17 linked to their history, since they are essential for their religious ceremonies and ceremonies that commemorate their arrival by sea to Central America.42 This close relationship is reflected in the belief that the “[t]he land is [their] mother,” and therefore it is impossible to disassociate agricultural production from social and cultural reproduction. 43 51. The communities of the Garífuna people maintain their traditional community uses of the land and other work patterns that reflect their origins, their home on the Honduran Caribbean coast, and their culture.44 According to the expert witness Christopher Loperena “[h]istorically, the members of the community have moved in groups to the agricultural production area and they would work the land collectively, but today, [after the occupation of some of their lands by third parties], the communities […] are trying to disperse the use of the land to try to stop it from being usurped,” reason for which many communities have changed the administration of the land and they have stopped cultivating through collective fallowing, in exchange for dispersed fallowing. 45 52. The expert James Anaya, former Special Rapporteur of the United Nations for the rights of indigenous people stated: “the Garífuna people have a lot of the same characteristics as other groups that are irrefutably native peoples […] Given that the Garífuna People share the characteristics of those groups generally acknowledged as indigenous peoples they must enjoy the same standards of protection of property […] applicable to indigenous people in international regulations.” Additionally, he mentioned that [i]n any case, the Garífuna People can be classified as a ‘tribal’ group […] and that the standards of [Convention 169 of the ILO], including those regarding property, apply equally to indigenous or tribal peoples.” 46 Cfr. World Bank Inspection Panel, Research Report – Honduras Land Administration Program, Report N° 39933-HN of June 12, 2007 (evidence file, folios 159 to 160). 42 Cfr. Statement offered before notary public (affidavit) by the expert witness Christopher Loperena on August 22, 2014 (merits file of the Case of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra and its members v. Honduras, folio 440), and the statement offered before the Inter-American Court by Lidia Palacios, during the public hearing held on September 2, 2014 in the Case of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra and its members v. Honduras. 43 Cfr. World Bank Inspection Panel, Research Report – Honduras Land Administration Program, Report N° 39933-HN of June 12, 2007 (evidence file, folio 119). 44 Cfr. Statement offered before notary public (affidavit) by the expert witness Christopher Loperena on August 22, 2014 (merits file of the Case of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra and its members v. Honduras, folios 441 to 442). Fallowing is a technique through which the land is not cultivated for one or several cycles on order to recover and store organic material and humidity. In this sense, Mr. Doroteo Thomas, member of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra, stated during the public hearing in that case that “as is accustomed, our [G]arífuna community has the custom to do its work at the beginning of the year. Then, the community works on a system we call fallowing, because we do not use technical systems. This means, that we let the land rest and fertilize itself in order to work it again. People always used it and said, during a specific year we are going to go to a certain location to work during three or four years while the other part rests. When the community, in those times was ready to start planting, strangers came and invaded the lands that were ready to be sowed, resulting in the invasion.” […] “[W]e had several types of jobs. In those areas where we planted, there were areas exclusively for planting rice. And we would plant it in groups, as I said before, we did it like that in order to avoid destroying forests or to let the land rest, we did it in the form of farrows. When we talk about farrowing, we would let a part of the land that had been worked for four years to rest between ten and twelve years, in order to come back again in twelve to thirteen years.” Statement issued before the Inter-American Court by Doroteo Thomas Rodríguez, during the public hearing held on September 2, 2014 in the Case of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra and its members v. Honduras. 45 Cfr. Statement given before notary public (affidavit) by the expert witness James Anaya on September 11, 2014 (merits file of the Case of the Garífuna Community of Punta Piedra and its members v. Honduras, folio 531). 46