Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former dictator of Haiti with the round baby face has made himself scarce, dpa reported.
No interviews, no public statements. Not even a current photo of Haiti's long-time dictator is available. The ignominy is too great for the man who went from leader of a Caribbean state to inconsequential refugee.
Known by the nickname Baby Doc, Duvalier has found sanctuary in France, Haiti's one-time colonial power, since the mid-1980s. He has no access to his riches, accumulated through the exploitation of his countrymen. The money is sitting in frozen Swiss bank accounts.
A spokesman for the Swiss Federal Justice Department said Swiss authorities maintain that Duvalier and his clan, which ruled Haiti from 1971 to 1986, was a criminal organization. The authorities ruled that 4.8 million euros (6.8 million dollars) in a UBS account are to be given to aid organizations to be distributed to needy people in Haiti.
The only sign of life to have come from the ex-dictator to date is an email he supposedly sent to a US journalist who sought a comment from Duvalier after the devastating earthquake that struck the country last week. The one-time tyrant presented himself as compassionate and merciful toward his fellow Haitians.
"In this hour of pain and sadness my thoughts are with the injured, the victims and especially the children and the young people," Duvalier said in the email.
The Swiss authorities have been asked to transfer 8 million dollars of the Duvaliers' frozen assets immediately to the Red Cross.
However, this request has no been confirmed by the Swiss, as proceedings to determine how the money should be distributed have been ongoing in Switzerland's supreme court since mid-2009.
Duvalier has no influence on the use of the money and it should go to aid organizations, Swiss news reports said.
Baby Doc and his father, Papa Doc Duvalier, who died in 1971, are remembered in Haiti as having run a regime with a long history of corruption and terror. Jean-Claude Duvalier fled Haiti in 1986 after riots in several cities touched off by food shortages.
Papa Doc, a medical doctor who took office in 1957, initially was seen as a man of the people. But he later rigged elections to stay in power and kept the opposition in check through the army and secret police. He arranged for his son Jean-Claude to succeed him when he died. Baby Doc was only 19 when he took office.
He led a life of luxury on the French riviera and made headlines as a bon vivant until the money ran out. He is said to live now in a small apartment in a former working-class section of the city
...