La Jornada: Mexico recovers Cortés document signed in 1527

The recovery in the United States of a document from 1527, considered of incalculable historical value and stolen from the General Archive of the Nation (AGN) more than three decades ago, culminated in its return to Mexico, the result of an international investigation and efforts undertaken by Mexican authorities after detecting that the manuscript was offered for sale by an American auction house.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the AGN received on May 18 the document from the 16th century, a payment order issued on February 20, 1527, which was delivered by the United States Federal Investigation Agency (FBI) to the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

The official opening of the repatriated folio took place at the AGN facilities with the presence of representatives of the United States embassy in Mexico and the Legal Consultancy of the SRE.

Efforts to recover the document began in May 2022, when the AGN received information about its sale by the Paul Fraser Collectibles auction house. A month later, after gathering evidence that proved his belonging to the Mexican State and to the archive itself, a complaint was filed with the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.

According to the SRE, the return process began in 2024 and by August 2025 the document was already under the protection of the Mexican embassy in the United States, before its definitive return to the country.

The folio is part of a documentary set with signatures of Hernán Cortés, stolen from volume 362, file 203, from the Hospital de Jesús collection.