THE ANATOMY OF A DEATH - REPRESSION, HUMAN-RIGHTS AND THE CASE OF LEME,ALEXANDRE,VANNUCCHI IN AUTHORITARIAN BRAZIL

Employing new archival sources, this article reappraises the role of h uman rights in the opposition to Brazil's repressive military regime. While most interpretations pinpoint the protest against the 1975 murde r of journalist Vladimir Herzog as the opposition's great awakening, t his research focuses on a similar outcry against the 1973 killing of U niversity of Sao Paulo student Alexandre Vannucchi Leme. His death led students and clergymen to defy riot troops and gather 3,000 people fo r a memorial service that was the first large-scale anti-regime demons tration of the 1970s and a decisive step in the Roman Catholic Church' s development as leader of the opposition.