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Officials claim they used coins discovered inside a shipwreck off the coast of Colombia to prove the doomed vessel is the legendary San José that was carrying a $20 billion treasure when it sank. The Colombian government used an unmanned vehicle to inspect the wreckage of the 18th-century craft to prove it has found the lost Spanish galleon. The submersible carried out a non-intrusive investigation to document areas of the shipwreck that have yet to be photographed that contained coin-like objects, according to a study from Antiquity. Coins found in a hoard area in the ship’s stern were photographed and...

The Republic of Colombia announced Wednesday in a press release that they designated the wreckage of the San Jose galleon as a “Protected Archaeological Area.“ The Colombian government called the San Jose wreckage “one of the most important of the colonial period in America” and announced they were also launching a multiphase research project around the ship, the press release reads. The San Jose, a ship belonging to the Spanish crown, was sunk by the British navy in 1708 with only a few of its 600-strong crew surviving the incident, CBS News reported. The ship was reportedly believed to be...

Colombia is hoping to expedite its mission to recover a three-century-old sunken treasure worth as much as $20 billion as the ownership of the fortune lies in legal limbo amid an ongoing court battle. President Gustavo Petro ordered his administration to exhume the “Holy Grail of shipwrecks” — the Spanish galleon San José — from the floor of the Caribbean Sea as soon as possible, the country’s minister of culture told Bloomberg last week. Petro wants to bring the 62-gun, three-masted ship to the surface before his term is up in 2026 and has requested a public-private partnership be formed...

Colombia on Friday opens bidding for investors willing to retrieve billions of dollars in gold and silver from an 18th century ship wreck off the country's Caribbean coast. The Spanish galleon "San Jose" was the main ship in a fleet carrying gold and silver -- likely extracted from Spanish colonial mines in Peru and Bolivia -- and other valuables back to King Philip V. It sank in June 1708 during combat with British warships attempting to take its cargo, as part of the War of Spanish Succession. Only a handful of the ship's crew of 600 survived. President Juan Manuel...

There are sunken treasures, and then there is the legendary shipwreck of the San Jose. Considered by many to be the ‘Holy Grail’ of shipwrecks, we have been reporting on the explorations of the massive treasure since November 2023: The San Jose Galleon, the ‘Biggest Sunken Treasure in History’, Hasn’t Been Salvaged Yet – But It’s Already Causing Dispute in Court. The remains of the Spanish galleon San José, estimated to be worth nearly $20 billion, has been located off the coast of Colombia. pic.twitter.com/Tsb02Cgu87— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) December 16, 2023This week, it was reported that Colombian scientists have recovered...

As he enters prison, a disgraced former DEA agent who lived a decadent double life has claimed his own crimes were the tip of the iceberg... ...In interviews with the Associated Press, Irizarry, who recently began a 12-year prison sentence, has claimed that corruption is endemic in the powerful US drug agency... ...Irizarry claimed to the Associated Press that dozens of other agents joined in with his debauchery, and that they deliberately tailored drug operations so that they could visit party hotspots...

"Corruption and betrayal of the American people — the very people we stand to protect — have no place at DEA, and neither does Mr. Irizarry," Acting DEA Administrator Timothy J. Shea said. Former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Jose I. Irizarry, who previously was lauded by superiors before becoming entangled in a corruption case, pleaded guilty to 19 federal counts on Monday. Prosecutors said that the former government worker submitted false reports, and directed DEA workers to send money meant for undercover stings into accounts that he had control over or that were connected to his wife and co-conspirators,...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A federal judge Wednesday threatened to throw out the guilty plea of a veteran U.S. narcotics agent who conspired with a Colombian cartel money launderer — an unexpected twist that could derail one of the most egregious misconduct cases in the history of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell was expected to sentence the disgraced agent, Jose I. Irizarry, but refused to do so over what she called a “totally unacceptable” legal dispute. “I have never seen anything like this,” Honeywell said, postponing the sentencing indefinitely. “I’m not even sure at...

Secret Service Director Julia Pierson House should be ousted from her job, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday, agreeing with the recommendation of the top Democrat on the oversight committee. Mrs. Pelosi, the highest-ranking woman in American politics, said problems go beyond Ms. Pierson, who was put in charge of the Secret Service after a scandal involving agents who hired prostitutes in Cartagena in 2012. But Mrs. Pelosi said she accepts the analysis of Rep Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, who said he was displeased with Ms. Pierson’s leadership.

