had taken place between May 3 and 6, 2013: detention and search by paramilitaries of boats in which members of CAVIDA and, on one occasion, of the representatives’ organization were travelling, and death threats proffered against the leader Marcos Velásquez by paramilitaries who accused him of being a member of the guerrilla. The representatives presented information on individuals who were not proposed beneficiaries of provisional measures, but maintained their previous requests. 17. The notes of the Secretariat of May 10 and 15, 2013, in which, on the instructions of the President, the State and the Commission were asked to present, by May 17, 2013, at the latest, any pertinent observations and information on the information provided and the request made by the representatives in their last brief 18. The brief of May 16, 2013, in which the Commission presented its observations on the information provided by the representatives in their last brief. The Commission reiterated its previous observations. 19. The brief of May 17, 2013, in which the State presented its observations on the information provided by the representatives in their last brief. The State indicated the following: a) It emphasized that the “United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, misleadingly called ‘paramilitaries,’ had demobilized between 2003 and 2007, and the members had become part of the Justice and Peace process”; also, that “the criminal bands do not have the same connotation that the extinct Self-Defense Forces had in the past”; b) At the present time, the presence of the FARC has been identified in the general area of the Atrato River and, in particular, that of the criminal band “Los Urabeños” at the mouth of the river at the Gulf of Urabá. It added that the FARC were setting up illegal “checkpoints” from time to time; c) The security forces had increased their presence in the area, specifically in the villages of La Honda and Puente América in the municipality of Riosucio and the village of Tumaradó. The Marine Expeditionary Unit had conducted prevention and protection operations by surveillance, interdiction and ensuring safety on the river. The Unit had set up temporary checkpoints at the mouths of secondary rivers and channels, such as the Perancho River, the conditions of which prevent navigation by the Navy; d) The presence of bands of common criminals with possible links to “Los Urabeños” had been determined in the northern area of the Atrato River, near the municipal capital of Riosucio and in the villages of La Honda and Tumaradó. Consequently, the Navy had increased safety measures in order to mitigate the threats to the civilian population, including: setting up a River Combat Group in the Atrato River basin; the efforts of intelligence operations, the Urabá Police Command, and the Anti-criminal Bands Prosecutor are being coordinated in order to identify members of the said bands, and this has provided information for the respective judicial proceedings; a Naval Floating Device had been established to strengthen the safety mechanism of the 16th River Battalion, and two additional river units had been assigned to control the river from Riosucio to the mouths of the Atrato; e) An inter-institutional verification visit (representatives of the Vice Presidency, the Ministries of the Interior, Foreign Affairs and Defense, and the Attorney General’s Office) had verified the efforts of the Navy in the said areas and, during a private meeting with the communities (without the presence of the security forces), observed an improvement in the perception of security; f) The National Police have also implemented actions to ensure the security and mobility of the population of Urabá to counter the influence of several illegal groups in Cacarica (Riosucio), in response to monitoring report 018 of 2012 of the Ombudsman’s Office, such as operational plans, coordination of strategies under the Corazón Verde Plan, permanent presence of the Mobile Rifles Squadron, search of vessels on the Atrato River, and monitoring of the criminal bands; g) The Human Rights Unit of the National Police and the Urabá Police Department have established a direct communication channel with the communities that are beneficiaries of the preventive measures established by the Inter-American Commission. In addition, there is permanent communication between the Command of the 16th River Battalion, the representatives of the 11