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A woman takes part in an annual fair in honor of the “Virgen del Transito” (Transit Virgin), in Joyabaj municipality, Quiche departament, Guatemala, 8 August 2015, JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP via Getty Images In August 2020, Anastasia Mejía prepared herself for covering the city’s Indigenous Maya K’iche’ community, to which she belongs. She knew her subject that day, a protest of mostly Maya K’iche’ merchants, was important, but she had no idea that it would land her in jail.
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 26 April 2021.
On August 24, 2020, Anastasia Mejía prepared herself for yet another day of reporting in Joyabaj in central Guatemala. At 49 years old, she had spent the previous 11 years covering the city’s Indigenous Maya K’iche’ community, to which she belongs. Her subject that day was a protest of mostly Maya K’iche’ merchants who wanted the mayor, Florencio Carrascoza, to reinstate a permit to sell the
The recovered sculpture is of a man sitting cross-legged, wearing headgear and holding an object. It has been confirmed to be an ancient sculpture that originated from Ife, Osun State, South-West Nigeria.
Onyeama said that the government remains unswerving in ensuring that the cultural artifacts stolen from the country and scattered in different parts of the world are recovered and returned.
He said the process of recovering the artifact started in 2017, when the former Nigerian Ambassador of Nigeria to Mexico, Ambassador Aminu Alhaji Iyawa, incidentally saw a bronze head suspected to be of Nigerian origin at the Benito Juarez International Airport, in Mexico City.
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In its committed efforts towards exploring diplomatic and institutional channels in retrieving stolen artifacts around the world, the Federal Government on Thursday received one of the stolen artifacts intercepted in Mexico City, Mexico.
The recovered sculpture is of a man sitting cross-legged, wearing a headgear and holding an object. It has been confirmed to be an ancient sculpture that originated from Ife, Osun State, South-West Nigeria.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, while receiving the artifact from the Charge de Affaires of the Nigerian Mission in Mexico, Dr Yakubu Dadu, stated that the government remains unswerving in ensuring that the cultural artifacts stolen from the country and scattered in different parts of the world are recovered and returned.