- Michèle Bennett
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Michèle Bennett 
Michèle Bennett with her husband, President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier, 1980 First Lady of Haiti In office
1980–1986Preceded by Simone Duvalier Succeeded by Gabrielle Namphy Personal details Born 1950 (age 60–61)
Port-au-Prince, HaitiSpouse(s) (1) Alix Pasquet (1973-1978)
(2) Jean-Claude Duvalier (1980-1990)Children Alix Pasquet
Sacha Pasquet
Nicolas Duvalier
Anya DuvalierOccupation Former First Lady of Haiti Religion Roman Catholic Michèle Bennett is the ex-wife of former President for Life of Haiti, Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier. From 1980 to 1986 she was the First Lady of Haiti. She fled to exile in France with her deposed husband aboard a U.S. Air Force plane and has remained there since. She was divorced from Duvalier in 1990.
Contents
Early life
Michèle Bennett was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1950, the daughter of Ernest Bennett, a Haitian businessman (and descendant of Henri Christophe, King of Haiti) and Aurore Ligonde.[1][2] Her uncle was Haiti's Roman Catholic Archbishop Monsignor François-Wolff Ligondé.[3]
She was educated at St. Mary's School in Peekskill, New York, USA, and worked as a secretary in the garment district in New York City. In 1973 she married Alix Pasquet, the son of Captain Alix Pasquet, a well-known mulatto officer who in 1958 led a coup attempt against Papa Doc Duvalier. By Pasquet she had two children, Alix Jr. and Sacha.[4] After her 1978 divorce from Pasquet she worked in public relations for Habitation LeClerc, an upscale hotel in Port-au-Prince.[5]
Marriage
She married President Duvalier[6] in 1980. Their wedding, Haiti’s social event of the decade, cost an unprecedented US$3 million. Fireworks for the ceremony alone cost US$100,000. Mrs. Duvalier at first endeared herself to the population by distributing clothes and food to the needy and opening several medical clinics, but she soon became famous for her cruelty, rapacity and enthusiastic shopping. The Duvaliers had two children, Francois Nicolas and Anya.[7]
The marriage resulted in her husband’s mother, Simone Duvalier, being sidelined politically and created new factional alliances within the ruling group. The million-dollar wedding would be remembered as the young dictator’s symbolic alliance with the mulatto elite — the very families Jean-Claude’s father had decimated. Papa Doc’s widow had been opposed to the match, and in this she was joined by almost all of the “dinosaurs”, the Duvalierist Old Guard. Haitians feared the new First Lady because her power appeared to exceed her husband’s. While Jean-Claude often dozed through Cabinet meetings, his wife, frustrated at his political ineptitude, reprimanded ministers herself.[7]
Controversy
After the marriage, Michèle's father, Ernest Bennett, took advantage of his presidential connection to extend his interests into almost every sector of the economy, from his BMW dealership, to his coffee and cocoa export concerns, to the tiny but surprisingly lucrative Air Haiti, in whose planes Bennett was rumored to be transporting drugs. In 1982, Frantz Bennett, Michèle's brother, was arrested in Puerto Rico for drug trafficking, and began a three-year jail term.[4]
Mrs. Duvalier's family amassed wealth at an unprecedented rate during the later part of Jean Claude's dictatorship. By the end of his fifteen-year rule, Duvalier and his wife had become famous for their corruption. The National Palace became the scene of opulent costume parties, where the young President once appeared dressed as a Turkish sultan to dole out ten-thousand-dollar jewels as door prizes, while the homeless were encouraged to watch the festivities on televisions that had been set up in the parks where they slept.[4]
The simultaneous deterioration in the quality of life of most Haitians prompted Pope John Paul II to declare in a speech in Haiti in 1983 that "things must change here,"[8] Popular uprising against the regime began soon after that. Duvalier responded with a 10 percent cut in staple food prices, the closing of independent radio stations, a cabinet reshuffle, and a crackdown by police and army units, but these moves failed to dampen the momentum of the popular uprising. Jean-Claude's wife and advisers urged him to put down the rebellion to remain in office. On February 7, 1986, The Duvaliers left the country in an American plane accompanied by 19 other people.[9]
Exile
The governments of Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Gabon and Morocco all refused the Duvalier family's requests for asylum. France agreed to give the Duvaliers temporary entry but also denied them asylum.[10] As part of an investigation into looting allegations, authorities raided the villa Jean-Claude and Michele Duvalier rented in Mougins shortly after they arrived in Europe. The authorities found Mrs. Duvalier trying to flush a notebook down the toilet. It logged astronomical spending—US$168,780 for clothes at Givenchy, US$270,200 for jewellery at Boucheron, US$9,752 for two children's horse saddles at Hermès, US$68,500 for a clock, US$13,000 for a week's stay at a Paris hotel.[11]
In 1990, the former first lady was divorced from Duvalier. The former dictator filed for divorce in the Dominican Republic, accusing his wife of immoral acts. Mrs. Duvalier contested the decision, flying to the Dominican Republic to obtain a reversal before her husband prevailed in a third court. Mrs. Duvalier was at the time living with another man in Cannes; she was awarded alimony and child support.[12]
In 2010, she flew to Haiti with a search-and-rescue team to look for her brother Rudy Bennett in the rubble of the Montana Hotel, where he had gone to fix an espresso machine leased from his food company. Her brother's death got little notice in Haiti.[13] The former first lady returned to the site a year later for a commemoration ceremony.[14]
She lives in France, where she now uses her maiden name.[11]
References
- ^ Ernest BENNETT
- ^ Georgie BENNETT
- ^ Andrew Reding. Democracy and Human Rights in Haiti World Policy Reports (March 2004). pgs. 93, 115.
- ^ a b c Danner, Mark (December 11, 1989). "Beyond the Mountains (Part III)". The New Yorker. http://www.markdanner.com/articles/show/beyond_the_mountains_part_iii. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ Peter Carlson, "Dragon Ladies Under Siege". People, Vol. 25, No. 9 March 3, 1986.
- ^ , UK: YouTube, http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy88wGtoS60.
- ^ a b Moody, John (February 10, 1986). "Haiti Bad Times for Baby Doc". Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960612,00.html. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "Things Must Change Here"
- ^ C-141 PASSENGER LIST
- ^ Haiti End of the Duvalier Era
- ^ a b Valbrun, Marjorie (March 16, 20003). "Exile in France Takes Toll On Ex-Tyrant 'Baby Doc'". Wall Street Journal. http://www.wehaitians.com/exile%20in%20france%20takes%20toll%20on%20ex%20tyrant%20baby%20doc.html. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ "Divorced for Life", New York Times, June 24, 1990.
- ^ Sontag, Deborah (February 14, 2010). "Haiti Emerges From Its Shock, and Tears Roll". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/15/world/americas/15haiti.html?_r=1. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
- ^ Charles, Jacqueline (January 25, 2011). "For Haiti, no payback after Duvalier's reign". Miami Herald. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/25/v-fullstory/2034335/for-haiti-no-payback-after-duvaliers.html. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
Categories:- 1950 births
- Living people
- Expatriates in France
- People from Port-au-Prince
- Haitian women
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