Mexico's federal archaeological agency has accused the conservative-ruled city of Guanajuato of mistreating the remains of the country's famous 19th century mummies.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's federal archaeological agency on Monday accused the conservative-ruled city of Guanajuato of mistreating one of the country's famous 19th-century mummies.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said an arm from one of the mummies had come off during recent renovations to the museum where the mummified bodies are on permanent display.
One might assume that the complaint was about the dignified treatment of bodies that were buried in the early 1800s and began to be exhumed in the 1860s because their families could no longer afford the burial fees.
In reality, the mummies have been kept on somewhat gruesome display in glass cases in a museum in Guanajuato, the state capital, for decades, and have even been taken to tourist fairs and exhibits in the United States in 2009.
The latest conflict appears to be a turf war between INAH, which believes it has jurisdiction over the mummies because they are “national heritage,” and the city of Guanajuato, which sees them as a tourist attraction. The state and city are governed by the conservative National Action Party, but the Morena party, which holds power at the federal level, sees the NAC as its greatest enemy.
The institute said on Monday it would demand an explanation of what permits and procedures were followed during the museum's renovation work.
“These events confirm that the way the museum moved its collection was inappropriate and, far from applying appropriate remedial and preservation strategies, the actions taken have caused damage not only to the museum but also to other organizations,” the institute said in a statement.
It is not stated whether other parts of the mummy fell out.
“This situation appears to be related to a lack of knowledge of proper procedures and inadequate training of personnel carrying out these tasks,” it continued.
The Guanajuato city government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The preserved bodies, some with hair, leather and original clothing, were inadvertently mummified when they were buried in ossuaries in the dry, mineral-rich environment of Guanajuato state, known for its mining industry.
The institute appears to be upset that the roughly 100 mummies are being looked after by city of Guanajuato officials, rather than by institute staff. Most of the mummies were exhumed before 1939, when the institute was founded, and so remain under local care, a move that has irritated federal officials in the past.
In 2023, experts from the institute complained that the traveling mummies could pose a health risk to the public because one of the mummies appeared to be growing with fungus.
This is not the first time that the extreme symptoms of a person long after death have become a national political issue.
In 1989, the Mexican government weathered a wave of criticism for removing the arm of revolutionary general Alvaro Obregon, severed in a 1915 battle, after half a century of displaying it in a jar of formaldehyde inside a marble monument. The arm was incinerated and buried after visitors called it “unsightly.”
In 1838, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who served as Mexico's president 11 times, lost a leg in battle and had it buried with honors. By 1844, angry crowds who accused him of treason dragged the leg through the streets of Mexico City and apparently destroyed it.
___
Follow AP’s Latin America and Caribbean coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
