| News reports say that Baby Doc Duvalier has returned to Haiti from his exile in France. Clearly he does not fear arrest from a government that has been crippled by last year's earthquake. It is also clear that he has been laying the groundwork for a run at the presidency.
It is a sad fact that while the Duvalier family were brutal tyrants, they were also more effective than any of the "democratically" elected regimes at growing the economy of Haiti. It is a further sad fact that the "democratically" elected regimes were often were often every bit as corrupt and brutal as the Duvaliers, including the use of murder and violence during their supposedly free and fair elections.
What we in America often fail to acknowledge is that democratic government, while the best choice of government, requires a certain infrastructure to work properly: 1) A free press 2) an educated middle class 3) Respect for the rule of law.
Haiti has none of these things. It was inevitable that it should degenerate into a thuggish authoritarian regime. Baby Doc, it would seem, it the best available thug to put Haiti back on track. |