Now We Know

“Who had Marielle Franco killed?” For six years, it was nearly impossible to dialogue with left-wing activists without hearing this question. The phrase was emblazoned on T-shirts, posters, appeared in protest graffiti on walls, flooded social media, and was present in the speeches of politicians from the Workers’ Party (PT), the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), and the Socialism and Freedom Party (Psol) – including president Lula. Last week, the federal government announced that the case was finally solved. But the left saw a problem: the mastermind was not who they wanted.

Councilwoman Marielle Franco, from Psol, was shot dead along with her driver, Anderson Gomes, in downtown Rio de Janeiro, in 2018. According to the Federal Police, the crime was ordered by fellow councilman Chiquinho Brazão. The reason would be her actions to interfere in the regularization of lands and constructions in the west and north zones of Rio. Today, Brazão is a congressman and was d until the beginning of the week with the party Brazil Union (União Brasil).

As he holds a mandate in Congress, the final decision on whether to keep Chiquinho in prison or not will be made by the plenary of the House, in the second week of April – as there will be no sessions next week due to the party-switching window for the elections. Meanwhile, he also faces a process of mandate revocation, which will take much longer.

Chiquinho Brazão, his brother Domingos Brazão (councilor of the Court of s of the State of Rio de Janeiro), and Rivaldo Barbosa (former chief of the Civil Police) have been imprisoned since last Sunday, 24, by order of justice Alexandre de Moraes, from the Supreme Court. They were accused of plotting the murder, confessed by the former police officer Ronnie Lessa. Another former police officer, Élcio Queiroz, took part in the execution as well.

The trio is also accused of leading a corrupt militia in the State of Rio de Janeiro, acting in Municipal Chambers, the Legislative Assembly, and the Court of s. Since 2018, the Attorney General’s Office, at the time run by Raquel Dodge, tried to transfer the case investigation to Brasília due to signs of obstruction of justice. The victim’s own family, however, fought for the inquiry to remain in Rio, because they did not trust the Federal Police, at that time headed by Sergio Moro in Bolsonaro’s government.

“We believe that Moro will be more helpful if he remains away from all investigations,” said the widow Monica Benicio, currently a councilwoman.

But what about Bolsonaro?

After so long, the outcome announced by the minister of Justice and Public Security, Ricardo Lewandowski, could be the last page of one of the most turbulent crimes against politicians in the country in recent decades. But that’s not what happened, precisely because of the narrative constructed by the left – with broad endorsement from the old press – to try to link the group to former president Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula and a series of candidates across the country played this card exhaustingly in the 2022 campaign. The councilwoman’s sister, Anielle Franco, even became the minister of Racial Equality. “What we know is that it’s his [Bolsonaro’s] people. You know? These people had no shame in having killed Marielle Franco,” the Workers’ Party’s member, then running for office, said during TV debates. “The candidate” – Lula said, turning to his rival – “knows that I’m not the one who takes care of organized crime. You even know who’s guilty, that it was the organized crime that killed Marielle, in Rio de Janeiro.”

“It is not possible that a country the size of Brazil has the displeasure of having in government a militiaman directly responsible for violence against the poor people, responsible for Marielle’s death, responsible for Dilma’s impeachment, responsible for lying about me, and I think you can be sure, that we will be together in this fight.”

(Lula, shortly after being released, on November 20, 2019)

One of the most emblematic episodes was a report by the newscast Jornal Nacional, from TV Globo, in October 2019. It was a pre-pandemic era, and the traditional media tried to wear down the government at any cost. The broadcaster claimed that a doorman from the Vivendas da Barra condominium, in Rio, had said that Élcio Queiroz, one of the accused of the murder, had arrived at the place hours before the crime and announced he was going to Bolsonaro’s house.

The day after TV Globo’s report, left-wing parties called for protests against Bolsonaro, with flags displaying Marielle’s face.

Despite the effort to link the former president to the murder, everything quickly collapsed. The presence records of the Chamber of Deputies showed that Bolsonaro was in Brasília on that day. The doorman, then, decided to change his first version.

