Spanish shipwrecks in colombian waters: conjugation between underwater cultural heritage and jurisdictional immunities of states

Abstract

Las Mercedes, La Galga, Juno, y San José, are only a few of many shipwrecks that had been sunken for centuries; their legal characterization and the determination of their ownership are object of repeated legal battles. One of those battles appears when two states claim the ownership over the same objects that constitute underwater cultural heritage (UCH). This article analysis the possibilities that the Colombian and the Spanish states have before the national and international laws, in order to protect objects that are considered by both states as part of their own UCH. Likewise, the role that the jurisdictional immunities of states play in those possibilities is analyzed.