Lost Children, The (2024)

[bunniefuu]

I wish she'd never boarded that plane.

They were alone. They had nothing.

The baby girl, what is she eating?

What will become of them?

It seems as if Mother Nature

didn't want those four children

to leave that place.

These kids are Colombia's children.

Good morning.

It's 9:00 a.m. here in Bogot.

Hello to all our viewers who have

just tuned in to watch our broadcast.

Listen carefully.

An aircraft has gone missing

en route from Araracuara

to San Jos del Guaviare.

And this story

becomes more and more tragic.

On board are four Indigenous children

and their mother,

who were traveling

to meet their father in Bogot.

The plane's last reported location

was deep in the Amazon rainforest,

in a hard-to-reach remote area.

We're live with Manuel Ranoque,

the children's father,

who spoke about his missing family.

The woman's name

is Magdalena Mucutuy Valencia.

The 13-year-old girl

is Lesly Jacobombaire Mucutuy.

The nine-year-old girl is Soleiny Mucutuy.

The four-year-old boy,

Tien Noriel Ranoque Mucutuy,

and the 11-month-old girl...

Our ancestors were nomads, weren't they?

They went from one place to another,

collecting fruit.

And when I first heard

that the plane went down,

I thought, "Oh my God, the children died."

It was very hard

because the children used to sit here.

Those drawings up there are theirs,

and they sat here, at this desk.

It's such an empty feeling. I can't...

I felt as if my own children had died.

I thought about the youngest one.

And I said to myself,

"If you go down in a small plane,

you don't survive."

Relief agencies are intensifying

their search for the plane

that disappeared last Sunday.

We have reports

that an elite military squad

will be deployed to the location

of the plane's last transmitted signal.

My general called

and ordered me to join the search.

We immediately deployed all units.

There seems to be a ravine

at the northern sector.

The commandos say it's difficult to cross.

In an unprecedented twist,

the country's special forces

are being deployed

in search of the missing plane.

And they're heading into territory

that is still controlled

by the former FARC t*rror1st group.

There was a huge forest canopy.

It's an inhospitable jungle,

a thick jungle.

My men and I just looked at each other.

It's like looking

for a needle in a haystack.

There, we began our first task,

which was to search for the aircraft.

It was possible

that they had survived the accident.

But, as the days went by,

if one of them had died,

it would attract wild animals.

Obviously, as time went on,

the chances of finding them alive

were getting slimmer.

I cried so much when I found out

about my sister and the children.

I felt as if they were my children.

My son liked playing with Soleiny.

He did everything with Soleiny.

She was always happy.

She didn't even know what sadness was.

Tien Noriel was a very headstrong boy.

And he was very affectionate.

Lesly loved taking selfies.

She liked listening to music.

Cristin was just a baby.

So vulnerable.

This one on the ground?

Put this one on the ground

and the other as a cover.

They informed us that the plane

had emitted an emergency signal,

but that didn't tell us

its exact location.

We started to search

each quadrant of the jungle thoroughly.

They were divided into kilometers,

from north to south.

There were two things

on your mind all the time.

Searching for the plane and the enemy.

This area has a strong presence

of FARC dissidents.

It's a guerrilla t*rror1st group.

According to the authorities,

it's funded by drug traffickers.

Now I want you to look at these men.

We cannot show you their faces.

Why are we speaking so quietly now?

We don't want to be detected by the enemy.

There are reports that a small group

from an Indigenous community

is also looking for the plane.

But there are concerns.

The search is creating

a high level of tension

due to the historic conflict

between some Indigenous communities

and the army.

I heard that one of our regional leaders

was on the plane.

We're from the same clan,

the Huitoto ethnic group.

That was one of the reasons

I joined the search for the plane.

But there was another underlying reason.

I went kind of

because I was separating from my wife.

I wanted to get away.

I just wanted to forget

what I was going through.

It's been a week since the accident,

and there are no signs of the plane.

Experts are saying

that if the survivors have been injured,

they're likely to have developed

an infection by now.

I joined a small rescue group

with Manuel Ranoque,

the children's father.