In a new statement, he claimed he “wrote down the wrong” number in the book for the residence where Queiroz said he was going to. Instead of ing house “66” (Lessa’s), he wrote “58” (Bolsonaro’s).

The problem is that, besides the crass error in the address, the doorman invented a story that also did not hold up – but was exploited again by the press, always lead by TV Globo. He said he had talked with “Mr. Jair [Bolsonaro]” through the intercom to authorize the entry. However, the Civil Police report, signed by six experts, found that the voice that authorized Élcio Queiroz’s entry was Ronnie Lessa’s, not Bolsonaro’s.

The developments of the investigation also proved, months later, that Queiroz went to the condominium to pick up Lessa by car, a Chevrolet Cobalt, and both headed to the Casa das Pretas (a black women’s feminist organization), where Marielle was participating in an event. Hours after the ceremony, the duo pursued the former councilwoman and executed her with 13 gunshots.

The Brazão Clan

The Brazão family has no connections in Rio de Janeiro either with Bolsonaro or his allies. On the contrary, a photo of Domingos Brazão campaigning for Dilma Rousseff in 2014 has been circulating on the internet for years. In that election, by the way, he itted to having killed a man. “Yes, I killed someone. But that was over 30 years ago when I was 22 years old. It was a thug who had gone to my street, to my house, on my birthday, to disturb me and my family. The Justice sided with me,” he said. At the time, the story was raised by his rival Cidinha Campos, member of the Labor Democratic Party (PDT).

The Brazão family has always been alongside the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), which called the shots in Rio de Janeiro for a decade. Therefore, they campaigned for then-congressman Eduardo Cunha and participated in Eduardo Paes’s istration as mayor of Rio – until this January, Chiquinho was the secretary of Community Action. They also had a good relationship with congressman Marcelo Freixo, who was one of Psol’s leaders in the State and now has ed PT.

The announcement that the murder was elucidated drove part of the left nuts, especially in Brasília. Lula seems increasingly stunned in his worst moment since returning to power: his popularity has melted in 15 months, and he lacks figures who could save his Ministry or Treasury funds to boost social programs, as he did in the past. Marielle always functioned as a kind of ace up the sleeve for bad days. But now what?

Congresspeople and senators who have been using the councilwoman’s tombstone as a podium for years just lost their way. Some, not knowing where to escape the press microphones, found a way to mention General Walter Braga Netto, member of the Liberal Party (PL). “Some loose ends of the Marielle case still need to be investigated,” said the Workers’ Party member Lindbergh Farias.

What loose ends? For minister Ricardo Lewandowski and justice Alexandre de Moraes, or any investigator who worked on the inquiry, there are no more threads to pull. The Workers’ Party member resorted to imagination: “The former chief of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro, Rivaldo Barbosa, who orchestrated the crime and prevented its investigation, was appointed to the position by General Braga Netto. There is more, much more, to be investigated.”

The same speech was used by the leader of PT, congressman Zeca Dirceu (PR), and the president of Psol, Paula Coradi. “We were surprised by the fact that Rivaldo Barbosa was chosen one day before the assassination, in a state [Rio de Janeiro] that was under federal intervention lead by Braga Netto, who later became Bolsonaro’s minister,” she said. On the website of the institute that bears the councilwoman’s name, the story has not ended either.

General Braga Netto served as the intervenor in the public security of Rio de Janeiro in an extremely critical period of fighting criminal factions that took over the State, during Michel Temer’s presidency. Later, he was the minister of Defense and ran for vice-president on Bolsonaro’s re-election campaign ticket. As a federal intervenor, he followed the appointments for the Civil Police made by the local secretary of Public Security, which means he did not play a political role, because he was not a politician at the time.

From what has been said this week and with the proximity of the electoral campaign in the second half this year, it will not be a surprise if politicians from PT and its satellite parties continue preventing Marielle Franco – finally – to rest in peace.

Leia também “O naufrágio de Lula”