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Marielena is a spanish-language telenovela written by Delia Fiallo and premiered on Telemundo in 1992 in which Lucía Méndez and Eduardo Yañez starred.

Story

The story begins with Cuban refugees on a boat in the Florida Straits where a woman named Carmela Muñoz gives birth to a girl named Marielena. Years later, Marielena is a beautiful young woman living in Miami with her mom and siblings Enrique, Jr. a.k.a. "Kike", Mercedes a.k.a. "Meche" and Yolanda a.k.a. "Yoly" and is engaged to a young man named Javier. Yoly is married to a man named Alfredo Minelli a.k.a. Fredy, whose father Rufino works at a restaurant serenading the guests, and Meche is Leon's girlfriend. Leon is Javier's brother and live with their loving parents Fucha and Teo close to Carmela's home. One day while walking back home after buying flowers, Marielena is hit by a red convertible and out steps a handsome young man named Luis Felipe Sandoval and offers her money for the flowers but she demands an apology from him and he speeds away angrily. Later at a bar with his brother-in-law Andres Peñaranda, Luis Felipe tells of how he saw a young beautiful woman that day and how he would never see her again. Luis Felipe is married to Claudia, a woman older than him who he married when he was younger for money and have become rich. Days later, Marielena and Kike get jobs, Kike at a bank and Marielena at an agency. When Marielena arrives at the agency, she is shocked to discover that her boss is the same man who hit her with his car and Kike becomes a messenger at the bank that is run by Andres. Pretty soon after this, things get complicated for everyone as Marielena and Luis Felipe begin to feel an attraction towards one another other and begin having escapades in his apartment where one day she loses her virginity and Marielena starts living a double-life; Andres' friend Nicanor and his son Nikky are under threat from a drug dealer named Roberto; Andres' wife Leticia starts going out with Kike, their son Andy becomes addicted to drugs and his sister Melissa lives in with a group of Devil worshipers. Leon has a lover on the side named Reina who he spends his nights with, Telma asks Teo where her son is, Marielena's friend Chela is pregnant with Camacho's baby, her sister Teté is in love with Kike, Fredy leaves Yoly after finding out she has an infertility condition and starts going out with his secretary Cecilia, and Claudia suspects that Luis Felipe has a lover and with the help of her sister Olga soon discovers that his lover is Marielena and she begins a mission to keep Luis Felipe by her side forever while both women keep everything a secret from Luis Felipe about Claudia knowing Marielena is his lover.

At the agency where Luis Felipe works at, there some people dislike Marielena for who she is, including Urbano Gonzalez and his secretary Purita although soon they warm up to her. Luis Felipe's good friend Rene works in the agency's studio department and also gives advice to him and Marielena and is there for them when they need him. Desperate to have Luis Felipe with her, Claudia visits Carmela and reveals that her daughter's "extra hours" and "parties" are lies and that she spends time with Luis Felipe in his apartment. Marielena later confesses to her mother about her double-life and that she was weak and was ashamed but adamantly tells Carmela that even if she were to slap her or punish her, she will not stop loving Luis Felipe to which Carmela suffers an infarction after slapping Marielena. After being absent from work for a few days and deciding she wants to be with Luis Felipe, she returns to the agency again and they restart their relationship and then go to a party for secretaries. At this point in time Claudia vents her frustrations out to Olga almost daily but Olga tells her what she has for Luís Felipe is an obsession. A few weeks after, Luis Felipe, Marielena, and Rene fly to Los Angeles for an anti-drug commerical and Claudia even shows up to catch them in the act although Luis Felipe denies and then takes her back to the airport so she can come back to Miami but before she leaves, Luis Felipe tells her he wants a divorce. Some time later, Melissa leaves the devil worshippers but the leader Carlos says she belongs with them and one day kidnaps her and takes her hostage to Andres' bank where he demands a large sum of money when Kike walks in and is shot but only suffers a grazing wound. Outside the bank, there is a police squad waiting and Melissa escapes but is shot three times in the back and becomes paralyzed from the waist down. Seizing the moment, one of the sharpshooters shoots Carlos in the chest, effectively killing him. Andres then expresses his gratitude to Kike and even offers to pay for his college fund. Tired of having his family "laughed at", Andy reveals to everyone about his mother's extramarital affair with Kike and even goes to his house to "make him pay" but finds Meche and accosts her (he was not able to rape her) until Leon rips him off her but calls off his wedding with Meche thinking she was making love to Andy.

