Duvalier Picked His Successors, Ex-Officials Say

Despite his weakened grip on power during his final days in office, President Jean-Claude Duvalier and his supporters were able to virtually hand-pick the governing council that succeeded him, sources in the former regime report.

A beleaguered but indecisive Duvalier agreed to leave Haiti only when it became clear that any U.S. backing for his government had evaporated, the sources said this week in describing Duvalier’s hasty exit last Friday.

The disclosures depict a long-running regime that quickly fell apart when challenged with street demonstrations. They also help to explain why the five-member council that replaced Duvalier is made up mostly of his former supporters.

Uncertainty, In-Fighting

Duvalier’s departure followed a week of uncertainty and in-fighting among Haitian government officials. Their advice to him ranged from holding fast in the face of rising public unrest, to calling for elections, to suggesting that he flee the country.

“All the options were laid out. Meetings ran on for hours, sometimes until 4 or 5 in the morning,” one participant said.

Duvalier, who was known during his 14-year reign for habitually delegating authority to others, hesitated. He feared that any hint that he might leave would panic his close aides, a confidant said.

In the meantime, growing indications that he had lost support in Washington persuaded him that his time was up, the sources added.

“The U.S. made it clear that he had no chance to hang on,” one former high-ranking official said.

Duvalier’s confidence crumbled progressively after a Jan. 31 statement by White House spokesman Larry Speakes, who erroneously reported that Duvalier had already fled.

The statement set off alarms in the gleaming white presidential palace here, a Foreign Ministry source reported. Duvalier asked for clarification of the statement from U.S. Embassy officials. The response was that Speakes had misspoken.

Shultz Suggests Elections

Then, on Feb. 3, Secretary of State George P. Shultz, during a television interview, commented that the United States favored “democratic process” as a solution to Haiti’s unrest.

Again, Duvalier requested an official interpretation. The embassy here responded with a transcript of Shultz’s comments and hints that elections were indeed in order.

“Duvalier’s advisers told the President that the meaning was clear: There had to be a change,” one highly placed source said.

Late last Wednesday, Duvalier advised selected Haitian officials of his decision to leave.

The soliciting of official U.S. opinion coincided with deteriorating order in Haiti. Military and civilian officials fretted over the rising tide of anti-government demonstrations. With pre-Lenten carnival time fast approaching, they feared that the protests might get out of control.

“The toll of dead became a heavy burden,” a former minister said.

The president called the U.S. and French ambassadors last Thursday to arrange for his exile. The United States provided the transportation; France, temporary asylum.

Liberia Available as Haven

On Tuesday, an offer of permanent refuge came from the West African nation of Liberia. The government of President Samuel K. Doe has not been formally asked, but it “would have no objection should a request be made and forwarded to us,” Foreign Minister Bernard Blamo said. He noted a history of “friendly and cordial relations” between the two countries.

In Paris, French External Relations Minister Roland Dumas said that Duvalier is to leave the country in “a very short time,” adding: “Consultations are continuing between the French and American governments. We are waiting for the answers.”

Switzerland, however, emphasized its unwillingness to harbor the ousted dictator and his party. “. . . All airports and frontier posts have instructions to turn him back if he tries to come in,” a Geneva customs bureau official said, quoting instructions from the Swiss capital of Bern.

Duvalier himself caused the main delay in his pre-dawn exit. The U.S. Air Force C-141 was ready for takeoff here at 2 a.m. Friday as agreed, but Duvalier was nowhere in sight.

A concerned U.S. ambassador, Clayton E. McManaway Jr., called the Haitian Foreign Ministry to inquire about Duvalier’s whereabouts. It responded that Duvalier was on the way, although in truth, he was engaged in a long goodby to his staff and palace guard.

In any event, Duvalier drove to the airport and took off at 3:45 a.m.

Transfer of Power

Just the morning before, Duvalier had met with close associates to choose the council that succeeded him. In effect, what some U.S. officials here characterize as a revolution was an agreed-to transfer of power among associates.

“The idea was to avoid a power vacuum at a decisive moment,” a high Duvalier official explained. “It was decided not to rupture the normal constitutional process.” Under Haiti’s now voided constitution, Duvalier held the power to hand-pick a successor. There was no vice president.

Even in the choice of a presumed opposition figure for the council, Duvalier selected a trusted person. The outsider, human rights critic Gerard Gourgue, was a private professor to Duvalier 15 years ago, when the dictator was completing university studies in the presidential palace.

And even after the council was formed, Duvalier kept some government members in the dark. Sources here said that nothing appeared unusual because such secret decision-making was common in Haiti. In the past, newly named Cabinet members found out about their appointments from radio or television broadcasts.

Demands for Democracy

With Duvalier gone, pressure for true democracy continued to build in Haiti. In the northern town of Gonaives, during a political Mardi Gras, celebrating citizens issued calls for protection against any restoration of absolutist rule.

Their prescription: elections.

They sprayed graffiti on cars and buildings with the message, “Every four years,” meaning that after the Duvalier presidents-for-life, they want short terms for future chiefs of state.

In the capital of Port-au-Prince, aspiring politicians offered themselves as candidates for president and called on the new ruling five-man junta to fix a date for elections.

“Elections should be held within six months,” said Gregoir Eugene, a Social Christian politician, who said he would run. “This (the junta) is only a transitional government to organize the country and hold elections.”

Thus far, the junta has pledged elections but set no date.

Field of Candidates

Three politicians who opposed Duvalier announced that they will be presidential candidates. Besides Eugene, they are Sylvio Claude, a Christian Democrat, and Hubert de Ronceray, an independent.

De Ronceray said in an interview Tuesday that it is necessary for the army to assume power now and that he will support the new government during a transitional period.

“If it doesn’t show a capacity for giving satisfactory answers to the demands of the population, I will be one of the first to lead the people in resistance,” he said.

Gonaives has been a pivotal place in Haitian politics. Many of the demonstrations and much of the violence that prompted Duvalier to flee erupted there. It is also the place where, in 1804, Haitian slaves proclaimed their freedom from France.

Several representatives of groups that opposed Duvalier gathered in the town square to celebrate--Catholic priests who taught worshipers, especially students, to speak up for their rights; students who in turn formed clubs and took to the streets in political protests, and common citizens from neighborhoods that for the first time stood up against official brutality.

They all pressed for a vote. As Msgr. Emmanuel Constant, the bishop of Gonaives, said during an open-air Mass, “we must find a chief of state who follows the will of his people.”