Jean-Claude Bajeux - Political Activity in Haiti

Political Activity in Haiti

Bajeux returned to Haiti in early 1986, becoming one of the first exiles to return days after Duvalier's son Baby Doc fled the country. On his arrival he was arrested, then released, and then briefly arrested again. He recounted to The New Yorker that he had to reclaim his family's house from Macoutes who said Duvalier's lieutenant Madame Max Adolphe had given it to them. In July of that year he brought the ECHR to Port-au-Prince. He also began his affiliation with KONAKOM, a moderate socialist political party, eventually rising to become a central figure in the party by 1989.

The years following the ouster of Duvalier were tumultuous. Bajeux spent them active in politics. He participated in the debate surrounding the adoption of the Constitution of Haiti in 1987. He organized demonstrations against military rule by Henri Namphy and against the return to Haiti of Williams Régala and Roger Lafontant, former interior ministers under Duvalier. Bajeux became a supporter of Aristide's pro-democracy movement. Aristide was elected in 1990 but forced into exile in a military coup the following year. At first Bajeux remained in Haiti, continuing his human rights advocacy and publishing the first bilingual (French and Creole) edition of his country's Constitution. However, in October 1993, armed men attacked his home, beat his domestic workers, and shot another man. Bajeux was not home at the time. He blamed the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haïti (FRAPH), a death squad backed by the army that targeted Aristide supporters. Following this incident, Bajeux fled Haiti with his wife.

Aristide was returned to power in October 1994 in the United States-led Operation Uphold Democracy. Later that year Bajeux was appointed culture minister under Aristide. In this office he promoted the "Haitianization" of the national culture at the expense of French elements, a course he had advocated as early as 1986. However, he later turned against Aristide, joining an opposition movement calling for him to leave the country during his second term as president.

In 1997 Bajeux published a collection of poems, and in 1999 he published a bilingual (French and Creole) anthology of Creole literature. In his later years he also remained active politically. His friend Michael Deibert recalled him marching in demonstrations in his old age despite physical danger. In 2002 he received the Human Rights Prize of the French Republic. In 2009 President René Préval appointed him to a presidential commission to consider amending the constitution.

Bajeux died 5 August 2011 at his home Port-au-Prince. He was 79. The cause was lung cancer.