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03:23 PM ET 02/16/97
Looters rob sunken galleons off Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Looters are robbing
treasure from Spanish galleons that sank off the coast of
Honduras centuries ago, Honduran Culture Minister Rodolfo Pastor
said Sunday.
``We've seen the treasures of these galleons looted because
we don't have the capacity to install navy watches in the 20 or
25 places were galleons exist,'' he told reporters. ``They have
been looted for several years and they will continue to be
looted because don't have the patrol boats to prevent this from
happening.''
The galleons, shipwrecked off Honduras' Atlantic Coast in
the 1500s, were carrying treasure back to Spain, Pastor said. He
estimated they contain about $3 billion worth.
If the government could retrieve the treasure ``it would be
a great relief for the economic situation'' of Honduras, a poor
Central American country currently being rocked by a series of
strikes and protests, he said.
He proposed legislative reforms that would allow the
government to work with international institutions capable of
raising the galleons from the ocean floor.
^REUTER@
("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._ Paul E. Pettennude, Ph.D.
`6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) Maya Underwater Research Center
(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `.``-..-' pettennude@us*.ne*
_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' Telephone (305) 554-1557
(il),-'' (li),' ((!.-' Fax Phone (305) 554-1616
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