New statue honors murdered Rio councilwoman Franco

A statue of Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman killed in 2018, was inaugurated on Wednesday, the date she would have turned 43 years old.

The life-size bronze statue was erected in a square, in downtown Rio, where she used to talk with her voters to give feedback on her work as a councilwoman. Elected in 2016, Franco was a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party. Her assassination sparked enormous outcry in Brazil and abroad. Four years after her death, both the motive and the mastermind of the killing remain unknown. Friends, politicians and family members attended the unveiling to remember her legacy and cry for justice. The event comes in the midst of fear of increasingly violent campaign ahead of October's highly polarized elections.