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1971, April

1971, April: (De Catalogne’s Lies and the Reporters Who Gathered: Five Minutes Before His Death He Will Still Be President, Duvalier’s Sixty-Fourth Birthday …

Haitian

1971, April: (De Catalogne’s Lies and the Reporters Who Gathered: Five Minutes Before His Death He Will Still Be President, Duvalier’s Sixty-Fourth Birthday Without Duvalier, and the Palace Balcony Where Only Jean-Claude Stood): Early in April, reporters began to gather in Port-au-Prince. In his high-pitched, Maurice Chevalier English, de Catalogne assured them there really was no story — he takes a rest, he is very quiet and everything is perfect. Then, almost reflectively, he added: he is president for life — five minutes before his death, he will still be president. Duvalier’s sixty-fourth birthday fell on April 14. With Jean-Claude impassive at the palace balcony, there was another massive official celebration, but there was no Papa Doc, not even a radio message to his people. De Catalogne rattled on: I see him every day, I have told him to relax, not to work so hard, but I don’t know whether he will obey me. It was all lies. François Duvalier lay dying.

Source HT-WIB-000612