Haiti ex dictator’s return won’t destabilize Dominican Republic, politicos

SANTO DOMINGO.- Although ex dictator Jean Claude Duvalier’s (Baby Doc) return to Haiti has sparked a deluge of rebuke and expectations, Haitian and Dominican politicians don’t think that his presence influences or changes his nation’s status of disaster and poverty, or destabilize Dominican Republic.

They recognize his right to return to his country of birth but note that his presence will heighten its political uncertainty even more, and still more with the possible arrival of the also ex chief executive Jean Bertrand Aristide in the next few days.

Haiti senator Rudolph Henry Boulos affirmed that substantial changes will certainly not take place with Baby Doc’s return. “That for me doesn’t have any sense, it’s a return that isn’t going to reach any point to improve the Haitian people, or improve their problem, it can cause more damages that good, it can cause more sensibility."

He discarded any possibilities of the ex chief executive’s return to power, because everyone is concentrated in the election runoff, to choose a new leader, because president René Préval ends his term on February 7.

As to Amnesty International’s request to charge of Duvalier crimes committed during his tyranny, Boulos said: "If there was the possibility of going after him, why didn’t Haitian justice do anything in 25 years."

The presidential hopeful of the minority pro government FNP party, Pelegrín Castillo yesterday urged the Government to increase the vigilance along the border ahead of any situation that can arise in Haiti. “The perspective which we should anticipate are of a peaking of the turmoil in Haiti, because behind Duvalier’s return will come Jean Bertrand Aristide, because I understand that mobilizations are already beginning to take place demanding his return."

Morning TV programs were rife with words such as “extemporaneous,” “counterproductive” and “at a bad moment” to describe Duvalier’s presence.