Wednesday in the courtyard of the Museum of the New World of La Rochelle France, in the presence of the Mayor of La Rochelle, the sculptor and a Haitian official delegation, was unveiled a statue in memory of Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803), a former slave, revolutionary and independentist, became governor of Haiti.

This bronze statue, created by the famous Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow, 2.80 m high and weighing 683 kg, is a tribute to the pioneer of the abolitionist of slavery in costume of governor of the French Republic of Santo Domingo, which became Haiti at its independence in 1804.

"The slave standing in the house of the masters does not constitute a revenge but a reconciliation of the city with its history," stressed Jean-François Fountaine, Mayor of La Rochelle.

For his part, Ousmane Sow explained "I do read the constitution of Saint-Domingue to Toussaint, which resulted, among others, to his incarceration," highlighting a form of irony in this posture. Note that Toussaint Louverture died in 1803 in a cell in Fort de Joux (Doubs, Savoie) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12415-haiti-politic-moving-tribute-of-president-martelly-to-toussaint-louverture.html

Recall that the city of La Rochelle is a former slave port, from where left some 427 ships to Africa that participated in the deportation of 130,000 slaves to the Caribbean.

TB/ HaitiLibre