The family of PT municipal guard Marcelo Arruda, who was shot dead in Foz do Iguaçu on the 9th by a Bolsonarist militant, called for the meeting between the victim’s brother and President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) not to be used “for political purposes”. As Estadão revealed, on Wednesday the chief executive received 20-year-old José Arruda at the Palacio do Planalto and changed the tone of his speech about the crime.

To brother Marcelo Bolsonaro, he acknowledged that the birthday boy was the only victim in the case and apologized for earlier spreading fake news according to which PT members had beaten José Guaraño, accused of murder.

The president’s retreat was an attempt to refute the interpretation that Bolsonaro would not act to appease sentiment between his supporters and PT members. “We destroyed the narratives and showed that I was interested in talking to him in order to show solidarity,” the president said.

This Thursday, 21 years old, the son of the deceased PT, Leonardo Miranda de Arruda, said that his uncle’s trip to the Planalto Palace was an individual decision and did not reflect the position of the family. He asked that the chief executive’s visit not be used for “political purposes.”

“The family hereby declares that Uncle José’s trip to the Palacio do Planalto reflects an individual decision of the same, and not of the whole family, who hope that the visit will not be used for political purposes. The whole family is focused on following the ongoing monitoring of the criminal case,” he said.

Arruda, who ran for Vice Mayor of Foz and is local PT treasurer, celebrated his 50th birthday at a themed party honoring former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The celebration was interrupted by federal criminal agent Jorge Guaragno, a supporter of Bolsonaro, who, according to witnesses, shouted “here is Bolsonaro” before committing the crime. After a shootout, he was also shot dead.

The Parana judge accepted yesterday the State Public Ministry’s complaint and made Guaragno the defendant for the double-qualified murder committed by the “antagonistic preferences of the political party”. In contrast to the five-day investigation by Paraná’s civilian police, prosecutors realized that the crime was motivated by “antagonistic party-political preferences” and changed the qualifier from clumsy, police concluded, to useless. In practice, the change does not change the sentence if convicted, which can be up to 30 years.

Guaragno is still hospitalized at the Hospital of Minister Costa Cavalcanti, but has been discharged from the intensive care unit. According to the report, he is conscious, in the infirmary, in police custody.