17 document of the organization of Amnisty International,54 and viii) a report of the Association of Indigenous Cabildos of the North of Cauca (ACIN).55 47. As regard the analysis of the evidence, the Court notes that according to the Third Report of the Commission on the situation of Human Rights of Colombia (supra para. 46(i)), “[m]ore than 500 political indigenous leaders were murdered in the last 25 years for political reasons.”56 48. Furthermore, according to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental liberties of the indigenous, Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, with regard to its mission in Colombia (supra, para. 46(iv)), even when it refers to his official visit to the country on March 8 to 17, 2004: [A]lthough Colombia has a long history of political violence in rural areas, indigenous regions were, until around 20 years ago, relatively free of armed conflict. Beginning in the 1980s, however, the guerrilla fronts of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia- Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army) and the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) (nacional Liberation Army), and the paramilitary groups belonging to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) (United Self- Defence Groups of Colombia) stepped up their operations in the indigenous regions as they became involved in the spread of illicit crops to those areas. Military pressure from the Colombian Army also forced them back into indigenous areas. […] Political violence against indigenous peoples increased during the 1990s, prompting increasing opposition to the war. Over the past 15 years, more than 2,660 cases of violence of human rights and international humanitarian law aimed at indigenous peoples have been reported. […] For some 20 years now, there have been close links between the armed conflict and associated violations of human rights of the indigenous peoples and drug cultivation in indigenous areas.57 49. The rest of the documentary evidence pointed out in paragraph 46 refers to violent acts committed against Colombian indigenous peoples in a time subsequent to the period during which the facts of the instant case occurred. 50. With respect to the testimonial and experts' opinion evidence, the mother of Germán Escué Zapata, Mrs. Etelvina Zapata and the expert witness, Gloria Lucy Zamora Patiño, have identified some acts of violence committed against indigenous people, which, according to the criterion of the Commission and the representatives, would indicate a pattern of the alleged violence. To such respect, the Court observes that the facts narrated by the witness and the expert witness exceed the purpose of the statements ordered by the President (supra para. 24), that is why they will not be taken into consideration. 51. Furthermore, the expert witness, Esther Sánchez de Guzmán, rendered a statement on the "situation of the indigenous peoples within the Colombian conflict," which falls within 53 Cf. XII Report of the Ombudsman http://www.defensoria.org.co/pdf/informes/informe_115.pdf of the People 122, available at 54 Cf. Amnesty International, Colombia: Inform, make a campaign and serve the citizens without fear: The rights of the journalists, political candidates and elected officers, February 9, 2006, AMR 23/001/2006. 55 Cf. Association of Indigenous http://www.nasaacin.net/defensa_vida.htm. Cabildos of the North of Cauca ACIN, 56 IACHR, Third Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia, Chapter X: The Rights of the Indigenous People in Colombia, OAS/Ser.L/V/II.102, Doc. 9 mag. 1, February 26, 1999. para. 36. 57 Cf. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, on Mission to Colombia, E/CB.4/2005/88/Add.2 (record of the Appendixes to the brief of requests and arguments, pages 905, 907, 911 and 912).