CSMS Magazine Staff writers
In latest developments, Associated Press confirms that Baby Doc has a return ticket to France. According to AP, Jean Claude Duvalier is scheduled to return to France on January 20th. Human rights organizations are demanding that Duvalier be brought to justice for crimes he and his father had committed during their 29 year rule. Duvalier has been accused of embezzlement and the disappearance of thousands of Haitians.
Last night, Haitians all over the world manifested upon hearing the news of Baby Doc’s return. Many felt outraged and some were stupefied. After more than one hour waiting to be clear by custom agents at the Port-au-Prince airport, Jean Claude Duvalier and his longtime companion, Veronique Roy, took refuge at the Karibe Hotel in uptown Port-au-Prince.
Duvalier made little comments as to what he plans to do while in the country. He simply said that he has come to participate in the rebuilding of Haiti. But Veronique Roy, the granddaughter of the late Haitian president Paul Eugene Magloire who has been the wife and spokesperson for years, told the journalists that a press conference is scheduled for this afternoon. According to France 24, Veronique said that Duvalier would be in Haiti for three days.
It is not certain as to how Duvalier plans to “help.”He was reportedly being extremely brooked. His fortune was said to be doomed, wiped out by his divorce with Michelle Bennett in 1993. After 25 years in exile, Mr. Duvalier’s face looks dull as he walked in erratic steps on his way to the front of the airport, ushering the picture of a deranged individual just being transplanted into an unfriendly environment.
“On Aug. 22, 1995, a couple identifying themselves as Mr. and Mrs. Valere checked into two rooms at L’Eden Bleu, a $78-a-night hotel in Mougins, says manager Patrick Budail. After the pair stayed weeks without paying, Mr. Budail called the police, and the gendarmes took the couple into custody. At the police station, someone recognized them as Mr. Duvalier and his mother,” wrote Marjorie Valbrun in the Wall Street Journal back in 2003.
The story does not stop there. The name Valere was a fictitious name used in a non-fiction novel. The French cops released them only after Veronique Roy “came to settle the bill,” wrote the Journal. The hotel management finally allowed the Duvaliers to return, where they stayed for another three months. But Veronique Roy picked them at dawn in the morning of Nov. 3, 1995 after Mr. Budail wrote an unpaid bill of $18,000, including late fees. Veronique rejected the claim, saying that the hotel was trying to profit off the Duvalier name.
There are two important developments that one needs to focus on today. One is the Duvalier’s press conference. The other is the results from the OAS meeting with Preval, ALSO SCHEDULED TO TAKE PLACE TODAY.
