Baby Doc Duvalier's arrival in Haiti yesterday after nearly 25 years of exile has shaken everybody up. We all have so many questions, perhaps some of them will be answered by Duvalier's press conference that is supposed to be today at the Hotel Karibe. UPDATE: Press conference was cancelled for nonsensical reasons. The three big questions:
Why is he here?
Who let him come?
Will he be arrested?
The timing cannot be ignored, why now? This event would clearly distract away from the candidate runoff selection, which Preval and his committee have been holding up. Duvalier arrived with an expired passport. Who in France dropped this ball by letting him on a plane? His fiancée said in a short statement yesterday that Duvalier was here to "help" Haiti. If only he could go back in time and not steal all the money from the country's coffers. He is now a very rich man since Swiss banks unfroze his accounts last year.
Some of the less likely reasons why people think he is here include (1) He's dying and wants to die on Haitian soil and (2) He wants to be president. The only theory I've heard that makes sense is that Preval wants his presence to distract everyone so he can remain President.
Say this theory is true, why would Duvalier agree to be Preval's pawn? Perhaps Duvalier wants people to remember life as being better when he was ruling the country compared to the current state of affairs. Most Haitians cannot remember as over half were not living in 1986. The median age in Haiti is 20.2 years. Education is not accessible for most Haitians, so national history has been passed down not through established record, but by family members. Those who prospered under Duvalier do not fear him. Those that disagreed with him or his father perished by the thousands.
I don't feel any good can come from this.
Update via Twitter: Even Duvalier's spokesperson has not been told why he is in Haiti. That doesn't sound promising...
I think Preval is afoot, for sure... but to what end? Once the distraction is over someone has to become president. Unless Duvalier is acting on his own, and the government is to surprised to know their next move. Today at a press conference Bellerive said Duvalier's presence made him very uneasy and that they need to build a case against him in order to have him arrested.
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