the interahamwe and having adopted virulent anti-Tutsi attitudes even before the genocide, his lack of remorse is consistent with his thoughts and actions until the moment that he broke down and confessed.

“The farmer Alphonse Hitiyaremyte summed it up in his own way: ‘War is a dreadful disorder in which the culprits of genocide can plot incognito.’” 

Alphonse’s quote supports the theme that the genocide was carefully planned. The preparation for the genocide was underway by the early 1990s when the civil war started. They used the cover of war to test out sporadic killings, to form militias, to desensitize the public to anti-Tutsi propaganda, and to draw up kill lists of Tutsis and Hutu moderates.

“If the inkotanyi had not taken over the country and put us to flight, we would have killed one another after the death of the last Tutsi—that’s how hooked we were by the madness of dividing up the land.” 

This quote highlights another motivation to kill. Jean-Baptiste argues that they killed with such frenzy so they could take the dead Tutsis’ land for themselves. In a densely populated country, land was a precious commodity and a source of tension between Hutus and Tutsis in the lead up to the genocide.

“At bottom, we didn’t care about what we accomplished in the marshes, only about what was important to us for our comfort: the stocks of sheet metal, the rounded-up cows, the piles of windows and other such goods. When we met a neighbor on a new bike or waving around a radio, greed drove us on.” 

Adalbert’s quote highlights a key motivation for killing: the greed that developed from looting, which made the killers’ lives more comfortable and made them want to keep killing. The very items that brought them comfort and made many prefer killing to farming were stolen from the Tutsis they killed in the marshes. This calls into question the excuse made by some of the killers that they were only following orders.

“They caused a big panic among the interahamwe who were already roving the streets, heating themselves up with gunfire. Some of them shouted, ‘The whites are here, others will come…it’s all over for us!’ When they saw the convoy disappear…they celebrated with some Primus and shot off the cartridges in their guns as a sign of relief. You could see they felt saved. They were rid of the last stumbling block, so to speak.” 

Innocent’s observation highlights the theme of the genocide’s planning and success. Had the UNAMIR soldiers stayed in Rwanda, they could have used their high-tech weapons to compel the Hutu farmers with their machetes to stop the killing. When UNAMIR left, the last international obstacle that could have stopped the killing was removed.

“In Nyamata, however, we find not one comradely impulse among teammates, not one gesture of compassion for helpless babies at the breast. No bond of friendship or love that survived from a church choir or an agricultural cooperative. No civil disobedience in a village, no rebellious adolescent in a gang of budding toughs.” 

This quote shows the success of the preparations for genocide and the killers’ motivation to kill every Tutsi, quickly. Hatzfeld indicates how completely abandoned the Tutsi were, with few exceptions. The goal to kill and leave not one alive foreclosed sentiments like empathy for the Tutsi.

“In Ntarama I do not know of a single Hutu woman who hid away a little Tutsi child to save it from the massacre of its family. Not even a toddler wrapped in a cloth or a nursling unrecognizable to her neighbors because of its tender age. Not one woman on the whole hill cheated in the way of a rescue, not even for a short moment of trying.”

This quote by Jean-Baptiste shows how all Hutus, including the women, were critical to the success of the genocide. Because a woman’s act of hiding a Tutsi—which Jean-Baptiste characterizes as cheating—would have resulted in her husband’s punishment, and Because women looted and benefited from their husbands’ looting, they refused to aid any Tutsi. This behavior also highlights the success of the planning for the genocide to desensitize the population to the plight of the Tutsi.

“Our Tutsi neighbors, we knew they were guilty of no misdoing, but we thought all Tutsis at fault for our constant troubles. We no longer looked at them one by one; we no longer stopped to recognize them as they had been, not even as colleagues. They had become a threat greater than all we had experienced together, more important than our way of seeing things in the community. That’s how we reasoned and how we killed at the time.”

Léopord, in this quote, provides evidence of a key motivation to kill. The Tutsis, in the killers’ eyes, became non-human and unworthy of any consideration. This also shows how well prepared the killers were. The propaganda, which dehumanized the Tutsi, also blamed them for every wrong in Rwanda. Thus, their extermination was framed as something that would make the Hutus’ lives better.

“All the important people turned their backs on our killings. The blue helmets, the Belgians, the white directors, the black presidents, the humanitarian people and the international cameramen, the priests and the bishops, and finally even God.” 

This quote by Élie highlights one key reason why the genocide was successful. Domestically, the Habyarimana regime was able to remove all opposition by killing political opponents first. The ruling class was able to quell international opposition by removing the UNAMIR forces and preventing other African leaders or countries from intervention. This planning left the Tutsi abandoned and completely vulnerable to the killers. 

“Genocide pushes into isolation those who were not pushed into death.” 

This quote by Tutsi survivor Berthe highlights how the genocide worked and why it was successful. There was no way during the genocide for the Tutsi to recover in a way that allowed them to fight back within the country. This also worked to the killers’ advantage after the genocide because the survivors were too sad, scared, and traumatized to prevent the killers’ return.

