‘It was Rivaldo Barbosa that I called when I found out about Marielle’s murder’, says Freixo | Rio de Janeiro

Current president of Embratur, Marcelo Freixo spoke about the arrest of the former head of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro Rivaldo Barbosa this Sunday (24) in a joint operation by the Federal Police and the Rio Public Ministry (MPRJ). In a post on the social network charges to clarify the case.

“It was Rivaldo Barbosa that I called when I found out about Marielle and Anderson’s murder and was heading to the scene of the crime. He was head of the Civil Police and received the families the next day with me. Now Rivaldo is in prison for having acted to protect the masterminds of the crime, preventing investigations from progressing. This says a lot about Rio de Janeiro.”

Rivaldo took over as Chief of Police the day before the councilor’s murder.

Remember the case

Imprisoned since 2019, former military police officer Ronnie Lessa, who fired the shots that killed councilwoman Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes, on March 14, 2018, mentioned the name of federal deputy Chiquinho Brazão (União) and his brother, Domingos Brazão, in his plea bargain, approved this Tuesday (19) by Minister Alexandre de Moraes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

One of the main lines of investigation into the case is related to a dispute over land in the West Zone. In testimony, Lessa reported that Marielle became a target after defending the occupation of land by low-income people and that the process was monitored by bodies such as the Institute of Land and Cartography of the State of Rio and the Land and Housing Center, of the Public Defender’s Office of Rio.

According to investigations, the person responsible for the crime that ended the lives of Marielle and Anderson was seeking the regularization of a condominium in Jacarepaguá without considering the criteria of an area of ​​social interest. The objective would be to transform the property into real estate speculation.

Six years after the death of councilor Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes, investigations into the case are ongoing to discover the mastermind and motivation for the murders. At the beginning of the month, the Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro (MPRJ), through the Task Force of the Specialized Action Group to Combat Organized Crime for the Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes case (Gaeco/FTMA), asked the Justice that former firefighter Maxwell Simões Corrêa, known as Suel, be tried by a popular jury.

Investigators point out that Suel participated in the murder plan and monitored the councilwoman’s routine, in addition to helping former military police officers Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Queiroz, shooter and driver respectively, in dismantling the car used in the ambush and the disappearance of the capsules from ammunition. Lessa and Queiroz will also go to the popular jury.