The Tribunal Superior de Cundinamarca, via a judicial decree issued on the 14th of September, 2017, ruled favorably on the Acción Popular that seeks to repatriate 35 stone statues made by the ancient Pueblo Escultor of the valley of San Agustín and the Macizo Colombiano (or Colombian Massif) that were illicitly taken away to Berlin, Germany, more than a century ago. The decree orders the parties served with the suit—the Presidency of the Republic, the Procuraduría ( a citizen’s oversight representative), the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), and the Government of the State of Huila—to immediately procede with all judicial and diplomatic actions needed to carry out the repatriation of the sculptures.

The following is a resumé of the decree with which the Tribunal Superior favored the Collective Rights of the parties bringing suit by ordering the repatriation of the statues:

The document begins by recapitulating the history of the statues, which in 1914 were taken from their territory (San Agustín and Narño) by Konrad Preuss and later transported to Berlin, Germany, where they still remain.

In 2013 the first of many Derechos de Petición [Right to Petition] was communicated to the government authorities by the community of San Agustín and other persons who demanded that the colombian government repatriate their/our patrimony.

In 2016 Diego Márquez became the attorney on behalf of the statues and, beginning with numerous legal petitions and actions, eventually presented the Acción Popular in question to the Tribunal Superior de Cundinamarca.

In September of 2016, Magistrate Luis Manuel Lasso Lozano accepted the Acción Popular for judgment.

Many diverse voices have joined the petition for relief of Derechos Colectivos [Collective Rights] represented by this lawsuit, among them the Government of the State of Huila, the State Legislature of Huila, and the Mayoralty and Municipal Council of San Agustín.

The decree that approves the Pacto de Cumplimiento [Pact of Compliance] proposed in the Acción Popular, issued on the 14th of September 2017, details the following points:

• The Presidency of the Republic, the Procuraduría, the Ministry of Foreign Relations, the Ministry of Culture, the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History and the Government of the State of Huila are ordered procede to work together to locate and identify the statues in question.

• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pledges to carry out “all the measures necessary to achieve the repatriation of the statues of the San Agustín and Nariño cultures that are located in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.”

• The parties pledge to establish effective communication with the german diplomatic authorities within a term of 16 months, without that date carrying “any implication of altering or ending the obligations contracted by the parties to the present agreement.”

• The parties pledge to facilitate all scientific, technical and logistical aid needed to support the Ministry of Foreign Relations in carrying out the petition of repatriation.

• The parties also pledge to establish a committee for the purpose of verifying compliance with the terms of the Pacto de Cumplimiento, to be presided over by the Magistrate of the case and including the parties bringing suit and the representatives of the parties to the suit, with the obligation of issuing bimonthly progress reports.

• If 16 months go by without the envisioned repatriation having been achieved, the Magistrate must summon the parties to a hearing for the purpose of verifying compliance with the agreement.

As of the present date, the government of Colombia has still not complied with the provisions agreed to and ordered by the Tribunal.

If you would like to read the complete text of the Pacto de Cumplmiento, click here