Columbia has recently repatriated about 274 ancient artefacts from the United States.
The Colombian embassy in Washington has been collecting ancient objects from around the US since 2018. This was made possible through “seizures” and voluntary “returns by the collectors” according to top Alhena Caicedo, director of Colombia’s ICANH anthropology and history institute, told AFP.
The artefacts range from anthropomorphic figurines to 1,500-year-old esoteric necklaces. Pottery, seashells, and stone made by indigenous communities between 500 BC and 500 AD, were brought back to the country by Colombian President Gustavo Petroon on his return from the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
A large number of the artefacts had been voluntarily returned by an American woman who inherited them from her late husband who acquired them in the 70s in Cali.
Others had been confiscated by the FBI in adherence to an agreement between both counties to return cultural objects that had been sold on the black market.
Several other Latin American countries have also handed in requests after getting complaints from the indigenes that their assets have been stolen.
The illegal sale of stolen cultural artefacts is currently worth an estimated $10 billion according to UNESCO.
