Sunday January 16, 2011
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier returned Sunday to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile, a surprising and perplexing move that comes as his country struggles with a political crisis and the stalled effort to recover from last year's devastating earthquake.
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| AP – FILE - In this May 25, 1980 file photo, Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier gives … |
"He is happy to be back in this country, back in his home," said Mona Beruaveau, a candidate for Senate in a Duvalierist party who spoke to the former dictator inside the immigration office. "He is tired after a long trip."
Beruaveau said he would give a news conference on Monday.
There were no immediate protests in reaction to his return and very few people were even aware that the former dictator had come back to Haiti.
In the fall of 2007, President Rene Preval told reporters that Duvalier could return to Haiti but would face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars.
Haitians danced in the streets to celebrate the overthrow of Duvalier back in 1986, heckling the tubby, boyish tyrant as he was driven to the airport in a black limousine and flown into exile in France. Most Haitians hoped the rapacious strongman known had left for good, closing a dark chapter of terror and repression that began under his late father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
But a handful of loyalists have been campaigning to bring Duvalier home from exile in France, launching a foundation to improve the dictatorship's image and reviving Baby Doc's political party in the hopes that one day he can return to power democratically.
Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that if Duvalier is involved in any political activities he is not aware of them.
"He is a Haitian and, as such, is free to return home," the prime minister told The Associated Press.
The Duvaliers tortured and killed their political opponents, ruling in an atmosphere of fear and repression ensured by the bloody Tonton Macoute secret police.
The end of his reign was followed by a period known as deshoukaj or "uprooting" in which Haitians carried out reprisals against Macoutes and regime loyalists, tearing their houses to the ground.
Duvalier has been accused of pilfering millions of dollars from public funds and spiriting them to Swiss banks, though he denies stealing from Haiti.
Dictators have long favored hiding their cash in the European nation due to its banking secrecy rules, but last year, lawmakers there approved a bill making it easier to seize ill-gotten funds.
At the time, reports said Haiti was to receive about $7 million seized from Duvalier's Swiss accounts.
Duvalier's return Sunday comes as the country struggles to work through a dire political crisis following the problematic Nov. 28 first-round presidential election.
Three candidates want to go onto a second round. The Organization of American States sent in a team of experts to resolve the deadlock, recommending that Preval's candidate be excluded. Preval was reportedly not pleased with the report. OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza was scheduled to be in Port-au-Prince to meet with Preval on Monday.
The news floored Haiti experts and has thrown the country's entire political situation into question. Immediately speculation began about what other exiled leaders might return next.
"I was shocked when i heard the news and I am still wondering what is the next step, what Preval will say and obviously what (exiled former President Jean-Bertrand) Aristide will be doing," said Robert Fatton, a Haitian-born history professor at the University of Virginia and author of "The Roots of Haitian Despotism."
"If Jean-Claude is back in the country I assume Aristide will be trying to get back as quickly as possible."
Fatton wondered what role the French government played in Duvalier's return, saying they would have had to have been aware that the ex-despot was boarding an Air France jet to go home.
In France, a deputy spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry said she had seen news of Duvalier's arrival in Haiti, but had "no information" about the matter and could not confirm that he'd left France. The spokeswoman did not give her name, in accordance with ministry policy.
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Associated Press writers Jonathan M. Katz in Brooklyn, New York, Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report.
