4
4.
On December 3, 1995, the Commission received a supplementary request
regarding precautionary measures, because the State was about to grant SOLCARSA
the concession to commence logging on communal lands.
5.
On January 19, 1996, the petitioners requested the Commission to grant
them a hearing during its 91st Session, but the Commission informed them that it
was unable to comply with their request.
6.
On February 5, 1996, the Commission began processing the case and sent
the pertinent parts of the petition to the State, requesting that it provide the
corresponding information within ninety days.
7.
On March 13, 1996, the Community submitted two newspaper articles to the
Commission that “indicated the granting of [the] concession” to SOLCARSA and a
letter from the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources to the President of
SOLCARSA informing him that “his request for a logging concession was being
processed, all that was lacking was the signature of the concession contract,” and
stating that the Community’s protests were the principal obstacle.
8.
In a communication of March 28, 1996, the petitioners sent a draft
memorandum of understanding to the Commission in order to settle the case; this
document had been submitted to the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and of the
Environment and Natural Resources.
9.
On April 17, 1996, the petitioners forwarded a document in which other
indigenous communities of the RAAN and the Indigenous Movement of the South
Atlantic Autonomous Region expressed their support for the petition submitted to the
Commission.
10.
On May 3, 1996, an informal meeting was held between the parties and the
Commission in order to reach a friendly settlement in the case. On May 6, 1996, the
Commission placed itself at the disposal of the parties to achieve this objective and
gave them thirty days to forward their corresponding reply. On May 8 and 20, 1996,
the petitioners and the State, respectively, accepted this proposal.
11.
On June 20, 1996, a second meeting between the parties and the Commission
was held. At this meeting, Nicaragua rejected the settlement agreement submitted
by the petitioners. The petitioners, in turn, requested that the State submit a
procedure to establish the limits of the Community’s lands and, while that was
happening, to suspend the concession granted to SOLCARSA. They advised that the
construction of roads towards the Community’s lands had been commenced and
proposed that the Commission should visit Nicaragua to talk to the parties.
12.
On October 3, 1996, a third meeting was held between the parties and the
Commission. At this meeting, the petitioners requested the State not grant further
concessions in the area, initiate the process of demarcating the Community’s lands
and differentiate the latter from State lands.
The State presented probative
documents and announced the creation of the National Demarcation Commission,
inviting the petitioners to take part in it.
13.
On March 5, 1997, the petitioners reiterated to the Commission their request
for precautionary measures, faced with the threat of the commencement of logging