14159: Florestal: News: Miami Herald - J.C. Duvalier's Interview posted by J-M Florestal (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Jean-Marie Florestal <sonice1953@yahoo.com>

Posted on Tue, Dec. 17, 2002

Ex-Haitian dictator goes on TV to `explain myself'
Michele Gillen, CBS/WFOR-4

PARIS - Jean-Claude ''Baby Doc'' Duvalier, the former
dictator of Haiti who has lived in exile in France
since 1986, has granted his first television interview
to an American journalist in 15 years.

The interview, with WFOR-CBS4 investigative reporter
Michele Gillen, will be aired tonight on CBS 4 at 6
and 11 p.m.

The last time Duvalier sat before an American camera
was with Barbara Walters.

Considered by many Haitians to have run a regime
marked by brutality, financial fraud and political
persecution, Duvalier told Gillen Sunday that he is
``intent to return to his country.''

There were no restrictions on what Gillen could ask.

Questioned about the allegations of abuses under his
government and that of his father, Francois Duvalier,
he responded, ``I never said that there weren't any
abuses.''

During the 2 ½-hour interview in a Paris hotel,
Duvalier said he now hears the cries of his people,
who ``are suffering a lot. It is not bearable. It is
revolting.''

The following are excerpts from the interview:

Gillen: It has been 15 years since you agreed to an
interview with an American television journalist. Why
now?

Duvalier: Because it is now time for me to explain
myself.

Q: What is the greatest risk today to the Haitian
people?

A: The greatest risk is that this chaos transforms
into utter and uncontrollable violence.

Q: Do you feel that it is a crisis at this point?

A: Absolutely, absolutely.

Q: What do you think he [President Jean Bertrand
Aristide] should do?

A: He does not rule Haiti anymore. He does not have
the possibility of ruling Haiti anymore. He has been
rejected by the vast majority of the population. He
should, according to me, retire.

It is impossible to deceive people for too long.
Aristide reveals himself as the greatest fraudulent
user of power of all time.

How is it possible to explain that 16 years after my
departure the children's mortality has been
increasing? Sixty percent of the population is not in
a position to get enough food. And life expectancy is
diminishing. How is it possible to explain that 16
years afterward industrialists have to close their
doors and there are no tourists anymore?

People are suffering a lot. It is not bearable. It is
revolting. I know of parents who can't have their
children go to school anymore. Some families eat every
other day.

Q: Do you feel the issues of starvation and real life
and death are greater now than they were 15 or 20
years ago?

A: There is no possible comparison. The country has
gone backward by 50 years. All the infrastructure has
been destroyed. What is left is in a miserable state.
Part of the capital does not have electricity.

Q: Do you want to return to Haiti?

A: It is my firm intention as soon as conditions
allow.

Q: Why do you want to go back and what do you want to
do?

A: In spite of all these years that have elapsed since
I was in Haiti, I am still very touched by that
country. I suffer from being away as well as from
seeing the misery under which the Haitian population
has to live. That is why it is my duty to go back to
the country and participate in the rebuilding of my
country.

Q: Is there anything legal stopping you from going
back to Haiti?

A: There is absolutely no legal obstacle to my return
to Haiti.

Q: So why have you not gone back?

A: I've got my reasons.

Q: Tell me.

A: I will not tell the media.

Q: Do you live with the fear of being held criminally
accountable for allegations of misappropriation of
dollars from Haiti?

A: If there were any money misappropriated, I would
like to see the evidence.

Q: Under what circumstances did you step down? In the
final hour, who came to you and said you must go?

A: Nobody came to me to say that I had to leave. I
thought it was best for me to leave because I wanted
to avoid blood flooding the streets in Port-au-Prince
and elsewhere. I had the means to stay in power, but I
thought it was better for me to leave.

Q: It has been reported that the American government
essentially forced your hand and said you had to
leave.

A: It's absolutely false.

Q: Did you ever think it would be this many years that
you would be away?

A: Honestly, no.

Q: The U.S. policy that doesn't consider Haitian
refugees [migrants] as political refugees . . . do you
agree with that?

A: There is chaos in Haiti. There are no available
means to govern the country . . . Students were
injured by bullets. Journalists were persecuted; two
of them died. So that leads me to think that faced
with such a situation, the Bush administration should
grant the status of political refugee.

Q: It will be difficult . . . for some people to
accept your raising concerns over abuses today and not
taking any responsibility for abuses under you and
your father's regime.

A: I never said that there weren't any abuses.


  email this |  print this




__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
http://mailplus.yahoo.com