Baby Doc: I’m putting Haiti before myself

The former Haitian dictator says he returned to help Haiti despite the troubles he knew he could face.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, – Former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier has told the Haitian people that he returned after 25 years in exile to help in the reconstruction of the country, despite the troubles that awaited him here.

Duvalier, who returned to his homeland from France four days after the country marked the first anniversary of the January 12th earthquake, issued his first public statement a few days after he was slapped with corruption charges stemming from his actions during his 15-year rule.

“When I made the decision to come back to Haiti to commemorate this sad anniversary with you, in our country, I was ready for any kind of persecution,” he said on Friday. “But I believe that the desire to participate by your side in this collaboration for the national reconstruction far outweighs any harassment I could face.”

Duvalier is also accused of several human rights abuses. It’s alleged that throughout his 1971 to 1986 rule, systematic torture, extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detentions were commonplace in Haiti.

Although stopping short of apologizing, the 59-year-old Duvalier acknowledged that people had suffered under his rule.

He offered his “profound sadness toward my countrymen who consider themselves, rightly, to have been victims of my government".

Duvalier said further that he envisioned a day when “all Haiti's children, men and women, old and young, rich and poor, from the interior and from the Diaspora, can march hand in hand without exclusion to participate together in Haiti's rebirth.”

Although Duvalier’s statement did not refer to several millions he is alleged to have stolen from government coffers, an American attorney said the former strongman wants to access funds frozen in a Swiss bank account to help in the reconstruction process.

“What he would like to do with the funds in Switzerland is to contribute that to the rebuilding of the country and that is one of the reasons why he came back,” Ed Marger told reporters.

Marger was among a team of consultants who fielded questions after Duvalier made his statement and left. The others included former United States congressman and presidential candidate Bob Barr, attorney American lawyer Mike Puglise, and Haitian lawyer Reynold Georges.

Duvalier began his rule of Haiti at the age of 19, after the death of his father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, in 1971. However, he fled to France after being toppled in a revolt in 1986.

His return comes at a time the country is in the midst of political uncertainty, with the results of presidential elections still unresolved.

An Organisation of American States (OAS) expert mission has submitted a report challenging the results of the first round, announced by Haiti’s provisional electoral council (CEP), which put former first lady Mirlande Manigat and the candidate of the ruling party, Jude Celestin, in the runoff. An OAS expert mission pointed to several flaws and recommended that Celestin be dropped and the third-placed Michel Martelly – a popular musician – put to face off against Manigat.

However, the CEP has expressed concerns about the OAS report and said it is not bound by it.

The run-off had been scheduled to take place since January 16, but with no final results from the first round, it was postponed and no new date set.