Frei Betto — born Carlos Alberto Libânio Christo on Aug. 25, 1944, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil — is a Dominican friar, writer and liberation theologian, and the author of around 60 books, including Anatomy of Power and the Jabuti Prize-winning Batismo de Sangue. A prominent opponent of Brazil's military dictatorship, he was imprisoned twice for his activism, first briefly in 1964 and then from 1969 to 1973. In the 1970s and '80s he helped build ecclesial base communities and worked with labor movements in São Paulo's industrial ABC region, where he grew close to a young Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He later served as Lula's special adviser (2003-04), coordinating the Zero Hunger anti-poverty program. He remains a widely read columnist on politics, religion and social issues across Latin American Catholic media, including IHU Unisinos.