Baby Doc Tries to Do Good

In a transformation befitting of Charles Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol,” Haiti’s former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, now back in his homeland after years in exile, wants to lay his hands on millions of dollars, he says, to help rebuild his catastrophe-ridden homeland.

His lawyer says Duvalier wants to unfreeze millions held in Swiss bank accounts in order to aid his people. —JCL

CNN:

An American attorney representing Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier said Saturday that the former dictator returned to Haiti in hopes of recovering millions frozen in Swiss bank accounts and channeling them through a U.S. intermediary to help rebuild his troubled homeland.

In the past, Duvalier has attempted to personally claim the $5.7 million in a bank account belonging to a family foundation. But attorney Ed Marger said the highly controversial and polarizing former leader now wants to use the money to help Haiti, devastated a year ago by a massive earthquake.

“He doesn’t want the funds for himself,” Marger told CNN. “He wants a transparent entity to release the funds.”

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Bad company: The former dictator, pictured in 1971 at the age of 19, was an ally of U.S. President Ronald Reagan before his ouster.