add

ended up sneaking in errors and references that didn’t add up

by

Artificial intelligence has become an everyday tool for millions of people. Today many use it to write emails, summarize documents or translate texts in a matter of seconds. However, this speed has a less visible side: generative systems can also make mistakes, invent data or alter sources without the user immediately noticing. When these errors appear in one of the largest encyclopedias in the world, the situation changes completely. That is precisely what has happened on Wikipedia with a series of translations carried out with the help of AI. The opening episode. It all started within the Wikipedia community itself. Some editors began reviewing recent translations and noticed something strange: certain texts included phrases that did not appear in the cited sources or references that did not seem to fit with what the article stated. According to 404 Mediathese translations were part of a project promoted by an organization that sought to expand the presence of Wikipedia content in different languages ​​using language models to speed up the process. When translation invents. As editors began to examine these translations in more detail, the problems became more evident. One of the cases cited by 404 Media is that of a draft article about the French royal family La Bourdonnaye. The translated text included a reference to a book and a specific page to explain the origin of the family. However, when editor Ilyas Lebleu, known on Wikipedia as Chaotic Enby, reviewed that source, he discovered that the page cited was incorrect. Lebleu added that, when doing a quick review of several translations, he also found interchanged references, phrases without a source, and cases in which paragraphs were added based on material unrelated to what was being written. It was published or remained in draft. The case also raised a relevant question: whether these errors had appeared in already published articles or whether they were detected during the review process. At least one of the problematic examples was identified in a draft translation, allowing editors to revise it before it was finalized. With the material provided here, however, it cannot be stated how many translations with problems were published and how many remained under review. Who is behind these translations. Here appears the name of Open Knowledge Association (OKA), a non-profit organization that claims to work to improve Wikipedia and other open platforms. As the organization itself explains on its website, its model consists of offering monthly stipends to collaborators and translators who work full-time expanding the encyclopedia’s content, and “taking advantage of AI (large language models) to automate most of the work.” According to 404 Media, editors who investigated the project concluded that it relied on contractors. The editors’ response. As more problematic examples appeared, the Wikipedia community decided to intervene. The editors reviewed the operation of the translation project and ended up establishing new restrictions for those who participated in it. OKA-linked translators who accumulate four strikes for unverifiable content within a six-month period may be blocked without additional notice if a new case appears. Additionally, content added by a translator that ends up being blocked may be removed preventively, unless another reputable editor takes responsibility for reviewing it. OKA explains. The organization mentioned in the debate also offered its version of the events. Jonathan Zimmermann, founder and president of the Open Knowledge Association, explained to the aforementioned media that the project’s translators work on an hourly basis and that there is no fixed goal of articles per week. In addition, he admitted that “errors happen,” although he defended that the system includes human verification and review of sources. Following the discussion on Wikipedia, he added, the organization is introducing a second review with another AI model to detect possible errors before publishing, and is studying the possibility of adding peer review mechanisms if necessary. Images | Oberon Copeland @veryinformed.com | Luke Chesser In Xataka | Sam Altman says he’s terrified of a world where AI companies believe themselves to be more powerful than the government. It’s just what you’re building

Mobile software has become so complex that Samsung has had to add an AI to explain it to you

