On May 1, a Cessna 206 took off from the dirt micro-track in the village of Puerto Sabalo, near the town of Araracuara in the Amazon state. Very few pilots venture on this perilous track located in the middle of the Amazonian forest in the south of Colombia. The plane, which has six seats, has already experienced a breakdown in 2021. A quick repair allowed the device to take off again, but this repair was not made according to the standards in force. It belongs to one of the 40 air-taxi companies that criss-cross Colombia. These air links are very useful because many villages are only accessible by canoe. The infrastructure deficit is a recurrent evil of the country.
At 7:30 a.m., the pilot issued an alert: his engine showed signs of weakness. He was then 175 kilometers from his destination: San Jose de Guaviare. Then nothing. The area is so difficult to access that it took until Tuesday, May 16 for the army to find the wreckage of the aircraft despite the hundred men and three helicopters mobilized. In the carcass, nose planted on the ground, three corpses: the pilot Hernando Marcia Morales, his co-pilot, the indigenous leader Herman Mendoza and Mucutuy Valencia. Surprise: While Mucutuy left Puerto Sabalo with her four children, members of the Armed Forces did not find their bodies. They are Lesly, 13 years old, Soleiny, 9 years old, Tien Noriel, 4 years old and Cristin, 11 months old. Better: they discover a hut of branches and fruits bitten by small jaws. This area of forest is very dense and considered very dangerous; no road crosses it and the height of the trees which can reach 40 meters in height makes their overflight inefficient.
Since then, all of Colombia has been waiting for news of the children. A helicopter flies over the forest, broadcasting the voice of the children’s grandmother through a loudspeaker. And on Wednesday, President Gustavo Petro tweeted: “After arduous searches by our armed forces, we have found alive the four children who disappeared in the plane crash in Guaviare. It is a great joy for the country”. Embarrassed silence from the side of the Armed Forces… and finally, a denial. In fact it was the organization in charge of child protection, the ICBF, which had informed the president that the children had been seen alive. According to Astrid Caceres, director of the ICBF, “we have received information which ensures that contact has taken place with the children. This information said that they had been seen alive and in good health… Yet the Armed Forces have not yet been able to establish contact because of the difficult weather conditions. We prepare our teams and inform the government. The level of precision that we have received gives us a lot of hope and we are waiting for contact, but the satellite communication has been cut off and we cannot resume contact with the group who said they are in contact with the children. »
According to a testimony, the children would have started the descent of the canoe of the river but a violent storm would have forced them to interrupt their journey. The area has suffered violent storms in recent days which make it impossible to travel on the river. According to another source, they would be accommodated in an indigenous community which cannot communicate with the outside because of weather conditions.
The children’s father, Manuel Ranoque is governor of the Araracuara Indian Reservation. He had to flee the region hastily a few weeks ago because he was threatened by a dissident group of Farc guerrillas. He reportedly sent the money to his family to join him in Bogotá. They belong to the Uitoto ethnic group. The choice of the air route was made because it seems that his family was also threatened and there was urgency. Manuel Ranoque is not surprised that these children were able to survive two weeks in the forest: “I have been confronted with these kinds of stories several times. My sister, who is deaf, was lost for a month in the forest and I found her. So I think that the efforts (to find my children) will not be in vain. »
According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia (ONIC), the Uitoto “live in harmony” in the jungle. They maintain and pass on traditions such as hunting, fishing and wild fruit picking.” The children’s grandfather, Fidenuo Valencia, is also reassuring: “They are used to the jungle.” Friday, May 19, the director of the ICBF, Astrid Caceres went to San José de Guaviare to supervise the operations.
