Repatriation of Cacao-Related Archeological Pieces to Mesoamerica and U.S. Southwest
- Carla Martin
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 20 hours ago
How to cite
Martin, Carla D., and López Ganem, José J. “Repatriation of Cacao-Related Archeological Pieces to Mesoamerica and U.S. Southwest.” Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute, May 15, 2025, https://www.chocolateinstitute.org/post/repatriation-of-cacao-related-archeological-pieces-to-us-southwest-and-mesoamerica.How to contact the authors
contact [at] chocolateinstitute [dot] orgCacao producing communities worldwide, such as those situated in the Hawaiian archipelago, the Amazonian region between Ecuador and Colombia, the Grand-Bassam shores of Cote d’Ivoire, and the rolling hills of Taiwan, are increasingly turning to culture, ecotourism, and storytelling to highlight their unique regional contributions to the cacao and chocolate supply chain. This cultural focus on cacao and chocolate is not only an exercise of local pride, it also reflects a rational economic strategy to diversify cacao production income streams, entice youth participation in rural development, and include the voices of all supply chain stakeholders, especially cacao producers, in the narration of their values.
Mesoamerica - a region encompassing southern Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and northern Colombia - has a special claim to cacao and chocolate storytelling, due to its uninterrupted production and consumption of cacao-based products, either through historical formulations still consumed among Indigenous Peoples or through the diasporic connections that multicultural communities have created.
Examples of this new chapter of asserting ownership over Mesoamerican cacao and chocolate heritage come in the form of two museums: Casa Universitaria Cacao y Chocolate UJAT or the Museo Regional La Cacaotera, both based in the city of Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, the capital of the country’s main cacao producing state. Each of these spaces includes educational, interactive, sensory exhibits designed to support visitors in learning about the crop, the food, and the people who engage with it.
At the same time, many of the finest pieces of cacao- and chocolate-related art and material culture from Mesoamerica can only be seen outside of the region, in museums and private collections of North America, Europe, and East Asia. We at FCCI are on a mission to change this.
In November 2023, the minds behind the development of the Museo Regional La Cacaotera invited FCCI to contribute to the development of their permanent exhibition by locating and repatriating - a process of returning ancient objects to the countries of origin via formal diplomatic and legal processes - archeological pieces from the historic civilizations of Mesoamerica that engaged in longstanding cacao and chocolate production and consumption.
From March to November 2024, our team at FCCI reached out to private dealers and collectors of Mesoamerican cacao and chocolate pieces to inquire about the possibility of repatriating relevant items from their collections for the benefit of the Mesoamerican public. Our goal was to return these items to their countries of origin, either destined for academic study or display in museum spaces such as the Museo Regional La Cacaotera. After an initial round of conversations, either through donations or sponsored acquisitions, FCCI received over 65 pieces of archeological and cultural material created by historical civilizations from the nations now known as Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, and the United States.
Working with expert advisors - valuators, archeologists, anthropologists, art historians, museologists, and cacao producers themselves - we conducted in-depth research, curated key information, and completed documentation for each item. We also began the lengthy process of connecting with diplomatic and government officials to certify the authenticity of each individual piece and to confirm that there was a willingness to return these priceless pieces of art and material culture to their origin and allow them to become part of future public conversations.
As we worked through the research process and bureaucratic hurdles of repatriation, we hosted four public events to showcase these pieces on the East Coast of the United States, with a special emphasis on sharing the work with the Latina(o)(é) communities in New England and New York. We were honored to host over three hundred guests in different settings - from a chocolate factory to a nonprofit community space. We are thankful to Tangle Chocolate, Boston University’s Food Studies Programs, La Colaborativa, and the Museum of Food and Drink for opening their doors for cooking demonstrations, academic talks, and soirées, all of which served as spaces to welcome peers and newcomers in supporting material culture preservation.
While some pieces will become part of the permanent collections at Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology and the National Museum of Costa Rica, others will find their way to centers such as La Cacaotera in Tabasco, Mexico, and to university research groups with the skills to analyze them rigorously. It is our sincere hope that these pieces will contribute to the ongoing progress in ecotourism and cultural storytelling in cacao producing regions, as well as to further enlightenment through their scholarly study.
Efforts that seek to explore storytelling and preservation as vehicles for economic growth are nothing new. Moreover, as calls for material repatriation continue to develop worldwide (read here and here), exercises that innovate from traditional approaches to claim and return cultural heritage and intellectual property are urgently needed. FCCI’s amicable and thematic approach to contacting individual firms and collectors yielded a celebration of shared culture among Mesoamerican stakeholders and sparked curiosity in cacao and chocolate from private collectors worldwide. Public and private institutions - museums, universities, national governments, international embassies - also showed a degree of flexibility engaging us, and found that a repatriation exercise could also bring them closer to their objectives to preserve cultural heritage, highlight commonalities, make the past and present available to the public, and hopefully regain material control of these meaningful (and often astonishing) objects.
With the formal repatriation of all pieces now complete, FCCI has passed the baton to federal and tribal governments in Mesoamerica and the United States. Pieces were formally delivered to the Consulate of Mexico in the City of Boston, MA, on Thursday, September 12, 2024, to the Embassies Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Mexico, in Washington, D.C. on Friday, April 25, 2025, and to the Pueblo of Jemez, NM, on Wednesday May 14, 2025.
We remain forever grateful to our colleagues and partner institutions for their support in this endeavor. Please see here a full list of acknowledgements below.
