The four indigenous brothers who were lost for 40 days in the jungles of southern Colombia were transferred at dawn to Bogotá, are out of danger and are recovering in the Central Military Hospital of the capital. After visiting them this Saturday, President Gustavo Petro has celebrated the "meeting of indigenous and military knowledge" during an intense search that kept the country in suspense, but for the moment he has chosen to delegate the spokesperson of his state to other authorities. The children are in "acceptable" clinical conditions, despite the inhospitable environment in which they managed to survive, said their Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez.
Lesly, 13, and her siblings Solecni, 9; Tien Noriel, 4; and Cristin Neryman, a one-year-old baby, were rescued Friday night from the thick jungle with a helicopter that could not land on the ground and waited 60 meters high, in the air, above the treetops. From there he transferred them to San José del Guaviare, the nearest city, so that later a C-295 plane configured as an ambulance, where they received medical assistance, took them to the Colombian capital. In a video released by the Civil Aeronautics, children are seen lying on the floor while military doctors give them medicines and oral serum to hydrate them.
"We have to recognize Lesly not only for her courage but for her leadership. It was because of her that the three little brothers were able to survive by her side, with their care, with the knowledge of the jungle, "said in his statements from the hospital itself the Minister of Defense, who also recognized the indigenous communities that participated in the search together with the military forces.
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The state of health of the children of Guaviare
Iván Velásquez, Minister of Defense, at the Military Hospital in Bogotá where the surviving children are being treatedPhoto: Nathalia Angarita (El País) | Video: Reuters
'Operation Hope' was called the government's mission to find the brothers who survived a plane crash on May 1 and walked lost for more than a month. Up to 184 people were "combing" the jungle every day, 112 from the public force and 72 indigenous people. As expectations of finding them alive were extinguished, the military erupted in jubilation when they heard over the radio the code word they had agreed to report the find: "miracle." They repeated it four times, once for each child.
President Petro has highlighted elements such as the meeting of knowledge, the joint effort of the military forces and the indigenous guard and respect for the jungle in a message on his social networks that he accompanied with images of the visit on Saturday morning, accompanied by his wife, Verónica Alcocer, and his daughters Sofia and Antonella. "Here is a different path for Colombia: I believe that this is the true path of peace," the president said. "Here is a new Colombia. That it is life first of all. The goal that unites us is life," he wrote. The day before, Petro confirmed the news just arrived from Havana, where he had signed the ceasefire with the ELN guerrillas, the first stone of the total peace that his government pursues.
The four brothers are in "acceptable clinical conditions," despite some bites and skin injuries, said Gen. Carlos Rincon Arango, the director of the Central Military Hospital. They are being provided with nutritional and psychological support and will be hospitalized for two to three weeks. Medical reports have ruled out life-threatening conditions, he added. "They still speak little and are weak, although they want to play," said Astrid Cáceres, director of the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare. "Let's give him time."
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