Baby Doc's Babes / President Préval Says Baby Doc Must Face Investigation In Haiti; No Comment On Elections / With ‘Baby Doc’ back in Haiti, Aristide calls next / 'Baby Doc' Duvalier faces charges in

Jean-Claude Duvalier inherited the dictatorship of Haiti in 1971 at the age of 19. During his lifetime has relied heavily on the women in his life. These women have both helped and hampered his reputation. Specifically, there are three women who were central to his political life: his mother Simone Ovide Duvalier; his wife, Michele Bennett Duvalier; and his lover, Veronique Roy.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/duvalierwife-220x217.jpg" alt="Papa Doc and Simone Ovide Duvalier" style="width: 220px; height: 217px;" />

Mother

Duvalier's father Francois Duvalier, rose to power through identifying with the poor black majority of Haiti. Although Haiti is often referred to as the first black Republic, the government of the country had always been dominated by the mulattos. The mulattos are mixed race and range in colour from almost black to almost completely white. Duvalier began as a doctor and rose in public life through free vaccination programs for the poor and then as Minister for Public Health and Labour. He became affectionately known as Papa Doc. When he ran for President, the colour of his skin, his attention to the needs of the black population, and his background in the vital field of medicine meant he won hands down.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/duvalierwife-2..." alt="Papa Doc and Simone Ovide Duvalier" style="width: 220px; height: 217px;" />

Simone Ovide was a trained nurse. She was a strong partner to Duvalier and controlled access to the President. She became both feared and respected by those in government and her experience of ruling the nation greatly helped her son when he came to power. There was one major fault with Simone's gifts to her son: she was mulatto. Baby Doc Duvalier was born light skinned. His disinterest in work and pursuit of pleasure made him seem more like the exploitative mulattos of the bad old days, rather than a black man leading black men.

Raised in luxury, Jean-Claude was often recorded speaking French rather than the Creole of the masses. The electorate liked Baby Doc a lot less than his father. If the population didn't want Baby Doc as their president, they were in luck. The young man held the title, but his mother filled the post. Simone continued her husband's policy of ruling the country by terror. She maintained the Tonton Macoutes, the feared vigilante force that enforced the Duvalier rule. While allowing the violence to continue, she kept the whip hand over the leadership of the militia, exiling troublesome leaders and reorganizing the hierarchy from time to time to ensure they remained loyal.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/tonton-1-220x2..." alt="A Tonton Macoute with machete" style="width: 220px; height: 204px;" />

Wife

Jean-Claude Duvalier was raised as royalty. So, who should the prince of a presidential house marry? No princess of an established monarchy would have him. A beauty queen or a soap star would compromise the dignity of his high office. No, if the son of a president was a prince, then the descendant of a president would be considered equally royal. Baby Doc found his bride among the descendants of former President Henri Christophe.

www.xomba.com/files/imagecache/content/images/210px-Henri_Christoph..." alt="King Henry I of Haiti" style="width: 210px; height: 298px;" />

Christophe was one of the leaders of the revolution that gained Haiti its independence. Not only that, but he was a King. Shortly after independence, Haiti split into two countries, north and south. Christophe became President of the northern half in 1807. In 1811, he declared himself King. Michele Bennett was Christophe's great-great-great-granddaughter.

Michele Bennett first married a mulatto called Alix Pasquet. She had two sons by Pasquet before divorcing him in 1978. In 1980, she married Jean-Claude Duvalier, reining President for Life of Haiti.

www.xomba.com/files/imagecache/content/images/bbdocwedding.jpg" alt="The wedding of Jean-Claude Duvalier and Michele Bennett" style="width: 243px; height: 207px;" />

Duvalier had paid no attention to government He was only interested in getting enough money to fund a lavish lifestyle, Mama Doc ruled the nation. Michele Bennett realised that the money flowed to those who controlled the government. She got Baby Doc to throw Mama out of the country. With her rival out of the way, Michele ruled the roost. Along with Michele rose her family who benefited from illegal monopolies and government concessions. The Bennett family ran a successful drugs trafficking business under the guise of a local airline. They were untouchable within Haiti. Unfortunately, the First Lady's brother was imprisoned for three years for drugs running in Puerto Rico, where his powerful sister could not protect him from the law.

