Execution in Rio of Black Activist and Councilwoman Shocks and Moves Brazil

Prominent Brazilian human rights activist and councilwoman Marielle Franco was assassinated in Rio de Janeiro.

Part of a generation of young Black Brazilians who are becoming increasingly vocal inside and outside statehouses, Franco was elected to office in 2016.

A resident of the Favela da Maré, an impoverished community in Rio, she was one of the main defenders of human rights in the country.

Franco was shot dead in a car on Joaquim Palhares Street, in the Central Region of Rio, at about 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

The driver of the vehicle, Anderson Pedro Gomes, was also fatally shot, and a passenger, Marielle’s adviser, was struck by shrapnel.

Investigators at the Homicide Office said that the main line of investigation is execution.

The day before she was murdered, Marielle complained about the violence in the city in a post on her personal Twitter. In the post, she questioned the action of the Military Police. “One more homicide of a young man who may be coming in for the PM’s account… How many more will have to die for this war to end?”

Also two weeks earlier Franco was named a rapporteur in the special commission established by the city council to monitor the military intervention in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Three days ago she denounced the deaths of two youths during a military police operation in Acari community.

“We must speak loudly so that everybody knows what is happening in Acari right now. The 41st Military Police Battalion of Rio de Janeiro is terrorizing and violating Acari residents. This week two youths were killed and tossed in a ditch. Today, the police walked the streets threatening residents. This has always happened and with the military intervention things have gotten worse,” she wrote on Twitter.

Franco was raised in Maré community complex, home to approximately 140,000 residents. Soldiers have occupied the community again, as they did for over a year between 2014 and 2015, as part of the Brazilian government’s military intervention in the state of Rio de Janeiro on February 16.

The move was in response to increased violence and drug gangs who have “virtually taken over,” according to Brazilian President Michel Temer. Approximately 3,200 soldiers now patrol public streets in predominantly poor, working class neighborhoods.

Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff characterized the intervention as being a means to create an enemy, which “in Brazil’s case, is poor Black people who live in periphery neighborhoods…It’s not white people who live in Ipanema nor in Leblon.”

Workers’ Party Congressman and former head of Rio de Janeiro’s Bar Association, Wadih Damous, wrote on his Twitter account that “Marielle was executed. The assassination was consummated today but it’s the result of a plot forged by the barbaric nature that has taken hold of Brazil.

“Under fascism, extermination groups act in complete freedom. Meanwhile, the military intervention (in Rio de Janeiro state) search backpacks of kids who live in favelas.”

Protests have been organized in the cities of Recife, Belém, Salvador, Natal, São Paulo, Brasília among others to condemn Franco’s killing.

teleSUR

Tags:

You May Also Like

Jair Bolsonaro giving imaginary shots at hospital bed - Photo by Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the presidential candidate

Brazil – Son’s Message to Those Who Tried to Kill His Father: You’ve Just Elected the President

The knife attack on populist presidential candidate Jair Messias Bolsonaro continues to inflame an ...

Bronze sculpture of Zumbi dos Palmares, in Salvador, Bahia state

Palmares, Brazil’s Slave Rebellion, Still Going On 400 Years Later

The Quilombo dos Palmares was a nation of fugitive slaves, Indians, and a few ...

Amazon Indian

No More Amazon Mega-dams, Announces Brazil. Environmentalists and Indians Celebrate

Brazil’s government announced a major shift away from its policy of building mega-dams in ...

Slave work in Brazil is far from over

New Labor Rules Will Make Slave Work Still More Common in Brazil

Victims of slave labor in Brazil are less likely to be rescued following a ...

Raoni, a 90-year-old chief of the Kayapo people known for traveling the world to raise awareness of threats to the Amazon, also slashed Bolsonaro's words

Legendary Amazon Chief Raoni Calls Brazil President a Liar for Blaming Indians for Wildfires

Brazil’s Chief Raoni Metuktire, one of the most iconic defenders of the Amazon, condemned ...

O Kunumi Chegou - From Youtube

Brazilian Young Indians Become Rappers to Fight for Land Rights

The opening ceremony of Brazil’s World Cup in 2014 also marked the kickoff of ...

Aerial picture of uncontacted Amazonian tribe - FUNAI

Brazil Accuses American Missionary of Exposing Indians to Death

An American missionary operating in Brazil has exposed an isolated indigenous tribe to disease ...

The young indigenous Val Munduruku, portrayed at the COP25 conference in Madrid in 2019 | Val Munduruku

I’m a Munduruku and I See First Hand Our Amazon World Crumbling

We see how our forests are turning into large mud pools. We see how ...