The military dictatorship (1964-1985) murdered 16-year old student Édson Luís Lima Souto on March 28, 1968. Édson was at a high school student protest in the Calabouço cafeteria. The students mobilized to stop the ongoing renovations in the cafeteria and also protested increasing food prices and the poor quality of the meals. Under the military dictatorship, which had already existed for four years, protests were not tolerated. Military police arrived to disperse the group, and they reacted to the stones thrown by students with gunfire. Édson was hit by a bullet in the chest and died before receiving medical attention.
The next day, the newspaper Jornal do Brasil wrote: “There were about 300 students in the cafeteria, and after Military Police Shock Team removed everyone from the area, the students all escorted the body of their classmate, Luís Lima Souto, to the Santa Casa da Misericórdia hospital, where doctors and service personnel blocked their entrance. However, the students forced their way in, taking the body inside the hospital. Once the death of the student was registered, his classmates carried him on their outstretched arms to the Legislative Assembly in an impressive procession.” Today, that building is the City Council building in Cinelândia.
Édson’s murder provoked a series of student demonstrations and strikes against the military dictatorship throughout Brazil. The military’s response was to intensify repression, culminating in the Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5), considered to be the most severe decree that the regime established, as it gave nearly absolute power to the military.