Haiti Exiles Dance, Laugh in Streets of Miami at News

Ecstatic exiles from Haiti danced and laughed on the wet streets of Miami on Friday to celebrate the ouster of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, even while fretting that the new government in their homeland may be little better than the old.

It was the second such outburst here within a week, but this time the revelers had no need to take back their joy. Last week, reports that the feared President-for-Life Duvalier had fled Haiti proved false.

Friday, to the delight of the many Haitians who fled to Miami to get away from the repressive, 28-year Duvalier dynasty, the dictator flew away to France.

The delay only intensified the satisfaction for some. “If the baby comes at seven months, we’ll take it. If it comes at nine months, we’ll still take it,” said exile leader Jacques Despinosse, quoting an old Haitian proverb.

‘A Baby in Democracy’

“For (nearly) 29 years I have known only Duvaliers,” said Jules Mareille, a placement officer in a Florida state employment office. “I am 31, so I’m just a baby in democracy. It feels so good.”

Mareille danced off into a crowd of about 500 people singing, chanting and dancing before two blocks of stucco storefronts on N.E. 54th Street here, the heart of Miami’s so-called Little Haiti.

Impromptu Bands

The city parks department set up a stage for impromptu Caribbean bands. Dancers wearing T-shirts that read “Let the Bell of Freedom Ring” swayed to calypso rhythms and ignored the steady afternoon rain. Dripping storefronts were decorated with the old blue-and-red Haitian flags.

Blue and red were the country’s colors before Duvalier’s late father and predecessor in power, Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier, changed them to red and black.

Some celebrators pinned voodoo effigies of straw to rows of Miami’s characteristic royal palms, labeling them “Death to Duvalier.” A placard read “Duvalier, le diable, is gone,” an unfond farewell to the ruler known widely as Baby Doc.

‘Not the Last Solution’

“This is the first step, but not the last solution,” said Jean Robert Gedeon, who operates the Haiti Market, a small grocery store. “Some of the people taking over have supported Duvalier for years. They must go, too.”

Several Haitians echoed the concern that the new governing council may institute a harsh rule, similar to that which was overthrown. Many called for punishment of the dreaded Tontons Macoutes, the ruthless “bogeymen” of the elder Duvalier’s secret police whom the younger Duvalier, in a move to clean up their image, incorporated into a militia called Volunteers for National Security.

‘Should Kill Them All’

“They should kill them all,” said Gedeon, an eight-year Miami resident.

“The new government is a facade,” declared Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Haitian political activist. “The people must choose the government.”

“We want not only a change of government, but a change of regime,” said Father Max Dominique of the Notre Dame Church here.

An estimated 50,000 Haitians live in the Miami area. Many of them hold forged documents to elude deportation. About 8,000 have cases pending in court on whether they should receive political asylum here.

Many of the refugees made dramatic escapes from Haiti by boat, often arriving on Florida’s resort beaches to scurry into hiding among their compatriots in Little Haiti.

‘No More Boat People’

Friday, one man heralded the possible end of an era with a sign that read, “No More Boat People, No More Humiliation.”

It is not clear how many exiles will try to return immediately to Haiti, the hemisphere’s poorest nation.

“I would like to go. It is my country,” said Jacques Francois, an unemployed youth who was wearing a tin-foil helmet. “But I will wait and see what really happens.”

And activist Depinosse said, “As a Haitian-American, I can do more for Haiti here by helping to lobby for the U.S. dollars we need to help rebuild.”

The new celebrations were somewhat more subdued than last week’s, when the street party included ritual dances around a coffin marked “Duvalier,” and large crowds stomped and chanted for his extradition.

Times researcher Lorna Nones contributed to the reporting of this story.