Intimations of Mortality

Though his formal title is President for Life, Haiti's Dictator Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier has always acted as if he expected to be President in Perpetuity. His 1964 constitution made no provision for a successor. In fact, Papa Doc found the whole subject so offensive that he had his wife's brother-in-law, Lucien Daumec, executed in 1964 for showing too much interest in the job. Three years later he condemned his son-in-law, Max Dominique, to death for plotting, but reprieved him and instead executed 19 of Dominique's fellow army officers.

Now Papa Doc has apparently had intimations of mortality. In his Independence Day speech early this month, he observed that Caesar Augustus was only 19 when he inherited the Roman Empire. "I will give power to youth when the time comes," said Duvalier, "because the future belongs to youth." By youth Papa Doc meant his only son, Jean-Claude, 19, a moonfaced, 200-lb. lad known as Baskethead to his classmates. A 1963 kidnap attempt on Jean-Claude so enraged his father that at least 100 persons, including 65 army officers, were executed. The legend persists that, at 13, the spoiled boy used a palace officer as a pistol target and shot him fatally.

Aging Fast. The first indication of Jean-Claude's elevation came at an Army Day ceremony last November. As Papa Doc sat on the palace balcony, Jean-Claude rose in his father's place and accepted the salute. The army's general staff was furious. Out went the general staff, along with the Port-au-Prince police chief. In as chief of staff came Brigadier General Claude Raymond, 40, Papa Doc's tough godson, who previously commanded the presidential guard, the military academy and the deadly Tonton Macoutes, the secret police. If Jean-Claude is to make it to the top, he will probably have to stand on the willing Raymond's shoulders.

The fact that Duvalier has finally arranged for a successor after 13 years of absolute rule suggests that he may be succumbing to chronic heart disease and diabetes. There were rumors in Port-au-Prince, in fact, that his doctors had ordered him to quit as President. There was one small problem, but Haiti's obedient National Assembly last week overcame it by voting unanimously to lower the constitutional minimum age for a President from 40 to 20 and giving Papa Doc the legal power to name his successor. For good measure, the government decreed that Jean-Claude is really 21, not 19.

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