Era of Despoilment: Looting in Cambodia (1970–2010)

July 30, 2024

The two 10th-century Khmer statues were looted from the Koh Ker temple [pictured] during the 1970s. (AFP) Credit：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-11/an-cambodian-statues/4747226

By Cynthia Li

“Looting” is a broad term to describe the nuances of all incidents of loss of cultural property. For Cambodia, an outflux of cultural antiquities is due to internal and external forces. The anti-intellectual Khmer Rouge government, which sought to stifle Cambodian culture, profited off its looted antiquities. Externally, buyers from around the world took advantage of the Khmer Rouge’s looting, snapping up timeless Cambodian antiquities.

This article will discuss the recent history of looting in Cambodia (1970–2010). It will describe a brief cultural and political history of Cambodia, the relevant cultural property laws, and the inner workings of transnational smuggling networks. It will also discuss the incentives of key players in the antiquities market, such as Douglas Latchford, who was indicted for his trafficking of Cambodian antiquities into the United States. Finally, the article will reflect on the significance of returning Khmer statues to their rightful home in the context of the Cambodian diaspora, and it provides social and political initiatives to redress past lootings and increase awareness of the rebirth of traditional culture in Cambodia.

A Brief History of Looting Cambodia

Today a small country in Southeast Asia, Cambodia was once a much larger kingdom known as the Khmer Empire (802–1431 CE). The kings of this empire built magnificent monumental temples, such as Angkor Wat (meaning “City of Temples”), which still attract tourists worldwide.^[1] The Empire and its successors left a great number of tangible cultural heritage to Cambodian people. Common types of Cambodian antiquities include stone sculptures, architectural elements, bronzes, and iron artifacts from religious sites.^[2]

The poaching of Cambodian antiquities began with French colonization in 1863 when the French controlled important aspects of Cambodian society. However, it only became a global business in the 1970s, during a period of internal instability for the newly independent country. One in particular was the rise of the extreme Communist Khmer Rouge regime (1975–79), which prosecuted intellectuals and artists in pursuit of its agrarian utopia. The anti-intellectual trend and the subsequent political conflicts after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime left many Khmer antiquities unprotected.^[3]

One such example is the temple complexes of the Khmer Empire—including four designated by UNESCO as World Heritage sites^[4]—which fell prey to massive bouts of ransacking in the 1970s.^[5] The ancient city of Koh Ker,^[6] once the capital of the Khmer Empire, was prized by traffickers due to its 76 temples, aqueducts, statuary, and a seven-level pyramid.^[7] Driving the demand for antiquities were individuals like Douglas Latchford, a British art dealer who organized the largest art heist in history. ^[8] His three books on Cambodian art glamorized the charm of Khmer antiquities and intrigued other Western collectors. Co-authored with Asian history Professor Emma C. Bunker, their writings added an air of legitimacy to the antiquities, increasing the allure among prospective collectors. Jim Clark, who paid Latchford $35 million, once recounted that the dealer’s books made him seem like a well-respected scholar.^[9] Clark’s Khmer art collection was regarded by Cambodia’s cultural ministry as important enough to fill an entire wing in the country’s national museum.

Cultural Property Laws at the Time of Looting

In 1996, the Cambodian government issued a law “On the Protection of Cultural Heritage” which aims to protect cultural property from “illegal destruction”, “excavation, alienation” or “exportation.”^[10] To the legislature’s dismay, the looting of Khmer antiquities continued to be prevalent. Organized trafficking networks exported sculptures detached from their bases and reliefs hacked from the walls of sacred temples to the apartments of collectors and museum halls.

The United States, as a signatory of the 1970 United Nations Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970 UNESCO Convention), enacted the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA) in 1983 to effectuate the Convention. The CCPIA enables the U.S. to consider requests from other state parties to the 1970 UNESCO Convention to restrict the importation of archaeological or ethnological materials when the removal of these materials endangers a nation’s cultural heritage. In 1999, the U.S. declared an embargo on importing Khmer cultural objects following Cambodia’s request. In 2003, the U.S. and Cambodia entered into a formal “Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Khmer Archaeological Material”to expand the 1999 embargo to include bronze Khmer antiquities.^[11] However, the market for Cambodian antiquities was still active due to individuals like Latchford, who reportedly trafficked antiquities into the 2010s.^[12]

Organized Trafficking Networks

How does a Khmer antiquity end up at a collector’s home? Organized trafficking networks are often the answer. Since the 1970s, many such networks were headed by members of the Khmer Rouge. When the Khmer Rouge lost power in 1979, it continued to control the region near the Thailand border that had a high concentration of ancient temples for another decade. Many temple sites were under its control until the mid-1990s.

