4 Nicaragua on the amparo remedy filed by the members of the Regional Council of the RAAN, declaring the unconstitutionality of the concession granted by the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (hereinafter “MARENA”) to SOLCARSA, because it had not been approved by the Regional Council of the RAAN, as required by article 181 of the Nicaraguan Constitution. They also reported that the State had not suspended the concession. 18. On April 23, 1997, Nicaragua requested that the Commission reject the request for precautionary measures made by the petitioners (supra, paragraphs 6, 7, and 16), given the judgment by the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice and the fact that the State undertook to comply with that judgment. Nevertheless, on June 7 of that same year, the petitioners informed the Commission that the State and SOLCARSA continued to act as if the concession were valid, despite the decision by the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice. 19. At a hearing before the Commission on October 8, 1997, the petitioners pointed out that logging operations on Community lands continued, and they requested that the Commission conduct an in situ observation. On October 27th of that same year, three days before the scheduled visit of the Commission to Nicaragua, the State informed it that the visit would no longer be necessary, since it was preparing an additional brief on the matter. 20. On October 31, 1997, the Commission requested that the State adopt whatever precautionary measures (supra, paragraphs 6,7,16, and 18) were required to suspend the concession granted to SOLCARSA, and set a 30-day limit for Nicaragua to report on those measures. 21. On November 5, 1997, the State requested that the Commission close the case, as the Regional Council of the RAAN had ratified approval of the concession to SOLCARSA, thus correcting the “error of form” and, therefore, the concession was now valid. 22. On November 17, 1997, the petitioners stated to the Commission that the central element of the petition was the lack of protection by Nicaragua of the rights of the Community to its ancestral lands, and that this situation still persisted. Furthermore, regarding ratification by the Regional Council of the RAAN of the concession to SOLCARSA, they pointed out that this Council is part of the politicaladministrative organization of the State, and that it had acted without taking into account the territorial rights of the Community. Finally, they requested that the Commission issue a report in accordance with article 50 of the Convention. 23. On December 4, 1997, the State sent a brief to the Commission stating that on November 7, 1997, the petitioners had filed an amparo remedy at the Matagalpa Appellate Court, requesting it to declare the concession to SOLCARSA null. For this reason, Nicaragua argued that domestic remedies had not been exhausted, and it invoked articles 46 of the Convention and 37 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission. 24. On March 2, 1998, the State informed the Commission that on January 22 of that same year the petitioners had filed a request before the Supreme Court of Justice for execution of the February 27, 1997 judgment by that court (supra, para. 17). On this occasion, Nicaragua reiterated its position that domestic remedies had not been exhausted, and requested that the Commission abstain from continuing to process the case.