Charles Rodney Chandler

Charles Rodney Chandler (July 23, 1938 – October 12, 1968) was a US Army officer and veteran of the Vietnam War assassinated by members of the (VPR) and the Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Assassination On the morning of October 12, 1968, Chandler and his son planned to visit São Paulo's enormous Ibirapuera Park. Chandler entered his Chevrolet Impala station wagon, backed out of the garage, but stopped as he waited for his son to close the gate, then was blocked by a Volkswagen Beetle from entering the road. As Chandler's wife and one of four children watched, Chandler was ambushed by Diógenes José Carvalho ("Luis"), who unloaded six rounds of his Taurus .38 caliber revolver into Chandler, then Marcos Antonio Braz de Oliveira ("Marquito"), who opened fire on the American veteran with a machine gun. Chandler was riddled with 14 bullets. The assassination was planned for the anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, but delayed several days as Chandler had altered his routine. However, according to Marighella's biographer Mario Magalhães, there is no evidence to support this belief; journalist Elio Gaspari wrote that Chandler was chosen because he was American and a veteran, not because he had committed any crime or misdeed.

Legacy The historian characterizes the assassination of Chandler as having had a major impact on the Brazilian military regime, as he was a "North American captain, with such an aura."

Involvement in the planning of the assassination is among the baseless accusations supporters of Jair Bolsonaro spread about Dilma Rousseff.

In popular culture The assassination of Charles Rodney Chandler was portrayed in Wagner Moura's 2019 film Marighella.