What is "leonela"

Leonela (1983) is a Venezuelan telenovela that was produced by and broadcast on Venezuela's Radio Caracas Televisión. It was written by Delia Fiallo and directed by Rolando Loewenstein. This telenovela lasted 133 episodes and was distributed internationally by Coral International. The novela was surrounded by controversy (because the tematic of rape and love, similar to the Luke and Laura plotline from USA soap-opera General Hospital) and was ended, but because of the popularity, the history actually continued in another telenovela. A remake, titled " Leonela, muriendo de amor", was made in Perú in 1997.