RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
NPR's Jason Beaubien reports from Port-au-Prince.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING CROWD)
JASON BEAUBIEN: Baurice Telemaque was holding a flyer with a photo of Jean-Claude Duvalier that said: Welcome Home, in Creole.
BAURICE TELEMAQUE: (Foreign language spoken)
BEAUBIEN: Telemaque said if the police are going to arrest Duvalier they'll have to arrest the whole country.
(SOUNDBITE OF SIRENS AND PROTESTORS)
BEAUBIEN: State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. is concerned that Duvalier's return comes at a bad time.
CROWLEY: If I look at the list of challenges that Haiti faces today, having a former dictator return to Haiti just adds to Haiti's ongoing burden.
BEAUBIEN: Evans Paul was a journalist during Baby Doc's reign. Paul recounts how he was beaten by Duvalier's Tonton Macouts, after interviewing a prominent dissident in exile.
EVANS PAUL: (Through Translator) They listened to all my tapes and they beat me. What was hard is not just because they had beaten me, they asked me to count every time I got beaten. I counted about 80 hits.
BEAUBIEN: Paul says he never saw his father who abducted and disappeared by the regime. He says they never even had a funeral for his dad.
PAUL: (Through Translator) We always hoped one day he would come back. Because sometimes the regime would put somebody in jail, in prison for five, 10, 12 years and then, all of a sudden, the person comes back home.
BEAUBIEN: Paul says he was stunned to hear that Baby Doc had returned from exile but adds that he's not looking for revenge.
PAUL: (Through Translator) I want a justice with reconciliation, for Jean Claude to recognize his fault without him be jailed.
BEAUBIEN: Jason Beaubien, NPR News, Port-au-Prince.