Spain’s Queen Sofía in Bolivia for Odyssey Treasure Agreement



LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Spain's Queen Sofia will begin a visit to Bolivia on Monday in search of an agreement with President Evo Morales on the fate of coins found in a sunken Spanish ship, which were minted with metals mined at Potosi Cerro Rico.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia, Sofia will meet with Morales on Tuesday to facilitate the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries over the destiny of the coins found in the frigate Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.

The agreement, however, will be signed by the secretary of Spain's International Cooperation agency, Jesús Gracia, and Bolivia's Minister of Culture, Pablo Groux.

The fortune that Nuestra Señora de Las Mercedes was carrying - about 600 thousand pieces of gold and silver - was rescued in 2007 by the U.S. company Odyssey, from the Atlantic Ocean and brought to this country without revealing exactly where they were found.

Spain, aware of the situation, argued that this was the ship sunk on October 4, 1804 by the English fleet, during a naval battle in front of the Portuguese coast, and initiated a legal proceedings to recover the treasure.

The Odyssey tried to keep possession of the loot, valued at about $500 million, but a judge ruled that it should be handed over to Spain, an action completed in late February this year.

Through its Minister of Culture Bolivia announced that it would claim its rightful treasure, because many of the recovered coins were minted at the Mint House of Potosi.

Morales's meeting with Queen Sofia, and the agreement to be signed by and Gracia and Group will clarify any remaining doubts about the future of the treasure, to which other countries of the region also aspire.



Courtesy Prensa Latina

I happen to work at MacDill AFB... I was there to see the 2 Spanish C-130's be loaded with the treasure and then flown out... It literally made me sick to my stomach to see that! I only hope that this does not set a precedent to any other treasures waiting to be found! If people really understood how Spain came to get that treasure...using Indian slaves in North, Central, and South America I think they would have a different view. Spain should have been the last on any list to get this treasure!

Kind of like having to return pirate loot to the decendants of Blackbeard or Kidd because they stole it first. I guess we will just have to keep our mouths shut and sell off the treasure one piece at a time. Our new creed; FIND IT, RECOVER IT AND KEEP YER MOUTH SHUT......AND SELL IT QUIETLY, ONE PIECE AT A TIME!
Return the stolen train loot to Jesse James' family too while we are at it.
Return the loot recovered by Elliot Ness to the bootleggers and their decendants.

Okay, it's simple minded but so is giving the treasure to Spain. They should have at least have had to pay recovery fees and a suitable reward for the discovery and recovery. 25% plus recovery fees sounds fair. They would have nothing if not for the salvors recovering the treasure. If a salvage company recovers a yacht that was sunk in a storm or from other causes they are entitled to recovery fees and costs. Lost treasure has been laying on the bottom and anyone could recover it. Now we are told that if we recover something at our own cost we could be required to give it away and lose our investment. Nope! This is a bad joke. Fair is fair. If the courts awarded the treasure to Spain they should have been ordered to pay restitution and a 25% reward to the salvage company.