Trafficking in cultural property: the business of organized crime

In the Latin American sphere, cultural heritage is an object of particular interest in the different states due to the important role it plays in identity. Attacks on cultural assets are quickly picked up on by the media throughout the region. Attacks on archaeological sites are carried out by looters who are called huaqueros in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Ecuador.

The looting of ecclesiastical property for export perpetrated between the 16th and 19th centuries, and particularly since the middle of the 20th century, determines that, almost without exception, certain ways of preventing illicit trafficking are sanctioned. On this very sensitive matter, the EL PAcCTO programme has published a guide on the fight against illicit trafficking in cultural property, entitled “Diagnosis of the situation and existing tools in the fight against crimes of illicit trafficking of cultural property”.