PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Rights groups demanded on Monday that Haiti arrest former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier for crimes against humanity after his surprise return from 25 years in exile, which strained an edgy political atmosphere in the volatile Caribbean state.
Analysts said the arrival in Port-au-Prince on Sunday of "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who fled his homeland in 1986 to escape a popular revolt, could only complicate the climate of nervous uncertainty in earthquake-battered Haiti. Tensions in the impoverished nation are running high after chaotic and inconclusive November 28 elections.
"Duvalier's return to Haiti should be for one purpose only: to face justice," Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Duvalier, 59, should be brought to trial for the killings and torture of thousands of opponents at the hands of the thuggish Tonton Macoutes militia during his 15 years in power. Amnesty called those acts "crimes against humanity."
Responding to the demands for Duvalier's arrest, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said the government was "not at ease" with the former dictator's return. But he added that since Haiti's constitution bans exile, Duvalier had the right to return to his homeland, even though his diplomatic passport issued in 2005 had expired. "If there are judicial procedures against him, the justice system will have to do what it has to do," Bellerive said. He told reporters there were "ongoing judicial issues" between the government and Duvalier. Haitian authorities in the past have accused Duvalier and his clan of plundering state coffers of several hundred million dollars and hiding the money abroad. There have been moves in Swiss courts to recover some of the money.
The return of Duvalier was a cause of concern for Caribbean Community ministers meeting in Georgetown, Guyana. "The return of Baby Doc could be an unwelcome distraction in the current volatile situation and just when the international community is trying desperately to sustain the fragile security gains in recent years," Grenada's minister of state for foreign affairs, Deneth Modeste, said.
Reactions in Haiti ranged from delight among old Duvalierists, anger from victims of his rule and speculation his visit was some kind of distraction tactic in the current political crisis. "It is sad to see people cheering 'Long live Duvalier!' ... It was a fierce dictatorship. Duvalier must pay for all those crimes," said Pierre Esperance, a local human rights activist.
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