by

There’s a feature in One UI 8.5 that says more than it seems. It’s called, in Samsung’s internal nomenclature, ‘voice settings assistant’: you ask the phone why the screen doesn’t turn off, and it explains which setting is causing it. You ask it why the volume goes down on its own, and it tells you where the setting is that controls it. In it briefing of the Galaxy S26 They mentioned it almost in passing, as a nice detail among bigger and more important news such as the 3 AIs in 1, or the spectacular screen and its privacy mode. But this also deserves some attention. For years, learning to use a cell phone was part of the deal. You scanned the menus, memorized where things were, got used to their quirks, and cursed when you changed brands and couldn’t find anything. The instruction manual disappeared many years ago because it was assumed that phones were already intuitive enough not to need it. And for a while, they have been. The problem is that phones have not stopped growing. Every generation, and I’m looking at both iOS and Android, adds settings, modes, features, and layers of customization. One UI 8.5 brings, in the AI ​​section alone, more than a dozen new functions. The Christmas tree effect: We accumulate things without getting rid of the previous ones and we end up with an unruly mammoth. The operating system of a modern mobile phone has thousands of options spread out in menus that are sometimes where you would expect and sometimes not. And when something behaves unexpectedly, finding the reason can take several minutes of searching or a simple query to Google. Or ChatGPT. Samsung has decided that the solution to this complexity is not to simplify, but add a layer to help you navigate it. The mobile phone no longer expects you to understand it: it explains how it works if you ask it. It is a pragmatic move. Manufacturers have been in a race for years to add functions that justify the annual update, and retracing that path would mean cutting features that some users do use. So the solution is not to remove, but to translate. An AI that acts as a guide within the device itself. Google already has similar functions in pure Android and the Siri that the prophets promised maybe one day it will come. What Samsung does with One UI 8.5 is go a step further: it not only takes you to the setting, but explains why that setting is affecting the behavior that misses you. It’s the difference between giving you directions and explaining the map to you. The question that remains is how far this goes. If the phone needs an AI to explain itself, The next logical step is for that AI to start making decisions for you.: not only explain why the screen does not turn off, but also turn it off when it detects that you are not using it. Some of the agentic upgrades that Samsung has presented in the S26 are already going in that direction. The cell phone that asks you what you want to do and the cell phone that deduces what you want to do are closer than they seem. In Xataka | Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, S26+ and S26, first impressions: a broken heart in an unprecedented commitment to AI Featured image | Xataka

How to create an excel with artificial intelligence where you can add the expenses of your digital purchase receipts

by

Let’s explain to you how to create a spreadsheet with your expenses using artificial intelligence. Specifically, what we are going to do is put all your purchase receipts in a folder, and have the AI ​​read them, extract the totals, write them down in the spreadsheet and then add the total. It seems complex, but it is easier than it seems. For our example we are going to use the PDF tickets that are sent to you by email when you configure the Mercadona digital ticketalthough you can also use photographs of tickets. For the spreadsheet we are going to use LibreOffice, as it is a free and open source alternative to Office. To carry out the actions we will use Claude Coworkthe AI ​​assistant of Claude that can do actions on your computer. The negative part is that To use this tool you must have a paid account in this artificial intelligence chat, but the positive part is how much you can later do with it. There are workflow tools that allow you to automate this and do it online, but we are going to start by explaining this simpler method because it is all local, within your computer, and sharing less data with third parties. Make preparations first It is important to be organized when carrying out this task. Therefore, what we are going to do is go to the file explorer on our computer and create a folder. In my case I have called it Tickets. Inside, we will create a subfolder where you can put the digital tickets which we will call “Ticket PDFs”, and then the spreadsheet file which we will call “Total Purchases”. We will also create the basic structure of the spreadsheetso that it will then be easier for us to describe to the AI ​​what we want. On this sheet I have included the date, the total of the ticket, and then a column to add the link to the PDF file for each one. Here, you will be able to customize this as you need. Now simply Put the tickets in PDF inside the folder that we have created to store the tickets. You can do this by hand with the ones you have, and then update it with the ones that arrive later, because we will also tell you how to ask the AI ​​to update everything. This technique has many variants. For example, adding a specific column in the spreadsheet you can also add the name of the supermarket in order to manage the expenses of several of them, or make a different sheet for each one within the same file. You can make things as complex as you want. Now ask AI to do the work for you Now it’s time to get to work. Let’s open the Claude application on the computer and choose the option cowork. Here, the first thing will be click on the option Work in a folder. When you do this, you will have to choose the folder where you have included the subfolder with the PDFs and where you have created the spreadsheet file. This way the AI ​​will work only within this space without touching the rest of the files on the computer. Once you have done this, tap write a prompt asking it what you want it to dowhich in this case is asking it to read the PDFs with the tickets, extract the information and put it in the place you want within your spreadsheet. I have used this prompt, where I also specify the columns where each content goes: I want you to analyze the content of all the PDFs in the “Ticket PDFs” folder. These are purchase tickets. In all of them, I want you to extract both the date of the ticket and the total you have spent and put them in the “Date” and “Total (€)” columns of the “Total purchases.ods” file. Within this file, I also want you to create a link in the PDF Link column that, when clicked, opens the PDF file it belongs to. This prompt You can modify it depending on what your spreadsheet is like.but always specifying in which column each item goes, or on which page of the spreadsheet if you have created one for each supermarket. You can even make a sheet for the totals, and ultimately ask them to use any of Excel functions or the program you are going to use. Now, you have to wait a few minutes for Claude to process your request and complete the task. When you do, you will be able to enter the file you created before, and you will see that it has updated it. You can make changes to the file for font size or whatever you want, and Claude will then take that into account. You can also tell the AI ​​if it has done something wrong, such as not including links, so it can correct and add it. Now, you can ask him to do extra work like adding a column below with the total. And then, When you add more files you can ask it to update the file reviewing the new PDFs that you have added and adding the missing ones to the list. And that’s it. With all this you will have a spreadsheet that you can update every time you add more tickets. You can also ask him to do it by reading the content of photos, and other tickets that you also have in PDF. In Xataka Basics | Claude: 23 functions and some tricks to get the most out of this artificial intelligence

