of the Cacarica River basin, because they were detaining “chalupa-type" boats, collecting forced
taxes on the entry of foodstuffs and supplies and the egress of lumber and subsistence crop
surpluses. In addition, as underscored in the report, threats and accusations have been made,
money has been stolen from community shops as well as the gasoline required for the survival
of the civilian population, essential for the operation of the boats and the community’s electricity
generators. 30
17.
The report also mentioned that “[t]he presence of public security units within the villages
or in the crop-growing areas of the communities has led to harassment and confrontations with
the illegal groups. The FARC has resorted to the use of landmines in areas that are increasingly
nearer to the communities.” In addition, the report indicated that “the fact that there are
military operations in the Bajo Atrato has resulted in forced displacements, and also restrictions
to movement.” 31
18.
In this context, the provisional measures were requested only in favor of 14 members of
the said communities, most of whom are leaders of displaced communities or of CAVIDA and, in
addition to being petitioners before the inter-American system, they carry out activities relating
to the denunciation of incidents and the filing of claims for collective lands, in a context in which
community leaders have been forced to limit their participation in these activities or in which
they and members of their families have been murdered or threatened by illegal armed
groups. 32 However, it has not been explained clearly whether the dangerous situations that the
proposed beneficiaries have experienced, and which the representatives and the Commission
have described, are particularly different in relation to the general risk that exists for the other
members of their communities.
19.
In this regard, the Court stresses that, in its two briefs, the State failed to provide
information on whether it had assessed the risk factors faced by each of the proposed
beneficiaries. However, the State has indicated its willingness, under the preventive measures
ordered by the Inter-American Commission, to monitor the general situation of risk of the
indicates that these groups carry communication radios, guns and rifles; they have fast boats, which allow them to
control the navigation on the Sucio and Atrato Rivers, and also the transit of people, timber and fuels, and they keep
watch over the route that joins the village of Llano Rico to Belén de Bajira, a strategic zone that communicates the
banana sector and the Serranía de Abibe with the watersheds of the Jiguamuiandó and Curbaradó and the Bajo Atrato.
Early Warning System (“EWS”), Ombudsman’s Office, Delegate Ombudsman for the Prevention of Risks of Violations of
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Follow-up Note No. 018-12, Second note to Risk Report No. 031-09
A.I, November 30, 2012, folios 27 and ff.
30
Early Warning System (“EWS”), Ombudsman’s Office, Delegate Ombudsman for the Prevention of Risks of
Violations of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Follow-up Note No. 018-12, Second note to Risk Report
No. 031-09 A.I, November 30, 2012, folio 31.
31
“These conditions have meant that many indigenous communities from the Salaquí and Truandó river basins,
who were forcibly displaced starting in the mid-1990s and in 2003, have no guarantees in order to be able to return to
their territories, and this has seriously affected their culture and exacerbated problems such as the disintegration of the
community, uprooting, and the weakening of collective resistance projects.” Early Warning System (“EWS”),
Ombudsman’s Office, Delegate Ombudsman for the Prevention of Risks of Violations of Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law, Follow-up Note No. 018-12, Second note to Risk Report No. 031-09 A.I, November 30, 2012, folio
51.
32
The report of the Ombudsman’s Office indicates that “[i]n this context of the extensive presence of illegal
armed groups with the capacity to control both the territory and the people, the process of restitution of collective
territory in the Curbaradó and Jiguamiandó river basins has also been affected.” The report added that “[i]n view of the
systematic nature of the death threats [against leaders], the right of the communities to participate freely in the
restitution processes that are underway in the Bajo Atrato has been violated and, in some cases, the leaders have even
been forced to limit the frequency of their meetings with their communities or have been obliged to limit their
participation in activities.” Regarding murders, the report of the Ombudsman’s Office indicates that “[t]he effects of the
threats on the closest family members of the leaders are so serious that leaders have even been murdered together with
their underage children by illegal armed groups following the demobilization of the AUC.” Early Warning System (“SAT”),
Ombudsman’s Office, Delegate Ombudsman for the Prevention of Risks of Violations of Human Rights and International
Humanitarian Law, Follow-up Note No. 018-12, Second note to Risk Report No. 031-09 A.I, November 30, 2012, folios
34 to 36.
16