Zuzu Angel's death certificate is rectified after almost 50 years.
An official document acknowledges that the Minas Gerais-born fashion designer was a victim of state violence during the military dictatorship.
247 - The Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances, linked to the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, delivered this Thursday (28) 21 rectified death certificates of victims of the military dictatorship (1964-1985). Among them is that of the Minas Gerais fashion designer Zuzu Angel, a fashion icon who gained international prominence by dressing Hollywood celebrities and who defied the regime after the murder of her son, Stuart Angel, who died under torture.
The rectification of the death certificates complies with Resolution No. 601 of 2024 from the National Council of Justice (CNJ), which mandates that records indicate deaths as unnatural, violent, and attributed to the Brazilian State in the context of political persecution promoted by the regime. Furthermore, the new documents include supplementary information such as age, marital status, date, and place of death of the victims, according to [source missing]. Folha de S. Paul.
The case of Zuzu Angel
Zuzu Angel died in 1976 in an alleged car accident at the exit of what was then the Dois Irmãos tunnel in Rio de Janeiro, now renamed after the designer. Years later, investigations and testimonies indicated that her car was forced off the road by agents of the dictatorship. In 1988, the Commission on Deaths and Disappearances itself had already recognized the military regime's responsibility for the designer's death.
The fashion designer became a symbol of the fight against political violence in Brazil by denouncing the assassination of Stuart Angel, a member of the MR-8 group, who was killed in 1971. Zuzu used her international influence and prestige to denounce the crimes of the dictatorship, which increased the persecution against her.
Collective delivery in Minas Gerais
At the ceremony in Belo Horizonte, held at the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais, family members of other victims also received rectified death certificates. Among those honored were Adriano Fonseca Filho, Antônio Carlos Bicalho Lana, Antônio Joaquim de Souza Machado, Arnaldo Cardoso Rocha, Carlos Alberto Soares de Freitas, Ciro Flávio Salazar de Oliveira, Gildo Macedo Lacerda, Eduardo Antônio da Fonseca, Pedro Alexandrino Oliveira Filho, Raimundo Gonçalves de Figueiredo, Walkíria Afonso Costa, Hélcio Pereira Fortes, Idalísio Soares Aranha Filho, Ivan Mota Dias, João Batista Franco Drumond, José Carlos Novaes da Mata Machado, José Júlio de Araújo, Oswaldo Orlando da Costa, Paulo Costa Ribeiro Bastos, and Paulo Roberto Pereira Marques.
According to the Ministry of Human Rights, the expectation is to deliver up to 400 corrected birth certificates by the end of this year.
