IX MERITS 197. Even though this case has been processed as “Marino López et al.” and as “Operation Genesis,” the Commission and the representatives have alleged violation of the Convention in relation to a broader factual framework described in the merits report. Also, in addition to alleging that the State was responsible for the death of Mr. López and for the forced displacement of the communities, presumably as a result of the bombing carried out in the context of Operation Genesis, it was also alleged that this displacement occurred because of activities of collaboration, acquiescence or connivance between members of the Armed Forces and the paramilitary groups that took part in the so-called “Operation Cacarica.” Furthermore, it was alleged that the State is responsible for the conditions faced by those who were displaced in both Turbo and Bocas de Atrato in the years following the events of February 1997, as well as for the dispossession and illegal exploitation of their communal territories before, during and after those events. 198. In this regard: (a) on February 24, 1997, the military counterinsurgency operation known as “Genesis” was initiated in the area of the Salaquí and Truandó Rivers, municipality of Riosucio, Chocó, during which at least seven objectives established in the respective military operations order were attacked (supra para. 101); (b) in parallel and simultaneously, within the framework of what later became known as “Operation Cacarica” by the authorities who investigated the events, paramilitary units of the “Chocó Bloc” and of the “Pedro Ponte” Group moved into the area of the Cacarica River basin, several kilometers to the north of the place where Operation Genesis was being implemented, threatening and terrorizing the inhabitants of the region, ordering them to abandon their possessions and displace (supra para. 102); (c) during these incursions, on February 26, 1997, these paramilitary units killed Marino López in the village of Bijao (supra para. 108), and (d) over a period of time that partly coincided with the implementation of Operation Genesis, a large group of inhabitants of the Cacarica river basin was forced to displace to Turbo, Bocas de Atrato and the Republic of Panama (supra para. 111). After the forced displacement, these groups of people faced difficult, unsafe and even precarious living conditions in the places where they settled provisionally, following which several hundred of these people returned to territories in the Cacarica region. 199. Consequently, in order to determine the scope of the State’s responsibility in relation to these events, the Court will analyze the following: 1. Operation Genesis and the paramilitary raids (“Operation Cacarica”) as causes of the forced displacement of the communities of the Cacarica river basin and of the death of Marino López (Articles 4(1), 5(1) and 22 of the Convention); 2. The condition of displacement faced by the communities following the events of February 1997 (Articles 5(1), 11, 17, 19, 22 and 24 of the Convention); 3. The dispossession and illegal exploitation of the teritories of the Afro-descendant communities of the Cacarica region (Article 21 of the Convention), and 4. The investigations and criminal and other proceeding (Articles 8(1) and 25 of the Convention). IX.1 “OPERATION GENESIS” AND THE PARAMILITARY INCURSIONS (“OPERATION CACARICA”) AS CAUSES OF THE FORCED DISPLACEMENT OF THE COMMUNITIES OF THE CACARICA RIVER BASIN AND THE DEATH OF MARINO LÓPEZ (Articles 4, 5 and 22 of the Convention) A. Arguments of the Commission and of the parties Rights to life and to personal integrity 200. The Commission affirmed that, in the instant case, the State had “ordered and executed a military operation, during which the bombing caused harm to the civilian population, without preventive or protective measures having been taken.” Regarding the counterinsurgency 72