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EL CARABOBENO/HANDOUT/EPA |
A Venezuelan beauty queen and student demonstrator was fatally shot in the head during a political protest, making the fifth fatality from the country's ongoing political turmoil.
Genesis Carmona (above), 22, was photographed lying limp in the arms of a man riding a motorcycle after gunfire broke out at Tuesday's protest in the city of Valencia.
She was pronounced dead at a hospital Wednesday afternoon.
"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, a stunning brunette who had been studying tourism before her death, according to the relative, had served as 2013 Miss Turismo for her state of Carabobo.
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Venezuelan beauty queen and student demonstrator Genesis Carmona is seen being evacuated on a motorcycle after being shot in the head during a protest in Valencia Tuesday. MAURICIO CENTENO-NOTITARDE/REUTERS |
Tuesday's demonstration was part of a rally outside the imprisoned protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, a Harvard-educated economist who has spearheaded three weeks of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's government.
Since the political strife three 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.
While behind bars Wednesday, one day after his surrender to authorities, Lopez urged supporters to keep fighting for the departure of the socialist government.
In a tragic twist, Carmona's death is the second murder of a Venezuelan beauty queen this year.
In January, former 2004 Miss Venezuela Monica Spear and her ex-husband Henry Berry were fatally shot in a highway robbery that miraculously spared their 5-year-old daughter.
The girl named Maya suffered a leg wound that she has since recovered from.
Source: NY Daily News, 2/19/2014