 |
Genesis CarmonaVenezuelan model and beauty queen
Date of Birth: 20.09.1991
Country:  Venezuela |
Content:
Venezuelan model and beauty queen
Henesys Carmona, a college student from Venezuela, was a model and beauty queen. She specialized in social studies at the Universidad Tecnológica del Centro. Carmona participated in the annual fashion week known as Venezuela Moda, held in Valencia. In 2013, at the age of 21, she also competed in a regional beauty pageant in her home state of Carabobo and won the title of "Miss Tourism Carabobo 2014".
Tragic death and protests
On February 18, 2014, while participating in one of the protests in Venezuela, Carmona fell victim to a close-range gunshot to the back of her head. The shot was fired by one of the pro-government militia members known as Chavistas. However, the Venezuelan government denied any involvement in her death. Some unidentified government representatives blamed those who had joined the protest with Carmona, claiming that the fatal shot was fired by fellow demonstrators. Photographs taken by Argentine and Brazilian reporters captured suspicious individuals infiltrating the end of the demonstration, with one frame showing a person deliberately aiming a gun with both hands, preparing to shoot.
When Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro addressed the nation on television, he used Carmona's death to mourn the innocent victims of anti-government violence and protests, accusing the protesters of causing her death.
Carmona's death sparked a new wave of protests. She was one of many who participated in mass protest actions against worsening social conditions, rising violence, and inadequate security measures in Valencia, Carabobo, for several days in mid-February 2014. Witnesses to Carmona's murder stated that she fell to the ground with a gunshot wound to the left side of her skull in the occipital region. She was taken to the intensive care unit on a motorcycle and succumbed to blood loss and traumatic brain injury the next day.
Carmona became the fifth victim among the anti-government protesters who started causing disturbances on February 12, 2014. News of her death spread widely, with mentions appearing in the blog "The Lede" of The New York Times and coverage of her funeral in the British newspaper Daily Mail. Unknown representatives of the Venezuelan government insisted that Carmona was killed by someone "from within the opposition," and claimed to have witnesses confirming this.
In response to Carmona's death, a group of women organized a demonstration on February 22, 2014, to support her family and protest against her murder. President Nicolás Maduro, speaking on national television, blamed the protesters themselves for Carmona's death and called for mourning the innocent victims of anti-government violence.
