« They threatened to confiscate our equipment and vehicle if we didn’t comply with the conditions imposed, » said a costume designer who accompanied a film crew in the North
Unidentified individuals threaten and ransom visitors to the National Historical Park, a victim of the practice and four managers of the space told AyiboPost.
The park, made up of the Citadel, the Sans-Souci Palace and Ramiers, was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982.
Extending over 25 km² in the north of the country, it spans the communes of Dondon, Milot, Grande Rivière du Nord and Plaine du Nord.
The police in the area are in short supply and lack the equipment to intervene, according to sources contacted by AyiboPost.
« We are forced to turn gardeners into security guards at the Citadel, » Dwoling Achille, technical director of the Institute for the Conservation of National Heritage, told AyiboPost.
Read also:Laferrière Citadel, Sans-Souci Palace… photo walk in the beautiful National Historical Park
At the beginning of August, the menacing individuals demanded between 25,000 and 50,000 gourdes from a film crew to let them film in the park in Milot.
The man and his team had prior approval from the town hall, and an agent of the municipality was on site.
« They threatened to confiscate our equipment and our vehicle if we did not comply with the conditions imposed, » explains the costume designer who accompanied the film crew in the North.
The team was forced to pay a part of the sum, took a few shots, and left the area in a hurry. It is not clear whether the individuals in question were armed.
« We were very shocked when other groups came with the same demands, » said the man, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
The menacing individuals demanded between 25,000 and 50,000 gourdes from a director to let him film in the park in Milot.
The National Historical Park is facing significant structural challenges.
Last June, the Institute for the Conservation of National Heritage (ISPAN) announced the theft of two culverins from the Artillery Museum of the Citadel Laferrière.
This museum, inaugurated in 2013, presents the largest known collection of canons from the 18th century.
Since the beginning of the investigation opened in June, the Citadel has been secured by « a small team ».
A dozen people assigned to the Citadel have been arrested, but the stolen objects remain untraceable.
In 2023, an AyiboPost investigation warned of the potential downgrading of the Citadelle from the World Heritage List due to poor management.
Between 2014 and 2018, a Tourism Sector Support Project (PAST) implemented by the World Bank, through UNESCO, ISPAN and the Technical Implementation Unit (UTE) aimed to increase the attractiveness of cultural sites in the North, and to improve the living environment for residents living in the North, among others.
An inter-ministerial structure known as the Park Management Authority (AGP), created in 2018, was to manage the park at the end of this project.
In conflict with the Ministry of Culture and Communication, this structure has not been operating since 2022.
« The legal status of the AGP has been called into question, which has prevented it from being integrated into the national budget, » the current departmental director of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, David Toussaint, told AyiboPost.
The AGP officials believed, for their part, that they had been sidelined by the Ministry of Culture and Communication headed at the time by Writer Emmelie Prophète.
Read also: The Haitian state turns its back on the country’s historic residences. Here are a few.
The departmental directorate of the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Milot Association of Tour Guides (AGTM), is responsible for accompanying visitors as they explore the monuments.
But social problems such as the socio-economic precariousness of the inhabitants inside the park, insecurity, conflicts between dwellings, as well as a lack of coordination between the entities involved in the management of the monuments, complicate this work.
« We are doing what we can, but the situation inside the park remains complex, » explains Director David Toussaint.
For years, individuals – sometimes on motorcycles – have been improvising as tour guides in the park. Some threaten visitors, according to three AyiboPost sources familiar with the situation.
A member of the Milot Association of Tour Guides, Johnny Rémy, described them as usurpers and formally refused to integrate them into the structure.
For Toussaint, these people – most of them young people – illustrate the frustration of the inhabitants who demand that the exploitation of the monuments be done for their benefit.
« Sometimes they impose themselves violently, of course, but we have to understand them, » Toussaint continues.
The official insists on the need to create an autonomous park management committee, which will take into account all the issues related to the management of the National Historical Park.
We are doing what we can, but the situation inside the park remains complex.
– David Toussaint
Ministries and other public entities involved in the management of the park don’t always agree.
For years, the Ministry of Tourism has been in charge of collecting taxes from tourists through two kiosks set up inside the park. In 2019, the town hall of Milot denounced a « lack of clarity » in the management of these funds.
« It was like a black box. Nothing remained for the municipality, » denounced Thélémaque Henry-Claude, one of the mayors of Milot.
The Ministry of Tourism finally handed over the management of the two kiosks to the town hall. But since 2020, these kiosks have remained closed.
The departmental director of the Ministry of Tourism, Marie Lourdes Trott, believes that the town hall has ousted the Ministry from the Park under false pretenses.
« They thought there was a lot of money, » says Trott, announcing that the two kiosks will be back up and running soon.
Read also: After the fire in the chapel, a new danger awaits the inhabitants of Milot
The Ministries of Tourism, Culture, and the Environment, the Institute for the Conservation of National Heritage, and the town halls of the four municipalities are the main entities concerned with the management of the park.
In 2020, they were unable to prevent a fire from ravaging the Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception church in the municipality of Milot.
This church, one of the monuments placed on the UNESCO heritage list, was built between 1810 and 1813 by Henry Christophe.
An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the fire.
It is unclear whether this investigation has been successful.
« Without a structure to coordinate the work of all these entities, it will be difficult to properly manage and operate the park, » concludes David Toussaint to AyiboPost.
Cover image: Citadelle Laferrière, Haiti. | Photo: Angelo Miramonti
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