Bolivian Indigenous groups assert claim to treasure of ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’

Descendants of enslaved miners who dug up gold, silver and emeralds worth billions call on Colombia to halt plan to lift cargo

Indigenous communities in Bolivia have objected to Colombia’s plans to recover the remains of an 18th-century galleon believed to be carrying gold, silver and emeralds worth billions, calling on Spain and Unesco to step in and halt the project.

Colombia hopes to begin recovering artefacts from the wreck of the San José in the coming months but the Caranga, Chicha and Killaka peoples in Bolivia argue that the excavation would rob them of their “common and shared” heritage.

A substantial part of the treasure on board the San José is believed to have been mined by enslaved Indigenous peoples in Bolivia, so Colombia’s plans to lift the remains without consulting the slaves’ descendants would violate international law, the communities said in a letter to Unesco this week.