The attempted feminicide she suffered on February 6, 2017 still causes a mixture of feelings and tears in the early childhood education agent in the city of Rio de Janeiro Evelyn Lucy Alves da Luz, 44 years old. The shots she took from her ex-husband are marked on her and her daughter, who was 6 years old at the time and watched everything.
“He fired the shots in front of the child. She witnessed her mother being almost killed, making this crime even more cruel”, he said in an interview with Brazil Agencywhile participating in a demonstration against feminicide, on Copacabana Beach.
Evelyn said her daughter carries the trauma to this day. “Unfortunately, she is still very traumatized, she doesn’t talk about the issue. To this day, I fight for her to have a healthy and fulfilling life, but it is very difficult having experienced what she experienced,” he said.
Evelyn Lucy Alves da Luz, victim of attempted feminicide, denounces violence of which she was a victim – Foto Cristina Indio do Brasil/Agência Brasil
“It was in broad daylight, on a Carnival Saturday. This man did this in front of everyone, something that is common. They are not afraid of being violent and aggressive.”
The shots were fired in front of her house, in Vila Isabel, in the north of Rio, after her ex-husband brought back her daughter who had gone with him to a meeting ordered by the courts. The girl, who didn’t want to go, returned crying with her father ten minutes later. “He returned to my house and fired three shots, two were in my abdomen, I lost my spleen, a piece of my liver and my left ovary, and the other was in my face,” he revealed, adding that he was hospitalized for 21 days, 11 of which were in the Intensive Care Center.
“I carry these marks to this day. Both physical and emotional. I know very well what they are”, he said among the protesters who participated in the event On the Street for Women Alive!, at post 5 on Copacabana Beach.
“Today I am here. I could have become a statistic, but I am here because I am truly a survivor of attempted femicide.”
Evelyn was able to count on a support network of women that formed around her as groups and collectives.. “I received a lot of love and affection, including one of the people from whom I received this affection, shortly afterwards, was Vanderlea Aguiar, also a member of the Emancipa Movement. One of the people who supported me in getting me here.”
“Just being alive, I think it’s already a great activism because I went through something that no woman deserves to go through.”
Evelyn, however, complains about the lack of support from the State. “I received support from people and not from organizations or the government. I didn’t receive any type of help, any type of connection, I didn’t receive psychological, financial support, anything. I had to get back on my feet”, he stated.
“It’s one of my questions. A woman who survives violence, be it property, emotional violence, or an attempted femicide, does not receive support from the government to recover.”
The attacker even faced legal action and was arrested, but after an internet search, Evelyn was scared to learn that he was free. “He has been free since 2024 and no one told me,” he said, adding that this was yet another reason to be at the event in Copacabana.
“I’m here for myself, for all the others who are gone and for those who want to be free.”
Also present at the women’s demonstration in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, Vanderlea Aguiar, 49 years old, says that she managed to get out of a difficult relationship out of survival instinct.
“We are tired of seeing women dying simply because they are women and because men think they own our lives and our bodies. You could even say our souls,” he told Brazil Agency.
Vanderléa Aguiar and Adriana Domingues, at the protest against feminicides, in Rio de Janeiro – Photo Cristina Índio do Brasil/Agência Brasil
“Supporting Evelyn and the women is saying that we are alive, surviving and, more than that, it is saying enough is enough and that we can’t take it anymore. That we are the masters of our lives, yes.”
Adriana Herz Domingues, 31 years old, is one of the state coordinators of Coletivo Juntas, present at this Sunday’s event (7). According to the psychologist, the increase in cases of feminicide was the trigger for the demonstration. The lack of investment for a reception network and the holding of public tenders for these spaces are also on the list of demands.
“We are fighting for this, but firstly that cases of violence do not happen. It is very important to have the Maria da Penha Law and debates in schools about violence against women. Discuss why machismo exists and other issues.”
The debate about what violence is, according to the psychologist, is fundamental, because there are still women who do not identify what they suffer. “This involves this debate in schools, in the Unified Health System, campaigns by the government itself and also having the State apparatus for reception.” For Adriana, although the Women’s Houses are an achievement of the women’s movement and work well in some places, there are still insufficient public facilities.
“Psychological care is important for women so that they feel that they are not alone, they have support, often in a group so that those going through the situation can strengthen themselves collectively,” he said.
She recalled that there are cases in which a woman does not leave a violent relationship due to financial difficulties.
“[É preciso] we guarantee full employment, have public competitions so that women can have good jobs, scholarships for women who are in situations of violence. These are proposals for us to combat this”, he noted.
Professor Deise Coutinho places sunflowers next to crosses in Copacabana to protest against feminicide – Photo Cristina Indio from Brazil/Agência Brasil
Retired teacher Deise Coutinho, 68 years old, took sunflowers and placed them next to black crosses scattered on the Copacabana beachfront road representing deaths due to feminicide. Representative of the Union of Private School Teachers, she demands that the government respond to the deaths of women due to feminicide. “Sunflower is a flower that rises, is the motto. We rise to fight, to end this killing of women.”