Do whatever you can to ignite it.

Everything is so wet.

From a young age,

my father would take me hunting.

He'd take me fishing,

teach me to quickly identify the jungle

and find my bearings.

We mostly use the sun.

This is our culture,

our origin, our principle.

This is a life

that the white world looks down on.

If the people were dead,

vultures would be circling over the plane.

We applied all our knowledge.

We searched that entire first week,

and we didn't find anything.

Nothing at all, so we were worried.

One day, the Civil Aeronautics authority

gave us the plane's last coordinates,

but those coordinates didn't make sense.

They were 500 meters

from the Apaporis riverbank.

So we visualized the plane's flight path.

And we kept going.

I'd say, "Guys, we're going upstream."

And we kept going all day.

Suddenly, a boy named Alejandro...

Alejandro,

he was a 14-year-old boy.

He'd never been to civilization.

He said, "Hey, there's a blue house

in the bush."

Of course, I jumped for joy.

We found the aircraft.

He said, "But there's no one alive."

We even told Manuel

that all his kids were dead.

The truth is he didn't react.

He didn't say a thing.

That day, command informed me

that some Indigenous people

had found the plane.

My first task then

was to identify how many dead bodies

were in the aircraft.

By the sneakers, which were pretty small,

by the body type, the long hair,

that's how we identified

that there was a female.

She was dead.

My sister Magdalena

was like a mother to me.

I used to tell her,

"With you, I feel protected."

We shared everything,

we'd talk, mess around.

I wish she'd never boarded that plane.

In spite of the sadness, we were happy

because the mission was to find the plane,

so now we could go.

However, one of the guys asked me,

"Henry, whenever a plane goes down,

do suitcases fly out?"

He said, "I found suitcases outside,

and it looks

as if someone's gone through them."

I said, "What?"

Because of the plane's vertical position,

we just couldn't see

how many bodies were inside.

Legionnaire, Popeye.

Receiving, sir. Go ahead.

Out of the blue, the sergeant reported,

"Captain, I found a baby bottle."

A baby bottle in the jungle?

It took me by surprise.

And then we found a wild passion fruit.

It had been bitten by a human being.

And on the same path, we found a shelter.

We continued to search

for bodies in the plane.

We were able to verify

that there were two more adults.

But we didn't identify any small bodies.

The children aren't there.

How can that be?

The kids aren't there.

The kids must be alive!

When I found out

that the children weren't dead,

I thought,

"God, who's going to find them now?"

"And where?"

I felt like my heart was giving up on me.

"What could they be eating?"

"The baby girl, what is she eating?"

"What will become of them?"

The four children have been lost

in the jungle for more than two weeks.

Army sources estimate that, by now,

they could have walked 100 kilometers

from the crash site,

which gives them a search area

more than three times

as big the Bogot urban area.

The family asked me,

"General, when are you going to stop?

How long will you keep looking for them?"

"It's obvious."

I said,

"Until we find them."

This operation

has been dubbed "Operation Hope."

"There are survivors.

We need to move fast."

It's treacherous terrain.

It rains almost 16 hours a day.

We'll bring back those four minors

because the closest thing

to creating a life is saving one.

"We have to change tack."

"Now, start making noise."

We'd scream the kids' names.

This is Wilson, a dog

with search and rescue experience.

This Belgian Malinois dog

is one and a half years old

and is very experienced

in the search and rescue of humans.

The audio of the lost children's grandma

is repeated over and over again.

It's your grandmother Ftima.

We are looking for you.

Stay where you are. Don't move.

Darlings, please stop moving around.

Elsewhere in the jungle,

two other units connect

their mobile phones to this megaphone

to play the grandmother's message

and guide the children.

A hundred kits

in perfectly outlined quadrants

in order to extend their lives.

Entire Colombian families

are following the news

in restaurants, on the streets.

It's very dangerous.

There are snakes, spiders.

I doubt they'll last long.

I don't think they'll survive.

Your children mean everything to you.

You'd give your life for them.

