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Spanish Government confirms its interest in the Odyssey treasure find
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By h.b. - May 2, 2008 - 7:48 AM
The 'Odyssey Explorer' used to recover the treasure - Photo EFE
The 'Odyssey Explorer' used to recover the treasure - Photo EFE
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A legal battle over the ownership of some 500,000 silver coins is now underway in earnest.

The Spanish Government has confirmed its aspirations over the treasure found and recovered by the United States company, Odyssey Marine Exploration.

‘It’s all ours’, said the General Director of Fine Arts, José Jiménez, who said that the silver coins and other items found in May 2007 can be claimed ‘with guarantees’ for the Spanish Government.

Jiménez said that after Spanish experts inspected some of the 500,000 silver coins, now thought to have come from the Spanish galleon ‘Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes’, off the Algarve coast in 1804, it was clear the treasure was from a boat of the Spanish Armada and Spain will recover it all.

The matter is now in the hands of a court in Tampa, Florida, with Odyssey claiming that the boat was not engaged in military action when she sank and therefore cannot be considered to be a boat belonging to the Spanish state, and therefore they are not obliged to return the cargo. Odyssey claims that only descendants of those on board the vessel have any claim.

The Spanish Government is having none of that, and a formal press conference to explain the Spanish position is being organised for May 8.


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Readers' comments:
bob
04 May 2008, 17:35
I hear the indigenous people of South America calling already.
Its not going to happen. Spain can say bye to its stolen loot.
Er_Guiri
05 May 2008, 12:58
Spanish government will get in back, and it WILL go into a museum. Odessey have dirtied their name with this.
bob
06 May 2008, 01:31
Yes, a museum. An Aztec/Mayan museum in South America. Keep dreaming you thief.
cliff
24 May 2008, 13:31
as long as the dirty spick wannabe gibbos don't get any of it i'll be happy! burn cafe cyberworld to the ground!
Please keep to the subject. Opinions published here are of our visitors, not the Typically Spanish team. Comments which go against Spanish laws or which are libellous are not allowed. We reserve the right to delete any comment we wish.

Por favor, céntrate en el tema. Son las opiniones de los internautas, y no las de Typically Spanish. No está permitido verter comentarios contrarios a las leyes españolas o injuriantes. Reservado el derecho a eliminar los comentarios que consideremos fuera de tema.