Reclaiming treasure

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The 691 pre-Columbian objects seized in Spain have returned to Colombia.
The 691 pre-Columbian objects seized in Spain have returned to Colombia.

During the first week of September, Colombian Foreign Minister, María Angela Holguín, announced that the nation would get back 691 pre-Columbian artifacts seized by Spanish police back in 2003, during an anti-drugs raid in Madrid called ‘Operation Florence’.

The archeological relics span different time periods, cultures and regions of Colombia and were considered of significant importance to the country’s anthropological institute, the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia (ICANH), in order for the government to petition Spain and have them repatriated. The process to bring back these treasures took over a year and involved several government entities, such as the Attorney General’s Office, and Ministry of Culture.

For more than a decade, the pre-Columbian relics were housed in the Museo de América in Madrid, and Colombia was only advised of their existence in 2011. For the Foreign Ministry, the repatriation of the urns, vases, clay figurines, including several musical instruments, marks an important cultural, as well as, legal victory for the country. “Colombia has regained an important part of its prehispanic patrimony,” states a press release from the Cancillería. The 691 objects which will be exhibited in Bogotá in October, follows other artifacts which have been repatriated this year, such as 54 objects from Panamá and 39 others from Belgium.

In an interview with The City Paper, the ICAHN’s director Fabian Sanabria stressed that under Colombian law it is illegal for nationals and foreigners take out of the country artifacts regarded as “cultural patrimony,” and those who are caught with loot in airports will face prosecution. The ICAHN has also requested that those who have pre-Columbian guacas in their homes or offices, present them to the agency in order to have them catalogued and evaluated by anthropologists for authenticity and historical importance.

 

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