Rachael Es­pinet

A stat­ue worth ap­prox­i­mate­ly $70,000 was dis­cov­ered stolen yes­ter­day from the Ch­aguara­mas Mil­i­tary Mu­se­um. An emp­ty Stag bot­tle was placed on the pedestal from where the bust was tak­en.

The bust, which weighed ap­prox­i­mate­ly a tonne was of Gen­er­al Fran­ciso de Mi­ran­da, who fought in the South Amer­i­can Rev­o­lu­tion.

The bust was do­nat­ed to the mu­se­um in Ju­ly 2006 by the Venezue­lan Em­bassy. It was un­veiled on the bi­cen­ten­ni­al of his de­par­ture from Trinidad in 1806.

Lin­da Kelshall, pres­i­dent of the mu­se­um told T&T Guardian that the bust was dis­cov­ered miss­ing around 9am yes­ter­day when the mu­se­um opened. She said the mu­se­um does not open on Mon­days, so the bust was stolen be­tween Sun­day night and ear­ly Tues­day morn­ing.

Kelshall thinks that the bust, which is made out of brass and cop­per, was tak­en to be sold for scrap met­al.

If any­one has in­for­ma­tion on the stolen bust, they could con­tact Kelshall at 722-8765.