19309: Petersen: Report from downtown Port-au-Prince (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Ingegerd Nissen Petersen <inp.ry@ci.kk.dk>

I have just talked to a friend in Port-auPrince who says that downtown
is a disaster zone. Most of the shops, banks, gas stations etc. have
been pillaged and torched. People don't have any money anymore and food
is scarce.

The new museum that opened in  the old quartier general on Champ de Mars
in January has been pillaged and the paintings and sculptures destroyed.
We're talking about a beautiful upstairs collection of e.g. Philome
Obin, Auguste Salnave, Jasmin Joseph, Pierrot Bara .....  as well as a
collection of more recent historic paintings and sculptures downstairs.
When we were there just two weeks ago we were amazed at the collections
on display. Lots of school children were there with their teachers who
guided them through the exhibitions.... From the curiosity department:
rumours that coffins full of sculls were found, apparently some kind of
magic thing. I'm quite sure there were no coffins on display, so they
must have been in the back. They were destroyed, burnt with the rest. If
they were there for protection they didn't help much...

Radio and TV seem down, so my friend had no idea what was happening in
the world. I told him that here in Denmark, the press is moving on to
other stories, but that Jean-Claude was on TV this morning, saying that
he feels it's time for him to return to Haiti.

Ingegerd Nissen Petersen