Not long after, Claudia goes to New York to steal a baby with the hope that Luis Felipe will stay. While Claudia is away, Luís Felipe and Marielena spend a few days at a hotel as a couple and doing what a couple does: going around in a boat, going to the beach, and riding horses together and Marielena tells Luís Felipe about Leticia and Kike and how he almost confessed to Carmela about it. Claudia returns without the baby because the mother had not left the hospital yet. One day at the hospital where Javier works at, while waiting for test results of her stomach problems, Marielena receives an unexpected visit from Luis Felipe and she tells him the truth about Claudia and later confronts her with this revelation and she admits that it's the truth but begs him not to leave her but Luis Felipe cannot decide with who he wants to be with. A few days later, Javier reveals to Marielena that she is pregnant and she calls Luis Felipe to meet her at the apartment and tells him he must decide now although she doesn't reveal her pregnancy. Luís Felipe returns home and tells Claudia he wants a divorce and she has one of her feigning sickness episodes; meanwhile Marielena comes home, this time to stay. Luis Felipe explains to Andres that if he doesn't resolve everything he'll lose Marielena and he'll go crazy. Yoly even goes to Claudia's house to talk with Luís Felipe but finds Claudia and tells her about Marielena's pregnancy but Claudia doesn't have any of it and decides to get the truth from Marielena and eventually does when Marielena tells her she is pregnant. Luís Felipe then goes to pick her up at her house because he decided to be with her and definitively left Claudia and his house. Claudia then goes to Javier to tell her the truth of Marielena's pregnancy and he does so and Claudia leaves in a raging fit. After a short while and some convincing, Carmela gives Marielena her blessing and Marielena leaves to go be with Luís Felipe and now their love starts anew meanwhile Marielena's friend Chela gives birth to a healthy baby and receives well-wishes from Marielena, her mother Esperanza and Teté but before Marielena can plan anything, Claudia feigns a medication overdose and Luís Felipe returns to Claudia's side after a warning from Andrés that if he leaves Claudia's side now, it would be akin to killing her in cold blood by his own hands. Marielena then plans to fly to Los Angeles so she can forget about Luís Felipe and advises Yoly, Meche, and Kike no to tell him where she is meanwhile Rene tells Luís Felipe that she is waiting for him but he cannot bring himself to talk to her. Marielena then shows up at Claudia's house to tell her to leave Luís Felipe alone but Claudia goes upstairs not wanting to hear Marielena's words and a catfight ensues in her bedroom. After a while, Marielena leaves Claudia's house and heads to the airport to fly to Los Angeles. When Luís Felipe arrives home, he goes to the bedroom to find Claudia's lifeless body laying on the bed. He is also shocked to see in that Claudia's left hand is Marielena's crucifix as Luís Felipe thinks Marielena killed Claudia and a new chapter begins for the two of them, as Marielena moves on, thinking Luís Felipe decided to stay with Claudia and Luís Felipe goes to jail thinking he saved Marielena from persecution.

