“These objects and the heritage they carry traveled a dark path (to reach) the United States but now they have a clear path back to Peru“said Johnson, who stressed that the repatriation is a sign of “goodwill” between nations and a joint effort of authorities and diplomatic channels.
Ten of the repatriated artifacts are historical documents dated between the 18th and 19th centuries that were purchased at a street market in Peru by a person who later tried to resell them in Florida.
The US authorities also handed over two paintings. “La virgen de Guadalupe”, which was stolen from a Peruvian church along with six other paintings in 2002, and “Pentecostés”, also stolen, but from a church in Puna in 1992.
Both canvases were traced as part of transactions in the United States.
The list of relics also includes four stone axes that were part of a collection of some 7,000 artifacts that were seized in 2004 by the FBI in Indianapolis from archaeologist Donald Miller.
This find became the largest of its kind in the history of the federal agency.
“When they arrive, Peruvians can properly care for them, instead of having their fate dictated by the whims of individuals who took them for their profit and self-interest,” Johnson said.