They already add 30,000 in just three months and at a time of record profits

by

Amazon has confirmed the layoff of 16,000 workers worldwide, just three months after announcing the elimination of 14,000 positions. The company communicate the cuts as part of a plan to “eliminate bureaucracy” and streamline its organizational structure. The interesting thing is that the announcement comes at a time of record profits. Why it is important. This is the second large wave of layoffs at Amazon in just one quarter, bringing the positions eliminated to around 30,000. The figure becomes more relevant if we consider that next week Amazon will present its financial report, where Wall Street analysts expect revenues of more than $211 billion and profits of more than $21 billion, according to inform The New York Times. Cuts especially in the United States. The layoffs primarily affect Amazon corporate employees, who make up about 350,000 of the company’s 1.5 million total global workers. According to account BBC, most of the cuts will be concentrated in the United States, although some positions in the United Kingdom could also be affected. In the October wave, more than 1,500 positions were eliminated in California alone, most of them software engineers. How to the workers have found out. He official announcement It has arrived after an error. According to explains BBC, On Tuesday night, Amazon Web Services (AWS) workers received a calendar invite to a meeting the next day. A draft message signed by Colleen Aubrey, senior vice president of applied AI solutions at AWS, mistakenly appeared in that invitation, detailing the layoffs under the codename “Project Dawn” (Dawn is the name Amazon uses internally to refer to the layoffs). The message was quickly deleted, but the media had already covered it. It was hours later when Amazon published the official statement. Restructuring. Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, wrote in the official post that the changes seek to “strengthen the organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership and eliminating bureaucracy.” He added that they do not plan to establish “a new pace” of reductions every few months, although he left the door open, adding that each team will continue to evaluate its structure “as appropriate,” especially “in a world that changes faster than ever.” Where the money goes. As Amazon cuts tens of thousands of corporate jobs, it is investing massive amounts in another direction: artificial intelligence. According to the NYTthe company spent $125 billion on new data centers and other capital investments last year, primarily to compete in the AI ​​race. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy already warned last summer to corporate employees that artificial intelligence would mean that, over time, the company would operate with fewer such workers. Contradictions. In autumn, Jassy told investors that the layoffs had less to do with AI or finance and more to do with reducing bureaucratic layers. However, according to point NYT, reductions in several divisions were based on specific goals to cut operating costs. All this while in the quarter from July to September, sales reached 180,000 million dollars and profits exceeded 21,000 million. Yocollateral impact. On the other hand, just before Amazon’s announcement, UPS also has communicated which plans to eliminate up to 30,000 jobs this year. Guardian share that UPS has been working to reduce the millions of low-value deliveries it makes for Amazon, since although it is its main customer, this large volume of shipments provides “little benefit”, referring to the fact that they are cheap packages that represent a high operating cost for the company. What happens to those affected? Just like share company, laid-off employees in the United States will have 90 days to look for an internal position at Amazon before permanently leaving the company, although the period varies by country. Those who do not find or seek a new position will receive compensation, outplacement services, and health insurance benefits. Cover image | Israel Andrade In Xataka | Something has broken between Europe and the US: France leaving Zoom behind and Teams in its administration points to something bigger

