Colombia says it found Spanish galleon; U.S. firm claims half of treasure
By Michael Martinez and Alba Prifti, CNN
Updated 0115 GMT (0915 HKT) December 6, 2015 | Video Source: CNN
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| cnn.com |
(CNN)Colombia says it has found a Spanish galleon sunk 300 years ago in the Caribbean with treasure estimated as high as $17 billion in gold, silver and gems.
"Great news: We found the galleon San Jose!," President Juan Manuel Santos tweeted.
"Finding the #GaleonSanJose marks an historic milestone for our underwater cultural patrimony," Santos said Saturday, tweeting a video of the search team at sea.
The discovery off Colombia's coast is sure to intensify an international dispute over the treasure.
The hunt for the San Jose has already been a long legal saga over how the booty should be split between the Colombian government and an American company based in Bellevue, Washington.
Sea Search Armada, a group of U.S. investors engaged in marine salvaging, claims it found the site of the San Jose in 1981 and contends the Colombia government has been trying "to illegally confiscate SSA's finds."
Indeed, the legal dispute is seemingly as dramatic as the sinking of San Jose itself, which was destroyed in 1708 by British warships thwarting Spain's delivery of New World riches.
"The Complaint in this case reads like the marriage between a Patrick O'Brian glorious-age-of-sail novel and a John Buchan potboiler of international intrigue," U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg wrote in a 2011 ruling.
SSA filed several lawsuits in the United States and Colombia, and the American company contends it won a Colombian Supreme Court ruling upholding how the treasure should be split 50-50 between the government and the U.S. firm.
Two lawsuits filed in U.S. courts were dismissed, in 2011 and 2015.
At a press conference Saturday, Colombia Cultural Minister Mariana Garcés Córdoba contended that all legal challenges were ruled in favor of the Colombia government.
But Jack Harbeston, managing director of SSA, said in a written statement to CNN that the government of Colombia "keeps repeating the Big Lie (which is unfortunately repeated by the press) that the GOC 'won the case' in Federal District court and SSA had lost its rights to the treasure. Nothing could be further from the truth.
"It would now appear that the GOC had no intention of good faith implementation of the Colombia Supreme Court ruling by settling with SSA," Harbeston said. "Their intent seems to be to preempt and make moot SSA's right to visit its property -- while flouting its own laws. The GOC continues in its expropriation of property belonging to U.S citizens in direct violation of its trade agreement with the U.S."
Colombia threatened the firm with military force, Harbeston said. "It's the same mentality as the conquistadors," he told CNN.
In U.S. court papers, SSA claimed that it located the San Jose site on the continental shelf off the Colombia coast in 1981 and formally filed that location with Colombia in 1982.
But Colombia broke an 1984 agreement to give the U.S. salvagers 35% of the treasure and prevent the Americans from salvaging the shipwreck at the bottom of the sea, the U.S. firm contended.
The Colombian Parliament passed a law giving the country all rights to the shipwreck treasure and only a 5% finders fee to SSA, an amount that would also be taxed at a rate of 45%, according to SSA's lawsuit.
In Colombian courts, SSA won a lawsuit claiming the new law was unconstitutional, and the Circuit Court of Barranquilla ruled the treasures of the San Jose should be split 50-50 between the government and SSA, the firm said.
The Supreme Court of Colombia upheld that even split, according to SSA's lawsuit filed in the United States.
The San Jose's treasures of bullion and coin was estimated between $4 billion and $17 billion as of three or four years ago, the U.S. firm says.
"Nobody knows what exactly is on there," Harbeston said.
The San Jose was the flagship and largest galleon of a Spanish fleet carrying gold and silver from the mines of Potosi, Peru. It was traveling from Portobello, Panama, to Cartagena, Colombia, but the British intercepted it off Cartagena.
"In the armada of 1708, the value of the cargo on the flagship alone exceeded Spain's annual national income from all sources. When the bullion and coins on all the galleons of the armada were totaled, it was two or three times Spain's annual income. In addition, there were trade goods of cocoa, indigo, leather, cochineal, precious woods and many other items," according to an online account posted by SSA.
The Spanish fleet's other galleons with gold, silver, jewelry, emeralds and other gems escaped the British navy.
"The galleons were lumbering bank vaults," according to SSA's historical account.
In Saturday's video posted on the Colombian President's Twitter account, an unidentified crew member is exuberant over the San Jose's discovery.
"It's a huge feeling," the crewman says. "This is the work of many years, a lot of work at that and a collaborative effort that has finally come to light, and there'll be much work ahead of us, but this was a huge triumph."
The Colombia President was equally excited at Saturday's press conference.
