On May 18, the General Archive of the Nation (AGN) received a 16th-century document that had been stolen from its facilities more than three decades ago.
The item is a payment order dated February 20, 1527; it was handed over by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) as part of a repatriation process that began in 2022.
According to an SRE statement, the document is part of a group of papers bearing Hernán Cortés’s signature that had been torn from Volume 362, Bundle 203 of the Hospital de Jesús collection—one of the most important historical archives held by the AGN.
The handover took place in the presence of representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and the SRE’s Legal Office, who participated in the official unveiling of the repatriated document at the AGN’s facilities.
How did the recovery process unfold?
Efforts to repatriate the document began in May 2022, when the AGN received information that it was being sold by the auction house Paul Fraser Collectibles, based in the United States.
From that moment on, Mexican authorities initiated legal mechanisms to recover the item.
In June of that same year, the AGN submitted evidence proving that the document belonged to Mexico and the institution, and a formal complaint was filed with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
The formal return process began in 2024. Subsequently, by August 2025, the document was being held at the Mexican Embassy in the United States, pending final procedures for its transfer and official handover to the AGN in Mexico.
What evidence confirmed its authenticity?
To identify the document and prove it had been stolen from the AGN, the institution’s specialists prepared technical reports analyzing the physical characteristics of the record. The detailed description of the document played a crucial role in the identification process, as it allowed for cross-referencing with the AGN’s holdings and confirming its provenance.
What does this recovery mean for Mexico?
This achievement is the result of inter-institutional collaboration among Mexican authorities and bilateral cooperation with the United States, which facilitated the recovery of the item through the FBI.
The efforts undertaken by the Mexican Foreign Ministry and the AGN to identify, recover, and reintegrate this payment order into the national archives reinforce the Mexican State’s commitment to preserving documents that chronicle its history and to combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
Source: elimparcial
