Courtesy Telemundo / Courtesy Telemundo
Screen grab of a video clip from shortly after the Colombia volcano eruption in 1985 that shows a boy at an orphanage being treated by paramedics. Claudia Ramirez is sure it's her son Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez.
By Maribel Osorio, Telemundo Correspondent
BOGOTA, Colombia ? Most people thought Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez died 26 years ago in a devastating volcano. That is except for his mother, Claudia Ramirez, who said her heart told her the boy was still alive even though she had no proof.
There has been no trace of Andres Felipe since Nov. 13, 1985, when the volcano erupted, destroying her town of Armero, Colombia.???
That day, as she watched via television from the capital Bogota, Claudia saw how the lava buried her parents, husband, friends and neighbors, 20,000 of the town?s nearly 30,000 residents died. Her town, Armero, was the city worst-affected by the eruption and was buried by mud and rubble from the eruption. There was no reason to believe little Andres Felipe, then 6 years old, didn't also perish.
At the time, Claudia was a 21-year-old student studying dentistry at the university in Bogota, 50 miles away from Armero; her parents took care of Andres Felipe while she was at school.?
She intensely looked for him all over the country during the first year after the tragedy and posted missing child photos of him all over Colombia. But everything seemed to indicate that he had died along with thousands of others.
For more than two decades, Claudia refused to watch the images from the scene that were like a dagger to her heart. But as fate would have it, a few weeks ago she was watching TV and saw a show all about the anniversary of the volcanic eruption ? that?s when she saw the video clip that she's sure shows her son.??
In the clip from shortly after the volcanic eruption, a boy is at an orphanage being treated by paramedics, drinking water and trembling from the cold but without injuries. Claudia contacted the TV producers and watched the video again at the TV station. She now has no doubts that it is her son and showed photos of him around that age to make her point.
Courtesy Telemundo / Courtesy Telemundo
A photo of the missing boy Andres Felipe Cubides Ramirez. He would now be 32 years old.
Claudia still doesn't have an answer from the institute that coordinated adoptions from the tragedy. But she's convinced that Andres Felipe was adopted by someone abroad, because that was what happened to many children who survived.
Since she does not know what country he may be in, she has begun an Internet crusade to find him. This is the Facebook page she set up with photos of her son as a boy.??
During a recent interview she showed photos of his youth and, between tears, she recalled how his grandmother bought him three Spider-man costumes because after a Halloween party he decided he never wanted to wear anything else.
She now hopes that the old photos of her Andres-Felipe will help identify her grown-up son, who would be about to turn 32.
Anyone with information about Andres Felipe is urged to contact the Armando Armero Foundation at: fundacion@armandoarmero.com.
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