How to add the Three Wise Men to any photo of your street using artificial intelligence

by

Let’s tell you how to add the Three Wise Men to your photographsso that you can create images full of illusion. The idea is that if you have a photo of your street or a place you usually walk through, you can add these characters to it without altering anything else. We are going to tell you two ways to do this, both with artificial intelligence. First we will go to a website designed exclusively for this, which is the easiest alternative to use. And then we will tell you how to use the most popular artificial intelligence chatbots, such as ChatGPT either Gemini. Use a third party page If you want to do things as easily as possiblethere are pages like fotoalosreyesmagos.comcreated especially to add the Three Wise Men to your photos, and which allows you to see the photos shared by other users from all over Spain. The website offers consistency in designs, although the results are a little less refined. To use it, go to fotoalosreyesmagos.com and click on Upload your photo. Now you will go to a screen where you have to upload the photo you want to use to insert the Three Wise Men. Click on the box or drag the photo to it if you are on the computer. Remember that they must be photos of a street or landscape so that the AI ​​can insert the characters into it. Now you’ll have to choose how to customize your resulting photo. To do this, you just have to decide if you want to include the camels or only to the Kings. Additionally, you have to choose if you want the photo to be public indicating your location or if you want to keep it private and not publish it in the gallery. Now, after deciding whether or not to accept or not give the website a donation of one euro, the photo will be generated. When the photo is generated you can download or share itin addition to publishing it if you want in the public gallery. Add the Three Wise Men with ChatGPT or Gemini The other option is use ChatGPT or Geminiin both cases you will be able to use the same prompt, although today ChatGPT Images offers better results. But you can try both options and stick with the one that suits you best. What you have to do in both options is upload a photograph of your neighborhood, and add the following prompt: I want you to add the three Wise Men in this photo. They should be walking down the street, and you should make them realistic, make them look like real people. Look at the proportions so that they have a realistic size within the photograph, that they have the size of a real person. Don’t touch anything else in the photo, just add to the characters. That’s it, with this the AI ​​will generate a fairly realistic image of these characters. The advantage of this option is that you can add and specify things at the prompt you use, adding objects, specifying sizes, and similar. In Xataka Basics | How to create a character in ChatGPT and Gemini to use it in all the images you make with artificial intelligence

In case Spain did not have enough problems with sun and beach tourism, add a new business: wedding tourism

