Marielle Franco, a Black Brazilian activist, who was a notable socialist, feminist and working class organizer was assassinated on March 14, 2018. Today three powerful men, with ties to the right wing, were arrested and charged with plotting her murder.
Franco, a 38-year-old lawmaker from the Socialism and Freedom party, was gunned down as she returned home from an event. During her short time in politics the LGBTQ favela-born activist had earned a reputation as a courageous defender of Brazil’s minorities and an outspoken campaigner against police violence. She was a very vocal critic of police brutality and extrajudicial killings
Six years after the assassination, the hitman who has confessed to pulling the trigger, a former police officer named Ronnie Lessa, is behind bars awaiting trial. However, until now the alleged architects of the assassination have remained at large and their motivations remain a mystery.
Brazilian media reports confirmed three prominent figures were arrested: the federal congressman, Chiquinho Brazão; his brother, the former state congressman, Domingos Brazão, who is a adviser to Rio’s court of auditors; and the former head of Rio’s civil police, Rivaldo Barbosa.
Sunday’s arrests appeared to be the result of a plea bargain Lessa recently struck with investigators, in which he agreed to name the masterminds in exchange for a reduced sentence and other benefits.
The precise alleged roles of the Brazão brothers – who built their political careers in Rio’s paramilitary dominated west – and the former police chief Barbosa were not immediately clear. However, local reports claimed Lessa had accused Barbosa of green-lighting the murder and assuring the masterminds that they would never be caught.
The revelation that Rio’s top cop may have been involved in one of the most notorious assassinations in the city’s history stunned friends and relatives of the murdered socialist activist. Just days after the murder, Barbosa assured reporters: “We will not rest while this is not solved.”
Anielle Franco, Franco’s younger sister, broke down in tears as the news of Barbosa’s possible involvement was broken to her live on Brazilian television. “They murdered my sister but we will not crumble … We are here and here we will remain, championing Marielle’s legacy.”
Franco’s widow, Monica Benício, voiced outrage at the ex-police chief’s alleged involvement. “This is not just a betrayal, it is an attack on democracy itself. And unfortunately it reveals a great deal about politics in Rio de Janeiro and how the underworld is connected to the police,” she told reporters.
Asked if she now feared for her own life given the power of organised crime in Rio, Benício said the pain of the murders had equipped the victims’ families with irrepressible bravery. “Nothing will conquer the fight for justice for Marielle and Anderson,” she vowed.