# La venganza (2002 TV series)

La Venganza (The Revenge), is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States–based television network Telemundo, Caracol Televisión and RTI Colombia. This limited-run series ran for 127 episodes from November 4, 2002, to May 16, 2003. The soap opera starred Gabriela Spanic, José Ángel Llamas, and Catherine Siachoque.

## Story

On the wedding day of Luis Miguel Ariza and Elena Fontana, a sick woman in her forties and daughter of one of the two mob bosses in the Caribbean town of Matamoros, she realizes that he is involved with her sister Grazzia, Elena's heart cannot take this and she dies. The same night Valentina Diaz who is just a poor but brave woman and a boxer in illegal fights sponsored by the other mob boss: Fernando Valerugo. Valentina dies because of a huge impact on her head during the fight, so Elena mysteriously comes back to life into Valentina's body. Elena has to ask help of a medium friend of her Tobago who helps her to get her life back, but Valentina is still an employee for Fernando Valerugo, so Elena cannot stop boxing and she has to train very hard with Valentina's best friend and trainer Brenda Li just to last toe-to-toe against her opponents in every fight she participates in on behalf of Valerugo. Valentina goes to Fontana's manor as Elena's best friend and using all her knowledge about the Fontanas' family she easily gets the trust of Luis Miguel and Danilo Fontana.
Elena's plan is get even with Grazzia and Luis Miguel but soon she realizes the only responsible is her sister Grazzia, who now sees Valentina as a huge threat for her plans with Luis Miguel and the Fontanas. Grazzia plans to destroy her father by helping Fernando Valerugo so she becomes her lover. Helena while in Fontanas' Manor learns that the daughter she had more than twenty years ago with Fernando Valerugo's son Marco Tulio did not die when she was born, so she decides to find her daughter.
Valentina thinks that a young woman in Valerugo's Manor named Adoración is her daughter. Valentina's brother Paquito is in love with Adoración, but the suspicion that Adoración is the heir both Valerugos and Fontanas make her a target for Fernando's family, her wife Raquel and her son Alfredo. Raquel kidnaps Adoración in order to control the potential heir, but the truth is Adoración is daughter of Father Sebastian (Fernando's brother) so the priest release her daughter and Grazzia learns that Raquel is using her so she kills her. Then Luis Miguel that Fernando's goddaughter Giovanna might be Helena's daughter and in order to confuse the Fontanas Fernando allows them to believe she is Helena's daughter.
Valentina and Luis Miguel starts a romantic relationship, but Valentina's ex-boyfriend and Fernando Valerugo's brother-in-law makes things more complicated and Grazzia takes advantage of her pregnancy with Fernando's baby to keep Luis Miguel with her. Grazzia makes a scheme to blame Valentina for poisoning her and causing a miscarriage, after this episode both Fontanas and Valerugos go after Valentina to kill her. Felipe hides Valentina making everybody believe she is dead, just to prepare her to get her place as the heir of the Fonatanas and the Valerugos. Grazzia convinces Fernando to kill Luis Miguel so she can gain the full rights over the Fontanas' wealth, Luis Miguel is left to die in a lake but Valentina gets to save him. Luis Miguel eventually escapes and he believes Valentina has cheated on him all the time, in the search of Luis Miguel, Valentina is caught by Grazzia who locks her in a basement with no food or water, and finally she orders to set the house in fire, Grazzia believes that Valentina is dead, but Valentina was taken out of the basement by Tobago's husband.
In the basement Elena (in Valentina's body) learns that Luis Miguel married her because he wanted to get back several properties that Danilo Fontana took away from his parents, and the body she owns now it is actually the body of her own daughter. Elena (Valentina) now wants to destroy all the people who made her miserable for so long, in spite of the fact she is pregnant with Luis Miguel's baby. Felipe gets several top secret documents that he uses to blackmail both Valerugos and Fontanas and he ask One Million Dollars to keep the secret. Felipe takes Valentina to Europe with Rosario and Concepcion (who already knows that Valentina is really Elena).

## Cast

| Actor | Character | Known as |
| Gabriela Spanic | Valentina Valerugo Fontana | Main heroine, boxer, daughter of Helena and Marco Tulio, in love with Luis Miguel |
| José Ángel Llamas | Luis Miguel Ariza | Main hero, in love with Helena, then Valentina |
| Catherine Siachoque | Grazzia Fontana | Main villain, daughter of Danilo, sister of Helena, aunt of Valentina |
| Jorge Cao | Fernando Valerugo | Father of Marco Tulio and Alfredo, grandfather of Valentina |
| Maria Elena Doehring | Helena Fontana Viso de Ariza | Daughter os Danilo and Concepcion, sister of Grazzia, mother of Valentina |
| Orlando Miguel | Felipe Rangel | Brother of Raquel, loves Valentina |
| Carlos Duplat | Danilo Fontana | Father of Helena and Grazzia, grandfather of Valentina |
| Margalida Castro | Concepcion Fernandez | Mother of Helena |
| Nury Flores | Tobago Christmas | Visionary, wife of Jovito |
| Millie Ruperto | Bernardina Perez "Brenda Lee" | Trainer of Valentina |
| Marcela Carvajal | Raquel de Valerugo | Wife of Fernando, sister of Felipe |
| Barbara Garofalo | Mariangel Ariza | Daughter of Luis Miguel and Ximena |
| Guillermo Galvez | Armando | Best friend of Luis Miguel |
| Luz Stella Luengas | Yolanda "Yaya" Diaz | Mother of Paquito, stepmother of Valentina |
| John Ceballos | Rosario Paricua | Bodyguard of Danilo and Helena |
| Pedro Rendon | Francisco Jose "Paquito" Diaz | Stepbrother of Valentina, in love with Adoracion |
| Ana Maria Abello | Adoracion Valerugo Dominguez | Daughter of Sebastian and Maria Teresa, in love with Paquito |
| Naren Daryanani | Alfredo Valerugo | Son of Fernando |
| Victor Rodriguez | Jovito Matute | Husband of Tobago |
| Yuri Perez | Franky Garcia | Bodyguard and assistant of Fernando |
| Julio del Mar | Padre Sebastian | Brother of Fernando, father of Adoracion |
| Natasha Klauss | Sandra Guzmán | Best friend of Grazzia |
| Ivette Zamora | María Teresa Carballo | Servant of the Valerugos', mother of Adoracion |
| Vanessa Simon | Giovanna Alfieri | Girlfriend of Armando |
| Carlos Barbosa | Numa Pompeyo - Aurelio Santaela | Husband of Yaya |
| Miguel Alfonso Murillo | Americo Montalva / Father Cumbaya | Visionary |
| Maria Margarita Giraldo | Matilde | Nurse of Concepcion |
| Germán Rojas [es] | Leonardo Michelotto | Bodyguard of Danilo |
| Martha Lucía Pereiro | María Luisa Arciniegas | Lawyer and lover of Luis Miguel |
| Rosemary Bohórquez | Clara Noyo | Ex-girlfriend of Felipe |
| Raúl Santa | Teobaldo Carmona | Ex-assistant of Danilo |
| Laura Suarez | Ximena María Benavides de Ariza | Mother of Mariangel |
| Sebastian Boscán | Marco Tulio Valerugo | Son of Fernando, Father of Valentina |