A study published in the British Journal of Criminology showcases the inner workings of these transnational networks. Criminologist Simon Mackenzie and lawyer Tess Davis flew to Cambodia to interview looters who participated firsthand in order to study the networks.

According to an interviewee who worked in the 1998 looting of the temple of Banteay Chhmar, under only two weeks of dogged labor, he and his accomplices at the lowest rung of an organized trafficking network removed a 98-foot-long section from the finely sculpted wall of Banteay Chhmar dated to the late 12th century. The section was then severed, packed, and shipped to Thailand by Cambodian brokers, where a receiver convoyed the pieces to the apex of the trafficking network—a dealer in Bangkok who facilitated connections with buyers.^[13] Mackenzie compared the dealer to the “Janus Figure” in the Roman tales, who had two very different faces, “one that gazed down into the criminal underworld of traffickers, another that looked up into the world of wealthy collectors and buyers.”^[14] Notably, the study revealed that there were surprisingly few stages between looting at the object’s source and the placing of objects for sale at internationally respected venues.

Indictment of Douglas Latchford

Douglas Latchford was born in Mumbai, India, in 1931. As a child, he grew up enamored by tales of abandoned temples in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. He moved to Bangkok at 25 and made his fortune in the pharmaceutical industry. Latchford bought his first Khmer relic—a 24-inch sandstone statue of a female torso—for $700 in an area of Bangkok known as the “Thieves Market.” Smitten by the aesthetics and the cultural significance of Khmer antiquities, he became invested in collecting and trafficking them ever since.^[15] Latchford had been known as a scholar, collector, and benefactor of Cambodian art due to his generous donation to the National Museum in Phnom Penh. However, he fell from grace in 2011 at the age of 80.^[16]

It started with a French archaeologist’s discovery of a 10th-century statue up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York. From pictures in Sotheby’s advertisement, the archaeologist determined that the statue was looted: Its legs fit perfectly with the severed feet on a pedestal that looters had left behind.The deputy prime minister of Cambodia then contacted the U.S. authorities to monitor the auction, which triggered a federal investigation that led to Latchford’s indictment in 2019.^[17]

Latchford was charged with wire fraud, smuggling, conspiracy, and related charges pertaining to his trafficking in stolen and looted Cambodian antiquities.^[18] According to the indictment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York, Latchford’s trafficking activities began as early as the 1970s when he regularly supplied a British auction house with looted Khmer antiquities. He had conspired with representatives of the auction house and a Thai dealer to conceal the real provenance of looted antiquities and create false export documentation. The British auction house later sold many pieces to American museums and collectors from at least in or about 2005 up to and including in or about 2011.

Latchford also advertised newly excavated pieces to trusted U.S. associates directly over the long course of his career. For example, in March 2006, Latchford sent a New York dealer an email with a picture of a bronze head recently found near Angkor Borei, titled “PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL—FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.” To facilitate international transportation of the antiquities, Latchford forged false letters of provenance and invoices.

On the supply end, leaders of gangs of looters sent in situ photos of statues directly to Latchford for him to choose from. Looters were also aware of Latchford’s shopping list well enough to know that he liked statues from a temple complex called Koh Ker that had a distinctive style.^[19] Tess Davis once described Latchford as a “one-man supply-and-demand for Cambodian art for the last half-century.”^[20] Although the Criminology study introduced in the last section did not identify the “Janus Figure,” Douglas Latchford fits the description of the suspect well.

Returning Looted Antiquities and Cambodian Immigrants

The Latchford investigation not only highlights a major scandal in the antiquities world but also encourages institutions to return smuggled Khmer antiquities to their rightful owners. In December 2023, following the indictment of Latchford, the Metropolitan Museum of Art reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York and the Cambodian government to arrange the return of 14 Khmer statues to Cambodia associated with Latchford.^[21] Similarly, in March 2024, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) announced the plan to return 11 Southeast Asian antiquities from its collection that have been connected to Latchford and his Colorado collaborator––the late Emma C. Bunker, a longtime trustee and partner of the museum.^[22] The Art Newspaper article that reports DAM’s announcement cites “pressure from law enforcement” as a factor contributing to the museum’s repatriation decision.

