Haitian police conducted a two-day armed operation to evacuate thousands of artworks and documents from the Centre d’Art in Port-au-Prince, as gangs tightened control over the capital. The museum, founded in 1944 and housing works by artists such as Hector Hyppolite, Georges Liautaud, and Philomé Obin, had been forced to suspend operations in February after gang members stole solar panels and a generator. Under gunfire, authorities used armored vehicles to clear barricaded streets and removed an estimated 6,000 artworks and 3,600 documents to safety.
The rescue matters because the Centre d’Art is one of the oldest art institutions in the Caribbean and a vital repository of Haitian cultural heritage. Its collection is described by director Allenby Augustin as “inestimable value” and essential to transmitting Haitian history and identity. The operation highlights the escalating threat to cultural institutions amid Haiti’s gang crisis, which has displaced over a million people and killed thousands, with the UN estimating gangs now control 90 percent of Port-au-Prince.