Haitian National Police on Monday announced the arrest of five people and two employees of the Institute for the Protection of National Heritage (ISPAN) who were involved in an attack on the Citadelle Laferrière.
The mountaintop heritage site incident was allegedly a consequence of “severe overcrowding, particularly linked to deficiencies in crowd management measures,” which “caused mass panic.”
The Haitian National Police announced that an investigation was launched and 25 deaths and 30 injuries were confirmed. On Monday, a Press release revealed that, in addition to the two ISPAN employees, five police officers from the Milot town hall were among the seven arrested. It states that the arrested people are being held in custody at the central police station.
Ministry of Culture and Communications (MCC) on Tuesday announced the dismissal of the two directors who granted access to the heritage site on April 11th. The MCC’s press release condemned the disaster, which it described as a “spectacular desecration” of the citadel, and expressed outrage at the resulting loss of life. The ministry announced that the tragedy was likely a “result of administrative misconduct” and acknowledged “a failure in the departmental structures” of ISPAN.
The press release also announced the dismissal of ISPAN’s department head, who was “found guilty of serious negligence.”
