This is Brazil by the Numbers, a weekly digest of the most interesting figures tucked inside the latest news about Brazil. Random numbers that help explain what is going on around the country. This week: 600 days of the Marielle Franco murders, interest rates at an all-time low, Brazilians leaving the country, fires in the Pantanal.
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600 days
Monday will mark the 600th day since the assassination of Rio City Councilor Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes. The case is a paramount example of shoddy police work—even for Brazil’s already-paltry standards. Despite a few arrests having been made, we still don’t know exactly who killed Marielle —and, more importantly, who ordered the hit. All evidence so far points to a crime sponsored by the armed militias which dominate several areas of Rio de Janeiro and have deep connections to the city’s political establishment. Since the Marielle case was opened, several pieces of sealed information have been leaked to the press, as well as suspicions that militias have paid off law enforcement agents to tamper with police work.
This week, the latest pathetic display of amateurism came after reports that the alleged driver of the crime’s getaway car visited President Jair Bolsonaro’s housing complex hours before Marielle was killed. Prosecutors were quick to say that evidence proved the alleged connection between the president and the perpetrators didn’t exist. Still, the episode showed how porous the secrecy around the case is, which...
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