RIO DE JANEIRO : A Racial First
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If the front-runner wins a runoff municipal election Sunday, this famous Brazilian city will be run for the first time by a black mayor.
Congresswoman Benedita da Silva, 50, won the first round Oct. 3 with 33% of the vote and is favored to defeat economist Cesar Maia in the runoff. Da Silva is a member of the leftist Workers’ Party and lives in one of Rio’s hillside shantytowns. Her house has been improved over the years into an ample and comfortable dwelling.
The granddaughter of a slave, Da Silva worked as a maid and a nurse’s aide before earning a university degree in social work. She won election to the Rio de Janeiro state Assembly in 1982 and to the national Congress in 1986 and 1990.
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