[DR1] Pre-Columbian artifacts retrieved

[NewsWhore]

The Dominican Republic has recovered 85 pre-Columbian artifacts that had been stolen from the History and Geography Museum at Santo Domingo's Plaza de la Cultura. The pieces were almost permanently lost since the deadline for reclaiming the artifacts had almost expired. According to Hoy, one of its sources has reported that the pieces will be brought back to the Dominican Republic today by Carlos Hernandez, the director of the Museum of Dominican Man. The relics were taken out of the country together with 470 fakes, and were discovered by customs agents in Miami. The thieves had made the counterfeit objects in an attempt to hide the real relics. The theft had been reported to INTERPOL and placed on their list of stolen cultural objects. Thanks to an international convention signed with UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, the pieces were identified and reported as recovered to the Dominican authorities. The recovery was reported in 2003, but the local authorities didn't do anything about it at the time. When the museum began to make inquiries, the Department of Homeland Security reported that the time for requesting the return of the objects had expired. However, the museum, the Franklin Center and the US Embassy were able to get the necessary permits for the recovery.

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