Michele quickly took over her mother-in-law's role. She accompanied her husband to cabinet meetings and berated the government ministers while her husband slept. She took direct control of the government, and let the president stay in bed, or watch TV. She was hated. She was hated by the people she ordered around – the people who thought they had achieved a position of power before Michele came along to humiliate them. She was hated by the common people, who starved while she shopped.

Although her great ancestor, the King, had been unequivocally black, the bloodline quickly mingled with the mulattos. Michele was very light skinned. With certain make up and lighting she could pass for white. Unfortunately, this was the look Michele preferred. When their baby was born, the happy parents published a state photograph. The baby was white, the mother was white, the father wasn't really very black. To the majority black population it seemed Haitian history had come full circle. Papa Doc had finally delivered black rule. With Baby Doc it seemed power had passed back to the mulattos. Looking at the photograph, the people knew that baby would inherit the presidency and they would be back under the heel of the white man.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/duvalierbaby-2..." alt=" white, off-white, slightly brown" style="width: 200px; height: 211px;" />

Pushy wives are not liked. Pushy, grabby wives are liked even less. Michele was all that and she had control of the national treasury – she was loathed. Jean-Claude did nothing to reign in his wife's excesses. In fact he encouraged them. Their marriage kicked off with a lavish wedding, funded by the state at a cost of $3 million dollars. This at a time when the country was receiving aid from foreign governments on the basis that Haiti was too poor to provide necessary public services.

The couple not only squandered millions living like kings, but they rubbed the poor's nose in it. They televised their lavish parties, setting TVs up in the parks so the homeless could gasp in awe. They sold the body parts of the victims of the Tonton Macoutes to US hospitals. They were brash, showy and ruining the nation.

But who would stop them? Anyone within the country who said a bad word about the couple would be killed by the Tonton Macoutes, their families cursed by the militia's voodoo division. The outside world didn't care what the Duvaliers did. They were positively encouraged by the United States who preferred anything to a communist regime on their doorstep. No one would face down the mighty Duvaliers. No one, except a little old Polish man who came for a visit in 1983. Pope Jean Paul II showed very bad taste in turning on his hosts. In a public audience, he declared, with disgust, “Things must change here.” That was Baby Doc's Ceauşescu moment.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/popeandJeancla..." alt="Pope Jean Paul II humiliated Baby Doc and caused his downfall." style="width: 200px; height: 215px;" />

Jean Paul's declaration encouraged decent, he instructed his church in Haiti to work for democracy. Jean-Claude took emergency measures, reducing the cost of food, reshuffling the cabinet and closing down independent media outlets.. It was too little too late. The situation deteriorated to the point that finally the USA had enough of all the refugees arriving on their doorstep. In 1986, Ronald Reagan finally told the Duvaliers that the party was over. He pulled the rug from under them by suspending US aid, and sent a plane to take them out of the country.

The couple settled in France, where Michele had greater shopping opportunities, among her purchases were two saddles for the children brought from Hermes at more than $9,000. Well, the little mites needed something to gallop around the estate of their chateau. The children weren't restricted to the Duvalier's chateau outside Paris, they were frequently taken to the family villa on the Frech Riviera or stayed in one of Baby Doc's lavish apartments in Paris. Without earning any money, the fortune began to run out. After three years of marriage, Michele realised she could better spend the remains of the fortune herself. She took everything that was left and divorced the ex-dictator in 1990.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/duvalier3-400x..." alt="Gay divorcee, Michele Bennett" style="width: 400px; height: 265px;" />

Lover

Jean-Claude Duvalier was cleaned out by his departing shopaholic wife. Some sums (millions) were held in bank accounts around the world, but prosecutors and foreign governments refused him access to the money. Baby Doc was flat broke. It didn't take long for him to bump in to his next care giver. He met Veronique Roy at a party in 1990, shortly after his divorce. Ms Roy is no gold digger. For one thing, Duvalier has no gold to dig. They live together in a $1,000 a month one bed roomed rented apartment in Paris. The rent is paid for by a friend. Ms Roy is the ex-President's public relations consultant and helps maintain two websites for him.

