The Strange Case of Barr and Duvalier

Doug Mataconis speaks for many when he writes:

Considering that it’s hard to believe that Duvalier is in Haiti for anything other than personal, possibly, nefarious, motives, I can’t say I understand why Barr would represent this guy.

The news that Barr is serving as a spokesman or representative for Duvalier has be the weirdest story of this kind I’ve seen in a while. Evidently, Duvalier returned to Haiti as a way of evading Swiss law so that he might be able to gain access to assets that the Swiss had frozen. That would seem to account for the timing of his return, and his financial woes would help explain why he would take the chance of being arrested upon returning to Haiti. Duvalier’s regime was corrupt and repressive. One can make arguments that the U.S. government sometimes has to make deals or even alliances with such regimes, and it certainly isn’t America’s responsibility to fix other nations’ political systems, but there’s no reason and really no excuse for private citizens to be shilling on behalf of deposed dictators.

Update: Barr is an associate of the law firm of Duvalier’s lawyers.