TV depiction of Colombia's only saint angers her devotees
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — For weeks, billboards on buses and television spots have been announcing what promises to be Colombia's next big prime-time sensation.
But the planned debut Wednesday of a TV soap opera dramatizing the life of Colombia's only Roman Catholic saint is shrouded in controversy after devotees of the missionary nun known universally as Madre Laura filed a lawsuit seeking to correct what they say is an unseemly depiction.
Born in Colombia's coffee-growing region in 1874, Laura Montoya was a nun and teacher who devoted her life to protecting indigenous tribes from discrimination when not outright violence by the country's white elite.