Former dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier returns to Haiti

Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier

PORT-AU-PRINCE,  (Reuters) – Exiled former Haitian  dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned unexpectedly  to his Caribbean homeland today 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, Duvalier, now 59, arrived at  Port-au-Prince airport on an Air France flight from Paris,  witnesses said.

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier
Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier

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