8 B. Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra 38. The Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra is located in the Municipality of Iriona, 19 Department of Colon, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea and it is made up of approximately 1,500 20 individuals. The parties agree that the Punta Piedra Community has inhabited the area since time immemorial. C. Process of recognition and titling of the territory of the Punta Piedra Community and its members by the State 39. The Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra has brought several actions before the Honduran State to achieve recognition and effective assurance of the territory it has historically occupied, on the basis of legal provisions provided under domestic law. In response, the State has recognized and granted title to the territory of the Community through several different legal transactions, which are explained hereunder, based on the evidence introduced by the parties: 1. Communal Title 40. Pursuant to the Agrarian Law in force during the 1920s, the State of Honduras granted the Punta Piedra Community, through a communal title (título ejidal), the right of use and enjoyment to a tract of land of slightly more than 800 hectares. The State claims that the communal title is dated December 26, 1922, while the petitioners claim it is from 1921; however, both are in agreement as to the 21 communal nature of the document, as well as the area to which it applied. 2. 1993 Fee Simple Title to 800 Hectares and 748 Square Meters 22 41. In response to a request made on October 13, 1992 by the Community, on December 16, 1993, the INA awarded final property title to the Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra to the same area as in the communal title, to wit, 800 hectares and 748 square meters. The final title in fee simple absolute was recorded in the Register of Property, Mortgages and Preventive Entries on January 21, 23 1994. 42. The tract of land of the property title that was granted is adjacent to the following: North: Caribbean Sea; south: national government-owned land; east: Ejidos de Cusuna; and west: national government-owned lands and former riverbed of the Miel River. It was awarded without valuable consideration, as a gift, and “the right of ownership, possession, easement, accessory rights, use and other in rem rights inherent to the property were ceded.” In the title, the following terms were set forth: 19 Annex 2. Map of “geographic location of the land of the Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra” prepared by the INA on July 12, 2007. Annexes of the submission by the State on July 19, 2007, during the working meeting of the 128 th regular Session. 20 IACHR, Admissibility Report No. 63/10, March 24, 2010, Petition 1119-03, Garifuna Community Pnunta Piedra and its members, Honduras, par. 32. 21 Witness Doroteo Tomas stated in this regard the following: “[…] The ancestors gave us a document for the land. […] This ancestral document that we have, the government gave it in 1921 […]”.[IACHR, Public Hearing on March 7, 2006 in re “Petition 1119/03 – Garifuna Community of Punta Piedra, Honduras”, 124th Regular Period of Sessions of the IACHR]. Also see, public statement of OFRANEH of June 12, 2007, asserting that Punta Piedra has a communal title that dates back to 1921. [Annex 3. Public statement of OFRANEH of June 12, 2007. Annex of submission of the petitioner of June 12, 2007, received by the IACHR on June 14, 2007]. In response, the State claimed that “on December 26, 1922, the State of Honduras […] granted to the Punta Piedra Community a communal title (use and enjoyment) to a tract of land 800 hectares and a fraction.” Document submitted by the State of Honduras on July 19, 2007, during the working meeting of the 128th regular session. 22 Annex 4. “Appearing on record in Case file No. 25239 opened on OCTOBER 13, 1992 that the GARIFUNA COMMUNITY “PUNTA PIEDRA” meets the legal requirements to be awarded land under the Agrarian Reform, hereby GRANTS: PROPERTY TITLE IN FEE SIMPLE ABSOLUTE.” See in: Final property title granted by the INA on December 16, 1993, identified by Case File No. 25239. Annex to submissions introduced by the State on July 19, 2007, during the working meeting of the 128 th regular session. 23 Annex 4. Final property title granted by the INA on December 16, 1993, identified with Case File No. 25239. Annex to submissions introduced by the State on July 19, 2007, during the working meeting of the 128th regular session.