Last Friday, during a ceremony at the Citadelle La Ferrière (Milot, Nord department) in the presence of Mr Patrick Delatour, Minister of Tourism, Daniel Elias, Director of the Institute for the Protection of Heritage National (Institut de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine National ISPAN), and representatives of local government, the United States Ambassador, Kenneth H. Merten on behalf of the U.S. government gave officially to the ISPAN, a check totaling US$363,187 for two subventions.

The initial funding in an amount of $250,000 is to support ISPAN to inventory and assess the damage to historical monuments and buildings in Port-au-Prince during the earthquake in reorganizing an office by equipping it with the equipment and labor necessary to enable it to systematically document the damage.

The second amount of 113.187 dollars intended to help to preserve the Citadelle La Ferrière and continue the work previously undertaken through prior subventions. This new subvention will include work such as: repairing the roof of the Batterie Royale and restoration of the military barracks of the Palace of Sans Souci.

This is not the first time that the U.S. government working in partnership with ISPAN. The United States Embassy in Port-au-Prince has already worked with ISPAN on six projects during the last decade, including the transformation of the old Jacmel prison into a cultural center and performing emergency repairs to former Grand Grand Lycée of Port-au-Prince.

The ambassador said that "The United States shares the sights of the ISPAN to knowing that the safeguard of the inheritance of Haiti for the future generations is paramount for the Haitian people and its Haitian identity [...] these two subventions represents part of our engagement and constitutes our manner of supporting the Haitian government so that it carries out his objective which is to protect the cultural heritage for all the Haitians."

IP/ HaitiLibre