Theft of cultural property is an international issue that seriously impacts countries rich in cultural heritage, like Mexico. These crimes not only cost the institutions affected an enormous amount of resources but signify irreparable losses to groups of people and communities who are consequently dispossessed of objects that are involved in important processes of identity-building and sense of belonging.

In the past five decades, international agreements have been formalized to establish programs and implement actions against these crimes as well as the international networks that despoil cultural property all over the globe. In 1970 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) signed the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property ^{(UNESCO, 1970)}. The Treaty of Cooperation between the United States of America and the United Mexican States Providing for the Recovery and Return of Stolen Archeological, Historical and Cultural Properties ^{(Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 1970)} was formalized that same year.

To commemorate this Treaty of Cooperation, the Coordinación Nacional de Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural (CNCPC), an agency under the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), presented its Risk Management Program to Preserve Cultural Property and Avoid Illegal Traffiking with funding from the Embassy of the United States of America in Mexico. The effort seeks to improve the competitiveness of the cncpc and consolidate the program to prevent illegal trafficking of cultural property and support the retrieval of stolen goods.

Since INAH is the institution empowered to establish the rules that will ensure protection over the country’s paleontological, archeological and historical cultural property, it creates tools to tighten measures intended to prevent illegal trafficking. Among other responsibilities, the cncpc supports the Coordinación Nacional de Asuntos Jurídicos in addition to other federal and state agencies. It also produces technical opinions on movable cultural property and properties associated with immovable heritage, so as to expedite their retrieval when they are stolen and aid in the fight against illegal trafficking of cultural heritage.

The aforementioned program has been developed and divided into three campaigns to be held in the course of three years (2020-2022). The first of these has been called a regulation campaign. Its purpose is to generate best practices by means of regulatory documents, procedures, guidelines and institutional policies dealing with the retrieval of stolen property. The second campaign -training and updating- will offer chats, workshops, and educational activities to provide attendees information, tools and knowledge to prevent theft from different angles. It also seeks to build the expertise of specialists at the Institute as well as of those who participate in retrieval and prevention activities in order to identify cultural properties in transit.

Finally, a communication campaign was proposed to release and disseminate information via graphic and audio-visual materials that would allow society to recognize just how serious the theft of cultural property is and understand the importance of identifying cultural heritage.¹

What do we stand to lose when our heritage is stolen?

The project began in 2020 with the design of a communication campaign called What do we stand to lose when our heritage is stolen? under a group of INAH specialists who defined the goals of the campaign, its target groups, as well as the content and to­ pics to be addressed. This work made it possible to define various stages to frame the communication materials the group planned to generate. Special attention was given to designing an image that would appear in all of the materials to be developed.

The overall point of the campaign consists in promoting actions to prevent and report illegal trafficking of cultural property among groups involved in protecting and using cultural heritage. While the campaign is for the public at large, it also intends to produce materials for social groups associated with religious temples.

The campaign has been structured around four stages that deal with the different aspects and issues of theft:

• 1) Introduction to the campaign: this stage began in December 2020 and concluded in late March 2021. It was followed by the official announcement of the campaign and a presentation of an introductory poster and video (Figure 1).

(Designed by: Mónica Badillo; courtesy: CNCPC-INAH, December 2020)

Figure 1 Poster announcing the program, What do we stand to lose when our cultural heritage is stolen?. 

• 2) Preventing the theft of cultural property: This stage was implemented in early April and will conclude in July 2021. The importance of preventing theft will be highlighted during this period using materials with recommendations to prevent theft including posters, videos, infographics and a Manual de prevención del robo en recintos religiosos ^{2 (CNCPC, n.d.)} (Figure 2).

(Design: Mónica Badillo; courtesy: CNCPC-INAH, January 2021)

Figure 2 Cover for the Manual to Avoid Theft in Religious Venues. 

• 3) Encourage reporting: This stage will take place from August through October 2021. Its purpose is to encourage reporting as a vital part of retrieval. We will strive to be clear on the steps to take following reports of theft.

• 4) Feedback: This stage will occur during the last two months of 2021 and will close the campaign. It will seek to engage with, and understand, people’s perceptions with the question What do you feel is lost? as the starting point to reflect on effects of the theft and illegal trafficking of cultural property in Mexico

Throughout the campaign various communication materials should be produced, including posters, videos, and infographics, as well as a podcast series under the title Las mil y una historias para recuperar nuestra memoria ³ (Figure 3). The series will discuss interesting cases of stolen and retrieved Mexican heritage as a springboard to address the subject matter of the campaign.

(Design: Mónica Badillo; courtesy: CNCPC-INAH, March 2021)

Figure 3 Image for the podcast One Thousand and One Stories to Retrieve our Memories. 

The project also includes a Facebook page,⁴ What do We Stand to Lose When Our Cultural Heritage is Stolen? The page will be used to share and disseminate materials. Therefore, promoting and spreading the word about this page will be crucial to adding followers who, in turn, will make it possible to replicate and share our materials and in this manner reach a broader audience.

While the communication campaign proposes actions throughout 2021, we believe it is important to underscore that working towards preventing this crime is a long term effort. Thus, the actions and impacts of all three campaigns (regulation, training-updating and communication) will be articulated and complementary as a means to generate mechanisms and strategies to consolidate this program at the CNCPC together with other national coordination offices, and even at the interinstitutional level with other agencies such as the Fiscalía General de la República, religious associations, communities, the Mexican army, public prosecution services, customs.