Word: docs
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Their delight in Baby Doc's ouster was obvious. But were they happy enough to want to return to Haiti? In Miami and New York City, which have the largest Haitian enclaves in the U.S., some people claimed their bags were already packed. But most were circumspect. "I want to go back today, but I must wait until I see who is going to run things," said Philippe Georges, 58, a sewing machine mechanic in Miami's garment district. "The boy wasn't the only bad one in Haiti...
...minutes ticked away, the knot of American diplomats waiting on the darkened runway of Francois Duvalier international airport grew increasingly edgy. They had been keeping a tense vigil since 1 a.m., waiting for Haiti's President-for-Life Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier. A day earlier, Duvalier had sent an urgent message to the U.S. embassy in Port-au-Prince, the capital. It implored the Americans to help him and his family flee the country that, after 28 years, was no longer under their control. Now Duvalier was two hours late. The Americans at the airport wondered...
...flew away; he flew away!" Others proclaimed, "Vive America!" and waved the Stars and Stripes, as well as banners of red and blue, the colors of Haiti's flag before it was replaced in 1964 by Jean-Claude's father and predecessor as President-for-Life, Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier...
Mobs of Haitians singled out monuments to the memory of Papa Doc for destruction. At the Leogane traffic circle south of Port-au-Prince, hundreds of people brought a commemorative ironwork structure crashing down. At the national cemetery in the capital, a mob tore apart the late dictator's marble- and-granite mausoleum. Although bodies in nearby crypts were disinterred, Papa Doc's remains were said to have been removed to safety. The tin-roofed house & on 22nd September Street, where the elder Duvalier had once lived, was stoned and set alight. Rampaging groups attacked properties owned by Michele Duvalier...
Indeed, it was the end of a bloody era in Haiti's history. Baby Doc's father Francois Duvalier was a soft-spoken middle-class physician who encouraged Haitian peasants to believe that he possessed magical powers through the use of the country's folk religion, voodoo. Elected President in 1957, Duvalier guaranteed liberty and well-being to all Haitians, but the pledge soon rang hollow. Duvalier forbade criticism of his leadership and declared himself President-for-Life in 1964. He posed for a portrait that showed an image of Jesus Christ clapping him on the shoulder...