FBI Recovers Priceless Hernán Cortés Manuscript: A Step Toward Upholding Cultural Sovereignty

More than five centuries after Hernán Cortés etched his mark on history—and decades after audacious theft from Mexico’s national archives—the FBI has finally returned an original, priceless manuscript page to Mexico. Yet this recovery also shines a glaring light on the systemic failures that allowed such invaluable relics of national heritage to disappear in the first place.What Does It Say About Our Commitment to Protecting History?The document, signed by Cortés himself in 1527 following his conquest of the Aztec empire, vanished sometime between 1985 and 1993 from Mexico’s General Archive of the Nation. Despite clear evidence of theft, authorities let...