15 73. The ejido title granted was registered on October 6, 1951 in the Register of Property, 40 Mortgages, and Provisional Property Registration. The IACHR notes that the title granted mainly encompassed the area occupied by the Community’s dwellings, not its functional habitat. 2. Request for adjudication during the first Agrarian Reform legislation period (19621974) 74. On June 27, 1969, fifty members of the Community of Triunfo de la Cruz filed an application with INA’s Regional Agrarian Office requesting the establishment of an “agricultural population center.” In that application, they wrote that “for the past 58 years, some of us and our forebears worked on national land encompassing approximately 200 manzanas bordering, to the north, with the Caribbean Sea or Sea of the Antilles; to the south and east with marshland also belonging to the Nation; and to the west, with land owned by the heirs of Marcial Blanco.” According to information at the disposal of the IACHR, the area requested, known as “Plátano River” or “Plátano River Sandbank,” lies to the east of the 41 area awarded as communal land. This request, found in dossier No. 2000-81, was filed pursuant to the Agrarian Reform Law adopted through Decree Law No. 2-62, published on November 1, 1962. 75. In June and November 1969, members of the Community asked the same institution for “protection against acts to evict” them from the aforementioned land, carried out, they alleged, on instructions from the general manager of MACERICA S. de R. L. [limited partnership trading company] 42 (hereinafter “MACERICA”) . According to the information at the IACHR’s disposal, the INA Director conducted an on-the-spot inspection in which he ascertained that steps had been taken by said enterprise to fence off the area and then proceeded to adopt Decision No. 14 of May 7, 1970, which resolved to protect the members of the Community who had filed for protection “with respect to their occupation of the land known as El Triunfo de la Cruz,located in the immediate vicinity of the village of the same name,” and to “grant equal protection to the other peasants occupying the land in question,” 43 thereby recognizing possession by the Garífuna Community. 76. For its part, MACERICA submitted documentation in the proceedings to attest property of a 50-hectare lot of the same land requested by the Community of Triunfo de la Cruz, which the company had purchased from private individuals. According to the information at the IACHR’s disposal, between 1970 and 1975 the INA looked into the registry office records relating to the area requested by the Community and on May 25, 1984 INA’s Legal Department issued Legal Opinion No. AL-329/84, which established that “the document submitted in order to attest private ownership of the Plátano River Sandbank lot does not constitute a sufficiently valid title…so that it is lawful to presume that it is property 44 of the State…,” 40 Annex 8. Certification of entry No2, 402 pages 368 to 370 of volume 11 of the book of the Registry Office of Property, Mortgages and Provisional Property Registration, issued on April 13, 1993. Annex 6 of the initial petition dated October 27, 2003, received by the IACHR on October 29, 2003. 41 Annex 9. Request for the establishment of an agricultural population center, dated June 27, 1969. File 2000-81 addressed to the National Agrarian Institute, pages 1 and 2. Appendix 7 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. In addition, see Annex 10. “Analysis of the Garífuna Communities' Applications for Full Ownership” prepared by the Honduran Tourism Institute on April 23, 1996. Annex 24 of the initial petition dated October 27, 2003, received by the IACHR on October 29, 2003. 42 Annex 9. Application for protection against eviction dated June 27, 1969 and November 28, 1969. File 2000-81 with the National Agrarian Institute, unnumbered page and pp. 18-19. Appendix 7 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. 43 Annex 9. Request for the establishment of an agricultural population center, dated June 27, 1969. File 2000-81 addressed to the National Agrarian Institute, pages 32 and 33. Appendix 7 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. 44 Annex 9. Expert opinion No. AL-329/84 issued by the Legal Department of the National Agrarian Institute on May 25, 1984. File 2000-81 with the National Agrarian Institute, pp. 216 to 219. Appendix 7 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006.