Bogotá, Colombia, May 3, 2012 / 11:06 am
On May 2, 2002, Colombian rebels known as the FARC massacred 78 people – including 48 children, several pregnant women and a newborn – in what's known as the worst assault by the Marxist group on civilians in the last decade.
During the attack, FARC soldiers and militia troops engaged in a firefight in the streets of Bojaya, some 380 kilometers northeast of the capital city of Bogota. Around 400 civilians, mostly women and children, sought refuge in the local St. Paul the Apostle parish.
Ten years after the tragedy, newspaper El Colombiano interviewed Father Antun Ramos, who saved dozens from death, and Sister Maria del Carmen, who helped those in the parish who were wounded.
Church pastor, Fr. Ramos, helped keep the people calm by telling them stories and praying with them.