The heyday of the trade of Cambodian antiquities in the U.S. coincides with the timing of the Cambodian diaspora. Historically, there had been no immigration from Cambodia into the United States until the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, which killed 1.7 million people in a country of 7.9 million. Between 1975 and 1994, 157,518 Cambodians were admitted into the United States, and of this number, 148,665 were refugees.^[23] Most of the refugees arrived around 1980, fleeing a famine caused by the total collapse of the Khmer Rouge Regime.

While Congress enacted assistance programs established by the 1980 Refugee Act, Cambodian immigrants faced immense difficulties starting a new life in American society after the trauma of living through the Khmer Rouge. Households led by women, especially widows whose husbands had been killed during the regime, had the hardest time adapting. In addition to the language barrier, the women had no experience earning a living in a competitive wage labor market even though back at home they had played critical roles in the domestic sphere by doing farm work, weaving, cleaning houses, and raising children.

Most Cambodian refugees became the working poor. They worked in electronics assembly plants; meat packing, chicken processing, and seafood processing facilities; in textile mills and garment sewing factories; in factories for plumbing equipment, heating devices, and furniture.^[24] However, adapting to this new and culturally different society motivated the immigrants to preserve and reinvigorate Cambodian culture. The Khmer Rouge’s attempt to eradicate Cambodian culture added a sense of poignancy to their efforts, as their abhorrent experiences under the regime infused a bitter determination to preserve their heritage. Only about 300 artists and intellectuals survived the regime out of 380,000.^[25] As such, the immigrants had to resuscitate Cambodian arts from collective memory.

The rise of the Khmer Rouge provided the opportunity for transnational trafficking networks and caused the exodus. Some historians believe that U.S. military involvement inadvertently led to the Khmer Rouge’s rise to power.^[26] According to this view, the bombing campaign “Operation Menu,” which targeted areas in Cambodia that were used by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army as sanctuaries, drove Communist Vietnamese forces deeper into Cambodia. This bombing killed and displaced countless civilians, sowing widespread anger that enabled the insurgent Khmer Rouge to paint themselves as defenders against foreign influence. This suggests that the U.S. was partially liable for the plight of Cambodian immigrants.

Conclusion

A holistic view of the history of Cambodian immigration to the U.S. compels us to readjust how we perceive the value of repatriation. Recognizing the interconnectedness between the internal turmoil of Cambodia and the foreign plundering of its national treasures would shed light on the necessity of giving back the Khmer statues. The knowledge of Khmer sculptures’ illicit entry to the U.S. suggests that equitable restitution requires actions more than merely returning the objects to their homeland. One possible measure that American institutions could take, while proceeding with the restitution process, is to educate the public about the context of Cambodian immigration and Cambodian Americans’ experience when they first arrived in the U.S. Recognizing the interconnectedness between the internal turmoil of Cambodia and the global market’s involvement in the trading of Cambodian artifacts would persuade museums and other private actors to return Khmer statues which have been wrongly held in America for too long.

Restituting Cambodian antiquities goes beyond rectifying the wrongs of corrupt collectors and dealers. It would deepen the American public’s understanding of the history of Cambodian Americans and their perseverance in the aftermath of near cultural destruction perpetrated by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. Ultimately, repatriating these antiquities would help bring together Americans around the celebration of the cultural heritage of Cambodian Americans.

About the Author

Cynthia Li, a former Center for Art Law intern, graduated with a BA in Art History from the University of Michigan in 2023. She is interested in equitable repatriation and the legal issues surrounding the commercial aspects of the art market.

Select Sources:

1. Hul Reaksmey, Angkor Wat Takes Top Spot for Tourist Destination, Voice of Am. (June 8, 2017), https://www.voanews.com/a/angkor-wat-takes-top-spot-for-tourist-destination/3882137.html.

 

2. International Council of Museums, Red List of Cambodian Antiquities at Risk, ICOM (May 2018), https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RL_CAMBODIA.pdf.

