Update 6 (I have to run to a class, so this will sit on it's own)
Link
Haitian authorities are questioning Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, Haitian former exiled president, to determine whether he should be prosecuted for alleged abuses and theft from the treasury during his rule.
A senior government official said on Tuesday that Duvalier will be "questioned and he will remain at the disposal of the judicial system".
Updated to try to keep up with the breaking news of his being taken into custody - this story will evolve, sorry for my absence.
Just a few days past the 'anniversary of the earthquake, in the midst of a cholera outbreak, and, of course a disputed election, this is simply a sick and bizarre event.
From the BBC:
Mr Duvalier, 59 - also known as "Baby Doc" - arrived on a flight from France, where he has been living in exile.
He said he had come back "to help the people of Haiti" following last year's devastating earthquake.
Updates:
From the Miami Herald - with photos:
A crowd estimated at 2,000 people gathered outside the international airport after news of Duvalier's return began to spread.
"Here's my president!'' some in the crowd chanted.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/...
He will be/or is speaking on Haitian TV...I will try to find a link...
I really haven't much else to add.
Except this - it all reminds me how in some of the former Soviet countries many people have yearned for the return of the 'good old days'. The result? Belarus and Alexander Lukashenko, for one.
ugh.
Another Update:
from an email I just received:
Manifestations already happening in petionville-saw them with my own
eyes. Duvalier and tons of press, police and large crowd at Karibe for
over an hour now.
Update 3 -
this in the midst of the meeting of election experts convened by the OAS (Organization of the American States) to help bring the election mess to some kind of a workable place. Preval was not happy with their report (giving his candidate 3rd place over Michel (Sweet Mickey) Martelly and Madam Manigat, but the stalemate has to be resolved somehow. Now this.
Update #4
An excellent piece in the Star(Toronto):
A last sad twist to the story: the mass gravesites north of the city where some 200,000 earthquake victims were hastily buried served for years as the dumping grounds for the Duvaliers’ political opponents.
All those black crosses erected last week to remember the dead —they speak for more than good engineering and city planning codes. They speak for democracy.
She is referring to the town of Titanye - just outside of Port au Prince. The name means 'little nothing', but is a burial site of those killed under both Duvaliers' , thousands who died in the earthquake, and even, I believe, cholera victims.
I have a good friend, Boby Duval, who was imprisoned under Baby Doc. He nearly died. It was through Jimmy Carter's efforts that he, and others were freed. Although the youth of Haiti does not have the memory of Baby Doc and the Tonton Macoutes, there are many who will never forget.
Update 5
A few hours have passed and everyone is still scratching their heads. Timehas a pretty basic primer covering some of the possible 'reasons' he returned - mostly centered on the disputed election results.
French officials, who technically had no power to stop Duvalier, weren't responding to that question on Sunday night. But Port-au-Prince media were rife with conflicting conspiracy theories — all of them focused on last week's election report by the Organization of American States (OAS). It concluded that Jude Célestin, the candidate of Haitian President René Préval's party, actually finished third, not second, in the first-round balloting on Nov. 28, and that Célestin should therefore not be eligible for a runoff vote — which, ironically, was originally supposed to have been held Sunday but has been postponed.
Read more: http://www.time.com/...
Blame will fall on the international community, rightly or wrongly, for the how. But the why? That will probably remain a mystery, because no matter what is said publicly, the distrust of nearly everyone involved is so high.
Human rights groups are busy in response to this strange turn - Amnesty International and others are issuing calls to bring Jean-Claude Duvalier to justice.