The end for Haiti's most recent strongman was reminiscent of Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier's ignominious departure in 1986. On the morning of his 53rd birthday, after seven days of protests and a general strike, Lieut. General Prosper Avril and his family were driven to the airport on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince last week, placed aboard a U.S. Air Force C-141 StarLifter and flown into refuge in the U.S. Thus ended the turbulent 18-month rule of Haiti's fourth leader in four years.
The difference between the exits of Duvalier and Avril was that civilians, not military men, engineered the latest transfer of...
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