And finally…not so fast, amigo
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The Spanish government is se t to bring a legal claim against Colombia for the estimated $1 billion found on the wreck of an 18 the century galleon that sank off the South American coast 300 years ago.
The San José was the main ship in Spain’s gold fleet, and was carrying precious metals from the mines of South America to Spain.
It was loaded with an estimated 11 million gold and silver coins and jewels when it was sunk near the Rosario islands by a squadron of English warships in June 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession.
President Santos of Colombia has hailed the discovery as the biggest find of underwater heritage “in the history of humanity”.
However, José María Lassalle, Spain’s culture secretary, said that his country would study the legal arguments on which Colombia had based its claim to the treasure. Spain has aggressively pursued ownership of similar discoveries of treasure on its sunken galleons.
“The Spanish government will ask Colombia for precise information of the application of the law of their country which justifies their intervention on a Spanish shipwreck,” Mr Lassalle said.
He reminded Colombia that Spain won a legal battle for 17 tonnes of gold and silver coins found in 2007 on a Spanish frigate that was sunk off Portugal in 1804.
A US court rejected Peru’s claim to the hoard on the ground that the ship had not come from its territory
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