Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(LIP-jl) -- United States Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice will visit Peru on June 8 to personally return over 400 stolen archaeological artifacts that have been seized in the United States from private collectors and black market traffickers.

Cecilia Bakula, Director of Peru's National Institute of Culture (Instituto Nacional de Cultura -INC), informed that the US's top diplomat will also renew a Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Peru that currently protects Peru's archaeological treasures.

The agreement, which was originally signed and adopted in 1997, is set to expire in the coming weeks.

Bakula also mentioned that in the coming weeks, the Andean nation will also recover important historical artifacts from various international locations.

The INC claims that a shipment of 553 Peruvian archaeological artifacts from Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Uruguay, New Zealand, and from the United States will be returned to Peruvian custody after private collectors and black market traffickers took from Peru without authorization.

Bakula stated that Peru is on the verge of reattaining items from its glorious historical past thanks to several lengthy international litigation processes that have taken years to complete.