Venezuela government sued in US over ‘unreturned’ Bolivar items

A man from Florida has sued the Venezuelan government, calling for the return of artefacts that once belonged to Simon Bolivar. The lawsuit alleges that Venezuela borrowed the items from Ricardo Devengoechea in 2007.

The items in question include a lock of Bolivar's hair, which was used by Venezuela to determine the cause of his death in 1830.

The lawsuit says one of Devengoechea's ancestors was given the items by Simon Bolivar himself. They include documents and letters, some of which were written by Bolivar.

In the complaint, Devengoechea is described as a descendant of a founding family of Colombia and claims that the items were "taken by the Venezuelan government under the guise of a co-operative investigation with Ricardo Devengoechea".

In 2010 President Hugo Chavez ordered the exhumation of Simon Bolivar's remains, to test their authenticity and determine the cause of his death.

Experts later confirmed that there was no evidence that Bolivar had been murdered, or had suffered any other unnatural cause of death.

The lawsuit claims that the Venezuelan government sent a private jet to Florida to transport Devengoechea and the artefacts to Venezuela, where he says he spent a month as a guest of the government.

It said that after learning that the Venezuelan government had completed its investigation into Bolivar's death, Devengoechea had tried to secure the return of the artefacts, to no avail.

There has been no comment on the lawsuit by the Venezuelan authorities so far.

Bolivar helped free much of South America from Spanish rule, and is revered by President Chavez.