hey. please explain to me exactly what’s happening in brazil right now. the deaths, protests... it’s just a big mess and i’d like to have it explained to me because i honestly can’t understand
Well, uhm. That’s…. that’s gonna take a while. I’m gonna make a really really short version of the whole story here and then if you want to know more details or have any questions just tell me, alright?
So basically in 2016 our president was impeached and vice president Michel Temer became, you know, president. Ish. Except for the fact that he did the opposite of what you expect from a vice president in this position (…keep the things going according to the plan with which he was elected) and switched positions radically, basically turning the whole government to the opposition (so basically giving the government into the hands of the people who lost the election). And, of course, normal except for the fact that the process to impeach our former president was very……. unsubstantial, and there are questions to this day of if what she did was even a crime. That’s why many people in Brazil consider the whole process to be a coup.
Now, long story short, Temer is one of the most unpopular presidents ever (he literally hit a 3% approbation rate at some point), mainly because in turning the whole government to the opposition he started to try and implement some heavy cuts to the state - and that means, of course, labors rights, social security, stuff for the people in general, stuff that can really fuck up some lives. Meanwhile, our country kept on getting chaotic as usual (it wasn’t all that great before and it’s not going up at all with him, you could say). So… last month, at some point, it was decided that something was to be done about a certain violence problem in Rio.
So they decided for a military intervention. Which means that the military is in charge of the “security” in Rio. Also means that Brazil is in a delicate state of exception. But the deal is, militarizing Rio (or any part of the country) is not a solution, and they know it, so everyone started to wonder what was really the purpose of giving more strength to that - our democracy is pretty new, and our military dictatorship did kill a lot of people, so, ya know, we better be careful there. People started to predict that the obvious was gonna happen: poor people were gonna get murdered even more than usual, nothing would be done about it, the drug and gun problem would continue aaaand if we weren’t careful we could fall easily into the early stages of a new authoritarian regime.
So last week city counselor Marielle Franco was put in charge of a committee that was to investigate the intervention and basically keep an eye on it for wrongdoings. Marielle was elected as one of the most voted people in Rio - she was a poor, black, lgbt woman (and i’m using lgbt as an umbrella term yeah cause I don’t know exactly what she identified as now so please stop telling me to use the right words, @y’all in the comments). And as such, she had been fighting for those causes for years. She was one of the only people here to publicly criticize and investigate police brutality and actually fight for all marginalized groups in Rio.
Aaand then she got shot. A car stopped by hers and shot over than times. Hit her in the head at least four times. Hit her driver three times. They both died. Murderers had clearly been following her, knew even in which seat she was. Nothing was taken. It wasn’t a robbery - it was murder. More likely than not, it was an execution - better yet, an assassination.
So now we’re wondering if some part of our police, military or even government has started to kill their political enemies more openly again (because clearly her shooting was meant to scare the fuck out of everybody else who might follow her steps, right?). The bullets used were tracked and they were all sold originally to our federal police, too (and, of course, they could have been stolen or anything, but…). SO that’s that. That’s why the protests, and that’s why we’re pretty damn scared. Besides the death of a great fighter for the people, this could mean some dark times ahead for Brazil.
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