Simone Duvalier - Haiti Observer Blog

The state-sponsored wedding between Former Haitian Dictator Jean Claude Duvalier and a member of the Mulato elite in Haiti,Michèle Bennett, was reported to be one of the most expensive weddings of the time.

This wedding also comes to signal a new alliance in the Haitian society, The union represents a new aliance between Noirisme that has been promoted by the Duvalierists and the mulatto elite class.

Michèle Bennett was the daughter of a wealthy coffee merchant. Her father, Ernest Bennett, took advantage of his presidential connection to increase his wealth.

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The oldest daughter of Francois Duvalier and Simone Ovide Duvalier, also sister of former Haitian Dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Marie-Denise Duvalier has not been a popular figure. She has lived a quiet and very private life with her family.

I was reported that in April 1971, following the deat of her father Francois Duvalier, Marie-Denise Duvalier was one of the candidates who could have been the successor. Jean-Claude Duvalier fought hard not to become president. Instead, he made his preference known at the time that the presidency go to his older sister Marie-Denise Duvalier. This however did not fly well with the committee which his father's Interior Minister, Luckner Cambronne, was heading.

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