Exiled dictator‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier returns to Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Exiled former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude“Baby Doc” Duvalier returned unexpectedly to his Caribbean homeland on Sunday for the first time since he was forced out by a popular uprising and U.S. pressure in 1986.

Wearing a blue suit and tie, Mr. Duvalier, now 59, arrived at Port-au-Prince airport on an Air France flight from Paris, witnesses said.

Dozens of enthusiastic supporters greeted him, although the motive for his surprise return to the country was not immediately known.

Mr. Duvalier took the reins of power in Haiti in 1971, becoming president on the death of his father, the autocratic Francois“Papa Doc” Duvalier, who had ruled with a reign of terror. Jean-Claude, “Baby Doc,” was then the world’s youngest head of state at age 19.

Although he tried to improve Haiti’s image during his rule, he faced accusations of corruption, political repression and human rights abuses when he fled the country in 1986 during massive street protests and diplomatic pressure from Washington.

His unexpected return comes at a time when Haiti, still the poorest state in the Western Hemisphere, is facing political uncertainty following Nov. 28 presidential and legislative elections whose preliminary results have triggered fraud allegations and street protests.

The chaotic elections went ahead during a cholera epidemic in the country, which is still recovering from a devastating earthquake a year ago that killed more than 300,000 people.

Here are some facts about Mr. Duvalier:

* Mr. Duvalier, 59, is popularly known as“Baby Doc” and is the son of Haiti’s former authoritarian leader Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. He took power after his father’s death in 1971, becoming one of the world’s youngest heads-of-state at age 19.

*“Baby Doc” Duvalier ruled Haiti with an iron fist for 15 years, calling himself “president-for-life” before fleeing the country after an outbreak of popular protests. He lived in exile in France before his surprise return to Haiti.

* Together, the Duvaliers ruled Haiti for 28 years, using a sinister secret police force known as the Tonton Macoutes whose members wore dark sunglasses and carried pistols to suppress opposition. Critics accused the Duvaliers of living lavishly and doing little to alleviate poverty in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

* More than 100,000 Haitians fled the country under the younger Duvalier, many of them escaping on barely seaworthy rafts to seek asylum in the United States.

* Facing demonstrations that saw hundreds of thousands of Haitians take to the streets, Duvalier abandoned the presidency under pressure from the United States, handing over power to a six-man military and civilian commission in Haiti.

© Thomson Reuters 2011

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