Sanchez died Tuesday, sparking outrage on social media and in congress. Low oil prices and a deep recession are causing widespread shortages in the South American nation, with everything from prescription medicines to basic foodstuffs going scarce. Oliver Sanchez gained fame in February when he appeared with his mother at a demonstration to protest medicine shortages wearing a mask and holding up a homemade sign reading, "I want a cure, peace and health." The boy's mother, Mitzaida Berroteran, told local newspaper El Nacional that in the absence of readily-available and affordable drugs she had to scour social media for donations. Opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly held up pictures of the second-grader to denounce what they called an avoidable death.

Source: CBC News May 27, 2016 15:02 UTC