These powerful reflectors,

installed at strategic points,

aim to guide

the four missing Indigenous children.

We launched more than 10,000 flyers.

In Huitoto, but also in Spanish.

They read,

"Stay close to the water. Don't move."

This is the Colombian Air Force's

iconic "ghost plane."

From the sky, it monitors

and guides the military

in the most complex operations

in the country.

This is the crew of the ghost plane,

who, this Wednesday night,

strengthened the search for the children

by sh**ting flares to light their way

and help the searchers to locate them.

The noise and light could attract danger.

It could attract t*rrorists

wanting to k*ll our men.

I think that the army's mindset...

They prepare for w*r.

But they were never prepared

for this mission. Never.

The Indigenous people

didn't want to collaborate with the army.

They said that they'd work on their own.

So, at first, we were very cautious

and aware of safety.

We'd say, "What if, one day,

they decide to attack us?"

The Indigenous people

are very good people.

However, criminals and murderers

infiltrate Indigenous groups.

I myself don't like any armed groups

because of what's happened in our region.

Several years ago,

the army disappeared a young man.

There have been many cases

of massacres and atrocities

during the armed conflict.

From the moment

Western man arrived in our territory,

we have been massacred

and our culture has been destroyed.

I remember

one day, it was raining a lot.

All of a sudden, I heard a soldier.

He said, "Stay still or I'll sh**t."

He was already in a position

to take the shot.

They thought we were guerrilla fighters.

It almost made me cry.

I regretted coming,

thinking, "What am I doing here?"

I began to doubt my ability as a leader.

I started as a leader back in 1993.

I started out

with high expectations, believe me.

We live in an area

that has always been neglected.

That's why the guerrilla dissidents

have regained their power.

With these kinds of groups,

you must accept what they say.

As a parent,

you want to support your family.

In the past, I fell into crime.

I've worked in labs processing cocaine.

As time went by,

drinking and corruption marked my decline.

People stop believing in you.

And that was rock bottom for me.

First, I can say

that I'm not well emotionally

because this is a hard blow.

But I have faith that I can be

with my children again, with my family.

That's what matters the most.

I'm okay.

I'm motivated

because I know we'll succeed soon.

That day was one

of the most shocking days...

because we removed the three bodies

from the crash site.

That same day, our dog Wilson got lost.

This morning, the bodies

were removed from the area,

transported by this Black Hawk helicopter

to San Jos del Guaviare.

God, my Lord,

you who have control

on Earth and in Heaven,

allow us

on this day

to find

our children.

I would wonder about how these kids felt

being involved in this accident.

Then seeing their mother dead.

My daughters

are the most important thing to me.

As a father, I felt pretty powerless.

It made me want to cry.

That day, I felt helpless.

I said, "We've exhausted

and used the best

the country has to offer,

yet they haven't located

our four children."

I felt there was a higher power

that wouldn't allow

the science and way of the military

to find these four minors.

General, I'd like to ask...

The entire country is waiting

for these children to appear,

but, 20 days after the accident,

you have raised the possibility

that they may no longer be alive.

What's your opinion?

It depends.

It's contingent on the conditions

the four children were left in.

For instance,

we haven't heard a baby's cry.

That's what we would expect

from an 11-month-old baby.

Or a child screaming.

But we haven't heard any of that.

A couple of minutes ago,

some Indigenous representatives arrived.

They are meeting here,

at the Military Central Command.

We had to change our strategy.

Five teams from the Indigenous community

will join us,

and we'll work in groups.

It's 6:01 a.m. Hello to all our listeners.

I heard on the news, on social media,

about an accident.

...with all eyes on the search

for the children. Operation Hope...

I said, "The professionals

should take care of it."

"I'm doing my own thing."

Then a friend tells me, "But, Nicols,

with your knowledge of the jungle,

you should go."

That's where I was born and raised.

In the jungle.

My home.

I like it. It's my environment.

But, for a long time,

I lived a life far away from it.

At least 40 members

of the Indigenous Guard

have arrived in San Jos del Guaviare

to join the search for the four children

who are missing after the plane crash.

- Guard!

