Councilmember and Police Brutality Critic Marielle Franco Shot Dead

We begin our exclusive interview with Brazil’s former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is now running for president again, discussing the assassination of 38-year-old Rio de Janeiro city councilmember and human rights activist Marielle Franco, who was killed last week. Franco, who was a black lesbian, was known for her fierce criticism of police killings in Brazil’s impoverished favela neighborhoods. Her death comes at a pivotal moment for Brazil and the future of democracy in South America’s largest country. Just last month, President Michel Temer ordered Brazil’s military to assume control of police duties in Rio. “The only thing that she did was to work against the assassination of black people in the peripheral areas in the defense of human rights,” says Lula da Silva.