On Jan. 21 former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude ("Baby Doc") Duvalier (1971-1986) gave his first press conference since arriving unexpectedly in Port-au-Prince the evening of Jan. 16 after 25 years of exile in France. Speaking at a private residence in Montagne Noire, on the eastern edge of the capital, Duvalier expressed his "profound sorrow" on behalf of his "compatriots who legitimately claim that they were victims" of his regime, along with his "sympathy" for his "millions of supporters," especially the "thousands" who were "cravenly assassinated... roasted... their houses, their goods pillaged, uprooted."

Chanting slogans from a student strike at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), on Jan. 21 a group of students and activists interrupted a talk that conservative Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño Bruset was giving at Valladolid University Law School in Valladolid, Spain. The activists said they were Puerto Ricans living in Spain who wanted the international community to know about Gov. Fortuño's "destruction" of the UPR, and "the repression, the criminalization and abuse of power against the student demonstrators." A group of students has been on strike at several of the university's campuses since December to protest an $800 surcharge on tuition at the large public university.

Former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier was charged Jan. 18 with corruption, theft, misappropriation of funds and other unnamed crimes. Duvalier underwent several hours of questioning, and, although he was released, he does not have the right to leave Haiti. Duvalier returned to Haiti from exile in France on Jan. 16, stating that he had come to offer assistance to help the country recover from last year's earthquake. On Jan. 17, Amnesty International called for Haitian authorities to prosecute Duvalier for human rights violations committed during his time in power. Amnesty claimed Duvalier and his regime committed acts of "systematic torture," including the disappearance or execution hundreds of pro-democracy activists at the hands of Haiti's armed forces and paramilitary force, the Tonton Macoutes. There has been no comment from Haitian authorities as to whether Duvalier will eventually be charged on these rights violations.

Thousands of Haitians turned out for religious ceremonies in Port-au-Prince and other parts of the country on Jan. 12 to mark the one-year anniversary of a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled much of the capital and the surrounding area. Cardinal Robert Sarah, sent by Pope Benedict XVI, joined the papal nuncio and Haitian bishops and priests in a special mass at the ruins of the city's Catholic cathedral. Protestants held a service at the Champ-de-Mars park, across from the shattered National Palace, while Vodou followers participated in a ceremony of remembrance at the National Bureau of Ethnology.

Students at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) renewed militant protests around economic issues as the school reopened on Jan. 11 following winter holidays. The actions had started in December in opposition to an $800 tuition surcharge for 2011; protest leaders said the increase would keep as many as 10,000 of the system's 65,000 students from attending the public university. The students called a 48-hour strike on Dec. 7-8, and an indefinite strike starting on Dec. 14, but the actions were only observed at six of the UPR's 11 campuses, in contrast to the 10 campuses shut down last spring, when students beat back major budget cutbacks with a two-month strike. (People's World, Jan. 10)

Criticism of both the Haitian government and the international community continues to mount as the Jan. 12 anniversary of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake approaches. The quake killed as many as 250,000 people and destroyed much of Port-au-Prince and other cities in southern and western Haiti, leaving more than 1.5 million people homeless. One year later the majority of the displaced still live in improvised shelters without proper nutrition, sanitation or medical care.

On Jan. 6 United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon announced the names of the four experts who will serve on a panel to investigate the causes of the cholera epidemic that broke out in Haiti in mid-October. The panel will be headed by Dr Alejandro Craviolo, a Mexican who works with the International Center for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research in Bangladesh; the Peruvian Claudio Lanata, a researcher at the Nutritional Research Institute in Lima; US national Daniele Lantagne, who works at Harvard University; and Indian national Balakrish Nair, director of the National Institute of Cholera & Enteric Diseases in Kolkata (Calcutta).

As of Jan. 7 it was still unclear when or whether the second round of Haiti's controversial Nov. 28 presidential and legislative elections would take place. A runoff was originally scheduled for Jan. 16 but has been postponed indefinitely as a result of charges that political groups, including the Unity party of President René Préval, compromised the voting through fraud. A 12-member technical team from the Organization of American States (OAS) was in Port-au-Prince analyzing the voting results and was expected to issue a report early in the week of Jan. 10 on the validity of the elections.