Posted on Friday 9 November 2007
126 years overdue, Chile has returned 3,778 books that its military had taken from Peru's national library in Lima. After capturing the Peruvian capital during the 1879-1883 War of the Pacific, Chilean soldiers pillaged the library's holdings. The volumes, written in Greek, Latin, French and Spanish, some with full-page colonial-era maps, dated from the 16th to 19th centuries.
Nivia Palma, national director of libraries, archives and museums in Chile, presented the books to Peruvian officials at a ceremony, calling the act a "concrete expression of our deep commitment to building a relationship of brotherhood and cooperation between our countries."
Foreign Minister Jose Garcia Belaunde thanked Chile for returning the books, and said the two neighbours must work to strengthen their friendship. So one can assume that what would have been a very steep library fine was overlooked in this instance.