Haiti: Jean-Claude Duvalier

But if the father had been awesome yet comprehensible, the son, inheriting power as a nineteen-year-old cipher, had gradually emerged as something else, something foreign and decadent.

Mark Danner, “Beyond the Mountains,” The New Yorker (November 27, 1989, December 4, 1989, December 11, 1989)

The paranoia of the Duvalier family … is surpassed only by the barbarous acts that are inflicted upon those who are or even those whom they perceive to be against them.

Louis Colbert, “Haitian Aliens: A People in Limbo,” The Crisis (August-September 1980).

The second-generation Duvalier flaunted an opulent life-style in the midst of incredible poverty. The President, who is fond of yachts and sports cars, did not forgo either pleasure when a critical shortage of foreign currency last year left the country almost without fuel. His most costly indulgence may have been his 1980 marriage to Michele Bennett, 34, a Haitian divorcee who once worked in New York City as a secretary. Their wedding was Haiti’s social event of the decade. The price tag: $3 million. Fireworks alone cost $100,000.

“Bad Times for Baby Doc,” Time (10 February 1986).

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in half a dozen towns and cities across this impoverished country in the past few weeks, challenging as never before the family dictatorship that has ruled Haiti with an iron hand for nearly 30 years.

“Haitians take to streets to challenge dictator,” The Age (23 December 1985)

Investigators working for the new government of Haiti have uncovered what they believe is almsot $5 million worth of real estate owned by interests linked to the family of deposed president Jean-Claude Duvalier. These assets consist of five Manhattan apartments, including a fifty-fourth floor Trump Tower condominium bought in Agust 1983 for $1.6 million.

Dan Dorfman, “On the trail of Baby Doc,” New York Magazine (14 June 1986)

Weeks after the overthrow of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986, Haiti asked Switzerland to freeze $5 million it alleged Mr. Duvalier had stolen and stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

Deborah Ball, “Give back stolen cash? Not so easy,” The Wall Street Journal (21 August 2010)

Ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to Haiti Sunday for the first time since 1986, raising speculation about his motives at a time of great political uncertainty.

“Baby Doc back in Haiti for first time in 25 years,” Agence France Presse (16 January 2011)