Abrázame muy fuerte

**"Abrázame muy fuerte"** is a Mexican telenovela produced by Salvador Mejía Alejandre for Televisa. It's a remake of a 1960 Mexican telenovela 'Pecado mortal' written by René Muñoz, Liliana Abud and Dolores Ortega . The main stars are Aracely Arámbula and Fernando Colunga.

## Synopsis

Cristina Álvarez Rivas is a beautiful and sweet young woman who lives in a hacienda located in the state of Tabasco, together with her father Don Severiano Álvarez, a strong and authoritarian man, and her mother, Dona Consuelo Rivas de Álvarez, a noble and refined woman. Cristina falls in love with Diego Hernández, a laborer who works at the hacienda, and she, knowing that her father will never accept her relationship with a poor man, surrenders to him as the way to show her love. Through the intriguing employee Raquela, Don Severiano learns of the relationship between his daughter and Diego. It explodes in anger and burns the house where Diego lives, and swears that he will never let them be together. When he is about to punish Cristina, she confesses to her father that she is pregnant. To avoid the embarrassment that his daughter is a single mother, Severiano immediately orders Raquela and Cristina to travel to Villahermosa to have the baby there.

Cristina gives birth to a girl and along with Raquela returns to the hacienda after the childbirth. Severiano paid Raquela to claim the baby girl called Maria del Carmen as her daughter and to take her away from the hacienda. The landowner lies to his daughter telling her that it was Raquela who stole his money and kidnapped the child. Cristina sinks in despair, at the same time that Federico Rivero arrives at the hacienda and asks Don Severiano the hand of his daughter.

Federico is a ruthless and ambitious man, who plans to make Cristina his wife through blackmail. Federico brings back Raquela to the hacienda along with the baby girl. Cristina is full of emotion, but Federico tells her that if she does not accept being his wife, Raquela and the girl will disappear forever and she will never see her daughter again. Cristina detests Federico, but before the death of Don Severiano and seeing herself and her mother at the mercy of Federico's wickedness, Cristina agrees to marry him only to be close to her daughter. However after the marriage, Federico tells his wife that Raquela will continue as the mother of Maria del Carmen and she, for everyone, will be their godmother.

Federico finds out that Diego is still looking for Cristina. She happily goes out to meet him and they both plan to flee together with the girl that very night. Federico finds him and is about to fight him, but through Cristina's mediation Diego leaves. That night when both are about to flee, Federico overtakes Cristina by raping her and kills Diego by running over him with his truck. When Cristina learns about Diego's death she wants to die, but soon regains strength and takes control of the hacienda. She throws Raquela from the estate and asks Federico for the divorce. Federico then sabotages her car and causes an automobile accident in which Cristina loses the son she was expecting and also goes blind. With this turn of events, Federico is free to dispose of the fortune of his wife at his whim.

Years pass and Maria del Carmen becomes a beautiful and honest girl, raised with love and dedication by her "godmother" Cristina, not by Raquela who constantly mistreats and humiliates her. Raquela who has always been an unscrupulous and calculating woman has become Federico's mistress, and overlaps as a partaker of all his evils and wrongdoings.

Carlos Manuel Rivero, Federico's nephew, is a handsome young man who returns to Mexico after completing his medical studies abroad. Federico, besides maintaining relations with Raquela, is fond of Deborah Falcón, a very attractive but cynical and opportunistic woman who also falls in love with Carlos Manuel. Upon learning that, Federico tries by all means alienate Deborah from his nephew, while María del Carmen meets Carlos Manuel and deeply falls in love with him, causing jealousy in José María Montes, a worker on the estate that has been in love with Maria Del Carmen since they were children.

Deborah discovers that Carlos Manuel has fallen in love with Maria del Carmen and rages and will do everything with Federico to separate the young couple. But despite the detachment and the adversities, the love of both Carlos Manuel and Maria del Carmen have will turn out to be stronger than any intrigue, because that's when the words "Embrace me tightly" come to life.

## Trivia

* Working title for the show was 'Pecado mortal', as is the name of the original telenovela from 1960.
* There were rumors that singer Juan Gabriel who sang the main title theme for the show insisted that the telenovela's name was also 'Abrázame muy fuerte'.
* Final acting role for actor and writer René Muñoz who passed away on May 11, 2000. He was replaced with Liliana Abud who finished writing the story to the very end.
* First and final telenovela acting role for Spanish actress Emilia Guiú who played the villainous Flora Falcón de Bravo. The actress passed away four years after the show ended, on February 7, 2004.
* The role of Cristina was reserved for actress Verónica Castro who refused it. During the audition process, Victoria Ruffo and María Sorté were competing for it, with Ruffo finally gaining the role.
* 'Abrázame muy fuerte' started airing at 8:00 PM time-slot, however due to huge ratings was transferred to the main 9:00 PM time-slot.
* Aracely Arámbula (Cristina) and Pablo Montero (José María) dated in real life during the show's run.
* 'Abrázame muy fuerte' is considered one of the biggest 2000's Televisa successes.
* The show won a couple of TVyNovelas Awards in 2001. The show was named the best telenovela of the year, Fernando Colunga won in the category of "best lead actor", Nailea Norvind for "best female villain", César Évora for "best male villain", Helena Rojo for "best veteran actress", Joaquín Cordero for "best veteran actor", Pablo Montero for "best supporting actor", Liliana Abud for "best adaptation" and Miguel Córcega for "best direction". Aracely Arámbula, Carmen Salinas and Juan Gabriel were nominated in their respective categories, but didn't win any awards.

## See also

* 'Pecado mortal', 1960 Mexican original telenovela, starring Amparo Rivelles and Tito Junco.
* 'Que te perdone Dios', 2015 Mexican remake, starring Zuria Vega and Mark Tacher.