San Benito Poite Villagers Demand Return of Stolen Maya Artifacts from UK, Minister Supports

The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs supports efforts by San Benito Poite villagers in the Toledo District to recover artifacts from the British Museum. In April, villagers formally petitioned the British Museum for the repatriation of items taken from the ancient Maya city of Pusilha. These artifacts were reportedly removed during British expeditions nearly a century ago. Alcalde Manuel Cucul and Chairman Richard Caal wrote to the British Museum, asserting that human remains, carved monumental stelae, carved monumental altars, lithic artifacts, and ceramics were removed by armed expeditions of the British Museum between 1928 and 1931 without the valid consent of the Maya people. Minister of Indigenous Affairs Dr. Louis Zabaneh stated that, while he hadn’t been briefed on the specifics of the San Benito case, such a petition is part of a global movement by countries worldwide to recover looted artifacts.

Dr.Louis Zabaneh, Minister of Transport, Indigenous, Constitution and Religious Affairs: “Our philosophy is in line with that because it’s not new that around the world now, throughout different parts of the world, for example, in Central America as one example they have been fighting as a group under the SICA system to have all of these artifacts,  precious artifacts of historical value to be returned to Belize and to be returned to Guatemala, to be returned to Honduras, et cetera. Because over the years, these have been pillaged from our countries going back two, three years under the times of  colonization when the European countries, North American countries, these other countries took these valuables away. So  some success have been witnessed already and it is definitely something that we support fully.”

The villagers of San Benito Poite have also requested institutional support for preserving and interpreting the artifacts locally. This includes a one-million Belize dollar reparations grant for a visitor center and a 10-year, $500,000 Belize dollar scholarship fund.