The couple never married, although Veronique qualifies by the standards of presidential royalty, because her grandfather was also President of Haiti. Paul Magloire was the military dictator of Haiti from 1950 to 1956. He used state funds to rebuild the country and was generally successful as the leader of the nation, though he never tested his popularity at the ballot box. Things went wrong when a relief fund to aid victims of a hurricane was stolen. Magloire was blamed and pursued by a rebellious mob. He fled the country, vacating the presidency. This opened the way for elections, which Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) won. On gaining power, Papa Doc stripped Magloire of his citizenship He waited until the Duvalier regime fell, with the departure of Baby Doc in 1986, before applying to return. His citizenship was reinstated and Magloire took up a post as adviser to the army of Haiti.

Veronique Roy is Magloire's granddaughter. It might be expected that her family harbours bitterness towards the family that replaced them in the National Palace in Port-au-Prince. Magloire fostered Papa Doc's career and gave him government posts. However, Francois Duvalier was not directly responsible for Magloire's downfall.

www.xomba.com/files/resize/imagecache/content/images/duvalier-roy-2..." alt="Veronique Roy is the power behind the thone" style="width: 200px; height: 254px;" />

Roy accompanied Duvalier on his unexpected return to Haiti in 2011. Many fail to see what Baby Doc can gain from his presence in the country where he is wanted for manslaughter and embezzlement. Roy's contacts among the political elite and her grandfather's memory among the army may prove a great help to Duvalier if he hopes to regain power. If Baby Doc hopes to be elected to the position of president, Veronique Roy will not help his chances among the majority black population. She is completely white. The international community needs to pay close attention to Veronique Roy. Going by Baby Doc's track record, if he gets back into the Presidential Palace, she will be running Haiti, not him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haitian President René Préval said Saturday that ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier had every right to return home from exile, but must now face an investigation of alleged abuses during his reign.
In his first public comment since Duvalier returned to Haiti a week ago, Préval made the announcement after a meeting with Dominican President Leonel Fernández.

“Duvalier had the right to return to the country, but under the constitution, he also must face justice,” Préval said, according to The Canadian Press. “If Duvalier is not in prison now, it is because he has not yet been tried.”

Préval also said that Haitians cannot be barred from their homeland by law, which applies to both Duvalier and ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who has been in exile in South Africa since 2004.

Préval declined to say whether he knew ahead of time about Duvalier’s sudden return to Haiti, which the former dictator attributes to his want to help rebuild the country after last year’s earthquake.

Préval also had no comment on the country’s disputed Nov. 28 presidential election, which was marred by  fraud. The Organization of American States (OAS) is now recommending that Préval’s favoured candidate, Jude Célestin, be left out of a runoff.

Préval could find himself deemed illegitimate and his government not recognized by the international community if runoff elections to choose his successor are not announced before Feb. 7.

“No recognition of him as president, Jean-Max Bellerive as prime minister after that,” said an anonymous diplomat, according to The Miami Herald.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians adjusting to the sudden return of one exiled ex-president could soon have another on their hands. Ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide sent out a letter saying he is ready to come back from six years of South African exile “today, tomorrow, at any time”.

“As far as I am concerned, I am ready,” he wrote in an e-mail distributed by supporters and posted online. “The purpose is very clear: To contribute to serving my Haitian sisters and brothers as a simple citizen in the field of education.”

Aristide was ousted in 2004, leaving Haiti aboard a US plane as a small group of rebels neared the capital. His return has been a principal demand of his Fanmi Lavalas party, which has lost influence as electoral officials blocked it from participating in elections including the disputed November 28 vote now under challenge — though Aristide himself has remained a widely popular figure.

He is two years younger than Duvalier, the now 59-year-old exdictator he spoke against as a Roman Catholic priest in the La Saline slum. Together the men represent the two main oppositional forces in Haitian politics over the last half century: stable, often brutal authoritarianism in favour of elites against charismatic populism that opponents said bordered on demagoguery.

According to Duvalier’s confidants, the two men have never met. Their mutual presence in Haiti could cause long-simmering tensions to erupt.

Aristide did not endorse a candidate in the current race and has said he would not seek office if he came back.

Instead he said in the letter, whose authenticity was confirmed by Lavalas spokeswoman Maryse Narcisse, his return is necessary to help his countrymen and for his medical needs following six eye surgeries in his six years of exile.

