Simone Duvalier imperious bearing, Haitians referred to her as "Mama Doc". She was, like her husband, reported to be a Vodou expert. She cultivated the image of a benefactor; dispensing charity to inhabitants of "Cite Simone", a planned settlement named for her that is known today as Cité Soleil, one of the most miserable slums in Latin America. Simone Duvalier's influence reached its peak after the death of her husband on 21 April 1971, when her nineteen-year-old son Jean-Claude Duvalier succeeded his father as Haiti's "President for Life". Simone Duvalier retained the title of First Lady, and relished the power it conferred.
Jean-Claude Deret Jean-Claude Deret Jean-Claude Deret, born Claude Breitman, (July 11, 1921 – December 12, 2016) was a French television writer, songwriter, actor, playwright, and author of children's books and detective novels. Jean-Claude Deret was born as Claude Breitman on July 11, 1921. His family were secular Jews from Russia. One of his great-grandfathers was a psychiatrist. He lost a relative in The Holocaust. Deret started his career as a songwriter and singer in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the late 1940s. By 1950, he emigrated to Quebec, where he became a theatre and television actor. Nine years later, in 1959, he returned to France