A. The Garifuna people in Honduras and the Punta Piedra Garifuna community A.1 Background 82. Honduras is a multi-ethnic and multicultural nation composed mainly of mestizos, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants. Estimates of the total Garifuna population in Honduras vary. According to the 2001 census conducted by the National Institute of Statistics, “more than 49,000 people self-identified themselves as Garifuna,” 43 while other sources estimated a population of 98,000; 44 still others have assessed the number of Garifuna differently. 45 83. The Garifuna people originated in the 18th century from the union of Africans from Spanish vessels shipwrecked on the island of Saint Vincent in 1635 and the Amerindians who inhabited the area before colonization - Arawak and Kalinagu indigenous peoples. The Karaphunas were the descendants of these peoples and when, in 1797, Great Britain took control of the island of Saint Vincent, they were deported to the island of Roatan. From there, they emigrated to the mainland, to what is today Honduras, and then settled all along the northern coast of Honduras and toward the Caribbean coast of Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize. 46 Nowadays, the Garifuna people consists of approximated 40 communities 47 located along the Atlantic coast or coastal area of the Caribbean in the departments of Cortes, Atlantida, Colon and Gracias a Cf. World Bank Inspection Panel. Investigation Report. Honduras: Land Administration Project. Report No. 39933-HN, June 12, 2007, p. 17, para. 74. Available at http://documents1.worldbank.org/ curated/en/585261468032177524/pdf/399330HN0INSPR200710003.pdf. 44 Cf. World Bank Inspection Panel. Investigation Report. Honduras: Land Administration Project, supra, p.17, para. 74, in the case of the 98,000 number, referred to a 1973 study conducted by the Central American and Caribbean Research Council (CACRC), and Ethnic Poverty in Honduras, Utta von Gleich and Ernesto Galvez. Indigenous Peoples and Community Development Unit. Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Sustainable Development Department, Washington, D.C., September 1999, pp. 1 and 2. Available at http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsacd/cd47/etnica.pdf. 45 Cf. World Bank Inspection Panel. Investigation Report. Honduras:: Land Administration Project, supra, p.17, para. 74. This report indicates that, according to the Project Appraisal Document of the Bankfinanced Honduras: Judicial Branch Modernization Project (IDA Credit No. 4098-HO approved by the Board of Directors on July 7, 2005), the Garifuna population was estimated to be between 100,000 and 190,000. Cf. Ethnic Poverty in Honduras, Utta von Gleich and Ernesto Galvez. Indigenous, supra, p. 2. Also, according to an OFRANEH press release of September 1993, pursuant to an INA newsletter, as following the census there were 49,952 Garifuna. This press release indicated that the said figure was not exact because, at that date, approximately 200,000 Garifuna were living in the area. Cf. OFRANEH press release published on September 18, 2013, entitled: “Afrodescendientes o Garífunas: raza o cultura.” Available at: This press https://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/afrodescendientes-o-garifunas-raza-o-cultura/. release cites the World Bank’s February 2006 report entitled “ Beyond averages: Afro-descendants in Latin America,” available at: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTLACAFROLATINSINSPA/Resources/Honduras _Final.pdf. 46 Cf. World Bank Inspection Panel. Investigation Report. Honduras:: Land Administration Project, supra, p.19, para. 82; Ethnic Poverty in Honduras, Utta von Gleich and Ernesto Galvez, supra, p.35 and Presentation to the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. Working Group on Minorities. Tenth Session. March 1 to 5, 2004. Available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/ minorities/docs/OFRANEH3a.doc. 47 Cf. Motion sponsored by Deputies Olegario López Róchez, Erick Mauricio Rodríguez, Samuel Martínez, Jorge Leonídas García, among others, and introduced before the National Congress on April 18, 2002 (evidence file, folio 5) and Affidavit made by expert witness Christopher Loperena on August 22, 2014 (merits file, folio 432). The said motion was introduced by a group of deputies to request the National Congress to approve a budget item of Lps.13,168,982.84 in the 2002 General Income and Expenses Budget, to be approved by the Legislative Assembly. The purpose of this was to proceed to free the territory of the Punta Piedra Garifuna community of encumbrances (by payment of the improvements made by the Rio Miel inhabitants who occupied part of the territory titled to the said community) based on the valuation made by INA in 2001. 43 23