Prominent gay congressman flees Brazil, citing death threats

Prominent gay congressman flees Brazil, citing death threats
THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION
JAN 25, 2019

WASHINGTON - A prominent gay congressman in Brazil announced on Thursday that he was leaving his job and fleeing the country because of increased death threats made against him.

Jean Wyllys, the country’s first openly gay congressman, told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper that he had left Brazil and was going to work in academia, with no plans to return home.

“Preserving a life under threat is also a strategy to fight for better days,” Wyllys wrote on Twitter with a link to the article.

. . .

Wyllys, who was re-elected to a third term in parliament last October, had received numerous death threats in the past, but according to the report in Folha, these had intensified significantly since the killing last March of Wyllys’ close friend, Marielle Franco, a Rio de Janeiro councilwoman.

More:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/01/25/world/politics-diplomacy-world/prominent-gay-congressman-flees-brazil-citing-death-threats/#.XEpQ9VxKjIU

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142252013