43
these counts, the indigenous communities of the area are determinable, and the State has not called this
identifiable character into question.
154.
Within the group of the indigenous communities of Fiscal Lots 14 and 55, for the
purposes of the present decision, the alleged victims are the ones that are associated, through their
corresponding traditional authorities, with the Lhaka Honhat Association.
155.
The IACHR notes that, according to information provided by the State, the Lhaka Honhat
Association is currently composed of twenty-seven affiliate communities, namely: (1) La Merced Nueva;
(2) Bella Vista; (3) Kom Lañoko – Misión Toba – Monte Carmelo; (4) Misión La Paz; (5) Misión La Gracia;
(6) Santa Victoria 2; (7) Pozo El Toro; (8) Pozo La China; (9) Lantawos – Alto La Sierra; (10) Misión San
Luis; (11) La Puntana I; (12) La Merced Vieja; (13) Las Juntas; (14) Rancho El Ñato; (15) Pozo El Tigre;
(16) La Curvita; (17) Padre Coll; (18) Santa María; (19) Km 1; (20) Km 2; (21) Pozo El Mulato; (22) El
Cañaveral 1; (23) La Bolsa; (24) El Cruce; (25) Las Vertientes; (26) Pin Pin; and (27) El Cercado. Another
twenty indigenous communities of the area are not affiliated to this organization. It is these twenty-seven
specific communities which shall be considered to be the alleged victims of the present decision; the
IACHR understands that the members of each one of them are determinable, and that they are in the
process of being counted and identified in a precise manner.
2.
Ancestral indigenous presence in the area.
156.
In its decisions respecting indigenous peoples, the Inter-American Court has examined
evidence of the historical occupation and use of the claimed lands and resources by members of the
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community; the development of traditional subsistence, ritual or healing practices; the naming of the
137
land in the community’s language;
technical studies and documentation; as well as specialized
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opinions on the aptness of the claimed territory for the continuity of the community’s way of life.
157.
In light of the criteria established in the inter-American jurisprudence, the IACHR
considers that the petitioners have proven that Fiscal Lots 14 and 55 of the Province of Salta correspond
to the ancestral territory of the Chaco indigenous peoples to which the Lhaka Honhat communities
belong. In effect: (i) convincing historical documentation and ethnological literature from the beginning of
th
the 20 century was provided, describing the presence of the Wichi (Mataco), Iyjwaja (Chorote), Komlek
…continuación
and their advisors together with the National and Provincial Government agreed to establish a technical team, in charge of
elaborating a socio-demographical map which could harmonize the information that both parties had, to be later submitted for
discussion; (vi) in different subsequent meetings of the friendly settlement process during 2002, 2003 and 2004, reciprocal
commitments were assumed in the sense of providing the population and cartographic information to the members o the technical
team, in order to produce a unified socio-demographic map of the Fiscal Lots; (vii) the results of the mapping exercise up until
March 2005 were incorporated into the proposal of the Provincial Government of Salta for the formal adjudication of the lands; (viii)
in the agreement reached on March 14, 2006, between the General Secretary of the Salta Governor’s Office and the General
Coordinator of the Lhaka Honhat Association, it was stipulated that a survey of the indigenous communities that inhabit Lots 55 and
14 had to be made; (ix) in the agreements signed by the parties since 2005, as well as in the Decrees adopted by the Provincial
Government of Salta during this period, it is stipulated that the identification and mapping of the areas where the indigenous and
creole settlements are superimposed must be carried out; and (x) part of the methodology which has been followed during the last
stage of the process, since 2009, consists of dividing the lands that are to be adjudicated in Lots 14 and 55 into Zones, and for each
zone, carrying out a process of participatory identification and geo-referenciation of the location of the corresponding indigenous
communities.
136
I/A Court H.R., Case of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay. Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of August 24, 2010. Series C No. 214, pars. 94-95.
137
I/A Court H.R., Case of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community v. Paraguay. Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment
of June 17, 2005. Series C No. 125, par. 50.4. I/A Court H.R., Case of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay.
Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of August 24, 2010. Series C No. 214, par. 101.
138
I/A Court H.R., Case of the Xákmok Kásek Indigenous Community v. Paraguay. Merits, Reparations and Costs.
Judgment of August 24, 2010. Series C No. 214, par. 93.