FBI returns Cortés manuscript page to Mexico

The 1527 Cortés page was stolen decades ago and has been repatriated as part of ongoing efforts to recover missing cultural property.

FBI returns Cortés manuscript page to Mexico

The FBI says a 1527 page signed by Hernán Cortés that describes expedition provisions has been recovered and returned to Mexico. The page bears wax numbers added in 1985 86 to aid cataloguing, and Mexican archives note that 15 Cortés signed pages were missing when the collection was microfilmed in 1993. Open source tracing helped place the manuscript in the United States.

Officials say there will be no prosecution because the document changed hands many times after the theft. The repatriation is framed as restoration of historic property and a gesture of cross border cooperation amid ongoing tensions over tariffs and migration.

The case shows how cultural property sits at the intersection of history and law. Returning the page is framed as correcting a wrong, but it also raises questions about provenance and accountability when ownership changes hands across borders.

Beyond the act itself, the case points to a broader pattern of cooperation on heritage crimes. It also highlights how politics and memory shape debates over who decides how the past is displayed and who gets to tell it.

Highlights

History travels home not to erase the past but to place it where it belongs