Yale Alumni In Peru Call for Return of Machu PIcchu Artifacts
Urge Resolution Of The Dispute Before Peru's Political Campaign
Yale University alumni in Peru are urging a swift resolution to the ongoing dispute over a collection of Incan antiquities that’s been housed in New Haven for nearly a century.
In a letter to University President Richard Levin earlier this month, a majority of Yale alumni living in Peru say its time for the artifacts to return to their native country. The Machu Picchu collection includes ceramics, jewelry and human remains, which were legally excavated and brought to the Peabody Museum by explorer Hiram Bingham. Peru says the objects were on loan and filed a lawsuit in 2008 to get them back.
A hearing was held in September on Yale’s Motion to Dismiss the case. The university says Peru’s lost its right to the objects by waiting too long to ask for their return. "That is the kind of solution that is a non-solution." Frederick Truslow is a lawyer living in Lima and a Yale alum. "It would have enshrined this dispute forever. So one of our major points is, Don’t do this. Don’t try to quote solve this problem this way."
Truslow says Yale has positioned itself as a global university and should act accordingly. Peruvian investment banker Roberto Zalles says his alma mater should resolve this situation quickly, before Peru’s upcoming presidential campaign. " In the course of this whole controversy there have been people who have had shrill voices and stated positions that are probably born out of ignorance and lack of understanding of the real issues. And what we want to do is to try and get this settled before those voices become more violent."
In an e-mail, university spokesman Tom Conroy says Yale officials plan to respond to the letter by the alumni.
The university insists that the Machu Picchu artifacts were taken legally under the laws of the day, and that its important for museums to offer the world access to humanity’s shared global history. I
In Peru, the Minister of Culture is expected to update the country’s Congress this week about the dispute.
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Yale Alumni In Peru Call for Return of Machu PIcchu Artifacts
Desde principios del siglo XX hasta la actualidad, el gobierno y el pueblo del Peru siempre recibieron a la Universidad de Yale y a sus academicos e investigadores amigablemente.
Las colecciones de Machu Picchu fueron prestadas oficialmente a la National Geographic Society y a la Universidad de Yale por 18 meses para su estudio cientifico.
No devolverlas a su lugar de origen y argumentar por consejo de sus abogados que la universidad de Yale tiene algun derecho de propiedad sobre los objetos arqueologicos del Peru, defrauda la confianza que el Peru tuvo con una universidad norteamericana.
Ninguna universidad, por muy rica, grande o poderosa que sea tiene el derecho de apropiarse mediante argucias legales del Patrimonio Cultural de ningun pais, violando las Convenciones de la UNESCO que tanto el Peru como los EEUU han firmado.
Se trata no solo de un abuso contra un pais y un atentado contra el desarrollo de una nacion, sino de una demostracion de prepotencia y de falta de sensibilidad que no acerca a los pueblos sino que los distancia, y crea desconfianza. Es muy grave lo que sucede y sucedera en el futuro.
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