J.C. Duvalier cheered by thousands in Leogane

Ex-President Jean-Claude Duvalier visited on Tuesday February 8, 2011 the grave of his grandparents in Leogane, 33 km south of Port-au-Prince,  thousands of people came to cheer him.

"Some young enthusiasts and adults rushed into a small chapel, Sainte-Rose, to come see Mr. Duvalier. There are thousands, also reported a motorcycle taxi driver.

"Mr. Duvalier pray at the grave of his grandparents buried in this city that was destroyed by the earthquake of January 2010. He is going there to lay flowers at the cemetery, " told his wife, Veronique Roy, to an AFP photographer.

Simone Duvalier (c.1913 – 1997) was the wife of Haitian President François Duvalier. She was born Simone Ovide in Leogane Haiti, the daughter of a mulatto merchant and writer, Jules Faine, and Célie Ovide.

At an early age her mother gave her up, and she spent much of her childhood in an orphanage in Petionville, an exclusive suburb in the hills above Port-au-Prince. The orphans were encouraged to acquire vocational skills and Simone Ovide was trained as a nurse’s aide.

While working as a nurse she met a young doctor named Francois Duvalier. The couple was married on December 27, 1939, and had four children: Marie Denise, Nicole, Simone, and Jean-Claude, their only son.