Spain, Colombia agree over talks on treasure ship

PanARMENIAN.Net - Spain and Colombia agreed Monday, December 7 to discuss through diplomatic channels the situation created by the discovery in Colombian waters of the Spanish galleon San Jose, which was sunk in 1708 while carrying gold and jewels worth an estimated $17 billion, Spanish officials told EFE, the news agency reports.

Spanish Secretary of State for Culture Jose Maria Lassalle, and Colombian Culture Minister Mariana Garces spoke by telephone Monday, the two countries' first contact about the matter since the shipwreck was discovered.

Madrid had requested a meeting between Lassalle, currently on a state visit to Cuba, and Garces, the Spanish officials said.

At first Bogota sought to schedule their talks as part of the foreign ministers conference next weekend in the Colombian city of Cartagena as a lead-up to the 25th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Ibero-American Conference, to be held in that country in 2016.

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo noted Monday, during an interview with EFE, that his government will seek a "friendly" accord with Colombia about the galleon.

He said a UNconvention stipulates that this kind of shipwreck is "of the state, of war, not a private ship," so that "ownership belongs to the state where the ship was flagged."

Colombia, however, is not a signatory to that convention.

"We're going to talk," insisted Garcia-Margallo, who has described relations with Colombia as "sensational," and said that, if the matter cannot be resolved in a friendly manner, "they will understand that we will demand and defend our rights, just as I understand that they will defend and demand their rights."

Spain will refuse to surrender the galleon because it is a state ship with "a very significant history," the foreign minister said.

The remains of the legendary San Jose, which went down in 1708 off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, were found last Nov. 27.

The galleon set sail in early 1708 from Portobelo, Panama, together with other ships of the Spanish Armada, en route to Cartagena, Colombia, but near the island of Baru it was attacked by English pirates and was sunk by cannon fire.