 

3. Anderson Cooper, Stolen Cambodian Artifacts Found in American Museums, Private Collections, CBS News (Dec. 14, 2013), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stolen-cambodian-artifacts-american-museums-private-collections-60-minutes-transcript/#:~:text=It%20began%20nearly%20a%20century,British%20man%20named%20Douglas%20Latchford.

 

4. Cambodia, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/kh (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

5. Malia Politzer et al., Cambodia Relics: Looted from Temples, Sold to Museums, Hidden Offshore, ICIJ (Oct. 5, 2021), https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/cambodia-relics-looted-temples-museums-offshore/.

 

6. Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Ishanapura, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1667/ (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

7. Ibid.

 

8. Supra note 3.

 

9. Martin Bailey, Looted Antiquities from Cambodia’s Temples and How They Ended Up in Private Collections, Finance Uncovered (Oct. 7, 2021), https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/looted-antiquities-cambodia-private-collectors-latchford-lindemann.

 

10. Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Open Development Cambodia, https://data.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/laws_record/law-on-protection-of-cultural-heritage#:~:text=This%20law%20aims%20to%20safeguard,%2C%20alienation%2C%20exportation%20or%20importation (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

11. Office of Treaty Affairs, Cambodia (03-919) – Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Khmer Archaeological Material, U.S. Department of State, https://www.state.gov/03-919 (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

12. Supra note 5.

 

13. Simon Mackenzie & Tess Davis, Temple Looting in Cambodia: Anatomy of a Statue Trafficking Network, 54 Brit. J. Criminology 722 (2014), https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/54/5/722/358985#5172913.

 

14. Heather Pringle, New Evidence Ties Illegal Antiquities Trade to Terrorism, Violent Crime, National Geographic (June 13, 2014), https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140613-looting-antiquities-archaeology-cambodia-trafficking-culture.

 

15. Supra note 5.

 

16. Paulina Picciano, Latchford and the Pandora Papers: The Flaws Uncovered in the Art World, Center for Art Law (June 9, 2023), https://itsartlaw.org/2023/06/09/langford-and-the-pandora-papers-the-flaws-uncovered-in-the-art-world/.

 

17. Supra note 3.

 

18. Antiquities Dealer Charged with Trafficking Looted Cambodian Artifacts, U.S. Department of Justice (Dec. 14, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/antiquities-dealer-charged-trafficking-looted-cambodian-artifacts#:~:text=Fitzhugh%2C%20the%20Special%20Agent%20in,related%20charges%20pertaining%20to%20his.

 

19. Supra note 2.

 

20. Helen Stoilas & Vincent Noce, Federal Charges Could Lead to Deeper Scrutiny of Cambodian Art in the U.S., Art Newspaper (Jan. 1, 2020), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/01/01/federal-charges-could-lead-to-deeper-scrutiny-of-cambodian-art-in-the-us.

 

21. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces the Return of 16 Khmer Sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand, Metropolitan Museum of Art (June 6, 2023), https://www.metmuseum.org/press/news/2023/return-of-khmer-works.

 

22. Torey Akers, Denver Art Museum’s Repatriation of Latchford and Bunker Antiquities, Art Newspaper (Mar. 20, 2024), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/20/denver-art-museum-latchford-bunker-antiquities-repatriation.

 

23. Sucheng Chan, Cambodians in the United States: Refugees, Immigrants, American Ethnic Minority, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-317 (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

24. Supra note 17.

 

25. Sam Sam-Ang, Preserving a Cultural Tradition: Ten Years After the Khmer Rouge, Cultural Survival Quarterly (June 2014), https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/preserving-cultural-tradition-ten-years-after-khmer-rouge.

 

26. The Khmer Rouge Gain Strength, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/the-khmer-rouge-gain-strength (last visited May 30, 2024).