Photos: (Left) José López Ganem, FCCI’s Executive Director, addresses diplomats and representatives of different Mesoamerican nations, (Middle) Ambassadors Esteban Moctezuma (Mexico) and Catalina Crespo (Costa Rica), accompanied by diplomatic representatives from several other Mesoamerican countries, inspect archeological pieces during the repatriation ceremony in Washington, D.C. in April 2025. (Right) A selection of specialty chocolate bars made with Mesoamerican cacao (Colombia - BOHO, Costa Rica - AraCacao, El Salvador - Belú Cacao, Honduras - Dandelion Chocolate, Mexico - Maeve Chocolate and Sleepwalk Chocolatería) offered as tokens of appreciation for attendees of the repatriation ceremony in Washington, D.C. in April 2025. (c) Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute.
Acknowledgements
Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute Carla D. Martin, PhD, President of the Board of Directors Kathryn Sampeck, PhD, Secretary of the Board of Directors Megan J. Elias, PhD, Member of the Board of Directors Pueblo of Jemez (Walatowa) Joseph “Brophy” Toledo Chief Cultural Advisors of the Pueblo of Jemez Embassy of the Republic of Costa Rica to the United States of America HE Catalina Crespo Sancho, Ambassador Embassy of the Republic of El Salvador to the United States of America HE Milena Mayorga, Ambassador Embassy of the Republic of Honduras to the United States of America HE Javier Efraín Bú Soto, Ambassador Gladis Arias Embassy of the United Mexican States to the United States of America HE Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Ambassador HE Ana Luisa Fajer, Chief of Chancellery Alejandra Mayela Martínez Silva & Luz Eugenia Figueroa Vízcaino General Consulate of the Republic of Colombia in Boston, MA Daisy Carolina Mejia Gil, Consul General General Consulate of the Republic of El Salvador in Boston, MA Abelino Chicas Rodriguez, Consul General General Consulate of the United Mexican States in Boston, MA Alberto Fierro Garza, Consul General Agrofloresta Mesoamericana Hugo Francisco Chavez Ayala |
Individuals | Individuals | Institutions | Industry |
Elizabeth Amrien Karina Archundia Bolaños Allegra Ben-Amotz Andrea Berlin Jean-Louis Berthet Mark Blackburn Ronda Brulotte, PhD Charlie Burke Estela Calzada Barbara del Castillo Niño Andrea Catania Irany Córdova Francisco Cubas Laura Del Olmo Frese, PhD Catie Duckworth Suzanne Forman Roger Fragua Bryn Fragua Patrica Ganem Ana Rita García-Lascurain Jorge Gaviria Darry Goodrich Miguel Guerrero José Heriberto Erquicia, PhD | Milène Jardine Natialia Krutko Seballos Andrea Y. Lloreda Florez Andréa López Jaime D. López Dianne and David Martin Donna and Lauren Mazzella Sue McGovern-Huffman Cameron McNeil, PhD Karen Methany, PhD Howard Nowes Catherine Piccoli Michelle Roman Andrea Reed-Leal Camilo Saavedra Kari Schleher, PhD Carla Sinopoli, PhD Maria Sousa Ron Sweetser Joseph “Brophy” Toledo Philip White Camela Zarcone Héctor Zavala Ursula XVII | BU Center for Latin America BU Department of Archeology BU Food Studies Programs Consulate of Costa Rica (NY) Consulate of El Salvador (MA) Consulate of El Salvador (NY) Consulate General of Mexico (MA) Embassy of Costa Rica (US) Embassy of Colombia (US) Embassy of El Salvador (US) Embassy of Honduras (US) Embassy of Mexico (US) Harvard University La Colaborativa Chelsea (US) Mexican Cultural Institute D.C. MUCHO Museo de Chocolate Museo Regional La Cacaotera Museum of Food and Drink (MoFAD) National Museum of Anthropology (Mexico) National Museum of Costa Rica UNAM Boston Universidad Pedagógica de El Salvador University of New Mexico | Agrofloresta Mesoamericana Ara Cacao Belú Cacao BOHO Chocolate Cacao Hunters Cacao para Todos Dandelion Chocolate Disset Chocolate Equal Exchange Hernán KLEIO Maeve Chocolate Maman Coffee and Bakery Milene Jardine Chocolatier Masienda Nawal Chocolate Raaka Chocolate Republica del Cacao Sleepwalk Chocolateria Tangle Chocolate |
Volunteers and Communities |
Docents and Volunteers of the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington D.C. Docents and Volunteers of the Museum of Food and Drink Researchers of the National Institute of Anthropology of History of Mexico Stewards and Cleaning Staff of Boston Universities Food Studies Programs Stewards and Cleaning Staff of the Museum of Food and Drink Team of the General Consulate of Colombia in Boston Team of the General Consulate of Mexico in Boston Team and Leadership of the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund Team and Leadership of Raaka Chocolate Team of República del Cacao USA |
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Curious to learn more about collection and repatriation processes? Here are a few books we recommend.
Fried, Stephen. 2010. Appetite for America : How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West. 1st ed. New York: Bantam Books.
Hicks, Dan. 2020. The Brutish Museums : The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution. London: Pluto Press.
Jacobs, Justin. 2024. Plunder? : How Museums Got Their Treasures. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
McEwan, Colin, John W Hoopes, and Dumbarton Oaks. 2021. Pre-Columbian Central America, Colombia, and Ecuador : Toward an Integrated Approach. Washington. D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.
Thompson, Erin L. 2016. Possession : The Curious History of Private Collectors from Antiquity to the Present. New Haven: Yale University Press.