A long-awaited expedition into an 18th-century shipwreck in the Caribbean Sea has reportedly begun.

The government of Colombia launched the deep-water expedition of the San José shipwreck, which is rumored to contain cargo worth billions of dollars, last week.

The galleon sank in 1708 en route to Cartagena, Colombia, after it was ambushed by an English squadron. Historians believe that roughly 600 people on the ship died, with very few survivors.

The shipwreck is believed to contain 11 million gold and silver coins, along with emeralds and other valuable cargo. The San José was carrying chests full of jewels and gold coins when it sank on its way to King Philip V of Spain.

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The shipwreck had a mythical reputation before it was discovered in 2015, at around 600 meters deep. It has been called the "Holy Grail of Shipwrecks" due to the vast amount of valuables it held.

Oceanographers have been able to map the shipwreck with robotic equipment attached to a naval ship. The robotic equipment has taken images of the wreck, showing several coins laying at the bottom of the shipwreck. Some of the coins were photographed scattered across the ocean floor with seashells. 

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In February, the Colombian government announced that it was pouring $45 million into the exploration. The treasure is reportedly believed to be worth as much as $20 billion.

Colombia’s minister of culture previously said that the expedition's mission is to "claim the heritage elements for which the remains of the galleon should be valued."

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"History is the treasure," minister Juan David Correa added.

The rights to the ship's sunken treasure have been claimed by Colombia, Spain and the United States. Its exact location in the Carribean is a state secret.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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"Squad" member Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Sunday blasted President Biden’s handling of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, deriding him as an "enabler" of genocide while speaking at an event attended by at least one member of a designated terrorist organization and funded by an asset of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

The event, the People’s Conference for Palestine was held over the weekend in Detroit, and featured, among other speakers, Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the U.S. has designated a foreign terrorist organization. 

The conference was organized by a left-wing activist group called The People's Forum, which has played a role in organizing several anti-Israel protests since Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, when the terror group's members killed at least 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostages from Southern Israel into Gaza. 

The People's Forum is part of several organizations that make up the "Singham Network" a global web of nonprofits, fiscal sponsors and alternative news sources tied to Neville Roy Singham, an American-born multimillionaire tech mogul based in Shanghai, who has been described as a "conduit" for CCP geopolitical influence. 

Singham's ties to the CCP were highlighted in a report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) earlier this month. 

In her speech, Tlaib accused President Biden of doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who she called a "murderous war criminal." 

"President Biden says what’s happening [in Gaza] is not a genocide. Where is your red line, President Biden? This is not even consistent with his own views on international law in the past where he’d sit there and said [Russian President Vladimir] Putin must be held accountable at the International Criminal Court." 

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Tlaib slammed the president and her Democratic colleagues for their condemnation of anti-Israel campus protesters, who disrupted operations for week to protest their school’s ties to Israel. 

"It is disgraceful that the Biden administration and my colleagues in Congress continue to smear them for protesting to save lives no matter faith or ethnicity. It is cowardly. But we’re not gonna forget in November, are we?" she declared.

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., said Tlaib "should be removed from Congress. 

"Associating with and speaking before groups that are funded by US designated terrorist organizations is disqualifying," Lawler posted on X. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to Tlaib’s office for comment but did not hear back before publication.