Truth has fairly consistently been stranger than fiction here, so maybe the return of JeanClaude Duvalier (Baby Doc) shouldn't surprise us so.
Amnesty Int'l has this to say.
The AP pointed out that more than 50% of the Haitian population is under 21, therefore they don't have their own memories of Baby Doc's reign in Haiti. Many people seem to romanticize that time stating only that they "had electricity all the time back then". Families that were not political say they lived better lives.
We're expats new to the scene but this strikes us as bizarre and scary. It makes no sense to us that he would be welcomed back right now. (Exile doesn't mean what we thought it did.)
Rumors are swirling. One person speculates the US and France brought him here to arrest so they could set a precedent and arrest Preval when he leaves office in a few weeks. Another suggests he is coming back here to die. (He looks pretty pasty and not so well.) Others say they are going to have a new election and let him run for office again. (In what twisted universe would a brutal dictator from the past be elected democratically?) That seems pretty far-fetched. It is also reported that he has a round trip ticket and will leave again soon. Some say Aristide is on his way back too. A few prominent personalities say Preval brought him in as a distraction from the failed election mess, a bait and switch of sorts. Baby Doc himself said he came to check on the well being of the country after hearing and seeing disturbing images for the last year. Irony anyone?
We don't know much. Only that it is all quite disturbing.
Like you, we're watching and listening.
Link to recently published story.
![Livesay [Haiti] Weblog](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WImkelA85fQ/T774B_tbjMI/AAAAAAAANjM/Zup5rYTxdWs/s810/blog%2Bheader%2BTRL2011-07-07_%2B%25281%2529.jpeg)
Better to love God and die unknown than to love the world and be a hero; better to be content with poverty than to die a slave to wealth; better to have taken some risks and lost than to have done nothing and succeeded at it. -erwin lutzer
5 comments:
Lord God, I pray that you would transform the nation of Haiti. Raise up for her leaders who would promote justice and righteousness and empower her people for a brighter future. May those who would destroy her for personal gain be exposed in all their selfishness and evil. May your people shine like stars in the darkness, and many who have been lost and wandering enter your kingdom of peace.
Amen
Getting nothing done today. I just keep checking the news to see what he has to say in his statement today. How many more evil men will be allowed to use, misuse, and strong arm our beloved Haiti before justice will come? As always, praying for Haiti.
It truly is interesting and we're waiting to see what happens too. Last night before we got the call from a friend in Port we had started hearing a bunch of noise in the community, and later realized why. This morning we've talked a bit with our workers, and like you mentioned, the younger ones only know what they've been told.
I did ask one of the ladies that works with us what her thoughts were because she was 26 at the time he was exiled. I specifically mentioned that in 2007 Preval said Baby Doc would be arrested if he returned and she said, "He can't be blamed for what the Tonton Macoutes did. He was only a teenager playing on the beach when his father died and they made him President. He wasn't old enough to know what he was doing, so the Tonton Macoutes took advantage and did some very bad things." Her words. She made a point of reiterating what we'd heard from many about Papa Doc - that before he became president he was actively trying to help people, and after he had discipline and order, even though not everyone agreed, people had food and jobs.
I think it's interesting and we're waiting to see what happens too. It's all so crazy!
Watching and praying with you.
I can relate to this post as we were missionaries to Uganda for four years and in the same way there were people there that idolized Idi Amin in the same way you are speaking about. It is sad when people cannot see objectively about the situation they live in. All they know is that somehow life was better for "them" when they were in power it doesn't mean it was better for everyone. I am sure the same could be said of many in Germany at the time of Hitler. It shows how sad and sinful we people are that our own personal comfort matters more than the well being of the greater
Post a Comment