After a week of being missing without food and in an area complicated by the weather, a group of nine men and four women managed to reunite with their family and put an end to a terrible nightmare.
This March 15, The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) confirmed the appearance of 13 people who had lost their way in the Páramo de Guanacas since March 8.
(Keep reading: Desperate search for 13 missing people in the Páramo de Guanacas.)
Martín Vidal, a member of the communications team of the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), told EL TIEMPO that two groups of indigenous people entered the mountainous area with the aim of looking for the source of several rivers; however, only one returned to the meeting point last Wednesday.
The last communication they managed to register from the other group, made up of nine men and four women, was on March 8. Several relief teams began the search to find his whereabouts.
Nevertheless, the hours seemed more and more important. “They have been without food for more than eight days and in an area complicated by the weather,” added Martín Vidal at the time.
(Also read: Ombudsman’s Office rejects the murder of one of its officials in La Guajira).
The good news
A plan was immediately activated to meet the expedition members who come with health problems due to the time they spent in the mountainous area.
Around 8:40 p.m. on this March 15, The Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca reported that at around 6:30 pm, six of the missing community members arrived at the unified command post.
“Two of the natives who were part of a territorial commission arrived at that site and notified the commissions that were there that the rest were on their way, some two hours away. A plan was immediately activated to meet the expedition members who come with health problems due to the time they spent in the mountainous area, ”he reported.
(Also: They murder an indigenous community member and find two bodies in Cauca).
After exactly one hour, another communiqué was made in which the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca confirmed the appearance of their other companions.
Ever Ariel makeup, Marli Pillimue, Miller Guevara, Arnoby Cruz, Daniel Nene, Reinel Ortega, José María Coqui, Luz Dary Guacheta, Yuleidy Iquira, Jhohana Guainas, (health promoter), Rubén Bolaños, Teófilo Gonzales (Guardia Gaitana coordinator), Didier Palechor Alarcón (communicator) were found.
According to the Council, all are receiving medical attention. On the other hand, the community thanked “the Indigenous Guard of the different territories that joined this search, as well as the relief agencies and the Red Cross.”
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