Venezuela, home to one of Latin America’s most thriving television industries, has lost a famous telenovela star to violent crime, a social problem that has increased in recent years in that country. Yanis Chimaras, 51, was violently murdered on Tuesday in an unexpected attack while in the company of two other people:

He was killed early Tuesday in the Caracas suburb of Guatire when he arrived in a car to pick up his daughter’s friend, police said. Chimaras, who was with his daughter and brother, honked the horn repeatedly for the girl to come out.

At the time, robbers were inside the house holding up the girl’s family. They thieves came outside, forced Chimaras out of his vehicle at gunpoint and stabbed him three times, police said. He suffered a punctured lung and bled to death.

While Yanis Chimaras is said go be a staunch supporter of president Hugo Chavez, some point to the government as responsible for the rise of crime in Venezuela:

Former presidential candidate and comedian Benjamin Rausseo, who attended the wake, said the killing is a clear sign that Chavez’s government needs to do more to fight crime.

“How many Yanis Chimaras need to die for this government to understand, instead of being concerned about conquering the world (and) picking fights … that here in Venezuela they are killing us?” Rausseo asked.

As the funeral and wake was held yesterday, police still hadn’t made any arrests, but El Universal reports today that authorities have a 22 year-old suspect in custody who they say participated both in the robbery and the murder.

Chimaras, the son of Greek immigrants, participated in more than 20 telenovelas and several movies in Venezuela.

Via / Yahoo! Entertainment and El Universal