Chile and 10 countries protest in Germany over auction of 320 pre-Columbian art pieces

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Eleven Latin American countries, including Chile, protested today Tuesday in Munich over an auction that intends to sell more than 320 pieces of pre-Columbian art, some of them more than 2,000 years old.

At a press conference, diplomatic representatives from Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador. They explained their objections to the sale of art by the Gerhard Hirsch auction house.

“This is not the first time that such auctions are intended to be held in Germany or other parts of Europe. Unfortunately, we fear that it will not be the last,” said Florencia Vilanova, Salvadoran ambassador to Germany.

The group sent an official note to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding that the auction not occur.

In their argument, the diplomats warn that these pieces (from seven countries) are a fundamental part of the region’s cultural heritage and that their arrival in Europe can only be explained by illegal means. “Many of the pieces have not been exported legally or for commercial purposes,” said Elmer Schialer Salcedo, Peruvian ambassador.

Francisco José Quiroga, Aztec ambassador, was emphatic: “Today’s auction is one of many instances, this is not a sprint race, this is a marathon that we are going to run consistently for the next fifty or one hundred years, and I am completely confident that we will prevail”.

“The original peoples suffered a plundering of their goods, of their cultural heritage, of their heritage beyond the cultural, their populations and their culture, in general, were decimated, that connotation is what it has. I do not believe that good faith buyers know, want to be part of that history, of that trade,” he added.