Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, son of brutal Haitian dictator Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, pictured here, has returned to Haiti presumably to aid in recovery efforts. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

After more than two decades in exile, Jean Claude Duvalier made good on a promise to return to Haiti. Duvalier, or “Baby Doc” is the son of Francois Duvalier, or “Papa Doc,” who ruled Haiti with an iron fist for over twenty years. Crowds gathered and cheered upon his return.

Baby Doc Duvalier arrives in Haiti after long exile

After more than 23 years in exile, Jean Claude Duvalier, widely referred to as “Baby Doc,” has returned to Haiti, reportedly to help rebuild the struggling Caribbean nation, according to CNN. After the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Duvalier, who has been living in exile in Paris, said he wished to help in any way he could when he arrived in Port Au Prince. Though some may cheer the return of Duvalier, many people characterize it as returning to the scene of the crime. Plenty of people will call for his arrest, and it appears that it could very likely happen, as police and a magistrate entered the hotel he is staying at .

Duvalier family legacy

Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier is the son of Haitian dictator Francois Duvalier, known as “Papa Doc.” Papa Doc governed Haiti with an iron fist, rigging elections and bleeding the nation’s coffers dry to line his own pockets. His military police, called the Tonton Macoutes after a mythological figure equivalent to the bogeyman, terrorized the populace and were responsible for hundreds, if not thousands of deaths. The corrupt and authoritarian policies of Papa Doc’s regime continued when Baby Doc ascended to power after his fathers’ death. The younger Duvalier absconded to Paris in 1986 amid growing unrest with millions of dollars fleeced from the people of Haiti.

Not the help that Haiti needs

Haiti is still struggling to recover from the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which killed thousands and left over a million homeless. The situation there has only been exacerbated by escalating violence and a cholera epidemic. Though the efforts of Sean Penn and Wyclef Jean, among others, are certainly admirable, it would seem that “Baby Doc” is not the kind of help the country needs.

Sources

CNN