This is how the Paricutín volcano, the youngest in America, was born in Mexico.

76 years ago, on February 21, 1943, he appeared in Michoacán, the volcano Paricutín, the youngest in America and who even has his own birth certificate issued by the Parangaricutiro municipality.

"It was a very quiet place where nothing happened, until one day, from the ground and before our eyes, a volcano appeared"he said Francisco Lázaro Bravo, one of the few people still living and witnessing the phenomenon of nature.

In an interview for BBC World, the resident of over 94 years, recalled that "a few days before I shook loudly and constantly. But we never imagined what was going to happen. "

Lazaro was 18 when he rained sand and witnessed the opening of several cracks in the ground, through which came "tongues of fire and much smoke".

"It seemed like the end of time, that the world was going to end. We have not seen the sun for several days. And we lost our crops. We were very scared, "he said.

The emergence of the volcano, details the medium, finished with two cities of Michoacán: Paricutín and San Juan Parangaricutiro. The first was called the crater and the second the church was buried in the lava.

Lazaro mentioned that the village priest had told him that "They were going to be punished", so they badumed the eruption as such.

The man fondly remembered when they had to leave their house with what little they had, like their chickens; although he thanked that, unlike with other eruptions, that of Paricutín It was not violent and allowed them to leave alive thanks to the slowly advancing lava.

"We did not want to leave our homes, it was the only thing we had, but we eventually had to do it and we realized that we had no other choice," did he declare.

"I am old and I remember everything between dreams. Sometimes I wonder if it really happened. But to be like that, I just have to turn around and see the volcano. Paricutín, which dominates our landscape and our life, "he added.

Lazaro takes advantage of the arrival of tourists to earn a few pesos. "I am one of the few living people in the world to be able to say that a volcano is born"he mentioned for BBC World.

Jaime Urrutia Fucugauchi, a researcher at the UNAM Institute of Geophysics, said that The activity of the Paricutin volcano lasted the first nine years. "Now, there is always gas emissions because it's cold, it takes a while to turn off completely," he said.

Gerardo Murillo, better known as Dr. Atl, is another author of the book: "How is born and grows a volcano, El Paricutín".

The Mexican artist who was also a philosopher, writer and revolutionary explained that the rise of this crater began as an almost perfect cone and after 6 days reached more than 150 meters high by 600 meters; while now it measures 424 meters at about 2,800 meters above sea level.

"It is the most complete volcanic device that the human he has been able to contemplate and study since his birth"who has ever documented who has proclaimed" midwife and biographer Paricutín ".