Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for March 24, 2016
Transcript:
Rick: Mr. Ex-President-For-Life, almost everyone was shocked by how quickly your regime seemed to collapse... were you yourself surprised at how fast things unraveled? Duvalier: Not at all. I knew there were subversives in Haiti. Just last July, we had a democratic referendum on my rule. The vote for me was 4,500,000 to 2. Rick: So you had an inkling. Duvalier: All it takes is a couple of bad apples.
BE THIS GUY over 8 years ago
You give the people a little freedom, and they take complete advantage of you.
Pointspread over 8 years ago
It takes Rick more than one drink to get through this interview.
rlcooke over 8 years ago
By the way, whatever happened to the Duvaliers’ successor Aristide, who was democratically elected over the furious objections of Rash Limpjaw and the American right-wing media? I know he was removed from office, but I forget the details.
StCleve72 over 8 years ago
Hilarious. Trudeau’s ability with satire is up there with the greatest ever. “All it takes is a couple of bad apples” in its context is a punch line as funny as, “All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?”
Diat60 over 8 years ago
Papa Doc’s son Jean-Claude Duvalier – also known as “Baby Doc” – led the country from 1971 until his ouster in 1986, when protests led him to seek exile in France. Army leader General Henri Namphy headed a new National Governing Council.87[not in citation given] General elections in November were aborted after dozens of inhabitants were shot in the capital by soldiers and Tontons Macoutes. Fraudulent elections followed. The elected President, Leslie Manigat, was overthrown some months later in the June 1988 Haitian coup d’état. The September 1988 Haitian coup d’état, which followed the St Jean Bosco massacre, revealed the increasing prominence of former Tontons Macoutes. General Prosper Avril led a military regime until March 1990.
In December 1990, a former Catholic priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected President in the Haitian general election. In September of the following year, Aristide was overthrown by the military in the 1991 Haitian coup d’état. In 1994, an American team negotiated the departure of Haiti’s military leaders and the peaceful entry of US forces under Operation Uphold Democracy. This enabled the restoration of the democratically elected Jean-Bertrand Aristide as president.88 In October 1994, Aristide returned to Haiti to complete his term in office.89 Aristide vacated the presidency in February 1996. In the 1995 election, René Préval was elected as president for a five-year term, winning 88% of the popular vote.
Poor Haiti, poor Haitians.
wagnertinatlanta over 8 years ago
Diat60 — Ah, but these are mere facts. How about the underlying truth that all the turmoil was caused by some Bush or another, with Cheney or someone else behind the scenes?
mourdac Premium Member over 8 years ago
One of the 2 was his mother. He had her imprisoned.
Linguist over 8 years ago
Guess who Rick scooped on getting an interview ?
Barbara Walters interviews Baby Doc Duvalier in 1986 in a rented villa in Grasse, France, during his exile.
txmystic over 8 years ago
Anyone notice the wine switched colors in the last panel? Does that indicate that the mickey he was slipped in each drink is now ready?
timbob2313 Premium Member over 8 years ago
the vote comment 4,500,000 for and 2 against could be the “election” result for any of the right wing dictatorships that we have supported over the decades. It could also be the election totals for pres of the US in the not so far future.The GOTP has in fact been learning how to manipulate the vote in many states, closing polling places, cutting back on hours the polls are open, voter ID laws, in place in a great many states, to prevent a totally nonexistent crime(well, nonexistent except when GOTP voters do it to prove that the crime of taking someones place in the polling booth really does happen)The GOTP mantra. Absence of proof is not proof of absence
Matthew Davis over 8 years ago
Back in 1986, people knew what the “bad apples” metaphor meant and used it correctly.
Diat60 over 8 years ago
BTW, our last Governor General in Canada was from Haiti, a beautiful lady extremely well thought of.