and clarification” contained no facts or claims further to those submitted by the petitioners in their initial communication of 2004, which was sent to the State before it submitted its delayed response to that original petition on April 18, 2006, together with an additional period of time in which to present comments, which the State used prior to submitting its brief dated June 8, 2006. 6. Reference should also be made to the precautionary measures registered as No. MC 70/99 and requested by the IACHR on December 17, 1997,2 after an on-site visit to the Turbo stadium, which was then housing a number of individuals displaced as a result of the incidents described in the petition and where the Commission was able to directly observe their situation.3 In its submission of April 18, 2006, the State formally requested that the documents contained in the case file of precautionary measures MC 70/99 be transferred to the case file of petition P 499/04, Marino López et al. (Operation Genesis). In connection with this, the IACHR finds that the State’s request is appropriate for the comprehensive treatment of the situation addressed in this petition. It should also be noted that in 1998 the IACHR asked the State to furnish information on the situation of the displaced persons in Bahía Cupica, who are also covered by the claims in this petition.4 III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES 7. Before dealing specifically with the positions of the parties, reference should be made to a range of geographical, historical, and sociological information; these details are not disputed and are useful in understanding the background to the parties’ positions. Many of these facts are included in the claims presented by one party or the other. 8. The Urabá area is located in the north of the department of Chocó (Urabá Chocoano or Darién Chocoano)5 and the west of the department of Antioquia (Urabá Antioqueño).6 The area surrounds the Gulf of Urabá and the border with Panama, making it a strategic corridor for access to both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. In spite of being one of the regions of the world with the highest levels of biodiversity, its inhabitants, who are mostly of African descent, suffer from unsatisfied basic needs.7 2 In its 1997 Annual Report the IACHR said that “on December 17, 1997, the Commission requested that precautionary measures be taken in behalf of the members of a community that had been displaced by violence in the locale of Turbo. Several of them were murdered in 1997. Among them were persons who had taken refuge in the municipal sports stadium and others in shelters specially built for that purpose. On December 11, two armed persons identified as paramilitary men went into the Turbo sports stadium looking for a member of the community. On December 14, another paramilitary person was seen inspecting the “Unidos Retornaremos” shelter.” 1997 Annual Report of the IACHR, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.98, Doc. 6, February 17, 1998, Chapter III.2.A, section on precautionary measures in the Republic of Colombia. On January 11, 1999, the Commission ratified the continuation of the precautionary measures originally requested on December 17, 1997, on behalf of the individuals located in the displaced persons camp at the Turbo stadium and Bocas del Atrato. See: 1998 Annual Report of the IACHR, OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102, Doc. 6 rev. April 16, 1999, Chapter III, paragraph 22. The precautionary measures currently remain in force to protect the displaced persons who today are a part of the communities of African descent grouped together in the CAVIDA Organization and resettled on their collective lands along the River Cacarica. In June 2003 the Commission conducted an on-site visit to the CAVIDA collective lands to assess the situation of beneficiaries of those precautionary measures. See: IACHR Press Release No. 15/03, “IACHR Rapporteur concludes working visit to the Republic of Colombia,” June 27, 2003, at http://www.cidh.oas.org/Comunicados/English/2003/15.03.htm. 3 The IACHR provided a series of comments on the situation of the displaced persons in Turbo in itsThird Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999) OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102 Doc. 9 rev. 1, February 26, 1999, Chapter VI, paragraphs 44 to 47. 4 The IACHR provided a series of comments on the situation of the displaced persons in Bahía Cupica in its Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999) OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102 Doc. 9 rev. 1, February 26, 1999, Chapter VI, paragraph 53. 5 The Darién Chocoano region comprises four municipalities – Acandí, Unguía, Riosucio, and Carmen del Darién – and covers 4,820 km2. The access route is the River Atrato and its tributaries the rivers Turandó, Cacarica, Jiguamiandó, and Jarapetó. 6 The Urabá Antioqueño comprises eleven municipalities – Apartadó, Carepa, Chigorodó, Necoclí, San Juan de Urabá, San Pedro de Urabá, Turbo, Arboletes, Murindó, Mutatá, and Vigía del Fuerte – and covers a total surface area of 11,665 km2. 7 The IACHR spoke about the situation of the Afro-descendant population in Chocó in its Third Report on the Human Rights Situation in Colombia (1999) OEA/Ser.L/V/II.102 Doc. 9 rev. 1, February 26, 1999, Chapter XI. 2