The Teatea Macoute?
by digby
You all remember Baby Doc Duvalier, right?
After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father’s regime and delegated much authority to his advisors, though thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle (including a state-sponsored US$3 million wedding in 1980), and made millions from involvement in the drug trade and from selling body parts from dead Haitians while poverty among his people remained the most widespread for any country in the Americas.
Relations with the United States improved after his ascension to the presidency, and then deteriorated under the Carter administration, only to again improve under Ronald Reagan due to the strong anti-communist stance of the Duvaliers.
Following a quarter of a century in self-imposed exile due to a popular uprising in 1986, Duvalier returned to Haiti on January 16, 2011. The following day he was arrested by Haitian police, facing possible charges for theft due to the profiting lifestyle enjoyed by him and the bulk of his regime.
On 18 January 2011, Duvalier was charged with corruption, and will be held before a judge in Port-au-Prince for trial.
You also remember Bob Barr, I assume. Well, Baby Doc has hired him and a partner to help him with his image:
Another Duvalier adviser, Barr, a former CIA agent who worked in Haiti in the 1970s, said they are hoping to tap into the base Duvalier has energized with his presence in Haiti. Although Barr said that Duvalier has no political ambitions, he drew a parallel between the pro-Duvalier momentum and that of the Tea Party movement in the U.S. He added that the downward course of the country has caused people to look to Duvalier for positive change. “He’s not an organization,” said Barr. “But from what I sense it’s a lot of grass-roots support.”
Hmmmm. He said it, I didn’t.
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