Haiti Denies Duvalier Seeks Asylum Abroad

The government today denounced as “completely crazy” reports that President-for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier sought but was refused exile by several European countries.

Foreign Affairs Minister Adrien Raymond summoned two reporters from the French news agency Agence France-Presse to his office to make the denial.

The governments of Greece, Switzerland and Spain announced Wednesday that they had rejected requests from Duvalier, whose stern rule has become threatened by widespread rioting in the Caribbean island nation.

Government officials in Bern, Switzerland, today stood by their statement. “We received an informal request on Wednesday and it was rejected,” a Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman reiterated.

Other Requests Rumored

There were widely reported rumors that similar requests had been made with a number of other European and Latin American nations.

In Washington, President Reagan was asked today whether Duvalier had requested permission to come to the United States.

He replied, “To my knowledge, there has been no such request.” The President was speaking with reporters at the White House, where the French ambassador presented him with a crystal replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Wednesday night, the state-run television--one of only two stations in this Maryland-sized country--ridiculed foreign news accounts of Haiti and its 34-year-old president.

“The international press and the media, which is politically hostile to Haiti, continues to speculate about what is happening in our country and the measures that are being taken by the government to confront the present situation,” an announcer said in French on Haitian National TV.

Although there have been no official casualty figures, at least 50 people are believed to have been killed and 100 injured by security forces since the unrest intensified two weeks ago.