Both Oars In In the absence of comedians

Jan 18, 2011

This past Sunday evening, a close Haitian friend called to let me know that he had just heard that Jean-Claude Duvalier, known dis-affectionately as Baby Doc, would be landing at the international airport in about 30 minutes. Exacerbated, he asked, “Do you have any idea why he is coming to Haiti?”

I didn’t. But, in the hopes of distracting my friend from his grim thoughts, I said, “Maybe he has heard that the International Aid Organizations are paying a lot for local drivers. With the EU economy the way it is, the jobs cannot be too good in France.” He laughed — at least for a moment.  

I was being intentionally flippant to give my friend some comic relief. I meant no disrespect for his justified displeasure at learning that the son of Haiti’s infamous father-son dictator duo was soon to arrive in Haiti. The diminutive Duvalier had been in exile in France since his ouster in 1986. Nobody, big or small in the political landscape of Haiti, seemed clear on why that wonderful arrangement had come to a close. And, nobody I knew was happy about it either.

Even though I came to Haiti a decade after the murderous Duvalier regime had been brought to an end, I shared my friend’s revulsion to the visit. Indeed, it seems unconscionable that Baby Doc would be allowed to set foot on the soil his family had soaked with others’ blood. The only purpose could be to add insult to Haiti’s many recent injuries. An earthquake, cholera, a failed November election and now a slap in the face to boot — it seemed inconceivable. Even Graham Greene could not have concocted such a twist.   

There turned out to be one small comfort for U.S. expats like myself. Baby Doc had made his way to Haiti on Air France via Guadeloupe — not on American Airlines via Miami. At least my first country had not played a direct role in this “piling on” to Haiti’s already long streak of misfortunes.

I knew enough from reading books about Papa Doc and hearing first-hand accounts of the Duvalier family’s near three decade reign of terror to also have a sick feeling in my gut when I heard about the unexpected visit. But, this wasn’t the first time I had this feeling. I felt it, albeit to a lesser extent, when I first read “Bon retour Jean Claude” scrolled in black graffiti on random walls around Port au Prince. The eerie phrase started appearing here and there shortly after the earthquake.

Once, I even saw the salutation to the exiled dictator on a commercially printed banner hanging over a street which leads to the well-known Mevs Clinic in Port au Prince, which is just off the main route to the airport. It included a birthday wish as well. I couldn’t imagine what was going on in the minds of the people who had this banner made. I couldn’t help thinking, “Why would they take the risk to hang it so prominently? Who do they hope to impress?” Little did I know!

What makes Baby Doc’s visit doubly confusing is that one would think Haiti would be a source of pain for him as well. In “Written in Blood,” an excellent detailed history of Haiti written in English, historians Robert and Nancy Heinl provide pages of embarrassing accounts of the once-puppet dictator’s struggle to break free from his conniving mother, his controlling, shopaholic wife and his father’s leftover cabinet in order to be his own diabolical man.

Unfortunately for Baby Doc, his only truly independent act was his resignation — and even that was reported to have been carefully orchestrated by others. His tragic life would almost inspire some pity if it weren’t for his own many depraved, criminal contributions to Haiti’s ongoing suffering.

My favorite passage in the Heinls’ 800 plus page tome recounts Baby Doc’s habit of falling asleep while being instructed in law by the tutors his mother handpicked for the task. Again, I mention this not to make light of the pain of those who suffered and lost family during the cruel reign of the Duvaliers, but to lampoon the man who is so obviously clueless of his own ineptitude and inglorious history that he could actually suggest that he has come “to help his country.”

I, too, wish Monsieur Duvalier a bon retour—en France!

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