Mexican special crime unit to hunt down illegally trafficked artworks

Mexican president Andres Manuel López Obrador has announced that since so few foreign nations are honouring the UNESCO 1970 Convention and finding and repatriating looted artworks and antiquities, the country will form a special crime unit within the Guardia Nacional dedicated to the task (Elizabeth Mistry, 'Mexican special crime unit to hunt down illegally trafficked artworks Police unit dedicated to repatriation of looted art and antiquities to be founded, Mexico president says' Art Newspaper 1 October 2021).

The announcement was made during the opening of the exhibition La Grandeza de México at the Museo Nacional de Antropología this week following the successful recovery of various archeological pieces due to be sold in Italy. López Obrador said he was inspired by the work of the Italian Tutela Patrimonio Culturale, the unit attached to the Italian police that specialises in recovering stolen art. He also praised the Italian gendarmerie, called the Arma dei Carabinieri, for supporting Mexico in recovering looted pre-Hispanic pieces. “We are already going to follow the Italian example,” he said. “I have already instructed a special team be set up to achieve this purpose.” “Imagine if every country had such a unit and worked together to repatriate works that had been looted or trafficked from their countries of origin,” said the president. Details about the new art crime unit are yet to be released.