The claimed discovery of a US$10 billion 18th century treasure trove on Chile's Robinson Crusoe island has touched off an epidemic of gold fever among treasure hunters, residents and officials.
The modern-day gold rush began on Monday when Chilean security firm Wagner announced that its ground-scanning robot had located a legendary pirate hideaway containing a lost bounty of jewels and gold coins.
Robinson Crusoe lies 600km west of Chile's central coast in the Pacific, and was a refuge for corsairs crossing the ocean as well as the home of Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, the Crusoe of Daniel Defoe's famous adventure story.
According to legend, Spanish navigator Juan Esteban Ubilla y Echeverria stashed the fortune, amassed over centuries by pirates on the island in 1715. It was then found by a British sailor, Cornelius Webb, and taken to another area of the island to be reburied.
Legend has it the booty, weighing 800 tonnes, includes two papal rings and a storied jewel known as the "Rose of the Winds."
Members of an expedition organized by Wagner salvage believe they have pinpointed the site, according to attorney Fernando Uribe Echeverria, who is advising the team.
"It is the greatest treasure in history," Echeverria said, adding that searchers would start digging in a matter of days once permits had been granted. He claimed the treasure was worth US$10 billion.
In 1998, an expedition led by Dutchman Bernard Kaiser with US and Chilean colleagues failed in their bid to track down the same treasure, but Wagner's expedition has earned extra credibility due to the reputation of its sophisticated robot, which has already solved several crime mysteries in Chile.
But even though the treasure seekers have yet to unearth a single gold coin, the lure of hidden fortune has inflamed passions among the island's 600 inhabitants, mainly fishermen.
"People here are talking about nothing but the discovery of the treasure and what they could do with the money," the island's director of tourism, Calos Satto, said.
Wagner has kept the exact location of its "discovery" a closely guarded secret, pending authorization from the government to commence excavation. The company has said only that "tonnes of jewels and gold" have been found by the robot in the region of the "three points."
According to two articles in Chilean law, the loot is either to be split evenly between the finders and the state, or handed over entirely to the tax office.
Education Minister Sergio Bitar has stated publicly that the government should get the cash. Wagner insists that it can keep half of what it digs up. The company says it will donate its part of the treasure to charity, insisting that its only interest is publicity for its robot design.
Mayor Gonzalez, for his part, has demanded that half the proceeds from the treasure be handed out to the islanders, with each one receiving more than US$8 million.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS