Venezuela Indians: Germany must return sacred rock

AAA??Jun. 21, 2012?4:34 PM ET
Venezuela Indians: Germany must return sacred rock
AP

Pemon Indigenous commute on a bus toward Germany's embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Representatives of Venezuela's Pemon Indian tribe staged a protest outside Germany's embassy to demand the immediate repatriation of a rock they call the "Kueka Stone,? which is on public display in a Berlin park. A faction of Pemon Indians say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact by a German artist has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Pemon Indigenous commute on a bus toward Germany's embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Representatives of Venezuela's Pemon Indian tribe staged a protest outside Germany's embassy to demand the immediate repatriation of a rock they call the "Kueka Stone,? which is on public display in a Berlin park. A faction of Pemon Indians say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact by a German artist has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

The red sandstone bolder from Venezuela inscribed with the word love written in seven languages by German artist Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld as part of his Global Stone project sits on thze green at the Tiergarten park in Berlin, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Venezuela is demanding the return of the rock brought to Germany across the Atlantic by the artist Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld, who said he obtained the rock legally. A faction of Pemon Indians, a Venezuelan tribal group, say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. Schwarzenfeld inscribed the rock with the word "love," in seven languages including German as pictured. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German artist Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld stands in front the red sandstone bolder from Venezuela inscribed with the word love written in seven languages as part of his Global Stone project at the Tiergarten park in Berlin, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Venezuela is demanding the return of the rock brought to Germany across the Atlantic by the artist Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld, who said he obtained the rock legally. A faction of Pemon Indians, a Venezuelan tribal group, say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. Schwarzenfeld inscribed the rock with the word "love," in seven languages including German as pictured. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German artist Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld stands near the red sandstone bolder from Venezuela inscribed with the word love written in seven languages as part of his Global Stone project at the Tiergarten park in Berlin, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Venezuela is demanding the return of the rock brought to Germany across the Atlantic by the artist Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld, who said he obtained the rock legally. A faction of Pemon Indians, a Venezuelan tribal group, say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. Schwarzenfeld inscribed the rock with the word "love," in seven languages including German as pictured. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German artist Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld stands in front the red sandstone bolder from Venezuela inscribed with the word love written in seven languages as part of his Global Stone project at the Tiergarten park in Berlin, Thursday, June 21, 2012. Venezuela is demanding the return of the rock brought to Germany across the Atlantic by the artist Wolfgang von Schwarzenfeld, who said he obtained the rock legally. A faction of Pemon Indians, a Venezuelan tribal group, say the rock is an incarnation of their grandmother and they believe that the 1997 removal of the artifact has resulted in natural disasters including a mudslide that killed thousands. Schwarzenfeld inscribed the rock with the word "love," in seven languages including German as pictured. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? A group of Venezuelan Indians are demanding that Germany give back a 35-ton boulder that they say is sacred.

More than 100 members of the Pemon group marched to the Germany Embassy in Caracas to insist on the return of the rock. It is currently part of an artwork displayed in a Berlin park.

Melchor Flores said during Thursday's protest that the so-called "Kueka Stone" should be returned to his community in the grasslands of a region known as the Gran Sabana.

Artist Wolfgang Kraker von Schwarzenfeld brought the sandstone boulder to Germany in 1997 and says it was given as a gift. He says Pemon Indians had helped him select the rock and questions whether it was considered sacred.

Associated Press

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