page_title: Jean-Claude Duvalier
section_title: Departure
hierarchical_section_title: Jean-Claude Duvalier / President of Haiti / Departure
caption_attribution_description: English: A photograph showing the now-deceased Jean-Claude Duvalier and his then wife, Michele, fleeing Haiti.
context_page_description: Jean-Claude Duvalier, nicknamed "Baby Doc", was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father François "Papa Doc" Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti after his death in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father's regime and delegated much authority to his advisors. Thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.
  Relations with the United States improved after Duvalier's ascension to the presidency, and later deteriorated under the Carter administration, only to again improve under Ronald Reagan due to the strong anti-communist stance of the Duvaliers. Rebellion against the Duvalier regime broke out in 1985 and Baby Doc fled to France in 1986 on a U.S. Air Force flight.
  Duvalier unexpectedly returned to Haiti on 16 January 2011, after two decades in self-imposed exile in France.
context_section_description: In January 1986, the Reagan administration began to pressure Duvalier to renounce his rule and to leave Haiti. Representatives appointed by Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga served as intermediaries who carried out the negotiations. At this point a number of Duvalierists and business leaders met with the Duvaliers and pressed for their departure. The United States rejected a request to provide asylum for Duvalier, but offered to assist with their departure. On 30 January 1986, Duvalier had initially accepted, and President Reagan actually announced his departure based on a report from the Haitian CIA Station Chief who saw Duvalier's car head for the airport. En route, there was gunfire and Duvalier's party returned to the palace unnoticed by the U.S. intelligence team. Duvalier declared "we are as firm as a monkey tail." He departed on 7 February 1986, flying to France in a U.S. Air Force aircraft.
caption: Jean-Claude and Michèle Duvalier en route to the airport to flee the country, 7 February 1986
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