27
50.8. Since 1996, part of the Yakye Axa Community settled alongside the route
between Pozo Colorado and Concepción in the Presidente Hayes Department, facing
the barbed wire fence of Estancia Loma Verde.27 A number of families ranging from
28 to 57 are living there.28 The rest of the members of the Yakye Axa Community
remain in several villages: 20 de Enero, Alegre, Karanda, San Carlos, Para Todo´i, La
Madrina, and Santa Fe of Estancia El Estribo or spread out in other estates of the
Presidente Hayes Department in the Paraguayan Chaco, such as Makxlawaya,
Naranjito, Espinillo, Concepción, La Palma-Loma Plata, Nueva Vida, Para Todo,
Campo Largo, Lolita, Santa Ana, La Victoria, Paz del Chaco, among others.29
50.9. The mother tongue of the members of the Yakye Axa Community is Southern
Enxet. Some also speak Guaraní, western Guaraní and Spanish.30
ii.
History of the non-indigenous occupation of the territory claimed by
the Yakye Axa Community
50.10. Toward the end of the 19th century, large parts of the Paraguayan Chaco
were sold through the London stock exchange. At that same time and as a
consequence of purchase of those lands by British entrepreneurs, the Anglican
Church began to establish several missions in the area. In 1907 W.B. Grubb founded
the Makxlawaya Mission within the territory of the Lengua indigenous people (Enlhet
Norte and Enxet Sur) with the aim of beginning their evangelization and
“pacification”.31
27
See census of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community (file with appendixes to the application,
appendix 5, volumes 1250 to 1257), book entitled “II Censo Nacional Indígena de población y viviendas
2002. Pueblos Indígenas del Paraguay. Resultados finales”, Presidency of the Republic, Technical Planning
Secretariat. Paraguay, 2002 (file with documents submitted during the public hearing held on March 4 and
5, 2005, page 658); book entitled “Atlas de las Comunidades Indígenas en el Paraguay”, Presidency of the
Republic, Technical Planning Secretariat. Paraguay, 2002 (file with documents submitted during the public
hearing held on March 4 and 5, 2005, Volume II, page 404); testimony of Estaban López rendered before
the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4, 2005; testimony of Inocencia Gómez
rendered before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4, 2005, and statement
by Albino Fernández rendered before a notary public on February 10, 2005.
28
See census of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community (file with appendixes to the application,
appendix 5, volumes 1250 to 1257), and book entitled “II Censo Nacional Indígena de población y
viviendas 2002. Pueblos Indígenas del Paraguay. Resultados finales”, Presidency of the Republic, Technical
Planning Secretariat. Paraguay, 2002 (file with documents submitted during the public hearing held on
March 4 and 5, 2005, page 658), and book entitled “Atlas de las Comunidades Indígenas en el Paraguay”,
Presidency of the Republic, Technical Planning Secretariat. Paraguay, 2002 (file with documents submitted
during the public hearing held on March 4 and 5, 2005, Volume II, page 404).
29
See census of the Yakye Axa Indigenous Community (file with appendixes to the application,
appendix 5, volumes 1250 to 1257).
30
See book entitled “Atlas de las Comunidades Indígenas en el Paraguay”, Presidency of the
Republic, Technical Planning Secretariat. Paraguay, 2002 (file with documents submitted during the public
hearing held on March 4 and 5, 2005, Volume II, page 404); testimony of Estaban López rendered before
the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4, 2005; testimony of Tomás Galeano
rendered before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4, 2005, and testimony
of Inocencia Gómez rendered before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4,
2005.
31
See statement by Alberto Braunstein rendered before a notary public on February 11, 2005 (file
on the merits, reparations, and costs, Volume III, volumes 700 to 712), and testimony of Stephen William
Kidd rendered before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on March 4, 2005.