Smuggled ancient artifacts returning to Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Jul 8, 3:15 PM EDT

Smuggled ancient artifacts returning to Colombia

By TAMARA LUSH
Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Delicately carved emeralds, rare gold nose rings and clay vessels that may have held bones more than 2,000 years ago - all plundered from ancient graves - will be returned to Colombia.

More than 60 priceless items confiscated in South Florida in 2005 will soon be repatriated to the South American nation, U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta and officials from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement said during a news conference Tuesday.

"These pieces are part of the history and the identity of the Colombian people," said Diego Herrera, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology. "I refuse to put a monetary value on these materials; there is a historical and symbolic value."

The artifacts were stolen - officials could not say when - from the graves of people who lived in Colombia before the arrival of European explorers.

More:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ARTIFACTS_RECOVERED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-07-08-15-15-14

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The thief's name turned up in a search, in a Spanish article which I ran through google's translation tool:

U.S. returns priceless pieces of Incas
Submitted by AMPA the June 15, 2007 - 19:02.

In an operation carried out successfully, something unusual in similar circumstances, the U.S. authorities have returned 412 pieces belonging to the pre-Columbian cultures that inhabited the Peru 1,500 years BC and were in the hands of an Italian,

Ugo Bagnato who tratró using forged documents to sell in the U.S. market as copies when in fact it was authentic KIPUS, masks and ponchos, will be repatriated in the coming weeks.

In particular the value of KIPUS (artifacts rope that the Incas used to count goods and household goods) is enormous because it must be of the few survivors after the burning of the Spanish in the s.XVI trying to erase loss records Inca culture. A commendable work done in Florida by the Information Office and customs control and that according to the Peruvian consul, Jorge Roman, occurs rarely while reaffirming the willingness of states to eliminate such crimes plundering

More difficult are what the Spanish authorities with the sunken wreck near the Spanish coast near the Strait loaded with tons of gold and silver on which a company Odissey omitted information. Still open questions key to what waters (Spanish or not) was found the loot, which pertenecia wreck and whether the company had permits. Since the Ministry of Culture claim to act in accordance with the laws of Spain when they remove the doubts of the enclave and displayed convinced that the wreck was in Spanish waters

For its part, the Civil Guard that leads to monitor, the company the last two years of work Odissey still investigating whether the company has been able or not to commit the crime of plundering


The culture minister says
Submitted by Anonymous on June 29, 2007 - 10:37.
The minister of culture said that the treasure of Odissey comes from a Spanish ship, it seems clear that although they have at the moment is a hypothesis.
M made some statements to the world
"The value of a wreck ever measured in economic terms, but" based on historical information that can bring about our past, which is a good of all. "
Carmen Calvo has expressed its deep concern at the increasing commercial exploitation of this heritage, especially "by certain activities aimed at the sale, purchase or barter" of the property found underwater.
Spanish » English Translate

http://arquehistoria.com/historias/ee-uu-devuelve-piezas-incas-de-incalculable-valor

Ugo Bagnato's a busy guy, isn't he?

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Peru police recover 64 antiquities in undercover operation
Wednesday, December 12th, 2007
Peruvian Police recovered 64 antiquities yesterday during an undercover operation in Lima’s Barranco district. One of the artifacts was a pre-Inca shawl dating back to the Paracas Culture.

Officials say the 2.5-meter-by-1.5-meter shawl is worth $500,000 on the black market. It was offered to the undercover officer at a bargain price of $150,000. According to Police, the shawl was stolen Oct. 15, 2004, from the Adolfo Bermudez Jenkins Regional Museum in Ica.

Also included among the recovered items was a colonial painting of Saint Rose of Lima, 30 books from the 17th century, pottery from the Nazca culture and numerous sculptures. Police Officer Walter Rivera told daily La República the total value of the collection is over a million dollars. The two men arrested in the operation reportedly face up to four years in prison if convicted. But in fact, that amounts to hardly a slap on the wrist. Under Peru’s penal code, any sentence of four years or less is automatically suspended.

Looting of archaeological sites and thefts from museums and religious centers is common in Peru. According to the National Culture Institute, INC, Peru recovered more than 436 artifacts in 2006 and 2007. Its largest recovery since the 1970s was in September 2007 when the United States Department of Homeland Security returned hundreds of pre-Columbian artifacts recovered in Miami from 66-year-old Ugo Bagnato.

More:
http://www.andeanairmail.com/category/archaeology/

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Same guy, story from last year:

U.S. Returns More Than 400 Pre-Columbian Relics to Peru
Recovery of Artifacts Largest Since the 1970s, Officials Say

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 14, 2007; Page A02

MIAMI, June 13 -- More than 400 pre-Columbian artifacts believed to have been taken from ancient graves in Peru were given back to that country here today in what was described by officials as the largest such recovery since the 1970s, when Peru and the United States agreed to import restrictions on the cultural artifacts.

The cache of artifacts, briefly on display here, was described by experts as "priceless."

There was a stylish clay pot, inscribed with a monkey-like figure. A feathered royal poncho. A child's woven tunic. A snuff holder carved from bone. The pieces had been buried in Peruvian graves 1,000 years ago or more, experts said, with some items as old as 3,500 years.

The man who had been selling the items here from his 1985 GMC cutaway van, according to authorities, was letting them go for a bargain, however: $2,000 for some of the most valuable pieces.

~snip~
Ugo Bagnato, an elderly Italian man, was discovered keeping the items at a suburban warehouse here in September 2005. He sold two pieces to an undercover agent, one a clay pot approximately 3,500 years old and the other a statue with a gold ringed nose that is about 1,800 years old. The price for each was $2,000, agents said.

But according to his attorney, Bagnato is an archaeologist without any criminal record and had legitimately acquired the collection from a Venezuelan acquaintance who, in turn, had long ago acquired them through inheritance.

Rather than risking a jury trial, Bagnato pleaded guilty to one count of a five-count indictment. He was sentenced to time served -- or about 17 months, according to his attorney, Maria Elena Perez.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301993.html?nav=emailpage