U.S. Tells Duvalier He May Have to Quit, Officials Say

U.S. diplomats have passed the word to Haiti’s embattled president-for-life, Jean-Claude Duvalier, that he may have to step aside to save his impoverished nation from chaos, Reagan Administration officials said Thursday.

One official said the message was couched in subtle terms that stopped short of telling Duvalier that he must go--but he said the meaning is unmistakable.

“We are telling him that our interest is in keeping the situation from becoming more violent and chaotic, which the wrong people might take advantage of,” one official said. “We want to be helpful in preventing this if we can.”

The official, who declined to be identified by name, said there seems to be no way the situation can be salvaged as long as Duvalier remains in power.

“The longer he stays, the more potential there is for violence,” the official said. “There seems to be a growing consensus that the situation has changed irrevocably.”

Duvalier’s government, meanwhile, denied that the 34-year-old president already had asked for--and been refused--refuge in Greece and Spain, and permission to visit Switzerland.

According to news agency accounts from Port-au-Prince, Foreign Minister Adrien Raymond called the reports “completely crazy,” and the state-owned television network described the stories as speculation by a “politically hostile” foreign press. Other sources in the Haitian capital suggested that the requests were phony, an attempt by opposition factions to destablize the Duvalier regime.

Nevertheless, government spokesmen in Madrid, Bern and Athens confirmed that Duvalier had made informal requests for political asylum. The spokesmen in each capital said that the requests were denied.

Capital City Rumors

Rumors circulated in Port-au-Prince that Duvalier had also sounded out other European and Latin American nations about asylum.

President Reagan, asked about Haiti during a White House ceremony, told reporters that the United States will “keep our eyes open” to see “if there’s any way we can be helpful.”

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said that Duvalier has not asked to come to the United States. He declined to say how Washington would respond to such a request if it were received.

Redman said there are about 5,800 American citizens remaining in Haiti, which occupies about one-third of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. He said the Americans include about 300 with some official connection to the U.S. government, people such as embassy personnel, Peace Corps members and their families.

The U.S. government is recommending that Americans do not travel to Haiti and that Americans already there remain indoors as much as possible, Redman said.

Since the latest crisis erupted, the United States has sent several public signals that it favors Duvalier’s downfall. White House spokesman Larry Speakes announced last Friday that Duvalier had fled the country.

Speakes was relying on a report that proved to be inaccurate, but the speed with which he repeated it left little doubt that Washington would applaud such an event. On Monday, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said the United States would like to see an “elected” government in Haiti. Duvalier inherited the presidency from his father in 1971.

“He doesn’t have to rely on signals, because we are telling him directly,” one Administration official said.

The official said that Communist influence appears to be relatively weak in Haiti, a factor that gives Washington more latitude in criticizing Duvalier’s authoritarian regime. Nevertheless, the official said, if the situation remains chaotic for too long, leftist influence might increase.

“The main opposition leaders are democratic and pro-Western,” the official said. He added that they are relatively untested because Duvalier only recently permitted the formation of political parties.