- Force!

- For how long?

- Forever!

They came from Puerto Leguizamo,

Caquet, and Cauca.

Today, joining the rescue team

are those who have a special connection

with the jungle, 85 Indigenous people.

- For how long?

- Forever!

What I looked for first

was a familiar face.

I found it. There he was.

Elicer.

We saw it on TV.

The accident and everything that happened.

We didn't pay that much attention

because it was the government.

They tend to belittle our knowledge.

And we didn't want to work

with the military.

But then they said

there were children involved.

Maybe the father of the children

was suffering like I had.

So, that night,

I told my wife, "I want to go."

This is the first time

that the army and Indigenous groups

have joined forces

for an official mission.

Many of these Indigenous volunteers

distrust the army

after more than 50 years

of internal armed conflict.

Twenty-one days have elapsed

since the plane crash.

The human body cannot survive

for more than three weeks without food.

Time is of the essence

to find the four children.

When the reinforcements arrived,

I went and greeted them.

"I'm Henry Guerrero from Araracuara."

That's when I met the Putumayo group.

Elicer, Nicols.

Okay now.

We need to follow the tracks

to see where the children went.

If they went up or to the middle.

Which way did you go?

I told them,

"Some of you go down a central trail."

We were going to sweep

the entire territory.

We'll go forward and follow the curve.

We understood

there would be external factors

that would make it really hard for us.

Dear friends,

as you can hear in the background,

the helicopters are sending messages out

to the children from above.

But this territory is very...

It's truly complicated territory.

It's very...

You can feel the pressure.

There were times

that we came across sacred areas.

We'd get there,

and it would start raining or thundering.

When I entered the territory...

I freaked out.

I was overwhelmed by the power of nature.

Every territory has its guardians,

beings that take care of it.

I used to tell the children

that there are duendes,

animals that turn into human beings,

and they can take you away.

I was very scared.

A duende is a spirit.

You feel it walking, touching you,

but you can't see it

because it's a spirit.

My job was to fight against the duende.

Because the duende had the kids.

Of course, I was scared.

Don Rubio the Elder

was in charge of finding the children

as the spiritual elder.

All I ask is for the kids to be returned.

Leave the searchers alone.

The issue is between you and me,

so turn back.

We began a ritual in the jungle.

White men think that rituals

are doing a ceremony, dancing...

They imagine all sorts of things.

Our ritual involves taking mambe.

Mambe is made from coca leaves.

For us, tobacco and coca are very sacred.

I use ambil, which is tobacco,

and I take mambe to silence my mind

and to listen.

To connect with the sounds of nature.

I was very moved by that experience.

We were going to cut down

as few vines and trees as possible

because this forest is not ours.

The Indigenous people

are used to these supernatural things

that happen in the jungle,

with their rituals and all those things.

But the commandos posted there,

we're Catholic people.

We believe there is

one God.

We looked at each other.

"That's really abnormal!"

After leaving the w*r,

I don't like anyone who carries a g*n.

As a child, I was recruited

by outlaw armed groups.

I was around 12 or 13 years old.

One, two, three, four.

Okay, now, attention. One, two...

It creates a lot of trauma, sad memories.

Weapons, w*r, drugs.

Memories that make you question

the very existence

of family.

I was there for a long time.

I was lost.

And then I became very sad.

I returned to my community

when I turned 17.

After all that time lost to the w*r,

my mother's smile

and my brothers' embrace...

that's everything to me.

I returned to my family.

To my community.

And I started to change.

The military walks in single file.

But we were moving differently.

We were trying to think like children,

and children never sit still.

So we also moved like children.

With no clear direction.

We were following our intuition,

like a child would.

We started to find traces.

While searching for the children,

a baby's bottle cap has been found.

A dirty diaper.

We found a lead!

We found some kids' clothing.

Some sneakers and a diaper

in the middle of the jungle...

And a green towel as well.

This is where the children last slept.

Where they changed the diapers.

They were here four or five days.

They stayed here for a while.

This is where they took...

Look, this one looks chewed on.

Look at this.

