Carmelo Rodriguez

**Carmelo Rodriguez** is the deuteragonist of the Nickelodeon series *The Sweet Misadventures of Maricruz*. A Latino-American California citizen, he has been assigned the task of taking care of Maricruz.He is voiced by Carlos

   PenaVega.

## Biography [1]

### Season 1

Carmelo is a eccentric student at his High School. He starts to live with the ghost girl known as Maricruz.

## Apperance

Carmelo is at a medium height with a slender build, pale skin, dark brown hair, black eyes, and a red newsboy cap. He wears a white shirt, a red v necked sweater, dark gray pants, and black shoes.

## Personality

Carmelo is kind, responsible, very organized, and supportive. He has a reputation at his school for being the "safe kid" due to avoiding danger and being cautious, though he insists that he is a "misunderstood bad boy." He prefers keeping his stuff neatly organized, and he is smart, getting good grades. Because he likes it when things go his way, he can become unstable when they don't, like when he snaps at Maricruz for calling La Ma Manny that her parents give her that cute nickname. Although he is not used to the kind of craziness that Maricruz brings into his life, he admits that he would like a little danger in his life and finds fun in taking care of Maricruz.In Graveyard Maricruz,Carmelo is a very laid-back kind of guy. He is rather lazy, and dislikes work, but helps clean around the property when asked. According to his family, before Maricruz moved in, Carmelo was irresponsible in many ways, but after meeting Maricuz and promising to take care of her, he becomes much more serious. He has professed a huge passion for zombies every since he was a little kid. He's not particularly fond of sneaking around and other such activities, but he will go to great lengths to strengthen his obsession and learn more about zombies and the dead. He enjoys watching zombie movies to a great length and is often seen renting them. His love for zombies has caused him to become quite knowledgeable about them.Despite his obsession with zombies, he is very afraid of ghosts and other things involving live horror, such as haunted houses.

## Relationships

### Maricruz

Maricruz and Carmelo are best friends, although they have two completely different personalities.If she's upset, he does what he can to make her happy and feel better. While her sweet, helpful, and timid personality can sometimes cause him a lot of trouble or irritate him, he appreciates having her around, calling her the coolest girl he knows.

### Sandy Sanchez

Sandy is Carmelo's biggest enemy and he hates her.

### Adelita Santos

Carmelo despises Adelita, complaining that the only reason Adelita is good at art and babysitting is because her parents are rich and spoil her with the best.Outside of art, Adelita continues to bully Carmelo on a regular basis, much to Carmelo's frustration.

### Maria Cruz

Maria Cruz was Phoebe's former pet chihuahua that died in a car accident in three days before the start of the series, who was brought back to life by Carmelo while performing with Alexandra Sanchez. Maricruz seems to understand Maria Cruz as a ghost.

## Trivia

* Originally, in Guillermo del Toro's version of Maricruz, Carmelo was named Manny, had an obsession with *art*, and was more like an enemy to Maricruz.
* In the midst of production, Carmelo was originally to have Mary Jane shoes.
* In the pilot, Carmelo's pants were originally blue instead of dark gray.
* Carmelo's middle name was revealed to be Juan.
* Carmelo and Maricruz's relationship is similar to Lola and Chucho. In Carmelo's case, he is the brains.