Haiti National Palace to be Demolished

The national symbol was almost toppled in the 2010 earthquake

It is Haiti's most powerful and recognizable symbol — the very embodiment of Haitian identity. Now the National Palace, almost toppled in the cataclysmic January 2010 earthquake, is coming down.

"When I took office, I said that rebuilding the Palace was not a priority for me," President Michel Martelly said Wednesday in a ceremony on the palace's once-manicured grounds. "Time has now come to take a look at buildings that were destroyed in the quake and that embody our national pride and our will as a people to always keep our head held high."