Edson Luis de Lima Souto was an 18 year-old Brazilian high school student murdered by military police who invaded the Main Student Cafeteria, nicknamed The Dungeon, in Flamengo. Edson was one of 300 students protesting for better meals at the restaurant on the night of March 28th, 1968, in the fourth year of the Military Dictatorship.
The students managed to rescue Edson Luis’ corpse and carried him through downtown Rio to the steps of the Legislative Assembly, in Cinelândia, where he was laid in state.
The steel sculpture by artist Cristina Pozzobon represents a lacerated flag with glass scratches. It was inaugurated in 2008 for the 40-year anniversary of the student’s death, with the presence of then-minister Paulo Vanucchi, from the Special Secretary of Human Rights. According to him, it was the first monument inaugurated in a public square by the President of the Republic in memory of the dead and disappeared from the military regime.