9
and the provision of services and medicines for the next of kin of the victims who were
executed in the case.17
*
*
*
27.
That as to the obligation to take the necessary measures to guarantee safe
conditions for the former inhabitants of El Aro and La Granja, who were forced to displace,
to return to El Aro or La Granja, the State informed that “the petitioners stated that the
victims’ next-of-kin do not wish to return to Ituango”, but they wish to obtain socioeconomic
aid and access to housing subsidies. As a consequence, “the State is searching and studying
the legal mechanism necessary to grant this subsidy to the displaced people in the most
responsive way". In addition, the State pointed out that “in Colombia, the return and
relocation process is organized through the Departamental and Municipal Committees on the
Assistance of Displaced People. Therefore, in this case, the municipal committee of Ituango
and the departamental committee of Antioquia shall be activated in order to learn about the
current situation of this region and proceed to take the necessary measures to assist the
people displaced by these massacres". In addition, considering that the petitioners informed
the State that they do only represent and are in contact with 270 of the 702 people included
in the Judgment of the Inter-American Court as victims of the violations of Article 22 of the
Convention, "the State [shall] engage in activities in order to locate the people included in
Appendice IV of the Judgment to provide them with the assistance they need in their
condition of displaced people". Furthermore, it was informed that "the State is evaluating
the lists presented by the representatives of the victims included in the census conducted in
Valdivia, [insofar] as the census contain a greater number of people [than] Appendice IV of
the Judgment, where the […] Court identified the beneficiaries of this measure of
reparation. In this sense, [even though] the State follows a complete public policy to assist
displaced people, to which all displaced persons may have access, [it considered that the
assessment of the] compliance with this measure of reparation […] should be limited to the
people identified in the Judgment […]”. Likewise, the State informed that in the areas of La
Granja and El Aro “there have been no threats or violent acts in view of the fact that most
of the displacements are the result of incursions made by Self-Defense groups
(Autodefensas), who no longer commit crimes in the region”. In this sense, it pointed out
that “for the time being, there [is] no other risk factor for displacements of peasants, since
the Army is continuously present [in the zone]”.
28.
That the representatives informed that "the Colombian State has not fully complied
with this measure in view of the fact that almost three years have passed since this
Judgment was notified and no action leading to comply with the measure of reparation has
been taken". They mainly indicated that "the State did not comply with the commitment to
activate the Municipal Committee on Assistance to the Displaced People". In this sense, they
mentioned that "the decision of not returning […] is based on […] the current situation
existing in the area that forbids it, since there still persists violence deriving from the
conflict over the territory between paramilitary and drug-trafficking groups, sprayings with
glyphosate that affected the legal crops and the health of people and the extra-legal
executions by law enforcement personnel [coupled] with the difficult economic situation in
which the dwellers of the municipality of Ituango live and the neighboring municipality of
Valdivia and the lack of measures to make the returning conditions favorable”. Furthermore,
the representatives informed that they provided the State with a list of the people that form
part of Appendix IV of the Judgment of the Court, “mentioning the composition of the family
groups, the identification numbers of the people and the place they would be interested in
17
Cf. Case of the Ituango Massacres, supra note 7, para. 417.