to the Peace Communities and the process of the return to Cacarica were murdered, and 19 persons were disappeared.269 Despite the new acts of violence, in October 2002, 939 persons decided to continue the return process.270 On September 7, 2001, the Cundimarca Administrative Court issued an order to protect the fundamental rights of the communities of the Cacarica River to health and also life, tranquility, and the right to obtain a response to their petitions from the authorities.271 The representatives also indicated that paramilitary groups made two incursions into the settlements of the communities in 2001: the first on June 9 and the second on June 10.272 H. Dispossession and illegal logging on the collective territory 130. As already noted, the area of the Cacarica River basin is located in a region recognized to have abundant natural resources. The forest wealth of the area is also important for the survival of the communities who inhabit the Cacarica River basin, whose livelihood is based on agriculture, artisanal fishing, hunting, and also logging (supra para. 87). 131. In 1967, Colombia’s Congress approved Law 31,273 recognizing to the “black communities” the right to collective ownership of the territories they occupied ancestrally and, consequently, the right to use and exploit its lands and woods, the latter by law or by prior authorization of the environmental authority, in accordance with the Natural Resources Code.274 Law 70 was promulgated on August 31, 1993, recognizing “to the black communities that have been occupying vacant land in the rural areas on the banks of the rivers of the Pacific Basin, in keeping with their traditional production methods, the right to collective ownership, as established in the following articles.”275 132. Regarding the logging in the Cacarica River basin, in August 1981, Maderas del Darién S.A. (hereinafter “MADARIÉN”) asked the National Renewable Natural Resources and Environmental Institute (hereinafter “INDERENA”) to grant it two logging permits (hereinafter (evidence file, folio 14960). See also, Ombudsman’s Office. Press communiqué No. 773 of October 8, 2002 (evidence file, folio 51399). 269 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002, para. 2 (evidence file, folio 235). On June 8, 2001, the Inter-American Commission asked the State to provide heightened measures of protection for the inhabitants of “Esperanza en Dios” and “Nueva Vida” because a group of paramilitaries had entered the “Esperanza en Dios” settlement and had retained 20 of its members. Cf. Note of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of June 8, 2001, on the processsing of MC 70-99 (evidence file, folio 1668). 270 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002, paras. 26 to 48 (evidence file, folios 237 and 238). See also: Prosecutor General’s Office, Justice and Peace Unit, Dossier on the Elmer Cárdenas Bloc, structures described by Fredy Rendón, concerning ‘Description Operation Torment in the Atrato, April 17, 2002, II (Bojayá) (evidence file, folios 44477). 271 Cf. Cundimarca Administrative Court, First section, File A.T 00-1378 of September 7, 2001 (evidence file, folio 46890); Colombian Constitutional Court. Judgment T-955 of October 17, 2003, p. 24 (evidence file, folio 156). 272 Cf. Ombudsman’s Office. Decision No. 025 of the Ombudsman on the massive human rights violations and forced displacement in the Bajo Atrato region of Chocó, October 2002, paras. 45 and 46 (evidence file, folio 238). 273 Cf. Law 31 of July 19, 1967, approving ILO Convention 107 concerning the protection and integration of indigenous and tribal peoples in independent countries, adopted by the fourtieth session of the General Conference of the International Labour Organization. 274 Law 31 of 1967, permitted an increase in the State’s policies recognizing the communities’ territorial rights and provided the legal grounds for the request by the black peasants of the Atrato, as of 1986, for communal title to the land, and for their opposition to the logging activities on their territories. Cf. Colombian Constitutional Court. Judgment T-955 of October 17, 2003 (evidence file, folio 143). 275 Law 70 of 1993, Official gazette No. 41,013 of August 31, 1993, article 1 (evidence file, folio 695). Law 70 of 1993 was complemented by transitory article 55 of the Colombian Constitution that, among other matters, recognized to the black communities that had been occupying vacant land in the rural areas on the banks of the rivers of the Pacific Basin in keeping with their traditional production methods, the right to collective ownership, pursuant to its provisions. 54