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"Papa Doc vivie! Papa Doc vivie!"

All day long the voodoo drummers in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince beat out the same incessant message: "Papa Doc lives! Papa Doc lives!"

Peasants waving black-and-red Haitian flags poured into town on trucks of every vintage. Saucy Datsun minibuses scooted around the Caribbean capital picking up the faithful and depositing them at the palace gate.

For weeks, Haitians had been wo dering whether ailing President for Life Francois ("Papa Doc") Duvalier would make his scheduled 64th birthday appearance on the palace balcony and prove to one and all that he was indeed alive and well. Last week the moment came: Papa Doc did not show. In his stead stood his bull-necked son, Jean-Claude, 19, whom the dictator named as his successor earlier this year. Many of the 50,000 assembled Haitians, who were kept 70 yards from the palace, did not seem to realize that fact. As Jean-Claude saluted again and again, the crowds clapped and cheered: "Vive Papa Doc! President a Vie."

Government officials continued to deny that Duvalier was near death. For years he has been plagued by diabetes and chronic heart trouble. A few months ago, Duvalier passed out in the midst of a private audience with a Western diplomat.

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