Monica Benicio, 34, turned pain into resistance. March 14, 2018 changed the course of Brazilian politics. Marielle Franco’s head was shot and until today the country has not answered the basic questions of a brutal crime: “who killed Marielle and why?”
For Brazilians, the councilwoman’s death opened up democratic weaknesses. For Monica it was the wife who never came home. Since then, grief has become routine and routine has become a struggle. Monica needed to talk about the pain to stay alive. In a sexist society, however, she had to face criticism for having started a new romance still in the midst of widowhood.
In this whirlwind of emotions and unhealed wounds, she still saw Jair Bolsonaro elect himself with a speech that contradicts all her life purposes – built side by side with her murdered wife. As a Brazilian, she is ashamed of the public policies of the federal government and the evidence of Bolsonaro’s approach to militiamen: “the connections between the president’s family and the militia are public”. Still, she wakes up every day in hope: “If I had not been fully convinced of the elucidation of Marielle’s murder, I wouldn’t even be giving this interview.”
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