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What has happened in a month of searching for the missing children in the jungle?

The joint efforts of the military forces and members of the indigenous communities of the Guaviare jungle have completed a month in the search for the four minors whose whereabouts have been unknown since the aircraft in which they were traveling crashed in the Amazon jungle. Despite the time that has passed, the rescue forces are hopeful of finding the children.

Although the numbers of members on the search teams have dwindled, nearly 200 people still trek through the depths of the Colombian jungle every day with the hope intact of finding the children.

“We are already closing the siege; we believe that we are extremely close,” reported General Pedro Sánchez, who leads the so-called ‘Operation Hope’, for the EFE news agency. And he added that his troops may have crossed paths with the children at some point, but the complexity of the search has increased as the children “keep hanging around.”

Despite the fact that the children have spent a month without supervision in the middle of an environment as hostile as the Amazon jungle, the rescuers keep alive the idea that they are still alive, since, otherwise, they suggest that they would have already found the bodies. .

“If they were dead, we would have already found them… The smell would attract animals that would guide us where they are,” said the director of the Colombian Institute for Family Well-being, Astrid Cáceres.

Manuel Ranoque (L), father of the four children who disappeared in the Colombian Amazon jungle, speaks with a member of the Colombian Army who is participating in the search in the department of Caquetá, Colombia, on May 24, 2023.
Manuel Ranoque (L), father of the four children who disappeared in the Colombian Amazon jungle, speaks with a member of the Colombian Army who is participating in the search in the department of Caquetá, Colombia, on May 24, 2023. © Colombia Army press / Colombian Army/AFP

“They are alive until we confirm otherwise”

Last Tuesday, the Colombian Army confirmed the discovery of a footprint in the jungle mud, which presumably belonged to the children’s older sister, 13-year-old Lesly Mukutuy. She was traveling with her three younger brothers, nine-year-old Soleiny Mukutuy; Tien Noriel Ronoque Mukutuy, four years old; and the baby Cristin Neriman Ronoque Mukutuy, who would have completed his first year in the jungle.

“This footprint is a fresh footprint that was approximately two kilometers from the last footprint we had and this gives us clues that the children are still alive,” said Colonel Fausto Avellaneda, a member of the government-appointed rescue team. by Gustavo Petro.

The rescue brigades have found various signs that could reveal that the children are still alive and are still waiting to be rescued: a bottle, used nappies, a phone case and a makeshift shelter. All of these have been the main traces that the military forces and members of indigenous communities have found so far.

A photo distributed by the Colombian Army on May 30, 2023, shows the footprint of a girl (below) sighted in the forest in a border region between the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare, Colombia, and compared to a military boot footprint ( above).
A photo distributed by the Colombian Army on May 30, 2023, shows the footprint of a girl (below) sighted in the forest in a border region between the departments of Caquetá and Guaviare, Colombia, and compared to a military boot footprint ( above). © AFP / Colombian Army

Military intelligence and ancestral knowledge: the key union of the search

In an extraordinary joint effort, more than a hundred Colombian Armed Forces troops and dozens of indigenous representatives from the area work shoulder to shoulder for the same goal: to find the Mukutuy brothers alive.

We have managed to reach an articulation process in which the indigenous communities, especially those with experience, who come from jungle villages and also have search capacity, will work hand in hand with the institutions and the Public Force , General Sánchez told local media.

The indigenous worldview of peoples such as the Sionas, Nasa, Misak, Nukak, Muruy and Huitotos has been a central piece in the search efforts, since for the members of these communities it is essential to have communication with the jungle so that it “returns” to children.

“Asking Mother Nature, she helps us,” Jarvy Goméz, a member of the Huitoto people who was in the brigade that found the crashed aircraft on May 15, told France24. In the accident, his uncle, Herman Mendoza, social leader of the Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon (OPIAC) died.

This photo released by the Colombian Army shows Colombian soldiers and members of the indigenous community preparing to continue the search for the missing children in the Colombian Amazon jungle, in the municipality of Solano, department of Caquetá, on May 21, 2023.
This photo released by the Colombian Army shows Colombian soldiers and members of the indigenous community preparing to continue the search for the missing children in the Colombian Amazon jungle, in the municipality of Solano, department of Caquetá, on May 21, 2023. © Colombian Army / AFP-Colombian Army

“I also have indigenous blood,” General Sánchez mentioned in the first meeting with the members of the communities that have made up the rescue teams this month. The knowledge of the terrain that the indigenous brigade members possess has been essential for the search work.

This is an unconventional union in the country, where there is often resistance between the military and indigenous communities. However, this time, their knowledge is combined with the same objective: to give Colombia the joy of finding the minors alive.

“Look for them until you find them”: the motto of the operation

The thick jungle of Guaviare is a virgin and inhospitable territory for the Armed Forces, who work in a scenario that limits visibility to about 20 meters. The difficult conditions are explained by the thickness of the trees and by the heavy rains that hit the territory at this time. Some for which the rescue work is complicated.

Due to the above, the search for the minors has required the use of multiple rescue techniques to attract the attention of the children and get them to meet the brigade members.

Large light reflectors to illuminate the night, helicopters with heat sensors, flyers in the search area —written in Spanish and in Huitoto, the brothers’ language— and large speakers in which the voice of their grandmother, María Fátima Valencia, sounds. .


© France 24

“With these visual and auditory guides, which were located at strategic points, it is intended that minors observe and listen to those lights and sounds in the dark nights so that they can reach the troops or make some type of signal that allows them to be located,” the Armed Forces stated in a statement last Monday.

The area within the search range is relatively close to positions controlled by dissident groups of the extinct FARC guerrilla. However, General Sánchez has indicated that the chances of the children meeting these groups are “nil.”

On the other hand, the members of the operation do not reject with such certainty the possibility that the minors are under the protection of unidentified indigenous communities.

“It is a territory where there are uncontacted indigenous peoples. It is the Chiribiquete conservation zone, which is a jungle that is still a virgin jungle,” remarked Patricia Tobón Yagarí, director of the Colombian Government’s Victims Unit.

A chain of erroneous information reached the Casa de Nariño

On May 17, Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on his Twitter account that the brothers had been found alive and “in good health” by the Colombian Armed Forces. The information came from the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare.

However, the Colombian Army assured that it could not confirm the communication that reached the president’s ears, which meant that one day after publishing the tweet, Petro had to apologize to the public and proceed to delete it.

“The lives of children are the most important thing,” the president wrote.


Despite his apology, the mistake was not well received by the children’s family, who assured through a statement that “physical and emotional health is not a game that can be erased and/or easily forgotten.”

A month later, hope remains

The four little ones disappeared in the heart of the Colombian Amazon on May 1, when the Cessna 206 in which they were traveling crashed in the Guaviare jungle. Three adults died in the accident, including the mother of the minors. But of the children there was no trace.

The plane in which they were traveling was built in 1982 and had undergone constant repairs that did not pass the quality controls imposed. In addition, the aircraft had already been in an accident. Although Giselle López, owner of the SAS airline of Avianline Charter, the flight operating company, ruled that “nothing happened”, referring to the first accident of her unit.

Four weeks have passed since the whereabouts of the little Mukutuy brothers are unknown. However, the Army and the native peoples of the area continue to search for them, hoping that the miracle that Colombia hopes for will come true.

With EFE and local media



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