...In addition to the amphorae, archaeologists found ropes, shoes, a wooden drill and organic "dunnage" or matting, made from vine shoots and grass, that was used to protect the ship's hull from the cargo, Cau said...Many of the amphorae contained the remnants of fish sauce, while others held oil from plants — likely olives, wine, and perhaps olives preserved in vinegar. The distinctive amphorae for different products were labeled with painted inscriptions known as "tituli picti" in Latin, he said...Previous studies found that many of the oil amphorae had seals stamped with a "Chrismon," or Christian monogram — similar to...

The Royal Navy sank the galleon in 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession, but its resting place had been a mystery for more than three centuries. Today its contents could be worth billions. ...Experts speculate that the ship was loaded with at least 200 tons of treasure, including millions of high-purity gold doubloon coins, as well as many silver coins and emeralds that the Spanish empire had plundered from South America, worth up to $17bn (£13.5bn) today. The salvage rights have been subject to decades of litigation and are contested by a professional salvage company that claims to...

I will be there in a couple of months, first trip to South America.

The dig is taking place underneath one of the walls of the disused bull ring, a wall which has been reinforced specifically so that the archaeologists could begin their work beneath it, and the opinion of the experts is that these rooms were used to hold gladiators and animals captive before they were released to do battle in the arena itself. Their existence was documented in the 18th century, well before the construction of the bull ring, and the roofs were re-discovered in 1999, but until now no-one was aware of how well they have survived the passing of two...

A Long Prairie man with a suspended driver's license was pulled over on Highway 27 after reaching speeds of nearly 130 miles per hour with a blood alcohol concentration over the legal limit and with a teenage boy who was riding in the vehicle with him, according to authorities. Pedro Emmanuel Reyes Cartagena, 32, was charged in Todd County District Court Aug. 20 with two gross misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol. According to the criminal complaint: At 2:29 a.m. on Aug. 19, an Osakis police officer followed a blue sedan on Highway 27 and saw it...

A more than 300-year-old Spanish shipwreck carrying treasure that might be worth up to $17 billion was discovered with the help of an underwater robot. It's called the Remus 6000 and it can dive nearly four miles and is loaded with sensors and cameras. Bronze cannons confirmed "the holy grail of shipwrecks" had been found at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. They are engraved with dolphins — a telltale sign they belong to the Spanish galleon San Jose, lost more than 300 years ago. "I just sat there for about 10 minutes and smiled," said Jeff Kaeli, a research...

Spanish galleon San Jose sank more than 300 years ago in battle with British, while carrying vast cargo of gold and precious stones Colombia’s discovery of the 300-year-old, shipwrecked galleon San Jose, thought to be loaded with some $10 billion in gold and precious stones, could shed light on an important period in Spanish colonial history but also spawn legal battles over the valuable cargo. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said his country spent two years studying historical maps, meteorology and used the latest sea-searching technology to locate the Spanish vessel, which sank during a battle in 1708 in the...

With the Secret Service still smarting from its 2012 prostitution scandal in Cartagena, Colombia, another federal law agency is in hot water over an even more salacious sex scandal—in the same country. The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Michelle Leonhart, Tuesday faced a grueling three-hour inquisition from the House Oversight Committee over an Inspector General’s report that found DEA agents in Bogota, Colombia engaged in “sex parties” with prostitutes and that the parties were paid for by the very drug cartels the DEA was sent to fight. “This behavior is not acceptable,” Leonhart said in her opening statement. “It...

The father of a White House advance team member connected to the Secret Service prostitution scandal was refunded a hefty Obama campaign donation, records show, around the same time additional details about that possible link were made public. The $20,000 donation was made by Leslie Dach -- whose son Jonathan has been linked to the scandal -- on Sept. 19, 2012, to the Obama Victory Fund.

The White House had information two years ago indicating that one of their advance travel volunteers, the son of a major Democratic donor with ties to the White House, was involved in the Secret Service prostitution scandal. That former aide now works for the State Department's Office on Global Women's Issues. State recommends a "zero-tolerance" government policy on prostitution even when, as in this case, it is legal in the country in question. The Washington Post published a blockbuster story Wednesday night which alleges that 25-year-old Jonathan Dach, a White House volunteer working on the advance travel team for the...

As nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia, Obama administration officials repeatedly denied that anyone from the White House was involved. But new details drawn from government documents and interviews show that senior White House aides were given information at the time suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight guest in the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member — yet that information was never thoroughly investigated or publicly acknowledged. The information that the Secret Service shared with the White House included hotel records and...