by

There are those who travel to disconnect, to learn about new landscapes, cultures or traditions, to whom he guides his appetite or simply who wants to enjoy relaxing days on a distant beach with a soda in his hand. To all of them is now added a type of tourist difficult to classify and seeks something totally different: marry. Your trips feed the flourishing (and millionaire) Industry of Rinning Weddings And they are already The pillar of some balearic farms. The ‘yes I want’ as a new rising tourist asset. Two words: Rinning Weddings. The concept is not new, but a quick search on Google is enough to verify that little by little gains strength in Spain. The Rinning Weddings or ‘destination weddings’ are neither more nor less than what the term suggests: couples who, instead of getting married in the city in which they live or in which some of the bride and groom are sought, choose to give the ‘yes I want’ far away. In another city or region. It may even that in another country, including destinations as exotic as Las Vegas or some Greek island. The idea is very simple: that the wedding is more than a wedding for boyfriends and guests, that is also a getaway. A juicy business. It is not easy to provide precise (and updated) data on how many Spanish partners travel to other countries to marry and how many foreigners Spain choose as the scenario for their bodies. In any case something is clear: with Spanish tourism Breaking records and approaching the barrier of 100 million Of visitors, it is a juicy business. And clearly on the rise. In February, Future Marketin Sights consultant published A broad study that estimates that The global market The wedding tourism will be around 36,800 million dollars, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% throughout the next decade. They are high values, but above all they exceed those who handled only a few years ago. His Calculation for 2022for example, pointed to a business volume of ‘Solo’ 23,000 million. “The Rinning Weddings They are one of the most popular and most dynamic segments in the global wedding industry, in which couples opt for personalized experiences in exotic places around the world, ” The authors collect of the study. “More and more boyfriends choose to exchange their votes in picturesque and culturally rich places, often with a group of friends and family. The market covers a wide variety of services and destinations offers.” How does Spain affect? As Spain sits top of the world ranking of tourist destinations and even dreams of crowning it (something feasible already in 2040according to the estimates of Google and Deloitte), our country is also reinforced on the map of the Rinning Weddings. On the Internet they can be found A good number of websites in English dedicated to Organize weddings In Spain or what They promote the peninsula and the islands as “An ideal destination” so that the bride and groom exchange alliances. The Canary Islands, Malaga, Marbella or Mallorca usually appear on their list, although in reality the market is very wide. A few years ago Ciudad Rodrigo (Salamanca) launched a baptized initiative ‘Ciudad Rodrigo Wedding Friendly’ I was looking for precisely position the town on the map of wedding celebrations. As the main asset he used his rich historical heritage. A quick search in The Wedding Travel Company It shows in any case that couples determined to marry their city have an extensive list of alternatives in Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Portugal or the United States, to quote only some countries on their vast list. “We specialize”. To understand the phenomenon The confidential He has spoken With some representatives of the Mallorca sector, one of the hot points of national tourism. And their data and statements are striking. Finca is Cabàslocated just over 20 kilometers from the urban center of Palma, explains that practically 100% of the weddings they do are tourists. And the director of the farm They are brownlocated not much further from there, it agrees that about 98% of the links that host them also lead. “There is a lot of American, a lot of German, a lot of British,” Confirm Yesssi Morel, Wedding Plannerfor whom, beyond the attractiveness of Spain or the costs, the key of the island pull in the destination wedding market is the approach that the sector has adopted. “I think we put everything very easy to foreigners. We are specializing a lot. Every time weddings are perfected more.” As for costs, statista data Before the pandemic show that Spain is one of the countries where the most expensive weddings are celebrated ($ 23,400 on average in 2019), although in reality the data is not much higher than that of Italy and is below the $ 29,000 that were reached that same year in the US. “They seek to save and in Mallorca they have the same wedding with the same quality they could have in the US, but at a lower cost,” Morel clarifies. And how does Mallorquines affect? That is the other big question. In a market that looks at the foreign client and the American couples with a wide budget, what options do they have left? The topic is interesting because, as remember the Wedding Plannerforeigners who plan to marry their home usually follow certain patterns: they reserve well in advance and have no problem in celebrating their ceremonies any day of the week. That (of course) forces the locals to adapt. “The Mallorcan marries only on Saturday and usually prefer certain months, such as September. If they do not escape, they run out of dates,” Confirm The wedding organizer. “Farm owners believe they have a treasure in their hands. They have seen a reef.” Images | Carlo Buttinoni (UNSPLASH) and Camila Cordeiro (UNSPLASH) Via | The confidential In Xataka | The end of the open bar: how weddings are leaving behind their only ‘collective … Read more