 

 

1. Hul Reaksmey, Angkor Wat Takes Top Spot for Tourist Destination, Voice of Am. (June 8, 2017), https://www.voanews.com/a/angkor-wat-takes-top-spot-for-tourist-destination/3882137.html. ↑
2. International Council of Museums, Red List of Cambodian Antiquities at Risk, ICOM (May 2018), https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RL_CAMBODIA.pdf. ↑
3. Anderson Cooper, Stolen Cambodian Artifacts Found in American Museums, Private Collections, CBS News (Dec. 14, 2013), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stolen-cambodian-artifacts-american-museums-private-collections-60-minutes-transcript/#:~:text=It%20began%20nearly%20a%20century,British%20man%20named%20Douglas%20Latchford. ↑
4. Cambodia, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/kh (last visited May 30, 2024).Please note: by the time of the writing of the ICIJ paper there were three UNESCO World Heritage sites. Koh Ker was added as the fourth in 2023. ↑
5. Malia Politzer et al., Cambodia Relics: Looted from Temples, Sold to Museums, Hidden Offshore, ICIJ (Oct. 5, 2021), https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/cambodia-relics-looted-temples-museums-offshore/. ↑
6. Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Ishanapura, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1667/ (last visited May 30, 2024). ↑
7. Ibid ↑
8. Supra note 3 ↑
9. Martin Bailey, Looted Antiquities from Cambodia’s Temples and How They Ended Up in Private Collections, Finance Uncovered (Oct. 7, 2021), https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/looted-antiquities-cambodia-private-collectors-latchford-lindemann. ↑
10. Law on the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Open Development Cambodia, https://data.opendevelopmentcambodia.net/laws_record/law-on-protection-of-cultural-heritage#:~:text=This%20law%20aims%20to%20safeguard,%2C%20alienation%2C%20exportation%20or%20importation (last visited May 30, 2024). ↑
11. Office of Treaty Affairs, Cambodia (03-919) – Memorandum of Understanding Regarding the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Khmer Archaeological Material, U.S. Department of State, https://www.state.gov/03-919 (last visited May 30, 2024) ↑
12. Supra note 5 ↑
13. Simon Mackenzie & Tess Davis, Temple Looting in Cambodia: Anatomy of a Statue Trafficking Network, 54 Brit. J. Criminology 722 (2014), https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/54/5/722/358985#5172913. ↑
14. Heather Pringle, New Evidence Ties Illegal Antiquities Trade to Terrorism, Violent Crime, National Geographic (June 13, 2014), https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/140613-looting-antiquities-archaeology-cambodia-trafficking-culture. ↑
15. Supra note 5 ↑
16. Paulina Picciano, Latchford and the Pandora Papers: The Flaws Uncovered in the Art World, Center for Art Law (June 9, 2023), https://itsartlaw.org/2023/06/09/langford-and-the-pandora-papers-the-flaws-uncovered-in-the-art-world/. ↑
17. Supra note 3 ↑
18. Antiquities Dealer Charged with Trafficking Looted Cambodian Artifacts, U.S. Department of Justice (Dec. 14, 2021), https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/antiquities-dealer-charged-trafficking-looted-cambodian-artifacts#:~:text=Fitzhugh%2C%20the%20Special%20Agent%20in,related%20charges%20pertaining%20to%20his. ↑
19. Supra note 2 ↑
20. Helen Stoilas & Vincent Noce, Federal Charges Could Lead to Deeper Scrutiny of Cambodian Art in the U.S., Art Newspaper (Jan. 1, 2020), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2020/01/01/federal-charges-could-lead-to-deeper-scrutiny-of-cambodian-art-in-the-us. ↑
21. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces the Return of 16 Khmer Sculptures to Cambodia and Thailand, Metropolitan Museum of Art (June 6, 2023), https://www.metmuseum.org/press/news/2023/return-of-khmer-works. ↑
22. Torey Akers, Denver Art Museum’s Repatriation of Latchford and Bunker Antiquities, Art Newspaper (Mar. 20, 2024), https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/03/20/denver-art-museum-latchford-bunker-antiquities-repatriation. ↑
23. Sucheng Chan, Cambodians in the United States: Refugees, Immigrants, American Ethnic Minority, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History, https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-317 (last visited May 30, 2024). ↑
24. Supra note 17 ↑
25. Sam Sam-Ang, Preserving a Cultural Tradition: Ten Years After the Khmer Rouge, Cultural Survival Quarterly (June 2014), https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/preserving-cultural-tradition-ten-years-after-khmer-rouge. ↑
26. The Khmer Rouge Gain Strength, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/countries/cambodia/the-khmer-rouge-gain-strength (last visited May 30, 2024). ↑