It's been bitten. Those are teeth marks.

We ask you, Lord,

for today to be the day

that we can make

a miracle on Earth happen.

For the birthday

of our sister Cristin.

I knew what that family was going through.

I lost my father and my brother,

my only brother.

I'd visit my father every year.

Until...

the time he disappeared.

With the w*r, many of us Colombians

have suffered the consequences.

Forced disappearance

is a crime against humanity!

I can't say which armed group took them.

My brother, we don't know

why they took him either.

I quit my job to search for them.

Justice, reparations, and no repetition!

That was 23 years ago.

But I'm still searching.

I was in a constant spiritual battle.

I was scared

that the duende might take my life.

It could k*ll me.

Every day is harder.

Release the children!

Three days went by and nothing.

Sickness hit all of us really hard.

Well...

It was a cough with chest pain.

Then shivers and fever.

Our comrades started to drop out.

Five journalists left, one officer,

six Indigenous people,

who are all sick.

Rubio also got sick.

He was very sick.

He was coughing up blood.

I thought,

"He's gonna die on us in the bush."

This is not a disease or a cough or COVID.

The duende got me.

Because it said we had to pay.

We didn't want to ask

the military for help.

But we saw the need

to join them.

We arrived, and they were ill.

I was the nurse

for the reconnaissance team.

I started making remedies for them.

Around ten of them were sick.

How long has Rubio been like this?

If he doesn't get better within two days,

we'll have to send him home.

It wasn't easy to accept

that I had to work with them.

But it didn't matter.

It was what we had to do.

Because you've been going around

in wet clothes, it could be pneumonia.

They left their r*fles in their camps

and came only in their camouflage

to talk to us.

Next time I go out, I'll carry

some mint in my backpack as well,

but it's not going to work

if you carry liquor too.

- A bit of aguardiente.

- Yeah, aguardiente.

The magic question

that we asked ourselves was,

"If we have everything we need

and we're getting sick,

how are the kids doing?"

"Are they sick?"

"Will all four of them be there?"

"Has one of them died?"

We need to...

We move on.

We move on or figure out another strategy.

- Good morning. How's everyone?

- Good.

- How's it going, Mr. Shaman?

- Just hanging.

Where do you guys think

we need to go to continue the search?

We'll call.

Tell us.

We'll spread the word on the radio.

From that moment on,

our commandos walked

wherever they were told.

Not following military ways and science,

but Indigenous knowledge.

This map from the military forces

shows that, after the accident,

the children walked westbound

about 500 meters.

The graphic shows

that they then moved northeast

for almost two kilometers.

The search area has been reduced

to 20 square kilometers.

The search area is shrinking,

but so are the odds

of finding the children alive.

How are we doing?

Why can't we find the children?

- Are we going in the right direction?

- Yes.

Even if they're dead,

why can't we find them?

Maybe they weren't used

to seeing the soldiers

as good people.

We've been mistreated before.

So that makes you start wondering.

I knew what was happening.

Lesly didn't want to be found

because she didn't want to see Manuel.

I feel a lot of anger towards that man

because of what happened with my sister.

Lesly is a quiet child.

WILD FRUIPATAWA, AAI, YUCCA

Very quiet.

She barely spoke in the classroom.

She liked to read and draw.

She was good at drawing.

I'd ask her,

"Lesly, tell me, are you in any trouble?"

She'd just shrink away.

She sometimes looked

like she'd been crying.

Lesly was the one who witnessed

what happened to my sister Magdalena.

It's true, he abused

my daughter Magdalena.

He grabbed her and hit her with a machete.

With the flat side.

And here, she had...

It was her hair that protected her.

He was going to chop off her head.

The children were scared

and hid in the bush.

I think the children

were now hiding from that horror.

That's why they were hiding.

The people who were there searching

didn't know what had happened.

They thought he was a good father

and cared about his children.

Good morning to all units.

First, I want to thank you

for all the work you're doing.

I have faith that today

we'll find the children.

I wish all the special units here with us

success.

Thank you for this help.

The jungle knew that he was a bad father.