Ryanair will add a strike with delays and cancellations to the cocktail

by

To the usual mobility problems that are recorded every year during the August bridge, this year the call for the strike personnel of Blue Handling, a company responsible for the Airport services from Ryanair. This labor conflict adds to the long list of open fronts that Ryanair has in Spain, from labor problems with the salaries of your cabin staffthrough the sanctions for the Hand luggage collection or the increase in airport rates. Strike call and its dates. The Earth staff strike Convened by UGT FESMC and CGT affects all the bases and work centers of Blue Handling, the subcontract that operates for Ryanair in Spain. According to the official calendar, the strikes will take place: August 15, 16 and 17 They will be repeated every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and subsequent Sundays until December 31, 2025, which will affect strategic holidays for their traffic volume, such as November 1, the days before Christmas or end of the year. The Handling blue strikes will take place during the highest hours and, at that time, the company’s services will be interrupted by the billing, loading and assistance services in land for Ryanair, with the possibility of delays, cancellations and discomfort for passengers. Between 5:00 and 9:00 in the morning Between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. Between 9:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m. Affected airports. The call will impact the airports of Valencia, Alicante, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife Sur, Lanzarote and Santiago de Compostela, where Blue Handling provides service in the Earth operation of Ryanair. Users affected by the strikes can know the status of their flights from the page of Company’s travel information. From Facua Rememberthat, in case of cancellation, the European Regulation It establishes economic compensation of up to 600 euros. Why are they going to strike? The trigger for the strike is, according to The statement of the UGT union, a protest to stop “a strategy of precariousness and pressure on the template that violates basic labor rights and systematically disregard trade union demands.” In addition, it demands that the company withdraw the sanctions, comply with the sector agreements and open “a real negotiation process” with its workforce. The concrete claims are translated into the requirement of fair working hours, salary updates and respect for the fundamental rights of the 3,000 employees that form the Blue Handling staff. From UGT they lament for “having to reach these extremes and all the damages that may occur, of which the direct manager will be only and exclusively the company and its reckless acting with the workforce,” says the union statement. A new front for Ryanair. This new strike arrives In a tense context For Ryanair in Spain: the airline was already sanctioned with A fine of 150 million euros Retailing hand luggage as an additional service. In addition, the Airport rates rise and the closure of operations In some airports –How it happened recently In Valladolid– They accentuated the disagreements between the company, workers, government and users. Recently, the company has taken holders for labor pressure About your cabin staffas well as for repeated breaches of the Spanish regulatory frameworks. The company has also been forced to modify certain practices before judicial pressuresalthough from Ryanair they have declared that They will keep Your model “Low Cost“In the country. In Xataka | Ryanair charges extras almost even for breathing. Now he will also charge a supplement to whom he misses during the flight Image | Ryanair

How to add bibliographic quotes and references in a work or report with artificial intelligence

by

Let’s explain How to add quotes and bibliographic references in a work or report with artificial intelligence. Creating appointments with AI is quite easy, and you will be able to do so with Chatgpt as with COPILOT, Deepseek, Gemini or any other chatbot. To create the citations, you will only need the bonding bond or reference you have used As a reference for your work. Then, at AI you can ask you to use it, and then you will generate the text using different summons formats. Remember that it is still easier to use Tools to cite your bibliographyalthough the AI ​​is gradually arriving there. Create appointments for university jobs with AI To create bibliographic appointments and references in a job or report you only have to use a very simple command For AI. Basically, you have to ask you to make an appointment, and add the link or reference used. The prompt that we have used is as follows: I want you to believe me a citation for a university job of the link/book (reference) When you write this command, You must specify what kind of appointment is itif it is a web link or a book. And then, where we have put (reference) in the prompt put the link to the web or the name and author of the book. Only this will be enough. When you do, The AI ​​will create several appointments in several summons of summons. In fact, it will put both the reference to put in the bibliography and the way you must add the appointment within your text. You can also ask for concrete citation styles. You can specify it in the main prompt, but you can also ask for it later. You shouldn’t even put all the full prompt again, if after the answer you write something like “and in Harvard style?” Within the same chat, the AI ​​will know that you mean citations, and will generate one in the format you ask. You can also add several links To believe you several citations. For that, tell him something like “I want you to believe me a citation for a university work of the following links/books”, and then Chatgpt or the chosen AI will tell you to go ahead, and you can respond with the list of links. In Xataka Basics | 22 useful and not so well -known free artificial intelligence tools

Colombia’s archaeologists have been fearing looting for years. Now they add a major threat: Guaqueros influencers

