The life and times of Baby Doc Duvalier

• Jean-Claude Duvalier is best known by his nickname, Baby Doc Duvalier.

• Born on July 3, 1951, in Haiti (Port-au-Prince) — he served as the 41st President of Haiti from 1971 until 1986.

• He succeeded his father, Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier, as the ruler of Haiti following his father’s death in 1971.

• His family’s wealth was mostly derived from the Régie du Tabac (Tobacco Administration).

• He began his presidency at the young age of 19 — becoming the world’s youngest president.

• He attended Nouveau College Bird and Saint-Louis de Gonzague — then later moving to study law at the University of Haiti.

• He got married to Michèle Bennett Pasquet on May 27, 1980 — the wedding cost a total of $3 million (Dh10.95 million).

• Duvalier and his wife had two children, Nicolas and Anya.

• He lived a very extravagant lifestyle through making millions from his involvement in the drug trade and from selling body parts of dead Haitians.

• In 1986, the Reagan administration pressured Duvalier and his family to leave Haiti and renounce his presidency.

• He departed on February 7, 1986, and flew to France; where the Duvalier’s settled for a while.

• French authorities declined his request for political asylum. Following this, he lost most of his wealth and got divorced from his wife in 1993.

• He spent over two decades in self-imposed exile in France — and then returned to Haiti on January 16, 2011, after 25 years living away from his home country.

• On January 18, 2011, he was charged with corruption — following this he pleaded ‘not guilty’ in his trial on February 28, to charges of corruption and human rights abuse.

• The 2004 Global Transparency Report listed Duvalier as one of the world’s most corrupt leaders — said to have collected between $300 million to $800 million.

— Compiled by Elisar Sasso, an intern at Gulf News