“The unbearable pain experienced in the winter must be avoided in order to reduce any risk of further complications and blindness,” he said. South African winter begins in June.

“Let us hope that the Haitian and South African governments will enter into communication in order to make that happen in the next coming days,” he said.

Narcisse said supporters were eagerly awaiting his arrival, pending the delivery of a new Haitian passport.

Brian Concannon, a lawyer who has represented Aristide, says the ousted leader has applied but has never heard back from his homeland’s government.

The US State Department reacted to the letter in a series of posts by spokesman PJ Crowley on Twitter.

“This is an important period for Haiti. What it needs is calm, not divisive actions that distract from the task of forming a new government,” said one.

The other: “We do not doubt President Aristide’s desire to help the people of Haiti. But today Haiti needs to focus on its future, not its past.”

Duvalier also applied for a new passport Wednesday and intends to leave the country when he gets it, a spokesman said, insisting that the once-reviled strongman can neither be forced to leave his homeland or compelled to stay and face a potential criminal trial on allegations of corruption and human-rights abuses.

He had been scheduled to leave Thursday but can’t because his passport has expired, said spokesman Yves Germain Joseph. He stunned the country Sunday with his sudden and mysterious return nearly 25 years after he was forced into exile by a popular uprising against a regime widely viewed as brutal and corrupt.

The spokesman said he did not know how long it would take to get a new passport but that the former dictator known as “Baby Doc” was in no rush to leave Haiti.

“He is home here. He is a Haitian,” Joseph said. “Nobody can ask Mr Duvalier or any Haitian to leave his country at any time.”

Duvalier may at least change his lodgings, according to his defence attorney Reynold Georges. He said the former leader would be leaving the luxurious Hotel Karibe. He said he couldn’t speculate how long the exdictator would stay in the country, but it would take at least two weeks to resolve the legal cases filed against him.

“He will have to answer that question himself but for now, we’re here,” Georges said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A lawyer for Jean-Claude Duvalier says the former Haitian dictator is facing accusations of corruption and embezzlement for allegedly pilfering the treasury before his 1986 ouster.

Defence attorney Gervais Charles says the case is now in the hands of a judge of instruction who will decide whether there is enough evidence to go to trial.

 

That process can take up to three months.

Duvalier left court after a day of questions yesterday and headed back to his hotel.

Haitian police had earlier in the day led the ex-dictator known as 'Baby Doc' out of his hotel and taken him to court without saying whether he was being charged with crimes committed under his brutal regime.

Duvalier, 59, was calm and did not say anything, ignoring questions from journalists, as he was led away to cheers from some and jeers from others.

Spectators fill court

The SUV drove in a convoy of police vehicles to a courthouse, even as dozens of Duvalier supporters tried to block streets with overturned trash bins and rocks to try to prevent the former dictator from going to prison.

The courthouse was thronged with spectators and journalists, who were not permitted to enter to view the proceedings.

Several hundred Duvalier supporters gathered outside the court, burning tyres, chanting slogans and calling for the arrest of President René Préval.

Fifty-six-year-old Chal Christen waved a flag of Duvalier's political party - one he said he'd had stored away since the one-time 'president for life' was deposed in a popular uprising and forced into exile nearly 25 years ago.

"We don't have food, our houses collapsed, our children can't go to school. It's Préval that is the dictator," Christen said. "We want Duvalier for president. Under him, we ate well, we were safe."

Fenel Alexi, a 31-year-old mechanic, watched the scene and denounced both Duvalier and Préval.

"The citizens of this country have endured so much crime," Alexi said. "We haven't had a president who hasn't committed crimes."

Duvalier was forced into exile in 1986 in a mass uprising and had been living in exile in France. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have urged the Haitian government to arrest him for widespread abuses.

Just a start

Yesterday, Amnesty International issued a statement praising what it called "the arrest" of Duvalier but said it was just a start.

"If true justice is to be done in Haiti, the Haitian authorities need to open a criminal investigation into Duvalier's responsibility for the multitude of human rights abuses that were committed under his rule, including torture, arbitrary detentions, rape, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions," the group said.

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his father, Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier. The father and son presided over one of the darkest chapters in Haitian history, a period when thuggish government secret police force known as the Tonton Macoute tortured and killed opponents.