“In prison and on the hills, everyone is obviously sorry. But most of the killers are sorry they didn’t finish the job. They accuse themselves of negligence rather than wickedness.” 

This quote by Élie highlights just how strong the motivation was to kill every Tutsi, and how well prepared the killers were to get the job done. Even in the aftermath, when the killers had returned from exile and were punished, the idea that the desire to kill still lingered is a testament to how the violence affected the perpetrators. It also calls into questions whether the killers truly possessed remorse for their misdeeds.

“This was a significant admission, because Jospeh-Désiré Bitero’s first victims, in fact, were not Tutsis but Hutus from two extremes: pacifists, who favored dialogue with the rebels, and those who were hostile to any negotiations and supported an all-out war.” 

Hatzfeld’s observation in this quote supports the theme of how the genocide was planned and why it was a success. The domestic opposition—those who might have helped to make escape routes for the Tutsi—were killed first in the first three days. Only then were the farmers and others ordered to kill all Tutsis and their families. This is one of many pieces of evidence to support that the genocide was not a spontaneous outburst of violence but a calculated extermination effort.

“What I think now is that he didn’t know the tiny details of the genocide, such as they day and the exact agenda. But he certainly knew three months in advance that he was going to kill me, and my wife and my children, with whom he had shared pleasant times. He was in on the secret of the genocide without knowing how it would operate.” 

Innocent in this quote illustrates that the nuts and bolts of the genocide were in the planning stages at least three months before the killings started. The planning was critical to the success of the genocide and the phenomenal killing rate the killers and their Hutu countrymen and women achieved. This also speaks to the utter detachment of the Hutus with respect to killing their friends and neighbors.

“They were preparing for small massacres of Tutsis, the way we had been doing them since 1959—punishment massacres, caused by envy, or the inkotanyi, or revenge, or greed for Tutsi cows and plots of land. But the removal of all Tutsis—that they thought of only after the plane crash.” 

Jean-Baptiste’s observation, that the decision was made to kill all Tutsis and their families, appears to have been part of the planning in the few days after the plane crash. It shows how the leaders took advantage of events on the ground to expand the killings and how well prepared the people and institutions were to execute the order to kill. It also suggests that the history of the Rwandan genocide could have proceeded much differently, had it not been for the successful assassination of Habyarimana.

“In the evenings old folks would ask quietly, ‘Why don’t we simply kill the trampling cows, take some prime fields, and still leave plenty of Tutsis alive?’ The leader would reply, ‘No. Their tradition is too ancient. Tutsis have been trailing after their cattle for too long, they will start over again with new cows. Slaughtering cows and Tutsis, it’s the same task.”

Alphonse’s quote shows that once the decision was made to kill all the Tutsis, that goal had to be reemphasized to ensure the killings would continue. The motivation to take the land was never lost on the killers. Moreover, the ability to dehumanize the Tutsis by equating them to their cows made it easier to kill and then loot the land.

“Hutus still suffer from a bad idea of Tutsis. The truth is, pour physiognomy is the root of the problem: our longer muscles, our more delicate features, our proud carriage. That is, all I can think of—the imposing appearance that is our birthright.” 

Survivor Francine in this quote explains another of the killers’ motivations: they were jealous of the Tutsis’ height and noble bearing. During the killings, one example of how the killers tortured Tutsis involved cutting off the ankles and arms of a Tutsi girl, thus literally cutting her down to size. Like all stereotypes, this difference in physical appearance— shorter, stockier Hutus and taller, lithe, Tutsis— was not as obvious and clear cut as the Hutu propaganda suggested. 

“The radios were yammering at us since 1992 to kill all the Tutsis; there was anger after the president’s death and a fear of falling under the rule of the inkotanyi. But I do not see any hatred in all that.” 

In his calm explanation of how the genocide was planned, Pancrace dismisses a key motivation for the killing. Clearly in the early 1990s, institutions like the radio stations contributed to anti-Tutsis propaganda that helped to prepare citizens for genocide. But Pancrace also highlights that this hatred became so normalized that many could not see it for the dehumanizing language it truly was. 

“The Tutsis had accepted so many killings without ever protesting, they had waited for death or bad blows so often without raising their voices, that in a certain way we thought deep down they were fated to die, here and now, all together. We thought that since this job was meeting no opposition, it was because it really had to be done.” 

Ignace’s recounting of why they continued to kill highlights how the genocide was successful because no opposition emerged to stop the killing. Ignace shows that Hutu leaders gave the green light to continue killing while reinforcing the idea that it was the right and natural thing to do. He effectively justifies his actions by framing himself as an agent of political inertia, driving the Tutsis toward their unavoidable destiny.

“One day Fulgence says, ‘We saw the first awful consequences of the killings on our way to Congo, with the moaning of our starving bellies and the terrible rumblings of turmoil at our heels.’” 

Even when the killers fled in exile, they did not consider the death and mayhem they caused and left behind. As a group, they could only consider what was happening to them. This quote also highlights how justified the killers thought they were in the killing that they did, while also holding the belief that they were not individually responsible—a common understanding among all gang members to varying degrees.