The Doctor Is In ... In Jail, That Is

In which the pundits ponder the motives and deserved punishment of Haiti's Baby Doc Duvalier.

The Montreal Gazette speculates on what would possibly possess deposed dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier to return to Haiti, and the only conclusion it can reach is that the least plausible explanation is Duvalier’s own; that he’s there to help. The paper also explains the sight, shocking to outsiders, of crowds of supporters greeting Duvalier with cheers. “Perverse as it might be, to some extent this is more understandable than are his reasons for returning. Roughly half of Haiti's population was born after he went into exile … and others, even though they experienced the oppressive Duvalier reign, recall it as at least a more ordered and secure time than the country's present.” If that isn’t a depressing assessment of Haiti’s current situation, we in The Newsroom don’t know what is.

The Globe and Mail editorial board calls Duvalier’s arrest Tuesday “a welcome sign of life from a government that has been astonishingly listless since the earthquake,” and advises the Haitian courts to throw the book at him. The paper argues that while Duvalier’s return is a distraction from reconstruction efforts, it’s also an opportunity to end the country’s “cycle of impunity.” Convicting Duvalier would “convey to Haitians, and to the international community, that the broken country has the capacity to pursue justice,” and the Globe says a trial should be pursued at all costs.

A proper trial will be difficult, if not impossible, according to the National Post’s Peter Goodspeed. “Records and public archives of important documents have not been kept intact over the last 25 years,” he writes. “Haiti’s courts were damaged or totally destroyed in last year’s earthquake; and the country’s police force was decimated.” To us in the Newsroom, this seems like a barrier to convicting Duvalier on the complex corruption he currently faces, but is an excellent argument for charging him with human rights abuses instead. Lawyers for the prosecution could produce an endless parade of witnesses to testify to Duvalier’s atrocities at little cost, allowing his victims to finally confront their tormentor and hopefully turn the page on at least one of Haiti’s many dark chapters.