Ecobreves – GUATEMALA:: Looters in the Ruins

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY, Aug 12 2006 (IPS) - Most of the archeological sites in the northern Guatemalan department of El Petén, cradle of the Maya culture, are at the mercy of looters due to the lack of funding to pay for guards. Most of the more than 4,000 sites in the area have not yet been scientifically studied, according to Minister of Culture Manuel Salazar.

“Only 46 sites are protected and open to the public, while another 400 have some type of oversight from the Institute of Anthropology and History, which is insufficient to keep them free from plunderers,” Salazar told Tierramérica.

According to Carlos Albacete, of the environmental group Trópico Verde, 70 percent of the archeological sites in the Laguna del Tigre area of El Petén have been plundered. “Many guards are hired by international entities that finance research projects, not by the state,” he told Tierramérica.