The Constitutional Court ordered the Colombian government to recover the Quimbaya Treasure.
Authorities of the cultural order in Quindío expressed that They do not agree with the proposal of President Gustavo Petroto create a replica of the Quimbaya Treasure using 42 kilos of gold seized in Huila.
It is presumed that the gold belonged to the illegal armed group Comandos de Frontera of the FARC dissidents, seized in the municipality of Pitalito.
President Gustavo Petro published on his X account and proposed that a replica of the pieces be made with that metal, to which the Secretary of Culture of Quindío, Felipe Robledo, acknowledged that the president has worked for the repatriation of the Treasury, however, He said that he does not agree with this proposal and that what belongs to Colombia by right should not be renounced.as he mentioned that the treasure was delivered to the Spanish government irregularly.
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“Committed to our territorial identity, from Quindío we will not renounce what belongs to us by right and we know that the President of the Republic will share our feelings. So once you know the arguments we have, the result of investigations, will know that settling for a copy of the pieces is not enough for a feat that involves the dignity of the people“Even those that are not present today like Los Quimbayas,” said the Secretary of Culture.
Felipe Robledo expressed that, “we put all our will into establish a joint and immediate table to present to President Petrohighest authority of Colombians, the legal, administrative routes and as a precedent for vindication of cultural sovereignty and overcoming still colonial thought.
The president of the Quindío History Academy, María Eugenia Beltrán, said that, despite the president’s good will, He recalled that there is a judicial decision of the Constitutional Court by Sentence SU 649/17, which orders the actions to repatriate to be carried out.
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“On two occasions the Ministry of Culture has ratified its efforts through the chancellors and the fact that the president proposes making a replica with kilos of seized gold, since his good will is paid, but that does not limit compliance with the court order that is already“said María Eugenia Beltrán.
The Quimbaya Treasure is located in the Museum of America in Madrid (Spain) and consists of 122 pre-Columbian piecesfound at the end of the 19th century in the municipality of Filandia in Quindío.
The collection was gifted in 1893 by the then president Carlos Holguín Mallarino to the Spanish queen María Cristina de Habsburg.
Source: Integrated Information System
