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The Anatomy of a Death: Repression, Human Rights and the Case of Alexandre Vannucchi Leme in Authoritarian Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2019

KENNETH P. SERBIN
KENNETH P. SERBIN
Affiliation:
University of San Diego
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Abstract

Employing new archival sources, this article reappraises the role of human rights in the opposition to Brazil's repressive military regime. While most interpretations pinpoint the protest against the 1975 murder of journalist Vladimir Herzog as the opposition's great awakening, this research focuses on a similar outcry against the 1973 killing of University of São Paulo student Alexandre Vannucchi Leme. His death led students and clergymen to defy riot troops and gather 3,000 people for a memorial service that was the first large-scale anti-regime demonstration of the 1970s and a decisive step in the Roman Catholic Church's development as leader of the opposition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , February 1998 , pp. 1 - 33
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The author wishes to thank Peter Beattie, Dain Borges, Emerson Giumbelli and Marcelo Ridenti for their comments on an earlier draft of this article. The author, of course, is responsible for any shortcomings. He also thanks the following for their assistance: Marco Aurélio Vannucchi Leme de Mattos, Anthony Pereira, Elio Gaspari, Cecília Coimbra, João Luiz Peçanha, Aldo Vannucchi, Egle Maria Vannucchi Leme, José de Oliveira Leme, Celso Castro, Ralph Della Cava, Gonzaga Souza, João Roberto Martins Filho, and Regina Barros Serbin. Support for this research was provided by the North–South Center of the University of Miami and the History Department and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences of the University of San Diego.