哥倫比亞找到300年前正值大航海時代，沈入加勒比海裡的一艘西班牙帆船，滿載著高達17億美金價值的黃金，銀飾以及寶石。「好消息，我們找到聖荷西號了！」哥倫比亞總統上推特寫著。
星期六他在推特放了一則搜尋團隊在海上的影片，「找到聖荷西號是哥倫比亞海平面下的歷史文化遺產新里程碑。」
而這個在哥倫比亞岸邊發現的遺跡讓國際間爭論不休。
美國華盛頓州貝爾維尤一間公司及哥倫比亞政府爭奪聖荷西號裡的戰利品，已演變成一部傳奇英雄史。
美國海上搜救隊的投資方Sea Search Armada（SSA）宣稱1981年他們先找到聖荷西號，認為哥倫比亞政府沒收他們的發現是違法的。
的確，這場所有權的爭辯看起來就跟聖荷西號的消失一樣神奇，1708年英國軍艦為阻撓西班牙發現新大陸後的物資運送，將聖荷西號摧毀。
「這案子的論述讀起來像是結合了派屈克·奧布萊恩怒海爭鋒跟約翰布肯國際陰謀論」2011年法官在判決書裡這麼寫著。
SSA在美哥兩國都提起過幾次訴訟，哥倫比亞判決宣判哥國政府及SSA應各持有一半的遺產。這對SSA來說是場勝利。
而在美國提起的兩次訴訟，各在2011及2015年宣告駁回。
星期六記者招待會上，哥國文化部長表示，所有法律層面的議題都有利於哥國政府。
但SSA的主管Jack發出了一個聲明給CNN，表示哥國不斷地在記者會上撒瞞天大謊，說哥國在聯邦法庭上贏了判決，SSA並無遺產所有權。沒有什麼比這更扯的了。
「感覺好像哥國對法院判決完全不相信，他們本意就是要搶佔SSA的財產並視為己有，公然藐視法律。哥國繼續沒收屬於美國公民的財產等於是直接侵犯跟美國的合作貿易協議。」Jack說。
「哥國還用軍事武力威脅SSA，這跟侵略者有什麼兩樣。」他告訴CNN。
成美國法庭訟狀中，SSA宣稱1981年就成立在聖荷西號沈船處的岸上，1982年在哥國正式簽訂合約。SSA表示，1984年哥國竟破壞這份合約，拒絕給美國搜救隊35%的遺產並防止他們靠近海難所發生的海底。
訟狀記載，哥國議會將全數遺產交付國家，僅給SSA搜救隊5%的搜救費，還需扣繳45%稅金。
哥倫比亞法庭上，SSA贏得訴訟表示新法是違憲的，巡迴法院並判決裁定聖荷西號上的遺產應該要55分。
根據在美國的訟狀表示，哥倫比亞高院維持原判，裁定55分。
聖荷西號上的金條跟金幣在3.4年前估計各有40億及170億美金的價值。
「沒有人知道船上實際有多少東西，」當初聖荷西號是最大的旗艦，負責運送秘魯所有值錢礦產跟金銀珠寶，自巴拿馬經哥倫比亞，被英國軍艦打落。
「1708年的無敵艦隊裝載的價值單艘就超過西班牙年收入，把所有金條跟金幣聚集起來甚至是西班牙年收入的兩到三倍，更何況還有豐富的貿易商品可可亞，皮革，胭脂，木頭等等。」SSA推特上寫著。
西班牙艦隊其他艘船載著金銀珠寶逃過了英國海軍。
「這些帆船根本是笨重的大金庫，」一位SSA前使用者帳號說。
而在星期六由哥國總統推特到網路上的影片後，有個船員對聖荷西號興沖沖地發表看法。
「這是多重大的突破，進行了這麼久的工作終於看見結果，雖然還有很多挑戰等著我們，但我們還是贏得了勝利！」
招待會上哥國總統也是一樣興奮。
galleon (n.) [15~17世紀]西班牙大帆船
gem (n.) 寶石
patrimony (n.) 遺產
intensify (v.) 加強
saga (n.) 長篇小說
confiscate (v.) 沒收
warship (n.) 軍艦
thwart (v.) 阻撓
potboiler (n.) 迎合大眾口味的營利文藝
intrigue (v.) 引起...的好奇心
preempt (v.) 搶佔
expropriation (n.) 沒收
conquistador (n.) 征服者
shipwreck (n.) 海難
unconstitutional (adj.) 違反憲法的
bullion (n.) 金條
intercept (v.) 攔截
armada (n.) 無敵艦隊
cochineal (n.) 胭脂色素
fleet (n.) 艦隊
emerald (n.) 綠寶石
lumbering (n.) 木材
vault (n.) 拱頂
exuberant (adj.) 熱情洋溢的
這篇翻超久...orz
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