Two historic manuscripts missing for more than thirty years returned to Paraguay during a ceremony at the Government Palace in Asunción this week. The works - ordinances signed in 1598 by Governor Hernando Arias de Saavedra, known as Hernandarias, and an 1812 expedition diary kept by independence leader Fernando de la Mora - were placed under the care of the National Archive.
“We celebrate the return of pages written centuries ago that once again occupy their place in the history of our beloved Paraguay,” said President Santiago Peña, according to La Nación Paraguay. He added that only “coordinated, persistent and patriotic work” enabled the recovery and called the protection of heritage “a shared responsibility between the State, academia, but mainly the citizenship.”
Culture Minister Adriana Ortiz announced that the manuscripts would be on public display throughout September in the American Room of the National Archive and were being digitised “so that new generations and the international community have access to this precious legacy,” Última Hora reported. Ortiz thanked the United States for its assistance.
The investigation began after an anonymous online tip led the National Secretariat of Culture to alert prosecutors. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit later found the Hernandarias text advertised for sale and seized it in May. Both items remained at the Paraguayan Consulate in New York until their hand-over this week.
Chancellor Rubén Ramírez called the return “a reason for satisfaction because it restores to our cultural heritage pieces that help to better understand the origin and development of our institutional organization,” while officials also acknowledged Argentine cooperation.
The Hernandarias document consists of thirteen handwritten pages dated 12 December 1598 that condemn practices undermining “the life and dignity of indigenous peoples” and outline measures adopted by the Cabildo of Asunción. Scholars regard it as a key reference for understanding social and territorial structures in the Río de la Plata region. The 1812 diary chronicles De la Mora’s expedition to Villa Real - today Concepción - during efforts by the Superior Government Junta to secure frontier territories.
Historian Guillaume Candela authenticated the manuscripts, and National Archive director Vicente Arrúa assisted the New York investigation.
“With this act the Paraguayan state reconnects its citizens with a part of their history,” said Ortiz. Peña pledged to continue fighting the illicit trade in cultural goods because “only a country that recognizes itself in its history can project itself strongly into the future,” La Nación Paraguay reported.
Produced with the assistance of a news-analysis system.