Argentine Lawmakers Pay Tribute to Brazil's Marielle Franco

On Tuesday, Argentina’s progressive lawmakers put a sign in the Rio de Janeiro Subway Station in Buenos Aires City to pay tribute to Marielle Franco, the Brazilian councilor and human rights defender murdered in March 2018 after denouncing police violence in the favelas of her country.

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The opening ceremony was held by members of the Passarinho organization and lawmaker Maria Bielli, who promoted a bill for the Argentine Congress to install a plaque in memory of the social fighter.

"Thanks to the bonds of brotherhood built with the Brazilian people, the story of Marielle breaks into our daily journeys by subway. Here and there, we will continue to demand justice and build a great homeland where we all fit," Bielli stated.

During the ceremony, yellow flowers were placed at the foot of the plaque and the Brazilian artist Shirlene de Oliveira performed the song “If this street was mine” in Spanish and Portuguese. The Passarinho militant Danielle Santana highlighted that Marielle symbolizes a long tradition of black women who fought and resisted throughout Latin America.

“To pay homage to these women is to ensure that we remember their struggles for many years. It is to guarantee the right to memory,” Santanna stated, adding that all progressive regional leaders shall carry on with her fight.

The Argentine congress approved the installation of the memorial plaque in March. approved the installation of the memorial plaque in March. However, it could not be set in its place until Tuesday since the subway A-Line had remained closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gunmen shot Marielle and her driver to death in the Estacio neighborhood in downtown Rio de Janeiro. So far, the Brazilian authorities had only detained former military policemen Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz as the perpetrators of the attack despite judicial investigations carried out in 2019 found links between these killers and the sons of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro.