REPORT No. 64/111 CASE 12.573 MERITS MARINO LOPEZ ET AL. (OPERATION GENESIS) COLOMBIA March 31, 2011 I. SUMMARY 1. On June 1, 2004, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter the "IACHR" or "the Commission") received a petition presented by the Comision Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (hereinafter "the petitioners") alleging the responsibility of the Republic of Colombia (hereinafter "the State" or "the Colombian State") for violations of human rights committed in relation to "Operation Genesis" between February 24 and 27, 1997, in the communities of the Cacarica river valley, in the Department of Chocó, which resulted in the death of Marino López Mena and the forced displacement of members of the Afro-descendant communities living on the banks of the River Cacarica, and for the failure to investigate the events and to punish the perpetrators. 2. On October 21, 2006, the Commission declared the claim admissible regarding the rights to life, personal integrity, judicial guarantees, equality before the law and judicial protection as well as to the obligation to respect those rights set out in Articles 4, 5, 8.1, 24, 25 and 1.1 of the American Convention, and the obligation to prevent, prosecute and punish torture set down in Articles 1 and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture (hereinafter "Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture") to the prejudice of Marino López Mena. In addition, it declared admissible the claim regarding the violation of the rights of personal integrity, judicial guarantees, protection of the family, of the child, to private property, to free movement and residence, to equality before the law, and judicial protection, as well as the obligation to respect those rights set out in Articles 5, 8.1, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 25 and 1.1 of the American Convention, to the prejudice of the displaced persons of the 22 communities in the Cacarica river valley. 3. The petitioners alleged at the merits stage that the State was responsible for the violation of Articles 4, 5, 8, 11, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24 and 25 of the American Convention, in relation to Article 1.1 and of Articles 1 and 8 of the Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, to the prejudice of the Cacarica communities grouped together as the Self-Determination, Life and Dignity Communities (hereinafter "CAVIDA"), and the women head of household who live in Turbo and for the violation of Articles 4, 5, 8, 11, 17, 19 and 25 of the same instrument and of Articles 1 and 8 of the Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, in relation to Article 1.1, to the prejudice of Marino López Mena and his family. 4. The State maintains that it is not responsible for the alleged violations of Articles 8, 17, 19, 21, 24 and 25 of the American Convention. It considers that the allegations regarding violations of Articles 11 and 4 of the American Convention to the prejudice of the displaced persons were not admitted in the Admissibility Report, and therefore cannot be considered at the merits' stage. In addition, it states that the alleged victims have not been individualized; and it rejects the claim of paramilitary activity as a State crime. 5. After analyzing the parties' submissions of fact and law, the Commission concludes that the State is responsible for the violation of Articles 4, 5 and 1.1 of the American Convention, to the prejudice of Marino López Mena; and of Articles 8 and 25 of the American Convention; as well as Articles 1 and 8 of the Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture, to the prejudice of his immediate family, as well as its Article 6, in application of the principle iura novit curia. In addition, it concludes that the State is responsible for the violation of Article 22 of the American Convention in relation to Articles 1.1, 4 and 11, 1 Pursuant to Article 17.2 of the IACHR Rules, Commissioner Rodrigo Escobar Gil, of Colombian nationality, did not participate in the deliberation and decision of the present case.