![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/49AFA96A-EC67-4F5F-8937-82BD12242F42-205x300.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
New York – Rashad Alkhader – Free Yemen Eye – From -News-FBI<\/p>\n
After an investigation by the FBI Boston Division\u2014in collaboration with our legal attach\u00e9 office in Mexico City and our international partners\u2014the FBI returned a letter signed by Spanish conquistador Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s to the government of Mexico.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On July 19, the FBI returned a letter signed by Spanish conquistador Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s to the government of Mexico. An investigation by the FBI Boston Division in collaboration with our legal attach\u00e9 office in Mexico City and our international partners made the repatriation possible.<\/p>\n
“We are incredibly honored to be able to assist in the return of this national treasure to the people of Mexico,” said Christopher DiMenna, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “This manuscript, which is nearly five centuries old, preserves an important part of Mexico\u2019s history and reflects the FBI\u2019s ongoing commitment to protect cultural heritage, not only in the United States but around the world. The recovery of this priceless artifact is a direct result of our close and ongoing collaboration with the government of Mexico, and we are very thankful for their partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
According to Supervisory Special Agent Kristin Koch, who manages the FBI\u2019s Art Crime Program<\/a> and led the FBI Boston Division\u2019s investigation, the letter dates back to April 1527. It was signed by Cort\u00e9s, whose large-scale expedition from Spain to Mexico <\/a>about eight years earlier eventually led to the downfall of the Aztec Empire.<\/p>\n \u201cThe document itself is a payment order that he signed authorizing the purchase of rose sugar for the pharmacy in exchange for 12 gold pesos,\u201d Koch said.<\/p>\n The Disappearing Letter<\/strong><\/p>\n The letter was originally in the possession of Mexico\u2019s national archives, formally known as El Archivo General de la Naci\u00f3n, Koch said. However, she explained it was among a batch of 15 historic documents\u2014all signed by the Spanish explorer\u2014that were looted from the institution “sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s.”<\/p>\n The letter was rediscovered at a Massachusetts-based auction house in 2022, decades after it had gone missing. After the company\u2019s website put the letter up for auction, a representative of Mexico\u2019s national archives reached out to FBI for help.<\/p>\n According to Koch, neither the FBI nor the Mexican government know when or how the document was stolen, nor how it made its way onto American soil. \u201cBut we do know that it ended up in an auction house in California in the early ’90s, and it moved through several different hands until it reached the person that consigned it to the auction house in Massachusetts,\u201d\u00a0Koch said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
“This manuscript, which is nearly five centuries old, preserves an important part of Mexico\u2019s history\u00a0and reflects the FBI\u2019s ongoing commitment to protect cultural heritage, not only in the United States but around the world.\u201d<\/h2>\n
Acting Special Agent in Charge Christopher DiMenna, FBI Boston Division<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/55E091DA-0C56-4FB3-83CC-7F8B5B5ADECF-300x200.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n