Haitians in U.S. said they should get former dictator's bounty

[struggle4progress]

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Knight Ridder Newspapers

MIAMI - (KRT) - A $5.6 million bounty belonging to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier is at the center of an international dispute involving members of South Florida's Haitian community, the exiled dictator and the governments of Haiti and Switzerland.

Roman Catholic priest and former Miami Haitian activist the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste says he and other South Florida Haitians are entitled to the funds - stashed in Swiss bank accounts - as partial payment toward a $504 million judgment the community won against the Duvalier regime 18 years ago in U.S. courts.

At the very least, the funds shouldn't go to Haiti's interim government, argued Jean-Juste, who held a picket outside the Swiss consulate on Brickell Bay Drive in Miami on Thursday. "They need to return the money to the legitimate government of Haiti, not Latortue." <snip>

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/world/11867026.htm