Portrait
Marielle Franco
Born
27 July 1979Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died
14 March 2018Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · aged 38
Politician and human rights activistBrazil

Marielle Franco

A Black bisexual woman from the favela who fought police violence in Rio – and was assassinated in 2018.

Marielle Franco grew up in the Maré, one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela complexes. She became a mother at 19 and worked to pay for her studies; she earned a degree in social sciences and a master’s degree in public administration with a thesis on police operations in the favelas.

For years she worked for human rights, supporting families of victims of police violence. In 2016 she was elected to Rio’s city council for the left-wing party PSOL with one of the highest votes in the city. As a Black, bisexual woman from the favela, she stood for those who were rarely represented in politics. Her partner was the architect Mônica Benício.

On 14 March 2018, after a meeting with young Black women, she and her driver Anderson Gomes were shot dead in their car. Her murder sparked mass protests in Brazil and around the world. In 2024 two former police officers were convicted of the killings, and politicians accused of having ordered them were arrested.

Her name has become a symbol of the struggle against racism, police violence and homophobia in Brazil. Mônica Benício was herself elected to Rio’s city council in 2020.

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