María Gabriela Pernalete passed away Sunday, January 19th. The woman was the younger sister of Juan Pablo Pernalete, a 20 years old student killed in 2017 when the National Guard shot a tear-gas grenade into his chest. Some 200 demonstrators and law enforcement have been killed in the context of protests since 2014, according to local NGOs.
Maria Gabriela Pernalete was rushed to the emergency of the Medical Center La Trinidad, in Caracas on December 20th and needed ten blood donors, urgently. She had been ill with cancer since 2017.
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After the sad news, social media became full of solidarity messages for her parents.
“We would like to express our heartfelt words of condolence to Mrs. Elvira and Mr. Jose Gregorio Pernalete for the passing of their daughter Maria Gabriela. Our words of encouragement to family and friends,” local NGO Provea posted to its Twitter account.
National Assembly lawmaker Renzo Prieto wrote in his Twitter account a post dedicated to Elvira and Jose Gregorio, also sending his condolences. Prieto was until recently one of the almost 400 political prisoners of the Nicolas Maduro regime.
