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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Baby Doc is back in town |
| 2011-01-17 |
| Tan, rested, ready... Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, a once feared and reviled dictator who was tossed in a popular uprising nearly 25 years ago, has made a stunning return to Haiti, raising concerns he could screw up efforts to solve the nation's interminable political crisis, a cholera plague and the dilatory reconstruction from last year's devastating earthquake. Baby Doc's arrival at the airport Sunday was as mysterious as it was goofy. He greeted a crowd of several hundred cheering knuckle artists and pistoleros but did not say why he chose this tumultuous period to suddenly pop up from his exile in La Belle France -- or what he intended to do while back in Haiti. My guess would be that he intends to hand out some bucks and get the Ton Tons back to work keeping the anarchy level high enough to generate demands for "stability." "I'm not here for politics," Duvalier told Radio Caraibes. "I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti." Then his lips fell off. His longtime concubine, Veronique Roy, told news hounds at one point that he planned to stay three days. He planned to talk to newsies on Monday. President Rene Preval -- who told news hounds in 2007 that Duvalier could return to Haiti but would face justice for the deaths of thousands of people and the theft of millions of dollars -- made no public comment on the former dictator's re-emergence. But Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive shrugged it off. Meaning they're not going to do anything. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #10 Or...Undead Papa Doc still walks amongst them. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-01-17 23:59 |
| #9 The tomb is empty. Crowds that broke in after Baby Doc took a powder found it that way. So either he was put someplace else to begin with, or some back-woods hougan has a heck of a trophy. |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-01-17 22:50 |
| #8 Why not open Papa Doc's tomb and let Baron Samedi rule again! Unless the tomb is already empty? |
| Posted by: borgboy 2011-01-17 17:21 |
| #7 from the CIA factbook: Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty, the damage to Port-au-Prince caused the country's GDP to contract an estimated 8% in 2010. Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to damage from frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country's widespread deforestation. US economic engagement under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement (HOPE) Act, passed in December 2006, has boosted apparel exports and investment by providing tariff-free access to the US. Congress voted in 2010 to extend the legislation until 2020 under the Haitian Economic Lift Act (HELP); the apparel sector accounts for three-quarters of Haitian exports and nearly one-tenth of GDP. Remittances are the primary source of foreign exchange, equaling nearly a quarter of GDP and more than twice the earnings from exports. Haiti suffers from a lack of investment because of insecurity and limited infrastructure, and a severe trade deficit. In 2005, Haiti paid its arrears to the World Bank, paving the way for reengagement with the Bank. Haiti received debt forgiveness for over $1 billion of its debt through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative in 2009. The remainder of its outstanding external debt was cancelled by donor countries in early 2010 but has since climbed back to about $500 million. The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability. see: "economic basketcase" with few resources they haven't already stripped, sold, or compromised |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-17 16:51 |
| #6 And before people go all high and mighty on me about Duvalier, why is it that Haiti the SECOND independent republic in this hemisphere has always been a hellhole? At least under the father and son team of Duvalier, the country was approaching the modern era - that and the US Marine occupation period immediately before the Duvalier era was the only time that benighted country has had any growth or development. Haiti is America's little bit of African heaven right down in the Caribbean, and like Africa, it is doomed to squalor and decline unless occupied or run by a strongman - see Uganda and the Ivory Coast for examples. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-01-17 16:45 |
| #5 Hell, the Haitians could do worse than Baby Doc right about now, and have done so for the past two decades. At least under the Duvalier regime, Haiti had a functional economy and infrastructure was being built. Compare and contrast that with what has happened since the end of the Duvalier regime. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2011-01-17 16:40 |
| #4 "I'm not here for politics," Duvalier told Radio Caraibes. "I'm here for the reconstruction of Haiti." Is like Jimmah saying he supports the Juice..... |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2011-01-17 14:20 |
| #3 He could get Cholera, that would be acceptable. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-01-17 10:37 |
| #2 nothing good can come from this |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-01-17 08:20 |
| #1 Hey when I said "President for Life" I MEANT it! |
| Posted by: European Conservative 2011-01-17 05:22 |