A small fishing village lining the Venezuela’s Caribbean coast had its fortune turned upside down, and it all began with one man’s morning visit to the latrine.
Yolman Lares was walking back to his tin-roofed hut when he saw something glisten along the shore, and could not believe his eyes when it turned out to be a gold medallion with an image of the Virgin Mary.
“I began to shake, I cried from joy,” said Lares, “It was the first time something special has happened to me.”
Word of Lares’ discovery spread quickly and soon enough the residents joined in a frenzied treasure hunt, earning them hundreds of pieces of gold and silver jewelry, ornaments, and golden nuggets.
“This is God, setting his agenda,” said local fish plant worker Ciro Quijada.
It is not known where the treasure has come from and how it ended up scattered along the beach.
Coincidentally, the mystery has merged with folklore, and explanations draw equally on legends of Caribbean pirates, on Christian traditions and on the widespread mistrust of Venezuela’s authoritarian government.
In a bid to find out a bit more about the mysterious treasures, a chemical test was commissioned on a link of gold chain found on Guaca’s beach.
The test showed the chain was made of high-quality, 18-karat gold uncommon in Venezuela’s domestic jewelry production.
Chris Corti, a technical expert in jewelry-making based in Britain, said that the appeared to have been commercially manufactured in the mid-20th century.
However, he cautioned that more analysis was needed to make a firm determination about the date and origin of the pieces.
While the news of the discovery had spread around the country, the area’s remoteness, the widespread shortage of gasoline and the coronavirus quarantines prevented a national gold rush.