15 Article 1. This decree hereby ratifies the Agreement signed by the General Directorate of Fiscal Lands Adjudication with the members of the Wichi (Mataco), Iyojwaja (Chorote); Niwacke (Chulupi), Komlek (Toba), Capy’y (Tapiete) aboriginal communities that inhabit the territory of fiscal lots 55 and 14 on December 5, 1991, at the locality of San Luis – Department of Rivadavia, the original and copy of which form part of the present instrument. Article 2. The present decree shall be ratified by the Ministry of Economy and signed by the General Secretary of the Governor’s Office. Article 3. This Decree is to be communicated, published in the Oficial Gazette and placed in the record file. AGREEMENT At the locale of San Luis – Department of Rivadavia – Fiscal Lot No. 55, the General Director of Fiscal Lands Adjudication of the Province, doctor Amando Jorge Arias, and the members of the Wichi (Mataco), Iyojwaja (Chorote); Niwacke (Chulupi), Komlek (Toba), Capy’y (Tapiete) communities that inhabit the territory of Fiscal Lots No. 55 and 14, came together for the purpose of agreeing, in the framework of Laws No. 6570, 6469, 6373 and their Regulatory Decrees No. 845/90 and 1467/90 and National Law No. 14.942, the basic preconditions for the Legal Regularization of Property of the spaces occupied by the Aboriginal Communities, for which purpose they have Agreed the following conditions for adjudication: 1. The Government of the Province agrees to adjudicate, through the General Directorate of Fiscal Lands Adjudication, a surface without subdivisions and through a Single Title to Property to the aforementioned Aboriginal Communities, of a size sufficient for the development of their traditional ways of life, in accordance with the studies that were submitted to the Government of the Province by the communities themselves on July 28, 1991. 2. The Government of the Province is hereby bound to suspend, until the moment of provision of the Final Titles to the Aboriginal and Creole communities of Fiscal Lots No. 55 and 14, the issuance of authorizations, such as the adoption of any act that implies granting concessions for forestry exploitations or agricultural/cattle raising exploitations in the entire territory of the aforementioned Fiscal Lots. 3. The Government of the Province agrees to unify Fiscal Lots 55 and 14, and give them the same destination for the purposes stated in item 1 of the present Agreement, in order to secure to all of the Aboriginal Communities and each creole family that inhabits these fiscal lots, the necessary space for their survival and development. 4. The members of the communities of La Puntana, La Curvita and Montecarmelo hereby agree to unify the registration titles of the lands they inhabit and possess, thus facilitating the Regularization of Fiscal Lots 55 and 14 for the communities, in accordance with the terms of the present Agreement. [signatures follow] (…).” 56. After a change in the provincial Government, the new Government ratified the provisions of Decree 2609/91 through a Decree of November 6, 1992, which further validated the Agreement and expressed the Government’s will to adjudicate the lands in accordance with what had been agreed therein. By that time, indigenous communities had obtained recognition of the juridical personality of the Lhaka Honhat Association of Aboriginal Communities, and continued in such capacity to claim joint title to Lots 14 and 55 for all of the communities. 57. On January 13, 1993, the Governor of Salta promulgated Decree No. 18, creating a Honorary Advisory Commission to study and formulate recommendations on the adequate methodology to materialize the delivery of the lands to the indigenous communities; the Commission also had to establish mechanisms for the preservation of the environment of the area, taking into account the sociocultural traits and the forms of production of their inhabitants. According to Article 9 of the Decree, the Commission had 90 days from the moment of its creation to comply with the task that was entrusted to it. The Commission presented its conclusions two years later, in April, 1995. It recommended that the communities be granted two thirds of the total extension of 640.000 hectares, and that one third be granted to the creole population; that the adjudication of the lands to both the creoles and the indigenous was an urgent and necessary task, that had to be carried out in accordance with specific procedures; that the indigenous claim had to be resolved respecting the gathering circuits of the communities that had settlements in both Lots; and that the property had to be communal, without subdivisions, and under a single title. As recounted by the petitioners, “even though this proposal offered a smaller surface than the