<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has once again asserted the "legitimate" Spanish ownership of the Quimbaya Treasure, also claimed by Colombia, and has assured that the governments of both countries are exploring the "shared" dissemination of this archaeological collection "in the most generous way possible."</strong></h4> The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on February 24 to a parliamentary question from the People's Party (PP) group in Congress urging the government to assess Colombia's "continuing demands" for the return of the Quimbaya Treasure and to clarify whether it considers this treasure "to have been lawfully acquired by the State of Spain." The PP's question was submitted on December 13, a week after the Colombian Ministry of Culture announced the Colombian government's intention to send a second official letter to the Spanish government to reiterate its request for the return of the Quimbaya Treasure, after receiving no response to the first letter sent in May 2024. Separately, the PP asks the Foreign Ministry "if it will promote, through Spanish Cultural Action (AC/E), initiatives to disseminate knowledge of Spain's discovery and presence in Latin America, considering this historical legacy as an event similar to the Romanization of the Mediterranean and Europe." In its response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that the Quimbaya collection "is a collection donated (in 1892) to Queen Regent María Cristina by Carlos Holguín, President of the Colombian Government, in gratitude for Spain's role in the arbitration award that settled the border dispute between Colombia and Venezuela." Therefore, it continues, "Spanish ownership of the collection is legitimate, as long as it originates from this donation and was received in good faith." Currently, the collection belongs to the holdings of the Museo de América in Madrid and has the status of a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC), which prevents its sale or export, pursuant to the Spanish Historical Heritage Law of 1985, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls. "However, without prejudice to continuing to affirm the legitimacy of Spanish ownership of the Quimbaya Collection, Spain has continued to offer the Colombian Government close technical cooperation regarding the collection, which continues to develop between the Museo de América and the Colombian cultural authorities," it adds. “At the current stage of collaboration we find ourselves in, both governments are focused on exploring activities that, shared between our countries, promote, in the most generous way possible, greater knowledge and dissemination of the collection, in line with the customary terms used with other states with which Spain maintains very close historical ties and cultural exchanges,” it continues. Along these lines, the Foreign Ministry continues, the Museum of the Americas is currently perfecting broad avenues for collaboration to enhance knowledge of the Quimbaya collection, which is being carried out in coordination with the ICANH (Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, part of the Colombian Ministry of Culture). “The defense and promotion of Spain's historical legacy, as well as the promotion of a positive narrative about Spain's presence in Latin America, are central pillars of Spain's foreign policy and cultural action,” it concludes. Spain and Colombia also have another dispute over the ownership of the Spanish galleon San José, which was sunk by a fleet of English privateers in 1708 while en route to Cartagena de Indias, loaded, according to contemporary chronicles, with nearly 11 million eight-escudo coins in gold and silver.
