Duvalier

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, a once feared and reviled dictator who was ousted in a popular uprising nearly 25 years ago, made a surprise return to Haiti as the country wrestles with a political crisis, cholera outbreak and the stalled reconstruction from last year’s devastating earthquake.

Duvalier’s stunning arrival at the airport Sunday was as mysterious as it was unexpected. He greeted a crowd of several hundred cheering supporters but did not say why he chose this tumultuous period to suddenly reappear from his exile in France — or what he intended to do while back in Haiti.

“I’m not here for politics,” Duvalier told Radio Caraibes. “I’m here for the reconstruction of Haiti.”

President Rene Preval — who told reporters in 2007 that Duvalier could return to Haiti but would face justice for the deaths of thousands of people — made no public comment on the former dictator’s re-emergence. But Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive shrugged it off.

By The Associated Press