21490: Esser: Dr. Frantz Large presses Latortue to condemn destruction of museum (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

Agence Haïtienne de Presse

April 19, 2004

Dr. Frantz Large presses the government of Latortue to condemn
publicly the desecration of the Museum of Independence by former
rebels

Port-au-Prince, April 19, 2004 -(AHP)- A member of the
International Association of Art Critics, Dr. Frantz Large, is
pressing the Latortue government to issue a public condemnation of
the desecration of the Museum of Independence by former rebels the
day after the sudden departure of President Aristide.

The Museum of Independence, an initiative of President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide as one of the national tributes to the bicentennial of
Haiti's independence, was vandalized and sacked when the ex-rebels
invaded the capital.

Works of art of great importance that were on exhibition at the
Museum were carried off during the rebels' occupation of the
premises, accompanied by their supporters.

" This barbarism must be condemned as energetically as the burning of
the old Cathedral of Port-au-Prince in January 1991", he said.

Frantz Large, a professor at ENARTS (The National School of Arts)
said that the destruction of a museum that is part of the country's
cultural heritage is totally unacceptable.

He added that he interprets the silence by the Latortue government on
this issue as a lack of willingness to break from certain practices
that he condemned.
.