The younger Duvalier had not yet publicly commented on why he came back to Haiti. His companion, Roy, told reporters he would stay three days.

His return comes as Haiti struggles to work through a dire political crisis following the problematic November 28 first-round presidential election, as well as a cholera epidemic and a troubled recovery from an earthquake.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier waves from a hotel in Petionville, Haitii,

on January 16, 2011. (Reuters: Lee Celano)

A contingent of police led the former dictator known as "Baby Doc" through the hotel and to a waiting SUV. He was not wearing handcuffs.

Duvalier, 59, was calm and did not say anything, ignoring questions from journalists, as he was led away to cheers from some and jeers from others.

The SUV drove in a convoy of police vehicles to a courthouse, even as dozens of Duvalier supporters blocked streets with overturned trash bins and rocks to try to prevent the former dictator from going to prison.

The courthouse was thronged with spectators and journalists, who were not permitted to enter to view the proceedings.

She said she did not know why authorities decided to escort him to court and did not expect to be there much longer. "We are very relaxed, drinking coffee and water," she told AP. "They said they are making photocopies. We don't know why."

He was removed from the hotel after meeting in private with senior Haitian judicial officials inside his hotel room amid calls by human rights groups and other for his arrest.

The country's top prosecutor and a judge were among those meeting with the former leader in the high-end hotel where he has been ensconced since his surprise return to Haiti on Sunday.

Dozens of Haitian National Police officers were posted inside and around the hotel, some of them in riot gear or guarding the stairwells. A police vehicle for transporting prisoners was parked in front of the hotel's main door and all non-police traffic was halted at the driveway.

Henry Robert Sterlin, a former ambassador under Duvalier who has said in recent days that he was speaking as a spokesman for the former dictator, told reporters at the scene he was shocked by the developments. "Let's see if they put him in prison," he said.

None of the officials present would comment on what was being discussed at the meeting. Asked by journalists why he was going to meet Duvalier, Judge Gabriel Amboisse said, "I'm here to assist the prosecutor because he asked me to be here with him."

Duvalier was forced into exile in 1986 in a mass uprising and had been living in exile in France. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have urged the Haitian government to arrest him for widespread abuses.

Duvalier assumed power in 1971 at age 19 following the death of his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. The father and son presided over one of the darkest chapters in Haitian history, a period when thuggish government secret police force known as the Tonton Macoute tortured and killed opponents.

The younger Duvalier still has some support in Haiti and millions are too young to remember life under his dictatorship. His abrupt return sent shock waves through the country, with some fearing that his presence will bring back the extreme polarization, and political violence, of the past.

He has not yet publicly commented on why he came back to Haiti. His companion, Roy, told reporters he would stay three days.

His return comes as Haiti struggles to work through a dire political crisis following the problematic Nov. 28 first-round presidential election, as well as a cholera epidemic and a troubled recovery from an earthquake.

Duvalier has also been accused of pilfering millions of dollars from public funds and spiriting them out of the country to Swiss banks, though he denies stealing from Haiti.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville said Tuesday that Duvalier's return increases the chance that he could be charged with atrocities committed during his 15-year rule because it will be easier to bring charges in the country where the crimes occurred.

He cautioned, though, that Haiti's fragile judicial system may be in no position to mount a case.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian police have taken ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier out of his hotel. The former dictator known as "Baby Doc" was led through the hotel by a contingent of police.

Duvalier did not say anything as he was out the back of the hotel. Asked by journalists if he was being arrested, his longtime companion Veronique Roy, laughed but said nothing.

Duvalier was forced into exile in 1986 in a mass uprising and had been living in exile in France. He made a surprise return home on Sunday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian police have taken ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier out of his hotel. The former dictator known as "Baby Doc" was led through the hotel by a contingent of police. He did not say anything as he was out the back of the hotel. Asked by journalists if he was being arrested, his longtime companion Veronique Roy, laughed but said nothing.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the past 12 months, Haiti — already the western hemisphere's economic basket case — has suffered an epic earthquake that according to latest estimates killed more than 250,000 people and leveled the country's infrastructure, a cholera epidemic that has claimed thousands more lives and a powder-keg political crisis tied to the fraud-tainted Nov. 28 presidential election. (See pictures of Haiti's cholera outbreak.)