What are you doing, Shaman?

We're making arepas. What kind?

- Five hole.

- Five-hole arepas, military style.

To share with our friends from Araracuara.

How's the mambe, Mr. Elicer?

- Perfect.

- Yeah?

Every day after walking, we analyze.

We wonder if the kids are okay,

how they are.

If they're sick or weak.

Where they could be.

Even if the children were hiding,

they were there.

So why couldn't we find them?

Things happened there

that I have no answer for.

At night, we sometimes felt

that people were walking around us.

It felt like there were things going on

that weren't normal.

We started looking

for the children at night.

Lots of weird things happened.

The GPS compasses

started spinning rapidly.

It was scary.

We didn't know what was happening to us

or who was there with us.

Don Rubio said,

"Captain, the duende got you."

I'm a practicing Catholic.

I'm a believer in the existence of a God.

But supernatural things exist.

No doubt about it.

We thought that maybe

Mother Earth was taking a stand.

How many times have we hunted, k*lled,

destroyed, and cut down forests?

Not just us,

but how many people

do it around the world?

The jungle was angry.

I no longer thought we'd find them alive.

I wanted symbols, signs.

There was nothing.

And I decided

we had to relieve our troops.

There has been no evidence

that the children are alive

for several days now.

It's hard to imagine a baby

surviving so long

in such an inhospitable environment.

The country is hoping for the best

but preparing for the worst.

The group wasn't

as big as it was at the start.

Those were hard times.

Those poor children...

were surely dead.

We had nowhere else to look.

After all those days,

the mission had failed.

I told them, "Brothers, have faith."

There was one more thing we could try.

Yag, the plant of the gods.

Besides yag, there was no other solution.

Yag is more commonly known as ayahuasca.

It's like a nuclear weapon for us.

Yag would tell us

where the children were.

I had General Snchez's number,

so I called him to ask for a favor.

The community started preparing the yag

and praying for us.

The yag arrived by helicopter.

The first attempt was made

with the children's dad.

That was a waste.

The jungle rejected Manuel.

We didn't know why.

I told him, "It's best that you leave,"

but there was one dose left.

So I told Elder Rubio,

"Rubio, tonight it's your turn."

"If you can't make this work,

we're leaving tomorrow."

It's my turn.

This is the final showdown.

Either he takes me

or I take him.

Father creator, Yag,

tell me directly, where are the children?

I took it.

I turned into a jaguar.

I left the world of darkness.

Now I am in the world of light.

The first one to see me was Henry.

He asked, "Brother, how did it go?"

I said, "Good, brother."

"We're finding the kids

at 3:00 p.m. today."

He said, "We'll find the kids today."

I'd already asked for the helicopter

to come pick us up.

Whether we found them or not,

we were leaving.

Okay, guys, today's the last day.

Remember to always...

continue with the tobacco.

Something felt different that day.

The jungle was at peace.

Don Rubio instructed me to go northwest.

"That's where the children are."

I stayed at the campsite.

We were just about to leave.

We were trekking separately,

searching carefully.

Rescuers started to return

to the campsite.

We asked each of them how it went.

They'd say, "No, nothing."

Our four comrades from Putumayo

hadn't come back yet.

Just before 2:00 p.m., we sat down again.

That's when Elicer said,

"I'm leaving this place

with grief in my soul."

I told them,

"As a Putumayo, I'm leaving sad."

We were climbing a hill

on our way back out.

The more we trekked,

the thicker the jungle became.

When,

all of a sudden...

We all stopped in our tracks.

"Where's it coming from? What is it?"

Everything fell silent.

When I raised my head

to see where my colleagues were,

I saw the children.

They seemed scared.

Like they were looking

for somewhere to run.

So I raised my arms

and told them, "Family."

God has blessed us.

Praise God, we found the children.

- Here are the four children.

- The four children are alive.

- Thank God.

- Thank God.

Here's the little 11-month-old girl.

Here's the little 11-month-old girl.

At that moment, I was like a bird,

singing something that, to this day,

is still unknown to me

while I held the baby girl in my arms.