After settling in an apartment in Los Angeles, Marielena finds a job at a place called Serrano Enterprises and on the day she has the job interview there, she has her first problem in the parking lot when a black car cuts in and parks in her space. Angry, she confronts the driver and the man, who appears somewhat middle-aged with a moustache apologizes to her and lets her park in that space. Unbeknownst to Marielena, the man, whose name is Esteban has already fallen head over heels for her. Marielena then arrives to the building and explains to the desk secretary that she is a hard worker but the secretary, who appears to be hostile and almost defensive, tells Marielena that she has heard that story many times before and does not permit Marielena entry to see Mr. Serrano and orders her to leave the premises or she'll have security escort her out of the building. Marielena offers no resistance and leaves the building. Down in the parking lot Esteban is there waiting for her and asked her how it went and then revealed that Mr. Serrano is his boss and then offered Marielena to go to a bar to have a drink. Meanwhile, Luis Felipe literally rots away in jail and even goes far as to telling Rene, Andres, Olga and a lawyer friend of his that he is willing to die if he is given the death penalty. 9 months later, Marielena, Esteban, Carmela, and Yoly are at the hospital where Marielena gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Valentina (named after Luís Felipe's mother) and Yoly stays with Marielena to take care of Valentina while Carmela returns to Miami. Some time later, Esteban's daughter Graciela, arrives home and Esteban speaks highly of Marielena and Graciela visits Marielena and talks down to her to which she gets a well-deserved slap. A few days later at a restaurant, Esteban reveals to Marielena that he is in love with her and proposes marriage to her but she rejects and on the way home they get into an accident. Both survive but Esteban is left blind and he proposes marriage to Marielena once again as his last will thinking he will die and Marielena accepts. A year later, Marielena begins pulling double duty as she takes care of Esteban's duties and hers at the agency and is not able to spend the entire lunch break with her daughter. One day, Yoly and Marielena talk about how Esteban has been good to them although Marielena is not ready to love him just yet and Yoly cannot believe that after all this time, Marielena still loves Luís Felipe and says Esteban does not deserve this; Melissa graduates from college and becomes a lawyer and wants to appeal Luís Felipe's case but he tells her not to; Carmela is slowly dying, Leticia starts taking pills again, Andrés wastes his life away getting drunk after losing the election, Javier assigns Meche to take care of Andy at the hospital because of his drug habit, blood loss, and intoxication. Meche is shocked to see who it is but accepts the assignment. Javier then calls Marielena to tell her of Carmela's failing health and Marielena decides to fly back for a few days to Miami to convince Carmela to get an operation done on her to save her life. Unbeknownst to Marielena, Carmela, Yoly, and Esteban are worried that she will find out about Luís Felipe's incarceration. Marielena then arrives back home and tries to convince Carmela to have the operation done but she replies no, saying that she rather die. Soon after, Javier tells Marielena that Luís Felipe is in jail and almost immediately Marielena and Melissa work together to find out who killed Claudia and Zuleima offers a lead by telling them she saw Andy putting his things in a backpack nervously and said that in one certain part of the bathroom there was a shirt stained with blood. Meanwhile at the hospital, Javier tells Andy that he has contracted AIDS. Tato then finds Andrés working at a farm and tells him about Andy dying from AIDS and says that his family needs him but Andrés stands firm and says he won't return to that house again. After Tato tells everyone about Andy's deteriorating health, Melissa pays him a visit and Andy says that this punishment for what he has done and although reluctant at first, he confesses by saying he didn't want to do it, but his aunt forced him to and then begins to tell of how happened: he went there while nobody was there so he went upstairs and took money from Claudia's purse and also stole some of her jewelery and also her jewelery box which he opened with a letter opener and then hid in the closet as Marielena and Claudia made their way in to the room which led to the ensuing catfight. After Marielena left, Claudia saw Andy hiding in the closet (she probably was going to change clothes because it never showed what she was going to do) and Claudia threatened to call the police on him and with that, Andy stabbed her to death with the letter opener and says what he did has no forgiveness and no one loves but Melissa reassured that everyone loves him and that they just didn't know. Marielena tells Luís Felipe about Andy's confession and says he will be free soon but unbeknownst to him, Marielena is married to Esteban and resides in Los Angeles although he doesn't give her a chance to explain because he says he wants to see her when he gets out of jail. Worried, Esteban tells Yoly and Victoria that they're moving to Miami so that way Marielena can be close to her family and he asks Victoria to find a house and a publicity agency (which turns out to be Claudia's) and buy it. With his dying words, Andy repents for having killed Claudia and for having attacked Meche and accepts God as his savior and with that said, he peacefully dies with Meche, Leticia, and Olga by his side. At the publicity agency, Victoria discusses the price with Urbano when Purita comes in to say he is needed outside and Purita tells Victoria of the time when Marielena used to work there (seems that her friendship with Marielena was a ruse). After Urbano returns Victoria says she'll buy the agency with the condition that the name of the owner be transferred over to Marielena.

