2023-06-10 18:57:00
BOGOTÁ.- The history of the family Ranoque-Mucutuy, belonging to the Huitoto community, whose four children were found yesterday in the Colombian jungle 40 days after the crash of a 2006 Cessna plane, reveals the drama experienced by the local population harassed by illegal armed groups.
Magdalena Mucutuy, 33, was the mother of the four boys who survived the May 1 accident: Lesly Mucutuy (13 years old), Soleiny Mucutuy (9 years old), Tien Noriel Ranoque Mucutuy (4 years old) and Cristin Neriman Ranoque Mucutuy (1 year old).
In the fall of the plane, Magdalena died, as did the Huitoto indigenous leader Herman Mendoza and the pilot Hernando Murcia Morales, whose bodies were rescued two weeks after the accident. Only the four children survived.
According to a message of condolences from OPIAC, an indigenous institution that exercises political and cultural representation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon, Magdalena belonged to the Puerto Sábalo communityfour hours by boat from Puerto Santander, Amazonas, and spoke the Huitoto language.
The woman was the wife of Manuel Ranoquerelative of the indigenous governor of that area and who had to flee the community due to constant threats made by different illegal armed groups.
Ranoque was the first to undertake the trip to Bogotá in April to get a job and income and thus be able to send the money so that his wife and children could also travel to the Colombian capital. On May 1, the woman and the boys undertook the trip that resulted in the tragedy.
After the plane crashed, Ranoque actively participated in the search for the children: “I know the jungle well”said.
In journalistic interviews, the man mourned the death of his wife while he followed the trail of the footprints that his children left in the jungle. Between prayers, he asked God for forgiveness for his sins and, as a reward for his loyalty, he cried out for a miracle to find them alive among the extensive mountains of Caquetá and Guaviare.
The last time he saw his family was on April 11, when he had to flee his town due to the strong intimidation he received from the FARC dissidents. For the guerrillas, he was a thorn in the side because of his leadership in the Puerto Sábalo-Los Monos community.
“Me They gave me an hour to disappear and it was so much that I could not say goodbye to my children. In the territory where I come from, they are killing many innocent people, leaders and women. The guerrillas have taken control”. His family did not want him to be the next victim, so they also urged him to leave the territory.
Twenty days after his departure, the rest of his family also boarded the aircraft bound for San José del Guaviare. His wife promised that in two hours she would contact him again to give him the details of the journey: “I was waiting for the call and we could never make contact”said.
The media gave him the tragic news. At very early hours of that Monday holiday, the main portals reported the disappearance of the plane that, before falling, the pilot managed to say that he had an apparent technical failure and declared an emergency: “Mayday, mayday, I have the engine at minimum.”
On Friday, Ranoque returned to Bogotá, finally, together with his children, and is also hospitalized. “I am hospitalized. I arrived sick from the jungle. I am in the military hospital in Bogotá. I went out directly with the children. I arrived with a high fever, the truth is that we have been struggling to find my children for 40 days, ”he told the newspaper. Time.
Another of the family protagonists of the story is the children’s grandmother, María Fátima Valencia.
The Military Forces made the decision to install speakers in various aircraft so that a message recorded by the grandmother and addressed to her grandchildren could be heard: “Be still, they are looking for you”.
The words echoed in Spanish and in her mother tongue. One of the recordings had a single addressee, the 13-year-old girl: “Daughter, I thank you for being still, standing. If you listen to the microphone, daughter, stand there for them to bring it to you. If she feels exhausted, only my God knows,” the woman recounted.
The long wait ended on June 9. After 40 days of being lost in the jungle, the four brothers who were traveling in the plane were rescued alive. “Miracle, miracle, miracle” were the three words used by the members of the Military Forces and the indigenous people who found the minors alive.
THE NATION
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