Mexican president irked by French auctions of artifacts

Mexico’s president said Monday French auction houses had gone beyond the pale with brazen sales of pre-Hispanic artifacts.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said some auction houses had gone so far as to send Mexico’s archaeological institute photos of relics, asking if they were genuine, so they could sell them for more money.

López Obrador said he had issued orders for the government National Institute of Anthropology and History, known by its Spanish initials as the INAH, to stop responding to such requests.

“They, the organizations that . . .