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Tag: Lopez

  • Venezuela Beauty Queen Killed In Recent Protests

    The 22-year old Miss Turismo, 2013, Genesis Carmona, was shot in the city of Valencia Tuesday in an anti-government protest.

    She was pronounced dead on Wednesday afternoon at a local hospital, making her death the fifth during the country’s ongoing political turmoil.

    The beauty queen was also a student demonstrator, as well as the winner of the 2013 Miss Tourism crown in Carabobo, representing her state at Miss Tourism Venezuela.

    “How long are we going to live like this? How long do we have to tolerate this pressure, with them killing us?” a relative, who asked not to be named, said. “She only needed one more semester to graduate.”

    Carmona was a beautiful brunette who had been studying tourism before her death, according to the relative.

    The 22-year old model suffered a gunshot wound to the head as a result of the anti-government protests held Feb. 18, according to several media reports, including “Venezuela al Dia.”

    Tuesday’s demonstration was part of a rally outside the imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist, who has lead and initiated the three weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro’s government.

    Since the political uprising, three other people have been shot dead in Caracas and another person was run over by a car during a demonstration in the coastal town of Carupano.

    Opposition leader Lopez, while behind bars Wednesday, urged his supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government.

    The demonstrators are requesting better security, an end to shortages of goods, and protection for freedom of speech.

    Some citizens blame Venezuela’s government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, for the problems the country faces. Maduro is facing the largest anti-government protests in his 11 months in power. He has called opposition members fascists and compared them to an infection that needs to be cured.

    Lopez is in prison and faces charges of terrorism and murder in the deaths of four anti-government protesters and a government supporter in clashes nationwide. He was targeted because he organized these protests.

    The charges against Lopez “smack of a politically motivated attempt to silence dissent in the country,” Amnesty International said in a prepared statement.

    It is a crime when lives are lost when speaking up for injustice.

    Image via YouTube

  • Venezuelan Beauty Queen Killed During Protest

    Venezuelan beauty queen Genesis Carmona, 22, has become one of the latest victims in the continued unrest in the troubled country. The young college student was shot in the head at a protest Tuesday and died later in the hospital.

    “How long are we going to live like this? How long do we have to tolerate this pressure, with them killing us?” a relative of Carmona’s said. He asked not to be named, but added, “She only needed one more semester to graduate.”

    The beauty won the Miss Tourism competition in 2013 and was actually studying tourism in school, according to Reuters.

    A total of five have died since an opposition rally last week wherein opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez turned himself in to authorities, but urged his supporters to keep fighting through a pre-recorded video that was to be released if he were to be arrested.

    “Today, more than ever, our cause has to be the exit of this government,” he said of current President Nicolas Maduro’s administration. “Let’s fight. I will be doing so.”

    Three people were shot at an opposition rally in Caracas last week and one was run over by a car at a rally in the coastal town of Carupano. Many protesters have been injured and scores have been arrested.

    “We cannot underestimate those fascist groups whose boss is behind bars,” Maduro said in his televised speech late on Wednesday. “I’m not playing with democracy. I do not accept that they challenge the Venezuelan people and our Constitution.”

    U.S. President Barack Obama has other ideas about their spiraling situation. He said Maduro should release protesters and focus on the “legitimate grievances” of his people. He also said that both parties had a responsibility to work together fix what is tearing their country apart.

    Demonstrators say that they are calling for the ouster of Maduro over essential issues such as inflation, crime, corruption, and unfair distribution of goods.

    Image via YouTube