patrimony
Spain willing to share contested treasure with Peru
Among the valuable pieces discovered by Odyssey are coins dating back to the reign of Spanish King Carlos IV that were minted in Lima
27.06.08 - 17:35 -
Spain would be willing share with Peru part of what is recovered of the $500 million in coins a U.S. treasure-hunting firm extracted from what Madrid says is a Spanish vessel sunk in 1804.
"It's not about sharing the treasure, but of preserving that patrimony, common to other Spanish-American countries" at cultural institutions established for that purpose, Spanish Culture Ministry official José Jiménez said Thursday at a press conference.
The statement came days after the Peruvian government requested that a U.S. court allow it to see all of the goods found by Odyssey Marine Exploration from the wreck the company has designated as "Black Swan."
Madrid, which is suing Florida-based Odyssey to recover the $500 million haul, says the treasure came from the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk in October 1804 after a battle with British warships off the coast of Portugal in which more than 200 Spanish sailors died.
Among the valuable pieces discovered by Odyssey are coins dating back to the reign of Spanish King Carlos IV that were minted in Lima. That prompted Peru to claim its rights to the cargo even though, as Jiménez noted Thursday, "the (republic) of Peru did not exist" at that time.
"Peru has different problems because it has not signed the (UNESCO) International Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage or the (United Nations) Convention on the Law of the Sea," said Jiménez, who added that for Spain "it's not a question of money, but of acting in defence of its historical patrimony."
In the legal battle taking place in Tampa, Florida, Spain has until August 10th to present before the court the documents that support its claim regarding the origin of the treasure, after which time Odyssey will have another two months to provide counter-evidence.
"But Spain would be open to arriving at some type of agreement with Peru so that, if everything we think exists from Odyssey's illegal extraction is recovered, there is a way of sharing that treasure with (the Andean nation)" to display the material in a museum setting, Jiménez said.
The ownership questions "are very complex," but Culture Ministry official Luis Lafuente added that what is at stake is preserving that patrimony "for Spaniards and for all humanity at adequate cultural institutions, and not (allowing) a treasure hunting firm to take it and become richer than what it already is."
