Update: {20.1.11}Four Haitians, including a former spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, filed charges Wednesday with the prosecutor in Port-au-Prince against Jean-Claude Duvalier for crimes against humanity including systematic torture. Accuser Michele Montas was a journalist who was forced into exile in the early 1980's after the dictator closed a radio station owned by her husband. A spokesperson for Duvalier says he intends to remain in Haiti and called the criminal charges "politically motivated". Duvalier already faces charges of graft. Money he stole form the government was frozen in Swiss bank accounts ($4.6m) until the Swiss decided to give it back to Haiti after the earthquake. The debt induced return of 'Baby Doc' has roiled the already chaotic political situation in Haiti. A showdown between the dictator and former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide looms possible because Aristide is clamoring for return from exile in South Africa. The priest turned politician is still widely popular. He was ousted in a rebellion lead by former soldiers in 2004 and again in 2006. The first coup was engineered by Haiti's small and powerful creole aristocracy which was unhappy with Aristide's attempts at reform. The US and France gave their blessing to the ouster of the popular president who proved intractable*. Aristide's Haitian passport has expired, but he hopes an agreement can be reached that could permit him to return. Aristide led a pro-democracy movement against Duvalier before wining a free election in 1990. A confrontation between the foes and their respective political forces could tip devastated and impoverished Haiti over the edge into a civil war. Such a grave crisis would not be unprecedented in the nation's bloody and turbulent history. It is easy to forget that the rubble strewn, cholera racked city of Port-au-Prince was once the capital of the richest colony in the Caribbean.
{18.1.11}More than a city was destroyed by the earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince to the ground a year ago. The fragile Haitian republic is also a victim. The power vacuum created by the November election rendered inconclusive by corruption has allowed an old dictator to return. Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's return on Sunday to Haiti was a surprise shock to the people of the still devastated country. His motives for return using a Haitian diplomatic passport are not yet clear. But clearly the utter failure of the Haitian government to make some order out of chaos one year after the earthquake contributed to his decision. To the government's credit, it took Duvalier into custody after two days of him being at large, but the justice system is just as broken as the presidential palace Baby Doc once occupied so ruthlessly as "president for life". He is alleged to have killed and tortured thousands of Haitians using his personal gestapo, known as the Tonton Macoutes ("Uncle Gunnysack"). He escaped the island in 1986 during a popular uprising. Duvalier was detained on a revived judicial complaint for money stolen from the treasury.
The arrest of 'Baby Doc' Duvalier is an existential test of legitimacy for the government. If it fails to prosecute Duvalier for known heinous crimes committed during his regime, then the government must be placed into an international receivership by the United Nations as a failed state. The UN, not the United States, should install a caretaker government responsible for reestablishing the rule of law and rebuilding the economy to the extent sufficient to hold new elections without significant fraud or civil unrest affecting the results. It is as if evil voodoo has an unbroken grip on the only nation founded by emancipated slaves in 1804. The return of Baby Doc is the devil knocking at Haiti's door. Prosecuting Duvalier is a way to undo the spell.
*Both Duvalier and his equally notorious father, 'Papa Doc' Duvalier, were backed by the CIA during the Cold War.