by

The Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH) launched A statement To celebrate a relevant finding for researchers studying the country’s history: 114 archaeological pieces, especially ceramics, discovered in the south of Huilain the Andean region. So far nothing striking. The funny thing is that these treasures were not found anthropologists or archaeologists, but agents of the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office. Nor were they extracted from an ancient indigenous grave, a pre -Hispanic necropolis or A cave unexplored. No. The pieces were in the houses of two Influencers. It is the last example of a problem that worries the authorities and Colombian archaeologists: the rise of Influencers Guaqueros. Network slopes. Huila’s is just one more example of a phenomenon that has called attention of the Colombian press And he has done Jump alarms Among the defenders of the country’s archaeological heritage: the guaquería through the networks. Or otherwise, the people who are dedicated to lounge deposits and presume the process and the results through Tiktok or other platforms. It is concerned about the damage that they can cause to the Colombian heritage during their excavations, rudimentary and without the supervision of professional archaeologists and anthropologists; But worry about the speaker they find on the networks, which allows them to spread their activity and attract the attention of possible buyers or followers willing to point out the location of other deposits. @Laboyanos.com They capture guaqueros “influencers” in Saladoblanco Huila. They seized 144 archaeological pieces. In an operation carried out in the last hours in the rural area of ​​this municipality, the authorities managed to capture two known men in social networks for making Guaqueria and publishing the findings on their social networks. According to the report, 144 archaeological pieces and a replica were seized that the subjects allegedly passed the community and their followers. According to research, men promoted the looting and illicit traffic of archaeological goods through their publications, because in videos and photographs they were seen taking the assets of their original context, which caused the loss of invaluable information about the history of those objects and pre -Hispanic cultures to which they belonged. #Saladoblancohuila #Huilacolombia🇨🇴 #Guaqueros #Guaquerosencolombia #archeology #Laboyanoscom ♬ Original sound – Laboyanos.com Is it a new phenomenon? Yes. And no. The guaquería itself is not something new. The looting of indigenous graves in search of treasures It can go back To the colonial era, although there are those who point out that the boom of the guaquería would arrive much later, between the end of the 19th and early twentieth centuries. During a time of fact the search for treasures in The guacas (The graves of the ancient indigenous people) became a key activity for the economy of places like Quindó. Its history is extensive enough to Your approachlegacy and impact has varied over time. The guaqueros did not always seek their personal enrichment and in a way they played a key role in the history of archeology. “If it had not existed at the beginning of the 20th century, we would not have San Agustín or Teyuna,” I recently recognized to The country Alhena Caicedo, from ICANH. “At first what they did was find where the great deposits were. In the 19th it was the one that allowed, among other things, that archeology appeared.” What is new is that guaqueros use platforms like Tiktok to show their work, share their findings and disseminate an activity whose impact on heritage They already warn archaeologists. Huila’s is a clear example. According to Incahthe Influencers to those who withdrew the 144 pieces “promoted the looting and illicit traffic of archaeological goods through their publications.” “They were recorded by damaging and looting the goods and then making it public.” Is it common? In An article About the phenomenon published in March, Time He speaks of “hundreds” of videos disseminated over the last years, some with millions of reproductions and that show that the problem has spread to regions such as Antioquia, Huila, Caldas or Cundinamarca. Not just that. The newspaper ensures that between 2020 and 2024 the ICANH identified 13 accounts (some with several hundred thousand followers) related to the guaquería. “Irreparable damage”. What means and authorities do so much attention to the subject is explained for a simple reason: the guaqueros presume from the ceramics they find during their campaigns, but often when they are extracted by a valuable source of information for experts. After all, professional archaeologists obtain data from both the vessels themselves and their surroundings. “The problem with guaquería and improper extraction is that people do not know that the value of each piece is not only in itself, but especially in the context in which it is found,” Underline ICANH director. “The looting of archaeological pieces constitutes irreparable damage to the reconstruction and understanding of the past of the different human groups that occupied our territory,” insist From the Colombian Institute. “This practice produces irreversible losses of unique information about archaeological objects and its sites of origin.” With each looting, experts emphasize, stubble on the study of society, economy, religion and culture of indigenous people. “It’s not about our roots”. In videos you can see guaqueros manipulating mud vessels, necklaces or even bones, pieces that can lose part of their historical value if they are extracted rudimentary and without the supervision of professionals. “Data on the history and rituals of the indigenous peoples who inhabited these lands are being lost. It is not only about objects, but of knowledge about our roots,” warns Juan Pablo Ospina, coordinator of the ICANH Archeology Group in an interview in Huila Diario. Beyond the impact it may have for Colombian history, the looting of heritage can lead to legal consequences, such as warns The ICANH, who recalls that Law 397 of 1997 establishes that the pieces with archaeological value are “unattainable, imprescriptible and inalienable.” “Its alteration, undue manipulation, marketing or unauthorized export can generate irreversible effects and carry economic sanctions of up to 500 … Read more

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.