In the heart of Colombia’s jungle, a story of resilience, bravery, and success unfolded. Tasked with conducting special operations of strategic importance for the security of the nation, the Colombian Military Forces’ Joint Special Operations Command (CCOES) switched gears in a race against the clock to rescue four children lost in the Amazon jungle after surviving a plane crash.
Operation Hope captivated the nation and the world, going down in Colombia’s history as a miracle in the jungle. Its success is owed to the ultra-elite special forces of the CCOES, whose skills, training, and determination are a testament to their unwavering commitment to national security, defense, and their people.
Lost in the jungle
The ill-fated disappearance on May 1, 2023 of a single engine Cessna C206, en route from Araracuara to San José del Guaviare, deep in the Colombian Amazon, set into motion a series of rescue missions: First to locate the aircraft, and ultimately to recover safely four siblings aged 13, 9, 4, and 11 months, members of the Huitoto people, who had miraculously survived the crash that killed the three adults on board, including their mother.
“We reviewed intelligence, operations, command and control, sustainment, movement, and maneuver, protection… and decided which battalion should go in,” Air Force Brigadier General Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez, commander of the CCOES, told the press. “We selected the best men for this mission, and on May 5 we moved all the necessary troops to San José del Guaviare and Calamar [Guaviare department].”
A total of 119 service members with sniffer dogs and 92 indigenous people took part in this rescue operation. For 40 days they followed signs in the jungle, such as pieces of fruits with bite marks, leading them to believe that the children were still alive.
“The genuine interest in finding the four children overcame any differences between service members, indigenous people, and other actors across borders,” Brig. Gen. Sánchez told Diálogo. “For the first time in history, the most globally experienced special forces in jungle operations integrated indigenous people from the south of the country and other national and foreign institutions in a special operation.”
The CCOES employed a wide range of strategies, including flyovers with helicopters and planes to drop survival kits, food, to help search crews on the ground combing the forest, and even to blast a message from the children’s grandmother in the Huitoto language, asking them to stay still to facilitate their rescue.
Using all the resources at their disposal, on June 9, the Operation Hope team found the children alive, bringing a happy ending to a grueling mission. With profound respect for each other, the service members and their highly specialized skills and the indigenous people and their knowledge of the jungle, shared meals, shelters, fatigue, anguish, strength, faith, yet never lost hope.
“For the indigenous people, the jungle fairies and spirits cared for the minors, for us, they were lost and scared. For some meditations with medicinal plants worked, for others it was military plans. This epic operation was based on respect, where the ability to listen, communicate, understand, and build trust was fundamental,” Brig. Gen. Sánchez said.
Elite forces with high-impact results
Launched in 2009, the CCOES brings together the elite special operations forces of the Colombian Military Forces, the best men and women of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, highly skilled and trained to conduct the most sensitive, difficult, and dangerous missions. “The special operations carried out by the CCOES cover all domains and levels of warfare. They integrate special land, air, maritime, space, and cyberspace capabilities,” Brig Gen. Sánchez said.
“Their tactical actions generally have a strategic impact,” Brig Gen. Sánchez added. This is how CCOES troops managed to neutralize those who at the time were the main leaders of the extinct FARC: alias Raúl Reyes, alias Alfonso Cano, and alias Mono Jojoy — results that contributed to the 2016 peace deal.
Their operations also targeted leaders of the National Liberation Army: alias Uriel, alias Fabian, alias Pirry, and alias Tuvia, among others. Top leader of the Clan del Golfo, alias Otoniel, was also captured as part of a CCOES 2021 operation. These results, Brig Gen. Sánchez said, translate into the strategic disintegration of the command and control of these organized armed groups that engage in illegal mining, narcotrafficking, extortion, and recruitment of minors, among other related crimes. “These special operations also gave the final blow to illegal groups that have already disappeared, such as the Pelusos and the Caparros,” Brig Gen. Sánchez added.
CCOES members have a demanding, progressive, and highly professional training that focused on combat courses in special operations where the mental, physical, and moral capabilities of each member is put to the limit, Brig Gen. Sánchez said. “The demand is a guarantee that we will accomplish the mission and return home alive. This training is progressive, we never stop.”
Seeking to add to its credential and to the country’s pride, the CCOES moved forward to earn the NATO Special Operations Task Force certification, a recent feat. “As a major non-NATO ally, we would be the first in the hemisphere to earn this, all aimed at the vision to be the leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean and a global benchmark in special operations.” Brig. Gen. Sánchez said.
Reminiscing on the success of the CCOES in its 15 years of operations, Brig. Gen. Sánchez stressed on the key role of this command: to safeguard the population. “The CCOES neutralized more than 100 high-level criminals, and although its effort is focused on surgical precision strikes and special warfare against the most dangerous threats the country has, we also carry out humanitarian operations, such as rescuing people in the jungle or remote and inaccessible areas, the last of these being the renowned Operation Hope.”
More than a military operation, Hope will forever stand out as a symbol of the Colombian Military Forces and the CCOES’ dedication to the security of their country and as a testament to the strength and resilience of its people.
