A combination of traditional knowledge and cutting-edge technology enabled a group of 85 indigenous people and 120 soldiers to locate the four children who had been missing in the Colombian jungle for 40 days, according to Luis Acosta, national coordinator of the indigenous guard. The first challenge was gaining the jungle’s trust, says this 49-year-old man, who was born in Caloto, Cauca, an area more mountainous than the jungle, and who led the search from the indigenous side. “The jungle doesn’t understand people, they see them as a danger,” he says. You had to know how to interpret it, not only geographically but also spiritually. “The jungle was the one that gave us the kids,” he adds. A major challenge for the Indigenous Guard, an unarmed community security organization, was to build a relationship of trust with the army. For decades, the Guard and the military were more adversaries than allies, but they successfully combined their knowledge to find the four little ones. “These guys cried with us, they suffered with us. It wasn’t the military man who showed up there, but the human being,” says Acosta. Preferring to be identified as Lucho, he receives EL PAÍS in a cafeteria in front of the Bogotá Military Hospital, where the children were transferred. He waits patiently and smiles because he was part of the operation that seemed impossible to many.
Luis Acosta with his companions in the jungle during the search days. With kind approval
Questions. Who were the members of the indigenous guard involved in the search operation?
Answer. I was the national coordinator and there were Coreguaje guards from Caquetá, the Sionas from Putumayo, Isimali from Meta, from Araracuara, we from Cauca and about 15 Uitoto from the children’s family. We were about 85 people in the Guard, working with about 120 soldiers.
Q Did they feel close to the children? Or was it a surprise to find her?
R We had found evidence the day before: a cave with the signs of the children and the [perro buscador] Wilson, prints on everyone, so we knew they were around. But culturally, the jungle had trapped them. So we made a payment, a ritual, and the next day the jungle gave it to us. The jungle is a grandmother, it has its spirits, its imps and also the spirit of the children’s mother who died there knowing that the jungle cared for the children and protected them. The jungle doesn’t understand people, they see them as a danger, and when people like us arrive they say, “I’m not going to give away my children just like that.” That’s why Yagé, a traditional plant that strengthens you spiritually, was taken. Strengthens you mentally, helps you understand the jungle and see beyond what you see. This enabled the young Araracuara guard, who drank yagé and understood the jungle, to find her.
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P. Where were you when they were found?
R. In the area, very close. As the watch coordinator, I was with the soldiers on the ground, not with the generals who did not enter the search area. We found the kids in a place we’ve passed a thousand times! We sent out communications and implemented the whole system very quickly: nutrition, medical and spiritual care, helicopters. When I saw them, I saw my children, I remembered them because their mother also died when they were little. I asked that only medical staff touch them because we didn’t know what we were bringing and what could infect them, like the flu. Everyone wanted to jump on it, but only those carrying them approached. I felt great gratitude. They hardly spoke because they were weak and malnourished, but sometimes they laughed with me. the older girl [que cuidó a sus hermanos] She is a great warrior, a fighter, and these children are now filled with ancestral, traditional wisdom: the jungle spent 40 days teaching them how to be great warriors and leaders. You will be a great example of living together, of living.
Q How do you understand that four little kids like her could survive in the jungle?
R We survived 500 years, how can we not survive 40 days? The jungle, the territory fed us and they survived because they were prepared, because they prepare us from childhood to understand our territory. You live in Bogotá but don’t know what Bogotá is, or in Spain but you don’t know what Spain is in detail, or in Germany but you don’t know it well. They teach us the obligada since we were little: they oblige us to the trees, to the beasts, to the hills, to the water, to the tiger. These kids learn through the jungle, because for them, moving in the jungle is like a kid from Bogotá riding a Carrefour. They were raised in the jungle while Children of Bogotá could die the next day. Now I’m worried because this town is not their territory, they should go back to the jungle.
Q Her father wanted to take her out of the jungle for safety reasons.
R Yes, he was threatened. He’s already with the kids and we still don’t know what decision he will make, whether to stay in town or go back to the jungle.
Q How have the Indigenous Guard and the Army complemented each other in this quest?
R The Indigenous Guard has organizational, cultural and spiritual capacity. With its ships, the army had technical and operational capacities. The combination allowed us to get to where the kids were. For example, we used to fly by helicopters, but helicopters cannot enter the jungle when the weather is not good, and at that time it rains continuously. Our elders performed ceremonies so the sky would clear and they could enter. That’s what I mean by a combination of culture and technology. I also saw many soldiers asking us about Chimu, a plant that is grown together with Mambe to have strength and prevent snakes from biting it. I had never seen a soldier chew or mambeando; I saw him there for the first time. And they taught us how to use the compass and satellite GPS. We also shared the food: they gave us military rations, we gave them toasted cola, cassava and farina. We shared the grandparents’ message in front of the stove. We share everything.
Q Is this kind of cooperation unusual?
R Yes, that was a very important alliance for Colombia. I see this army as very open to meeting us, and we are also very open to meeting them. I longed for the soldier there when I was here [en Bogotá] I despised him. There they longed for the indigenous guard while here they despised us. If I see a soldier now, I hug him. These guys cried with us, they suffered with us. It was not the military that showed up there, but the people.
Luis Acosta in Bogota. Santiago Mesa
That for me this is really total peace: getting to know each other. Colombians still don’t know Colombia. The country is so centralized that it is not known that a girl can teach these boys, for example, how to live in the jungle, how to get to know it and how to recognize elements so that they do not get diarrhea. But this is not science for the Western vision of education. The military understood this time that we need to learn from the indigenous people. “You know too much,” they told us, and they will enlighten us about emergencies and disasters. We had already done polls, but this one was much more compact. I think we have to keep going like this.
Q Was this alliance formed on the first day of the quest?
R No, it came about when the President of the Army said he needed the indigenous peoples, they were the ones who knew the jungle best. That was in the second week of searching.
Q A few days before this operation, the Indigenous Guard in Bogotá was stigmatized for penetrating the city center with their command batons.
R Yes, we had traveled to Bogotá to defend the National Development Plan and a journalist said we had “weapons” in Plaza de Bolívar. The guard is not; We are life, we are not death. We are a spiritual weapon, not fire. But there is a lot of ignorance and ignorance, although it is also about the army: we must know the heart of the guard and that of the army. The truth is that now I see commanders with different principles and a different vision. They asked me to give courses on the indigenous movement. War divided us, but this Operation Hope came to rebuild the social fabric of life.
Q Was it difficult to keep morale up day after day after so many weeks without finding the children?
R. We never lost hope, but there were difficult situations: soldiers who beat themselves got sick; Moments when we couldn’t find any trace of the children. There were many “But where are they?!” We knew they were there but not where, and there was speculation that the guerrillas had taken them, but no, none of that happened.
Q What happened to the search dog Wilson?
R Mother Earth called him, the spirit called him and took him to her. Ever since his release, he has been the one who gave strength to the children when they found him; He gave us the way, he gave us hope. The children fed him. They didn’t eat the military rations that came in a bag of hot water, something gross, but they ate manoco, cassava and some sweets. I think the jungle finally told us: we give them to the kids, but the dog stays.
Q Didn’t the jungle want to give the pup back?
R Yes, and Wilson wanted to stay. You may think this is mythological, but there are many stories of people who stayed in the jungle and became a ghost.
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