A BITTER dispute between Yale University and Peru over the ownership of Incan treasures will reach the Oval Office today when the Peruvian President meets one of the Ivy League institution’s most famous graduates at the White House.

Alejandro Toledo, the President of Peru, begins a three-day visit to Washington ostensibly to discuss democracy and trade, just as his Government prepares to sue Yale — President Bush’s alma mater — over hundreds of artefacts taken from Machu Picchu, the city of the Incas, between 1911 and 1915. The dispute stems from three expeditions made by the US explorer Hiram Bingham, another Yale graduate, who discovered Machu Picchu in 1911. He collected hundreds of items and many of those artefacts have been at Yale’s Peabody Museum for more than 90 years.

Winning the return of the artefacts has been a priority for Señor Toledo. He is the country’s first indigenous president, and held part of his inauguration ceremony at Machu Picchu, Peru’s greatest source of pride. Built in the 15th century and abandoned in the 16th, the ancient hilltop city was a retreat for Incan nobility.

Three years of negotiations between Yale and Peru collapsed last week. Peru rejected the university’s offer to return a “substantial number” of artefacts while retaining the remainder for display and research. Peru claims that when Bingham took the artefacts, he signed an agreement with the Peruvian Government, “with the express understanding of all the parties that the artefacts were on temporary loan”.

Yale exacerbated the situation three years ago when it staged an exhibition, Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas, which included silver and bronze pieces and many ceramics.

Officially, Señor Toledo and the White House agree that the matter is between Peru and Yale, and does not involve the US Government. The subject is not on the official agenda for the White House meeting.

But Señor Toledo is expected to raise the issue with Mr Bush, according to sources at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington who spoke to The Washington Post. The Peruvian Government also argues that Bingham, who went on to become Governor of Connecticut and a Republican senator, believed that the artefacts belonged to Peru, and cites letters that he wrote after his expeditions.

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