All the country needed now was the return of a brutal exiled dictator.

This being Haiti, whose chronic tragedy is so often served with a helping of banana-republic bizarreness, that's what it got Sunday afternoon when Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier landed in Port-au-Prince for the first time since being thrown out of the country and packed off to France almost 25 years ago. "I came to help my country," the 59-year-old former despot declared as some 2,000 of his supporters met him at the airport. But it's hard to imagine how Duvalier's reappearance, which Haitian officials insist took them by surprise, could do anything more than throw Haiti into even deeper turmoil as it tries to rebuild after last year's disaster. (See TIME's exclusive pictures from the Haiti earthquake.)

And what's perhaps even harder to imagine is how the government of French President Nicolas Sarkozy could have allowed Duvalier, who arrived from Paris, to board an Air France flight bound for Haiti under the current circumstances. "For the French to have even permitted [Duvalier] to leave their territory amidst an electoral and cholera crisis here shows they have not much interest in the welfare of the Haitian people," says a high-ranking Haitian government official.

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. (See TIME's photo-essay "Haiti One Year Later.")

The less-than-credible Nov. 28 results, which many if not most Haitians believe the government fixed to eke out a runoff spot for Célestin, were met by violent street protests last month. Even before last week's OAS report, the aloof and unpopular Préval was under ample international pressure, including from the U.S., to recognize the official third-place finisher, Michel Martelly, as the actual runner-up. (He would then face first-place candidate Mirlande Manigat in the runoff.) Last week, France's ambassador to Haiti, Didier Le Bret, was frequently on Haitian radio calling on Préval to respect the OAS recommendation. Préval in turn angrily charged France and the international community with imperialist-style strong-arming.

The question now is, Who if anyone in this standoff benefits from the sudden presence of Duvalier? Some Haitian pundits on Sunday said it might be meant to compel Préval to acquiesce to international demands to sacrifice Célestin. But it's hard to believe, even under Sarkozy, that France and the international community would stoop so low diplomatically as to encourage Duvalier to return to Haiti for that purpose. Others suggested that Duvalier's return instead gives Préval leverage by showing the international powers how much more turbulent things can get if they keep messing with the Haitian President. But again, could even Préval be cynical enough to open the door to one of the 20th century's most notorious dictators for that kind of political gain? Either way, sources close to Duvalier told reporters Sunday that he'd entered Haiti on a diplomatic passport — but if so, it was unclear which country had issued it to him. (See the early days of Baby Doc's life in exile in France.)

What's worse, this drama could actually send many Haitians, albeit with blinders on, to the side of Duvalier, whose stunning return might make him seem a figure of stability and order amid their country's nightmarish uncertainties. Baby Doc had already announced his desire to return to Haiti in 2004, after the ouster of populist President Jean-Bertrand Aristide (whose supporters may now clamor more loudly for his own return from exile in South Africa). Duvalier even said he wanted to run for President himself in the 2006 elections. But Haitian officials made it clear that if Duvalier did return, he'd face trial on charges of corruption and brutality during his 15-year dictatorship, which had succeeded the even harsher regime of his father, François "Papa Doc" Duvalier, who died in 1971. (See the death and legacy of Papa Doc Duvalier.)

Both Papa Doc and Baby Doc ruled through terror, relying on bloodthirsty enforcers like the Tonton Macoutes, and each stole the western hemisphere's poorest nation blind. After Baby Doc and his infamously venal wife, Michèle Bennett, were whisked out of Haiti in February of 1986 on a U.S. Air Force plane amid a seething uprising by Haitians, they settled in the south of France and lived in one of the world's most luxurious exiles. (They divorced in 1993; Duvalier arrived in Port-au-Prince on Sunday with his new wife, Véronique Roy, the granddaughter of a former Haitian President.) (Comment on this story.)

Baby Doc apologized for his government's "errors" in 2004. But despite the welcome he received at the Port-au-Prince airport, Haitian police officials said they were "waiting for instructions from prosecutors" as to whether they should arrest him. After stepping off his Air France flight on Sunday, Duvalier declared, "I am here to see how the situation is." Please. He already knew how bad the situation was. And just as he and his monstrous father did when they ruled Haiti, he's there to make it worse.