53
Administration of MARENA. In that application they requested that: a) the
abovementioned officials be ordered to abstain from granting the concession
to SOLCARSA; that the agents of SOLCARSA be ordered to leave the
communal lands of Awas Tingni, where “they [had been] carrying out works
directed toward initiating the lumber operation” and that they begin a process
of dialogue and negotiation with the Community, in case the SOLCARSA
corporation continued to have “an interest in utilization of timber on
Community lands”; b) any other remedies be adopted that the Supreme Court
of Justice deemed just; and c) an order be issued to suspend the process of
granting the concession requested from MARENA by SOLCARSA.
Furthermore, when they referred to the Constitutional provisions breached,
the applicants stated that the disputed actions and omissions “[were]
violations of articles 5, 46, 89 and 180 of the Nicaraguan Constitution, which
together ensure the property and use rights of the indigenous communities to
their communal lands” and that, even though “[t]he Community lacks a real
title deed […], the rights to its communal lands have solid foundations in a
traditional land tenure system linked to communitarian organization and
cultural practices”;31
p.ii)
on September 19, 1995 the Civil Panel of the Appellate Court of the
Sixth Region of Matagalpa declared the amparo application inadmissible as
“unfounded”, arguing that the Community had tacitly consented to the
granting of the concession, according to the Amparo Law, because the
applicants allowed the thirty days “since they became aware of the action or
omission” to elapse, before submitting that application.
That Court
considered that the applicants were aware of the actions by MARENA since
before July 11, 1995, the date at which they addressed a letter to the Minister
of MARENA (supra para. 103(ñ));32
p.iii) on September 21, 1995, María Luisa Acosta Castellón, acting as special
agent for Jaime Castillo Felipe, Marcial Salomón Sebastián and Siriaco Castillo
Fenley, representatives of the Mayagna (Sumo) Awas Tingni Community,
filed an amparo application before the Supreme Court of Justice appealing for
31
cfr. amparo remedy filed on September 11, 1995, before the Appellate Court of Matagalpa by
María Luisa Acosta Castellón, as special agent for Jaime Castillo Felipe, Marcial Salomón Sebastián and
Siriaco Castillo Fenley, Syndic and Deputy Syndics, respectively, of the Awas Tingni Mayagna Community,
against Milton Caldera Cardenal, Minister of MARENA, Roberto Araquistain, Director of the National
Forestry Service of MARENA, and Alejandro Láinez, Director of the National Forestry Administration of
MARENA; September 19, 1995 decision by the Appellate Court of the Sixth Region, Civil Court,
Matagalpa, on the amparo remedy filed on September 11, 1995, before the Appellate Court of Matagalpa
by María Luisa Acosta Castellón, as special agent for Jaime Castillo Felipe, Marcial Salomón Sebastián and
Siriaco Castillo Fenley, Syndic and Deputy Syndics, respectively, of the Awas Tingni Mayagna Community,
against Milton Caldera Cardenal, Minister of MARENA, Roberto Araquistain, Director of the National
Forestry Service of MARENA, and Alejandro Láinez, Director of the National Forestry Administration of
MARENA; and judgment No. 11, of February 27, 1997, by the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court
of Justice of Nicaragua on the amparo remedy filed on September 11, 1995, before the Appellate Court of
Matagalpa by María Luisa Acosta Castellón, as special agent for Jaime Castillo Felipe, Marcial Salomón
Sebastián and Siriaco Castillo Fenley, Syndic and Deputy Syndics, respectively, of the Awas Tingni
Mayagna Community, against Milton Caldera Cardenal, Minister of MARENA, Roberto Araquistain, Director
of the National Forestry Service of MARENA, and Alejandro Láinez, Director of the National Forestry
Administration of MARENA.
32
cfr. September 19, 1995 decision by the Appellate Court of the Sixth Region, Civil Court,
Matagalpa, on the amparo remedy filed by María Luisa Acosta Castellón, as special agent for Jaime
Castillo Felipe, Marcial Salomón Sebastián and Siriaco Castillo Fenley, Syndic and Deputy Syndics,
respectively, of the Awas Tingni Mayagna Community, against Milton Caldera Cardenal, Minister of
MARENA, Roberto Araquistain, Director of the National Forestry Service of MARENA, and Alejandro Láinez,
Director of the National Forestry Administration of MARENA.