Jean-claude Bajeux *77

Jean-Claude Bajeux, a Haitian human-rights activist and scholar, died of lung cancer Aug. 5, 2011. He was 79.

Bajeux received a degree from the University of Bordeux in France in 1960. Having been a Jesuit priest, he fled Haiti in 1964 during a crackdown on clergymen during the dictatorship of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Among other activities, Bajeux then taught Caribbean literature at the University of Puerto Rico.

In 1977, Bajeux earned a Ph.D. in Romance languages and literature from Princeton. He later wrote an anthology of Haitian literature. Papa Doc’s son and successor, “Baby Doc,” was overthrown in 1986, and Bajeux returned to Haiti. Military rulers toppled one another in the following years.

Bajeux joined the pro-democracy movement associated with Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a fellow former priest who became Haiti’s first democratically elected president in 1991 (only to be ousted in seven months by the military). Bajeux became minister of culture when Aristide was reinstated (under U.S. military pressure) to finish his term (1994-1996).

In his remaining years, Bajeux continued as head of the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights, which he founded in 1986. He is survived by his wife, Sylvie *79, and a stepson.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.