Eduarda Campopiano (PL-SP), 23, was elected this Sunday as the state representative with the most votes in São Paulo, with 1,956,238 votes—a record for the São Paulo State Legislative Assembly. But her public record includes statements that sparked controversy even before the election.
In May of this year, during an interview on the RedCast podcast, Campopiano claimed that, had it not been for European Christianization, indigenous peoples would be “practicing cannibalism” in Brazil. “Praise God that they colonized us, praise God that they Christianized the indigenous women. Praise God that the far right arrived and told the Indians: ‘Guys, making sacrifices and eating your little brother’s arm isn’t right, burying children alive…’,” she declared.
Campopiano is a digital influencer and describes herself as “the greatest enemy of São Paulo’s feminists.” She was elected city councilor in Praia Grande in 2024 with just over 3,500 votes, and in 2026 she left that position to run for the State Legislature. Her political mentor is Lucas Pavanato (PL), who was elected to the Federal Chamber of Deputies in São Paulo with 3,038,438 votes—the second-highest vote total in the history of the Chamber of Deputies. Both are part of the same cohort of conservative influencers that the Liberal Party propelled into the legislature in these elections.
Archive link -> https://archive.ph/NvtRV
In Brazil if they have a Italian surname, they’re probably descendants of the 1880s-1930s immigration wave that was incentivized specifically as a way to avoid giving work and land to the recently freed black population.
The ex-slaves were driven into the city periphery (eventually leading to the favela phenomenon), while Italian newcommers were given priority for land distribution alongside some of the (Portuguese-ish) white urban population.
My god that is so cruel
Yeah they also tried to erase darker skin-tones via “whitening” - thats something to keep in mind when certain people claim Brazil or other LatAm countries are post-racial colorblind utopias.
So does this mean it’s likely that the person saying this awful stuff is a descendant of colonizers?
Incredibly likely. Not of the “original colonisers”, as in the Portuguese, but rather of the new settlers from after slavery was abolished. Ironically the Portuguese settler descendants themselves got the short end of the stick among the whites. Even Bolsonaro himself is of Italian settler descent.
Oh wow. Thanks for the context on it. I admit I had no idea of how complicated Brazil’s history is in that way.