One year later, Luís Felipe is released from jail and although she tries, Luís Felipe does not let Marielena tell him about what she's done with her life but once he sees Esteban and Valentina at Carmela's house and with her telling him, Luís Felipe is heartbroken and Marielena says she tried to tell him but he didn't let her and he doesn't love anymore, not like this. Saddened, Marielena leaves Luís Felipe in his apartment and she swears to him that he will never see her again. One day, Luís Felipe returns to the agency and sees that Marielena is his boss and old feelings start coming back and then Marielena tells Esteban she wants a divorce but he can't do it because he loves her and waits for the day she returns his love. Meanwhile, Nicanor is shot outside his house by Roberto and clings to life in the hospital, and Graciela does not want the divorce to occur because she doesn't want to lose Luís Felipe, Marielena says she is going to divorce from Esteban and does not care if anyone opposes and soon the mind games come into play. A couple of days later, everyone is preparing for the arrival of Hurricane Andrew as Carmela, Kike, Fucha, and Teo take shelter in her apartment, Rene and Purita stay at Luís Felipe's apartment although he reluctantly takes them in, and Marielena, Yoly, Valentina, Victoria, Graciela and Esteban in their big house and everyone rides out the storm in their own way except Graciela who is afraid and in the middle of it all, Esteban reveals to Graciela that he can see again but it must remain secret. After a few days, everything is normal and not being able to resist anymore, Luís Felipe kisses Marielena just as Carmela walks into the agency also, Nicanor starts to recuperate. Soon Rene and Carmela give the two advice: Rene tells Luís Felipe for him and Marielena to take a vacation for a few days and sort things out and Carmela tells Marielena to move away from Luís Felipe. Soon after, Victoria tells Esteban on what she needs to do to show her love for him and what they once had in the past and Esteban says she never had him and they never had anything in the first place and orders Victoria to arrange a flight back to Los Angeles because he's leaving with Marielena, Valentina, and Graciela. At the same time Graciela tells Luís Felipe that she's planning a big dinner at her house and wants him there because it'll be a celebration of their relationship and Luís Felipe wonders if Esteban will accept that. Faced with Esteban's decision to return to California, Marielena accepts his proposal with the onset that she is determined to forget about Luís Felipe although her heart breaks on being far away from him. One day after returning home from work, Victoria tells Marielena that Esteban is tricking everyone with his blindness and Marielena sees for herself that he is not blind as he is shown reading the story of the 3 Bears to Valentina and with that, Marielena leaves him and the house and asks for a divorce and Esteban throws Victoria out of the house, and she swears revenge. After much convincing and confronting Leticia's infidelity, Andrés returns home so he and Leticia can help Melissa. Meanwhile at Carmela's apartment with Javier present, Carmela suffers another heart attack and is taken to the hospital and barely clings to life. Elsewhere, Luís Felipe decides to man up and tells Graciela that he is not the one for her and won't get married with her anytime soon and says he will fight for Marielena's love. Graciela then devises a plan and one day at the hospital, tells Marielena that she is expecting Luís Felipe's child and faced with this new heartbreak, Marielena tells Luís Felipe that he needs to be with Graciela because of her so-called pregnancy and also, acting on impulse, Javier kisses Meche after defending her from his brother León and a relationship soon blossoms. After so many hardships, Marielena marries Luis Felipe and live happily ever after.

Production notes

The telenovela was filmed and produced in Miami, Florida and was also recorded during Hurricane Andrew. Sadly, Luis Oquendo died during filming after he suffered a heart attack.

Cast

• Lucía Méndez as Marielena Muñoz
• Eduardo Yáñez as Luís Felipe Sandoval
• Zully Montero as Claudia Sandoval
• Maria José Alfonso as Carmela Muñoz
• Salvador Pineda as Esteban Serrano
• Mara Croatto as Graciela Serrano
• Julio Alcázar as Andrés Peñaranda
• Griselda Nogueras as Fucha
• Manolo Villaverde as Teo
• Martha Picanes as Olga Brusual
• German Barrios as Nicanor Garcia Negrete
• Aurora Callazo as Leticia Peñaranda
• Marta Velasco as Telma Socaras
• Rosa Felipe as Rosalia Socaras
• Sandra Haydee as Esperanza
• Miguel J. Gutiérrez as Rufino Minelli [dead]*
• Luis Oquendo as Urbano Gonzalez
• Miguel Paneke as León
• Juan Carlos Antón as Javier
• Maria Canals-Barrera as Nancy
• Xavier Coronel as Alfredo "Fredy" Minelli [dead]*
• Emiliano Díez as Rene
• Ivon D'Liz as Purita
• Frank Falcon as Enrique "Kike" Muñoz
• Cristina Karman as Yolanda "Yoly" Muñoz
• Alexa Kuve as Melissa Peñaranda
• Luz Marabel as Zuleima
• Abrahm Méndez as Tato
• Isaura Mendoza as Maria
• Caridad Ravelo as Chela
• Bertha Sandoval as Enriqueta Gonzalez
• Eva Tamargo as Cecilia
• Anardis Vega as Nicanor "Nikky" Garcia Negrete, Jr.
• Mayte Vilán as Mercedes "Meche" Muñoz
• Larry Villanueva as Andrés "Andy" Peñaranda, Jr.

• dead in soap opera

External Links

• Marielena at IMDb