INTER - AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS COMISION INTERAMERICANA DE DERECHOS HUMANOS COMISSÃO INTERAMERICANA DE DIREITOS HUMANOS COMMISSION INTERAMÉRICAINE DES DROITS DE L'HOMME ORGANIZACIÓN DE LOS ESTADOS AMERICANOS WASHINGTON, D.C. 2 0 0 0 6 E E U U July 25, 2011 Ref.: Case No. 12.573 Marino López et al - Operación Génesis Colombia Mr. Secretary: I am pleased to address you on behalf of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in order to file Case No. 12.573, Marino López et al (Operación Génesis) v. the State of Colombia (hereinafter “the State,” “the Colombian State” or “Colombia”), before the jurisdiction of the Honorable Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The case is related to the counterinsurgency military operation known as “Génesis” and the paramilitary incursions carried out, jointly, between February 24 and 27 of 1997, in the afrodescendesnt communities of the Cacarica river basin in the Department of Chocó. The bombings of “operation Génesis” and the human rights violations committed in the paramilitary incursions, such as the torture and extrajudicial execution of Marino López, death threats, looting, theft and destruction of property, among others, intimidated the population and caused the forced displacement of hundreds of members of said communities, the majority of whom were women and children. The victims were displaced for more than four years in refugee camps, in an overcrowded situation and in precarious living conditions. During their displacement, they were subjected to harassment and threats, in response to which the IACHR ordered precautionary measures for their protection. The Commission concluded that these facts constitute crimes against humanity given that they are part of a pattern of massive, systematic and generalized violence, and were carried out in the context of the armed conflict, in violation of the human rights of the afrodescendent communities of the Cacarica river basin –now associated in the “Comunidades Autodeterminación, Vida, Dignidad” (CAVIDA, for its acronym in Spanish)– and of the women heads of family that live in the city of Turbo. Mr. Pablo Saavedra Alessandri, Secretary Inter-American Court of Human Rights Apartado 6906-1000 San José, Costa Rica In accordance with the merits of the case, an investigation was opened in the regular criminal courts against a general, which is in the preliminary stage, and a case is pending against the same general and five members of the paramilitary forces. Moreover, seven persons discharged from the selfdefense forces are being prosecuted before the Law and Peace Courts; five have been charged and