A long-lost shipwreck with stash of gold on board thought to be worth billions of dollars has been suspiciously locked away in the name of “protecting heritage.”

Colombia declared a “protected archaeological area” on Wednesday around the spot where a Spanish galleon sank off its Caribbean coast more than three centuries ago, with her hull laden with gold, silver and emeralds.

The designation “guarantees the protection of heritage” through the ship’s “long-term preservation and the development of research, conservation and valuation activities” according to the nation’s culture ministry.

The San José was owned by the Spanish crown when she was sunk by the British navy near Cartagena in 1708. Only a handful of her 600-strong crew survived.

The galleon had been heading back from the New World (the Modern-day Americas) to the court of King Philip V of Spain, bearing chests of emeralds and some 11 million gold and silver coins.

San José and her treasure have sat 600 metres deep ever since with the location a closely-guarded state secret.

Colombia officially announced the discovery in 2015, but adventurers had long sought her before that.

The value of her bounty has been estimated to run into the billions, even tens of billions of dollars.

Still, despite this, Culture Minister Juan David Correa insisted this week: “This is not a treasure. We do not treat it as such.”

He announced the area’s new designation at an event launching the first “non-intrusive” phase of a scientific exploration of the wreck.

San José’s contentious spoils

Columbian President Gustavo Petro has insisted on raising the wreck for purposes of science and culture, but many still vehemently claim her invaluable contents.

Spain had laid claim to the ship and her contents under a UN convention Colombia was not party to.

Indigenous Qhara Qhara Bolivians claim the riches were stolen from them by the Spanish, who forced them to mine the precious metals.

Bolivia’s Indigenous people have expressed a concession of sorts, stating they are willing to work with Columbia in return for only a few pieces from the San José.

“Not only for the symbolic issue but more for the spiritual issue,” Qhara Qhara leader Samuel Flores told AFP in 2023.

“We just want our ancestors to be at peace.”

The wreck is also claimed by US-based salvage company Sea Search Armada, which insists it found her first more than 40 years ago and has taken Colombia to the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, seeking $10 billion.

According to a Colombian government filing, the San José carried “the biggest treasure in the history of humanity.”

Sea Search Armada claims it discovered the wreck in 1981 and estimates the value of her bounty to be between $4 billion to $20 billion.

The salvager asserts it handed over the coordinates of the wreck to Colombia under an agreement for a 50 percent share.

Rahim Moloo, a lawyer representing the group, said in a 2023 statement that Sea Search Armada must also contend with a 2020 law change that “unilaterally converted everything on the ship to government property.”

He said if Colombia “wants to keep everything on the San José for itself,” then “it can do so, but it has to compensate our clients for having found it in the first place.”

However, Colombia disputes these claims, arguing that no shipwreck was found at the provided coordinates and that the company never explicitly reported finding the San José.

In 2015, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced the discovery of the real San José, but withheld the coordinates, deeming them a state secret.

Colombia maintains that the ship and her treasures are national heritage items.

The case, under the US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, is to be resolved by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, with a decision expected this year.