as a necessary condition for the inhabitants of the area to remain there, with no place for neutrality.127 93. Regarding the above, the Ombudsman’s Office indicated that, “since 1996, the communities of the Bajo Atrato have been subjected to continuing pressure by the FARC and the AUC [United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia]. It would appear that the organizational processes of the communities, before and after the forced displacement, impaired the latter’s ability to control the population.” The Office added that the “the intention of the communities to maintain their autonomy in the face of these armed agents limited the possibility of the guerrilla and the self-defense forces using them,”128 and that, also, “the latter consider this intention a threat to their plan to control the territory and to establish ways of exploiting the territory that are in keeping with their funding needs.”129 In this situation, the presence of illegal armed agents, added “to the historical absence of the State in certain parts of the region,” permitted the dominant armed group to try and impose lines of conduct on the population as they saw fit.130 94. As indicated, the Afro-Colombian population of the region had to support the presence on its territory of different illegal armed groups, accompanied by threats, murders and disappearances, which led to their displacement.131 Also, as revealed by the body of evidence, during the second half of the 1990s, the region was the scenario of large-scale forced displacements. According to the information provided by the Ombudsman’s Office, in 1997, more than 15,000 people were displaced from the region of Bajo Atrato Chocóano.132 In 2002, the mass displacement increased and led to a sustained humanitarian crisis in the Bajo Atrato, unprecedented in the history of the country.133 In addition, the continued violation of human 127 Cf. Prosecutor General’s Office, Justice and Peace Unit, Dossier on the Elmer Cárdenas Bloc, Genesis (evidence file, folio 44476). See also, “Operation Genesis Report” cited in the affidavit dated January 31, 2013, prepared by María Paulina Leguizamón Zarate, expert witness proposed by the State (evidence file, folios 15414 and 15415). Also, Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folio 14804). 128 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002 (evidence file, folio 230). 129 Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002 (evidence file, folio 230). See also, Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folio 14808). 130 Cf. Prosecutor General’s Office, Justice and Peace Unit, Dossier on the Elmer Cárdenas Bloc, Genesis (evidence file, folio 44478). The document indicates, for example, that the armed groups obliged the inhabitants of the place to work certain hours or pay for vaccines. 131 Cf. CONPES document No. 3180, July 15, 2002 (evidence file, folio 45947) and Prosecutor General’s Office, Justice and Peace Unit, Dossier on the Elmer Cárdenas Bloc, Genesis (evidence file, folio 44478). See also: Testimony of Jesús Alfonso Flórez López, expert witness proposed by the representatives of the presumed victims, before the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights during the public hearing on February 12, 2013. More generally: CONPES document No. 2924, May 28, 1997 (evidence file, folio 45564): “in recent years, the armed conflict and the actions of the illegal armed groups have resulted in a growing and alarming individual and mass displacement of the population.” Also, Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folio 14808). 132 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office, Press communiqué No. 773 of October 8, 2002 (evidence file, folio 51399); Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002 (evidence file, folios 228 to 230), and Eighth Criminal Court of the Bogota Special Circuit, file 2009-063, defendant Rito Alejo del Río, judgment of August 23, 2012 (evidence file, folio 14808). 133 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office, Press communiqué No. 773 of October 8, 2002 (evidence file, folio 51399). The document adds that “[t]he food security of the peasant, black and indigenous communities has been severely affected; morbility has increased owing to the insufficient and sporadic health care services combined with the environmental conditions of the region and the increase in malnutrition.” 34