Baby Doc Takes a Bride

Babay Doc Takes a Bride

A 101-gun salute and the exploding of $100,000 worth of fireworks greeted Haiti's President for Life Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier, 28, and his bride Michele Bennett, 27. The couple emerged under crossed sabers from the freshly refurbished cathedral of Port-au-Prince after a $3 million wedding, the country's most lavish social event in two decades. Said the bride, with a smile: "We'll make lots of children and live happily ever after."

Papier-mache roses decked the dusty streets of the capital. Free bouillon and clairin--soup and rum--were distributed to the populace. But for most Haitians there was little to celebrate. Not only is the island nation the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, but for 22 years it has chafed under a succession of Duvalier dictatorships. Accordingly, some 55,000 Haitian "boat people" have made the 800-mile crossing to Florida, most of them as illegal immigrants. Unlike the Cubans recently arrived, the Haitians do not enjoy the status of political refugees.

Did Duvalier's marriage to Michele--a divorcee whose former father-in-law once tried to overthrow Baby Doc's late father, "Papa Doc" Duvalier--signal a possible new moderation? Probably not. The real significance seemed to be the consolidation of Baby Doc's power within the family fiefdom, in which his mother, Simone, for instance, still holds the title of First Lady of the Republic. In this dynastic system, a princely heir will help ensure perpetual rule.

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