Five Latin Americans among the casualties in Paris attacks

At least five Latin Americans are among the victims of Friday night’s terrorist attacks in Paris, including a Mexican and three Chilean nationals, government officials from both countries have confirmed.

Two Brazilians and another Mexican are also listed among the injured.

“Family and friends and the Mexican Embassy in Paris have confirmed that my cousin, Michelli Gil Jáimez, was one of the fatal victims of yesterday’s attacks in the city of Paris, where she lived,” wrote Félix José Gil Herrera, a cousin of the victim, in a post on Twitter.

The 27-year-old Gil Jáimez, a former beauty queen from Veracruz who studied business administration in Mexico and France, was gunned down while she was dining at La Belle Equipe restaurant on Friday night.

In the United States, California State University (CSULB) in Long Beach confirmed that one of its exchange students, Nohemí González, was also killed in the Paris terrorist attacks. The 23-year-old González, who grew up in El Monte outside of Los Angeles, was studying design and had traveled to Paris for a few months.

“Our university stands with our nearly 80 foreign exchange students from France as they struggle with this tragedy. We will extend all support necessary to comfort them,” said CSULB president Jane Close Conoley in a statement.

The government of President Michelle Bachelet also confirmed the deaths of three Chileans.

Felipe Zschoche Valle, 32, who had been living in Paris with his wife for the past eight years, was among the victims killed at the Bataclan concert hall, during a concert by US group Eagles of Death Metal.

Patricia San Martín and her daughter Elsa Veronique Delplace also died at the Bataclan. According to Chilean Senator Isabel Allende, San Martín was the niece of Chile’s ambassador to Mexico, Ricardo Núñez.

San Martín, who was born in Chile in 1954, was married to a French national, Michel Laplace, and had one daughter, Elsa, who was born in 1980. She migrated to France along with her family, who were members of the Chilean Communist Party (PCC), after dictator Augusto Pinochet came to power in 1973.

“Our university stands with our nearly 80 foreign exchange students from France as they struggle with this tragedy” Jane Close Conoley, CSULB president

A five-year-old grandson and a friend, who were both with them attending the concert, were injured in the attacks, the Chilean government said.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Brazilians were seriously injured during the attacks. Both men were eating at the Le Petit Cambodge restaurant when they were shot by one of the attackers.

France’s ambassador to Venezuela, Frederic Desagneaux, said on Sunday that three Venezuelans wre among the injured, but added he had no additional information about others who are said to have been missing by their loved ones according to social media messages.

”Unfortunately, based on our information, there are three Venezuelans injured. The Venezuelan Embassy is in contact with the crisis center that was set up by the [French] Foreign Ministry to continue to search for information about all the victims of these attacks,” Desagneaux said.

English edition by Martin Delfín.