Thierry Jamin does not have any degrees

New attack from local officials at the Ministry of Culture: Thierry Jamin has no degrees!

On April 23, 2013, a new case was brought against Thierry Jamin. In its national edition, the newspaper El Comercio ran a headline on page A12 reading, “France reveals that a fake archaeologist attempted to excavate Machu Picchu. It warns that Frenchman Thierry Jamin, who wanted to search for the tomb of Pachacútec, has no scientific training.”

According to this article, the Director General of Culture in Cusco, David Ugarte Vega Centeno, had just declared that “French citizen Thierry Jamin, who claimed to be conducting excavations at Machu Picchu in search of the tomb of Pachacútec, was not an archaeologist and had no scientific training.” This information was reportedly communicated to him by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which wanted to alert the Peruvian authorities to the risk that the citadel of Machu Picchu might be facing. Ms. Véronique Gervais, from the French Ministry's Sub-Directorate for Research and Scientific Exchange, reportedly met with the Peruvian Ambassador to France, to whom she reported the situation.

“The French Foreign Affairs Department,” the newspaper continues, quoting David Ugarte, “has sent a letter to the Peruvian authorities warning them that Thierry Jamin is considered a person who could harm our heritage and damage Franco-Peruvian relations in the field of archaeology.”

On April 25, 2013, the newspaper El diario el Sol del Cusco ran the headline “David Ugarte dijo que hará respetar los derechos del Cusco. DRC no teme denuncia de huaquero francés.“ As always, the author of the article, ”journalist" Grimaldo Zúniga C., who is linked to the Regional Directorate of Culture – Cusco, is as insulting as ever toward the French researcher.

In a four-column article published by El diario el Sol del Cusco on April 25, Grimaldo Zúniga and David Ugarte continue their campaign of misinformation and defamation against Jamin. For the Regional Director of Culture – Cusco, David Ugarte, the complaint filed against him by the French explorer does not scare him. Quite the contrary! “He reaffirms that Jamin is nothing more than a simple adventurer and a huaquero, who, without any professionalism or equipment, claims to surprise everyone so that he will be allowed to carry out excavations at Machu Picchu.”

The Regional Director of Culture for Cusco, David Ugarte Vega Centeno, reiterates his attacks against Thierry Jamin: “I reaffirm my statement that he is an adventurer, not an archaeologist, and I have a communication from France and UNESCO in which leading authorities point out that this person has no recognized level of education, and now this gentleman says that he is not an archaeologist but a geographer. So, is a geographer going to do excavations?”

In his numerous statements, David Ugarte Vega Centeno claims to have received a letter from the French government alerting the Peruvian authorities about Thierry Jamin: “To back this up,” Ugarte asserts, “we are showing an official document from the French government, and when the court summons me, I will appear to prove what I have just said, and I hope that this gentleman will not walk free from Cusco.” These threats were reported in the newspaper El Comercio on April 25, 2013, on the front page and on page 2.

In fact, David Ugarte shows a letter he received from the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are still waiting to see the letter from the French authorities!

A timid clarification from the French authorities regarding Thierry Jamin's degrees...

On May 29, 2013, Laurent Fabius, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, sent a letter to Thierry Jamin in which he formally denied all the information circulated in Peru against him. In somewhat diplomatic terms, the French minister explained that the controversy was due to “a misinterpretation of the information by the Peruvian media”...

Generally speaking, it must be said that the attitude of the French authorities throughout the controversy was, to say the least, very discreet. One might have expected a little more support from France in the face of such violent attacks. In Lima, archaeologists from the French Institute of Andean Studies (IFEA) are rather critical. They view this affair involving Thierry Jamin with suspicion. It could jeopardize intercultural relations between France and Peru. This is especially true given that, at the same time (March 2013), the auction in Paris of around 100 pre-Columbian objects from Peru, despite opposition from the Peruvian authorities, had already somewhat damaged bilateral relations between the two countries.