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Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haiti’s ‘Baby Doc,’ Dies at 63 Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haiti’s ‘Baby Doc,’ Dies at 63
(35 minutes later)
Jean-Claude Duvalier, a former dictator of Haiti, has died, the president of Haiti, Michel J. Martelly, said on Saturday. MEXICO CITY — Jean-Claude Duvalier, a former dictator of Haiti known as Baby Doc who ruled the country with a brutality that left thousands dead, disappeared and illegally detained and tortured, and then shocked the country anew with a sudden return from a 25-year exile in 2011, died on Saturday.
Mr. Martelly announced the death in a post on Twitter. The president of Haiti, Michel J. Martelly, announced the death in a statement and in a post on Twitter.
Mr. Duvalier, 63, known as Baby Doc, ruled the country for nearly 15 years. Along with his father, François (Papa Doc) Duvalier, he dominated the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere through a combination of brutality, intimidation and guile. Mr. Duvalier, 63, died of a heart attack at his home in Port-au-Prince, according to The Associated Press.
Mr. Duvalier maintained a quiet defiance and defense of what human rights workers called one of the most oppressive regimes in the hemisphere, following in the footsteps of his father, François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, who also died suddenly in 1971.
The younger Duvalier was 19 when he assumed the post of "President for Life,” as he called it.
He never apologized for the atrocities committed under his government, including brutal crackdowns on opponents at the hands of the feared Tonton Macoutes civilian militia.
Indeed, Mr. Duvalier defended himself as victims of his regime pursued corruption and human rights abuse charges in Haitian courts, where he calmly denied wrongdoing and even asserted that the country was better off when he ruled.
He regularly dined in Port-au-Prince restaurants and attended events at the invitation of Mr. Martelly, whose administration has included relatives and allies of people associated with Mr. Duvalier.
This year, the former dictator announced he was forming a political party, though analysts were not sure if it was a serious move or a thumb in the eye of the rival he loathed and who succeeded him, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, another formerly exiled president who had also returned and is still seen as a political force.
Mr. Duvalier fled the country in an uprising in 1986 that set the stage for democratic elections, and he spent most of his exile in France. Human rights groups have said that he looted Haiti’s treasury of millions of dollars and has largely lived off ill-gotten gains ever since.