Jean-Claude Bajeux was a Haitian political activist and professor of Caribbean literature.
21 Facts About Jean-Claude Bajeux
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Jean-Claude Bajeux was Minister of Culture during Jean-Bertrand Aristide's first term as President of Haiti.
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In 1956 Bajeux moved to Cameroon, where he taught philosophy and served as editor-in-chief of a pro-independence magazine.
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In 1961 Jean-Claude Bajeux returned to Port-au-Prince and began teaching philosophy at College Saint-Martial.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux edited the journal Rond-Point and headed the Children's Library.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux asked his fellow priests to sign a letter of protest.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux's bishop reported him to the government, and Duvalier expelled Bajeux.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux settled in Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic, where he began ministering to other Haitian exiles.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux's wife Sylvie is a 1979 graduate alumna of Princeton and a relative of some of the 13 Jeune Haiti rebels.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux was an early supporter of Leslie Manigat's efforts to oust the Duvalier regime but came to believe Manigat was too interested in acquiring power.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux joined a group based in the Dominican Republic planning guerrilla attacks against the Duvalier regime.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux returned to Haiti in early 1986, becoming one of the first exiles to return days after Duvalier's son Baby Doc fled the country.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux recounted to The New Yorker that he had to reclaim his family's house from Macoutes who said Duvalier's lieutenant Madame Max Adolphe had given it to them.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux began his affiliation with KONAKOM, a moderate socialist political party, eventually rising to become a central figure in the party by 1989.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux participated in the debate surrounding the adoption of the Constitution of Haiti in 1987.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux organized demonstrations against military rule by Henri Namphy and against the return to Haiti of Williams Regala and Roger Lafontant, former interior ministers under Duvalier.
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At first Jean-Claude Bajeux remained in Haiti, continuing his human rights advocacy and publishing the first bilingual edition of his country's Constitution.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux blamed the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, a death squad backed by the army that targeted Aristide supporters.
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Later that year Jean-Claude Bajeux was appointed culture minister under Aristide.
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In 1997 Jean-Claude Bajeux published a collection of poems, and in 1999 he published a bilingual anthology of Creole literature.
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Jean-Claude Bajeux was 79 and the cause was lung cancer.