Who Killed Marielle?

http://solidarity-us.org/atc/196/franco-assassination/
Date Written:  2018-09-01
Publisher:  Against the Current
Year Published:  2018
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23433

Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman, whose murder is still unsolved, was a thorn in the side of the right-wing, repressive government. The fight she fought continues through with people people she represented.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

MARIELLE FRANCO, A Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman, was shot to death in downtown Rio March 14 [2018] but her assassination remains unsolved. Elected in 2016 after serving 10 years on Rio's human rights commission, Franco was a black lesbian socialist from one of the city's favelas. She was on her way home after participating in a meeting at the Black Women’s House on “Black Women Changing Power Structures."

While it is still unclear which rightwing elements ordered her murder or for what action they decided to kill her, the fact is that she was a representative of the neighborhood that elected her. She not only identified the country's social problems, she was an organizer and spokesperson. She connected the issues of race, class, gender and violence as they were experienced in her neighborhood and her country.

As Glenn Greenwald wrote, "What makes it difficult to determine exactly who killed Franco was precisely her bravery; she was a threat to so many violent, corrupt, and powerful factions that the list of possible suspects, with motives to want her dead, is a long one."