Speculation runs wild about Duvalier’s plan

[Catherina]

Source: The Toronto Star




Haiti's former dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, centre, gestures to supporters on the balcony of his hotel room in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Jan. 19. Duvalier returned Sunday to Haiti after nearly 25 years in exile. Ramon Espinosa/AP

As a Haitian judge begins investigating whether to proceed with charges against Jean-Claude Duvalier, there is growing suspicion that the former dictator will not only emerge unscathed but try to reclaim assets seized after his ouster in 1986.

“I don’t think they would have gone back if he didn’t have any kind of guarantee for his safety and for impunity, somehow, because he’s not crazy,” said Jean-Marie Bourjolly, a professor at the Université du Québec a Montréal, who sits as one of the Haitian appointees on the board of Bill Clinton’s Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission.

In a post-9/11 era in which air travel is anything but casual, Bourjolly said it’s hard to believe that Duvalier could have left Paris by plane without the French authorities knowing. “It looks suspicious to me.” He suspects that, after a few weeks have passed, the dictator dubbed “Baby Doc” will escape prosecution, then attempt to reclaim property confiscated after he left the country.

There are also suggestions that, should he be cleared of crimes in Haiti, Duvalier will attempt to get his hands on nearly $6 million now frozen in Swiss bank accounts.

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Read more: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/924891--speculation-runs-wild-about-duvalier-s-plan

[FLPanhandle]

1. Power and money

What's to speculate on?

[Catherina]

2. When you put it that way, nothing. +1 n/t

[earcandle]

3. All because we ousted Aristide, right?

Are we dogs or what? 

[Lasher]

4. "...try to reclaim assets seized after his ouster in 1986."

OK now I understand why he went back. He enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle in France, until he lost most of his wealth in a 1993 divorce from Michele. Now, 18 years later, he must be broke and desperate to get his hands on that $6 million.

[SoCalDem]

5. "The devil you know"

:(

These people are so desperate, they may welcome him back.. Many of the people he bullied have died by now, and the younger generation may see him as a savoiur-of-sorts:(

[Odin2005]

6. Aristide needs to get back there and kick his ass.