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Venezuela's Kueka rock in Tiergarten park in Berlin, May 29, 2012. ODD ANDERSEN / AFP

Twenty-two years after leaving Venezuela, a sacred rock from the Pemon Amerindian community is being returned by Germany. He was the subject of a dispute between the two countries.

The Kueka rock, which means "grandmother" in the Pemon language, was donated in 1998 by former Venezuelan President Rafael Caldera to Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld, a German artist. The latter then quickly had it extracted from Canaima National Park, in the south of Venezuela, a region inhabited by the Pemon community, for transport to Germany.

Cut, then polished, the sacred rock Kueka was then exposed in the Tiergarten park in Berlin, as part of a project bringing together archaeological rocks. At the time, the German ambassador to Caracas had invited Pemons to go to Berlin to understand the project. And it is this Monday that this immense rock which weighs nearly 30 tonnes left this park to undertake a long journey which must lead it to Venezuela.

The operation consisted of hoisting the Kueka rock to place it on the platform of a truck. " The restitution of the sacred rock of the Pemon people has started, " wrote Jorge Arreaza, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicolas Maduro, on Twitter. Adding that his trip " to Venezuelan soil " should take " several weeks ".

The repatriation of the Abuela Kueka, 22 años despues, es producto de un acuerdo amistoso, la constancia del pueblo Pemón y del esfuerzo del Gobierno Bolivariano del Presidente @NicolasMaduro. Serán varias semanas de viaje desde Berlín, hasta Santa Cruz de Mapaurí. ¡Pendientes! pic.twitter.com/MR5Axr43zb

Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) January 20, 2020

After years of litigation, demonstrations by the Pemon community outside the German embassy in Caracas, as in 2012, and lengthy discussions, the Venezuelan authorities have reached an amicable agreement with Germany.

This rock considered sacred by the Pemon community should find its place in Canaima National Park. A relief for this community for whom this rock of jasper is in a way the grandmother and the grandfather of the Pemon people.