People

Marielle Franco

A sociologist and Rio de Janeiro city councillor from the Complexo da Maré, assassinated on 14 March 2018 in central Rio together with her driver Anderson Gomes. The case became one of the most internationally visible political assassinations of the Brazilian post-democratization period.

Early life and community

Marielle Franco grew up in the Maré complex of Rio de Janeiro's North Zone. She had her first daughter at 19 and continued her education in parallel with raising her child. She studied at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and completed a master's degree in public administration at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), with a thesis on the Rio UPP program. She was a researcher at the Comissão de Direitos Humanos da Assembleia Legislativa do Rio de Janeiro and at the Brasil Foundation.

Work

Marielle's professional and political work centered on human rights in Brazilian favelas, on police violence, and on women's and Black women's rights. She was active in the broader Movimento Negro and in feminist political networks in Rio. In 2016 she was elected to the Rio de Janeiro city council on the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL) ticket, with the fifth-largest vote total of any candidate in the election. She took office in January 2017 and served until her assassination 14 months later.

On the city council she chaired the Commission on the Defense of Women and was vice-chair of the Commission on the Defense of Human Rights and Citizenship. She was a sustained critic of military and police violence in Rio favelas, including during the February 2018 federal intervention in Rio public security.

The assassination

On the night of 14 March 2018, Marielle and her driver Anderson Gomes were shot in their car in central Rio de Janeiro after leaving a public event. Both died at the scene. The killing was internationally reported and produced large demonstrations in Brazil and abroad in the days that followed.

The investigation into the case proceeded slowly. In March 2019 two former police officers, Ronnie Lessa and Élcio Vieira de Queiroz, were arrested as the suspected gunman and driver of the vehicle from which the shots were fired. In 2024, federal investigations led to the identification and arrest of the alleged orchestrators of the killing, with charges against members of a former Rio political family. The case is among the most consequential investigations in recent Brazilian political-violence history.

Influence and recognition

Marielle Franco's name is central to contemporary Brazilian political discussion. Annual commemorations, the Marielle Franco Institute (founded by her family in 2018) which continues human-rights work, and her continued political legacy through PSOL and the broader left have produced sustained engagement. Her sister Anielle Franco was appointed federal Minister for Racial Equality in 2023.

The 2019 Mangueira Carnival parade, with the samba-enredo História para Ninar Gente Grande, included a tribute to Marielle that became a national reference in cultural reckoning with her assassination.

Further reading

See Complexo da Maré and Militias.