35 based on anthropological methods. Subsequently, he also carried out studies and mapping in the context of a diagnostic study on the claims of the indigenous peoples of the Coast. He speaks Miskito, which is one of the main languages used by the indigenous peoples. He lived mainly in a town called Bluefields, and the community where he conducted more intensive fieldwork is called Sandy Bay Sirpe, which is located to the North, at the mouth of the Río Grande. In the context of the diagnostic study he also traveled throughout the Atlantic Coast and spent more time working more intensively in the extreme northern area, near the border with Honduras, at Río Guanqui, Río Coco. The general diagnostic study on land tenure in the Atlantic Coast communities, which the State has referred to in its reply to the application by the Commission, is a study begun in 1997 in which he was directly involved as coordinator of the research. This diagnostic study included an ethnographic study and the mapping of some 128 indigenous and black communities. It was based on two key questions: what are the claims of these communities as regards their rights to communal land, and how do they justify their claims. The study was conducted community by community, using a consistent methodology to answer those two questions in connection with the communities included in the research universe. The indigenous peoples of the Atlantic Coast are primarily three: the Miskito, the Mayagna, and the Rama. There are various groups which have existed since before the Europeans arrived. The groups surviving to the present day are the Mayagna, of whom there are three important groups: Panamaca, Tuaca, and Urba, who at the time of the arrival of the Europeans settled in the area of land use and possession, which is the same until now. The three key land tenure characteristics are an extensive use of the land, the environment, and its resources. There is a place of land use and possession and, depending on economic activities, they move to other places to carry out their economic activities. There have been few concrete actions by the State regarding recognition, titling, and endorsement of communal rights to the land. Only twice has there been land titling more or less in accordance with what the community was claiming; that was in 1987, for two Mayagna communities, out of roughly 300 communities in all. Since 1990 there has been no action directed toward that goal. In some cases, land titles are agrarian allocations which are less than the community’s claims. Agrarian allocations are a step prior to legal titling, and in many cases the process is incomplete, leading to a statement of intent, but without legalization nor the guarantees that the community requires to protect its lands from third parties. There is no evidence of actions tending to ensure use and possession by the communities. INRA is seen by the indigenous communities as a hostile actor, representing a vision which is not in accordance with their demands nor with the understanding of indigenous culture itself. Its main actions have been for the benefit of immigrant peasant farmers in the Western part of the country. The MARENA office which has had a greater presence in connection with the indigenous communities is the one which until 1998, if it has not changed its name, was called ADFOREST, which was in charge of granting concessions. In the perception of the indigenous communities, it