Let’s start with Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Torres, the fatal victims of the crime. Marielle, a black woman, sociologist and activist, was a Rio de Janeiro councilor for PSOL, a left-wing party, since 2016, when she was elected with more than 46 thousand votes.
In office, she chaired the Women’s Defense Commission, denounced police abuses and was critical of the federal intervention decreed, less than a month before her death, by then president Michel Temer, with the aim of reducing Rio’s crime rates.
Anderson was Marielle’s friend and driver. On the night they died, Anderson was waiting for Marielle at Casa das Pretas, an institute that supports black women, where the councilor had given a talk. On the way home, the vehicle they were traveling in, with advisor Fernanda Chaves, was hit by 13 shots from another car.
Marielle, the target of the executioners, died instantly, as did Anderson, a collateral victim, according to investigations. Advisor Fernanda Chaves survived with minor injuries. “It was a political crime, the biggest since redemocratization [em 1985] from Brazil”, she told DN, in 2019.
Tags: Whos murder councilwoman Marielle Franco
