Juan Pablo Pernalete
Juan Pablo Pernalete Llovera (28 December 1996 – 26 April 2017) was a Venezuelan student and basketball player in Caracas. He studied accounting at the Metropolitan University of Caracas, where he had a basketball scholarship.
Pernalete was killed during the 2017 Venezuelan protests in Altamira, a neighborhood in the Chacao municipality of Caracas. He was 20 years old. The mayor of Chacao said he arrived at Salud Chacao without vital signs after the death.
On 24 May 2017, the Venezuelan Attorney General said that an investigation concluded Pernalete died from the impact of a tear gas canister fired by a National Guardsman. Initially, government officials and pro-government outlets claimed he had been killed with a captive bolt pistol by fellow protesters. In 2021, the successor of the Attorney General acknowledged that Pernalete was killed by a tear gas canister fired by the National Guard.
The death sparked demonstrations. A day after he died, students marched from the Universidad Metropolitana to Altamira Square to honor him, and a July 13 night march remembered those killed in the protests. A dissident inspector from the CICPC, Óscar Pérez, briefly appeared at the march before disappearing.
Twelve National Guardsmen were charged with pre-intentional homicide in connection with Pernalete’s death. His father, José Pernalete, said that one of his son’s dreams was to play in the NBA, and that the NBA sent a recognition of solidarity for his death. In a ceremony, Avila Avenue in Altamira was renamed in Pernalete’s honor.
The case was noted in a report by independent experts from the Organization of American States, which suggested Pernalete’s death could amount to a crime against humanity alongside other killings during the protests.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:49 (CET).