territory, which runs from the Pilcomayo River to the hills, will have been cut off. 35. For this reason, the petitioners claim, on September 11, 1995 they presented an appeal against the Province of Salta before the Court of Justice of the Province, asking the court to order suspension of the construction works on the bridge from Mision La Paz to Pozo Hondo in Paraguay, as well as any other construction or urbanization work or any activity that would alter the Mision La Paz reserve or fiscal lots 55 and 14. In that appeal, the petitioners requested, as a precautionary measure, the granting of a "no innovations" (no inovar) injunction with respect to construction of the international bridge and other works that were underway in the zone, in order to prevent greater environmental damage. However, the Court of Justice of Salta ruled against such an injunction on November 8, 1995, and on April 29, 1996 it rejected the appeal, declaring: "because the analysis is limited to examining the actions of the Province of Salta, which apparently related to the execution of national decisions not questioned in this appeal, and which are intended to integrate such communities into the national life, there being social and economic interests at stake that were the determining factors behind such works, there would seem to be no illegality or arbitrariness involved, which in itself prevents the processing of the request, since the clarification of this issue requires greater debate and further proof that go beyond the expeditious and rapid judgment that concerns us here". 36. On May 14, 1996, the legal representatives of the Association filed an extraordinary federal appeal, which was also rejected. On February 27, 1997, the petitioners filed a complaint for denial of the extraordinary appeal before the federal Supreme Court, which rejected that motion on February 5, 1998. 37. Because the State, in its reply of July 7, 1999, offered to have the National Institute of Indigenous Affairs (an agency that reports to the Secretariat for Social Development in the Office of the President of the Nation) "coordinate all available mechanisms to comply with the constitutional imperative of recognizing community possession and ownership of the lands occupied by indigenous people (Article 75 (17) of the national Constitution)", the petitioners agreed to begin mediation proceedings on August 18, 1999, provided the State gave a prior commitment to stop the works that gave rise to this petition. In addition, the petitioners asked the State to abstain from any other action in their territory, and in particular the delivery of dwellings individually to members of the community. To guarantee these prior