She was the leader of the quilombo Pitanga dos Palmares, a priestess of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé, and the former Secretary for Racial Equality of Simões Filho, in Bahia state. Her community in Bahia is home to 289 families across 854 hectares.
The National Day Against Religious Intolerance, celebrated on January 21, was introduced in Brazil by federal law in 2007. In 2021, 244 intolerance cases were reported.
The 15th edition of the Walk in Defense of Religious Freedom was staged in Copacabana on Sunday with the motto “Religious freedom: I have faith in it.”
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