Colombia's president awarded medals to members of the search party that found the four Indigenous ch

Colombia’s president awarded medals to members of the search party that found the four Indigenous children in one of the world’s toughest terrains.


The World
June 28, 2023 · 2:00 PM EDT
By Manuel Rueda

Indigenous leaders wave at the crowed during a ceremony outside Colombia's presidential palace where volunteers and members of the military were awarded with medals for helping to rescue four children who survived a plane crash in the Amazon.

Mnauel Rueda/The World



Henry Guerrero spent 35 days in a remote patch of the Amazon rainforest looking for four children who survived after a plane crash. The children were found alive on June 9 after surviving on their own for 40 days. Guerrero was one of the Indigenous leaders who received a medal for participating in the search at a military ceremony headed by Colombia’s president this week.

“This should show the world that Indigenous knowledge is important,” Guerrero said during the ceremony held outside of the presidential palace. “During the search, we proved that as Indigenous people, we have a lot to contribute.”



A photo from June 9 shows soldiers and Indigenous volunteers providing first aid to the children who survived the plane crash, just hours after they were rescued.

Credit:
Handout from Colombian Military Forces


The children, a group of siblings ages 1 to 13, come from the Huitoto tribe. They’re still recovering in a hospital where they have been shielded from the press. But as the days pass, more details are emerging about how they were rescued in an area far from any villages in one of the world’s most hostile environments.

On Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro described the rescue of the four children as an example of how Western technologies and Indigenous knowledge of the rainforest can be “combined” to “save life on the planet.”

https://theworld.org/stories/2023-06-28/colombian-searchers-reveal-new-details-rescue-four-children-who-survived-plane