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Brereton: Martelly protection of Duvalier appalling
Published:
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Prof Emerita Bridget Brereton
“It is appalling.” That was St Augustine Campus historian Prof Emerita Bridget Brereton’s response to Haitian President Michel Martelly abuse of powers to protect former brutal and corrupt dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. Haitian Supreme Court Carves Jean freed Duvalier from the need to face a mountain of charges relating to vicious murders and torture of tens of thousands of people between 1971 to 1986.
Brereton said: “It is appalling Martelly would want to shield him from any serious trials, given all the terrible human rights abuses. He wasn’t as brutal as his father (Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier) but he was certainly responsible for the imprisonment and exile of many Haitians. He was only tried for the less serious charges. It is appalling that he was using all the powers of government to protect him.”
An excerpt from Guardian Editorial (February 10) said: “After living in exile in Europe since 1986, Duvalier has fallen into an elitist lifestyle of fancy dinners at expensive restaurants and being invited to sit in the front row at official government functions.” Brereton had also noted the Haitian question was an example of the “mode of decolonisation” at a panel discussion Perspectives on T&T Independence (January 26). Brereton said: “Haiti was the first to achieve Independence by a long, heroic and bloody war. The result was destruction of the economy and reparations. “It left the infrastructure destroyed.”
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