Marielle Franco Was Working to Change Brazil. She Likely Died Because of It.
Marielle Franco Was Working to Change Brazil. She Likely Died Because of It.
Young, black, queer, and born in a favela, Marielle Franco defied the odds to fight the violence that claimed her life.
When Marielle Franco’s supporters elected her to Rio de Janeiro’s city council in 2016 with the fifth largest number of votes, even they were surprised by how well she did. Many couldn’t believe she’d won at all.
It was Franco’s first time running for the office. She was also young, at 37 years old, and a black, queer woman from one of Rio's biggest favelas, the Complexo da Maré.
Franco represented a "growing movement of young people from favelas, who want to create a space for themselves in politics," said Eliana Sousa, a director at Redes da Maré, one of the biggest NGOs in...
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