With the incongruous nicknames of Papa Doc and Baby Doc, Francois Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude ruled Haiti with an iron fist for nearly 30 years.
Here is a chronology following the death of Baby Doc Duvalier on Saturday:
1957: Francois Duvalier, a medical doctor, wins fraudulent elections with the backing of the military following a decade of coups that overthrew presidents Elie Lescot, Dumarsais Estime and Paul Eugene Magloire. With the help of his dreaded secret police force the Tonton Macoutes, Duvalier rapidly consolidates a dictatorial regime.
1960-66: Duvalier takes on the Catholic Church in the name of nationalism, expelling foreign-born bishops. The Vatican excommunicates him in 1961.
1963: The United States, which supports Papa Doc as a bulwark against the communist Cuban regime, withholds aid when he decides to extend his rule.
1964: Francois Duvalier proclaims himself president for life, rewriting the constitution to ensure that his son inherits the title upon his death.
1971: Papa Doc dies of a massive heart attack. His son, aged just 19, takes over with the ready moniker Baby Doc.
1985: Fourteen years into a rule tainted by rampant rights abuses, the opposition launches a wave of unprecedented protests, dismissing Duvalier’s offer to hold elections as a “farce”.
1986: Popular revolt topples Duvalier, aged 34, and he flees the country to France. The army takes over. A priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, is elected president in 1990, only to be overthrown the following year.
2011: After 25 years in exile in the south of France, Duvalier decides to return to Haiti, announcing his decision on the first anniversary of the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country in January 2010. “I have come to help,” he said as he arrived in the capital Port-au-Prince.
October 4, 2014: Baby Doc dies of a heart attack aged 63 without facing trial for crimes against humanity. Haitian prosecutors had launched an investigation in February.