We had faith in him.

God never fails us

when we ask from the heart.

And the first thing the boy said...

"My mom died on the plane."

If it had taken another two days,

the boy would've died.

He was on the brink of death.

"Okay, guys."

"There are four children and four of us."

"One each. Okay now."

"Let's go."

We talked the whole way.

Remembering.

I just wanted her to make a sound.

I'd say,

"It took so long. We searched so hard."

"Now she's here with me."

After the accident, I don't know

how long I was unconscious for.

When I woke up, there was a lot of blood,

and I had a large cut on my left leg,

which was very painful.

I could hear my siblings crying.

My mother was making noises.

Then she stopped.

Maybe if I had woken up before,

I could have saved her.

I pulled my sister out

from underneath my mother.

I knew we had to leave the plane

so we could find more food

and something to drink.

My leg hurt a lot. I couldn't walk.

I dragged myself on my knees.

I did that for the first 20 days.

My biggest worry

was to keep baby Cristin alive.

I knew she needed more food than us.

My mother had taught me

about fruits we could eat in the jungle,

like milpesos.

I made a fishing rod.

We caught some fish.

We ate it raw.

It tasted horrible.

We tried following the voice,

but it would fade.

I tried to get my sisters

and my brother to sleep each night.

I didn't really sleep.

We almost sat on a snake.

I k*lled it with a stick.

Tien became so weak,

he could no longer stand.

One day,

I dreamed they would never find us.

My heart was beating so fast,

I struggled to breathe.

I got up and decided to leave

my sisters and brother.

I walked away.

But after 20 minutes,

I realized I had to go back.

I knew I had to protect

my brother and my sisters.

Cristin and Tien were very close to death.

When I saw the man, I collapsed.

Family.

I didn't have to keep

my brother and sisters alive anymore.

They were safe now.

We are handing over the children

to the Colombian military forces.

We found them

four and a half kilometers away.

They are now with the army.

They're giving them medical attention.

I was on the radio

talking to the commander.

He told me to hold on.

I remember it so clearly. "Hold on."

He said,

"It seems they found the children."

I said, "What?"

I jumped up and ran.

We cried.

We all did.

I remember we all hugged.

Everyone.

The army guys forgot about their weapons.

They dropped them.

I have good news for you.

We just found the children.

Yes, all four of them are alive.

"They found the children." I said, "What?"

"Praise the Lord.

They found the children!"

"Thank God the children are alive."

"We'll be with them again to mother them."

The children have been found alive!

After an intense 40-day search

and without giving up or losing hope

of finding the four children...

However, after finding the four children,

Wilson the dog has yet to be found.

The dog was not with them.

I was the first person

to call General Snchez

to give him the news.

"That's incredible. This is a miracle."

Miracle, miracle, miracle.

My name is Claudia.

You're very pretty.

Okay now, I'll take this off.

And I said, "It was worth it."

Our commandos, our brave commandos,

together with our Indigenous people,

made the impossible possible.

Here in Colombia, we are 88% mixed race,

which means that we have Indigenous blood

in one way or another.

If we look beyond

our race, creed, or social status,

we can achieve

anything we set our minds to.

Well, today we've had a magical day.

Let's just say it will go down in history.

Mother Jungle has given them back to us.

They are children of the jungle,

and now they are children of Colombia.

I hope that this Operation Hope

has helped all of Colombia...

understand that we can work together.

I can assure you,

I would shed this uniform tomorrow

if it would lead to peace in Colombia.

I want to leave my daughters

a peaceful place.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience

for everyone.

For us Indigenous people,

this search reminded the world

that we exist.

That we are here to contribute.

When I took control of the search party,

frankly, it changed me a lot.

Even at my age, I can do things like this.

It gave me a lot of joy

to see the happiness in the family,

which is a happiness I still don't have.

But thanks to this mission,

I have a new family.

So this gives me joy.

Being able to find the children

was like finding myself.

Both they and I were rescued

with love and respect,

through the culture

and the ancient identity

of Indigenous people.

This and the children make me feel proud.