A diplomat from the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs will arrive in the country on June 9 to define, with authorities from the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs, the restitution of the remains of the Tehuelche Liempichún Sakamata, whose tomb was desecrated by a French count at the end of the 19th century, which make up “the collection” of the Paris Man Museum, where they were exhibited until 2009.
This is Jean-Christophe Tallard-Fleury, Counselor for Foreign Affairs of the Directorate for America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
As confirmed by the INAI, the French diplomat will meet with the president of the organization, Magdalena Odarda, and the specialist in restitutions of the national organizationFernando Miguel Pepe Tessaro, to finalize the restitution of the skeletal remains of Liempichún Sakamata.
The restitution of the remains was reported by President Emmanuel Macron to the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández, during the visit that the Argentine president made to that country.
The Tehuelche’s skeleton ended up in the Paris museum after, in 1896, Count Henry de la Vaulx desecrated his tomb and took the skeleton and its funerary trousseau, made up of a stirrup, earrings and coins -all silver- to France. -, among other belongings of the son of chief Liempichúm, whom the French knew personally.
On that trip through southern Argentina, from March 1, 1896 to July 24, 1897, de la Vaulx took some 1,400 objects including minerals, metals, ceramics, insects, mammal skeletons and an important “collection” of remains humans from the native communities of the region.
The count sent the human remains and objects to France in 29 boxes with a total weight of 1,371 kilos.
The count sent the human remains and objects to France in 29 boxes with a total weight of 1,371 kilos.
The anthropologist of the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (INAI), Fernando Miguel Pepe, who since 2015 has accompanied the claim of the “Lof Liempichún Sakamata” Tehuelche communities, from the Payagniyeo area, and the “Pu Fotum Mapu” community (former brothers of the land) of Puerto Madryn, both in the province of Chubut, told Télam that “it is very important to finalize the details of the transfer of the Tehuelche Liempichum from the Museum of Man in Paris to the community in Sarmiento Chubut. The mayor of that town, Sebastián Balocchi and the community have worked since 2019 for this special moment to welcome this ancestor to their land.”
“Generations passed but their descendants continued the struggle to this day, which transforms this restitution into a global example of resistance and victory. For us at INAI, accompanying the communities in this achievement is a great pride”he highlighted.
Pepe announced that the lamngen Waldo Constancio Liempichun (werken of the Community) is traveling “to Buenos Aires from Lof Liempichún to be present at this meeting. We are also coordinating with the other communities where descendants of the ancestor who is about to return to his ancestral territory, from which he should never have left”.
For his part, Antonio Liempichún, a descendant of the Tehuelche captive in the Museum of France, told Télam that the arrival of French diplomats to coordinate the restitution of his ancestor “fills us with pride and strength. I am happy waiting for the ancestor to come to rest.” in its territory.”
The immediate precedent to this international restitution, which set an important precedent, occurred in July 2020 when France returned to Algeria 24 skulls of Algerians, killed during the battle they fought against the French general Émile Herbillon in 1849.
