16. Jean Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier picked up where his father left off – by ruling over Haiti with an iron fist
Like father, like son: Jean-Claude Duvalier, otherwise known as ‘Baby Doc’ took over from his father as President of Haiti. Any hopes that the change at the top would lead to better conditions for the country’s people were severely misplaced. In fact, Baby Doc was even crueler and more authoritarian than his father, Francois ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier. For 16 years, he ruled Haiti with an iron fist, hoovering up its wealth and mercilessly suppressing his opponents.
Baby Doc was born in July of 1951. When he was just six, his father became Haitian President, a position he would hold for 14 years. Given his family status, then, Baby Doc enjoyed a privileged youth. However, despite enjoying the best possible education, when he inherited the Presidency in 1971 at the age of 20, he simply wasn’t interested in the affairs of office. Instead, he delegated most of his presidential responsibilities to friends of cronies and concentrated on doing what he did best: using Haitian wealth to fund his playboy lifestyle.
Nobody knows for sure how much he personally embezzled, or how much was stolen through corruption. At a time when most Haitians were living in abject poverty, Baby Doc blew $2 million on his wedding, earning him widespread criticism. However, criticism was limited to outsiders: in Haiti, the opposition was banned and the press was heavily censored. Only a perfect storm of circumstances, including a harvest, Papal condemnation of the regime and pressure from President Raegan, led to a popular revolt. In 1979, he was thrown out of office and into a luxurious life in exile in France.
Not content to live a quiet, pampered life in the sunny south of France, Baby Doc attempted a political comeback in 2011. Returning to his native Haiti for the first time in 25 years, he wanted to run for President. But, while he was welcomed by large crowds, the government placed him under house arrest. He died of a heart attack in 2014 at the age of 63, before he could be tried for charges of corruption and human rights abuse.