ILUSTRATION--ARMANDO CANIZALES by Marcos Alexander Ramos Celis in Cabudare

Armando Cañizales Carrillo (circa 1999-Caracas, Venezuela, May 3, 2017) was a Venezuelan violist and member of the National Symphony Orchestra System who was murdered by Chavista commandos of the Nicolas Maduro dictatorship during the 2017 protests in Venezuela. Cañizales was about to begin studies at the Faculty of Medicine of the Central University of Venezuela. On May 3, 2017, he was participating in a demonstration in the Las Mercedes neighborhood in Caracas, when he was shot by a Bolivarian National Guard gunshot at the base of the neck, dying at the age of 18. The murder of Armando Cañizales was documented in a report by a panel of independent experts of the Organization of American States, considering that it could constitute a crime against humanity along with other murders during the protests. His death unexpectedly involved the National Orchestra System of Venezuela and the voice of conductor Gustavo Dudamel, until then silenced. To this day, justice has still not been done for this tragic event.