Brazil has already recorded 26 murders this year for political reasons or in connection with the implementation of public activities. This number is already higher than has been recorded in the four presidential campaigns since the redemocratization. Monitoring political violence Stadao shows that, as of 2018, murders have increased due to partisan and ideological differences.

In the municipal elections of 2020, there were 16 killings due to intolerance and discussions of candidates at marches, leaflets and rallies, unintentional crimes. In the past six months, this type of murder has also occurred due to civil service activity (six), social activity or class association (four), allegations of corruption (two), and social conflict (one). The remaining cases relate to team crimes, when someone ordered the murder of a political agent.

More than any other political crime, killing over partisan disputes has a corrosive effect on holding back debate in groups of friends and family, and even in large communities. This type of crime affects politicians from various parties.

In May, adviser Ednaldo Isidorio Neto of the PP from Serra Talhada (PE) was killed in a long-standing family war in the municipality of Sertanejo. Two years ago he was already attacked. The congressman was in front of his residence when he was executed at close range by a couple passing by on a motorcycle, a classic command crime.

In January, another councilor, Carlos Gabriel Ferreira López, of Solidariedade in Mocahuba, Pennsylvania, was killed on the outskirts of the city by two men who were also on a motorcycle. In the municipality of Santa Catarina, Major Vieira, former Republican construction secretary Sergio Roberto Lezan was attacked to death. A few months earlier, he accused local politicians of corruption.

Professor of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, political scientist Sergio Prasa said that the seriousness of these cases of crimes related to party arguments cannot be “underestimated”. “This cannot become something normal. Attack the PT, then Bolsonarist. Soon fierce competition becomes commonplace,” he said.

O Stadao has been monitoring assassinations in Brazilian politics for nine years. This is the oldest monitoring of this type of crime in the country and the widest in scope. The historical series begins with data records from the Amnesty Law of August 28, 1979 and the beginning of redemocratization. Since then, 1999 murders have been recorded. Cases of robbery – robbery followed by death – and crimes of passion were not included. In the review, the killings are seen as the elimination of the enemy in search of a space of power, for political revenge and disagreements between militants from opposing camps. It also includes killings of public servants in the performance of their official duties.

Last week, PT-linked municipal guard Marcelo Arruda was killed by criminal agent Jorge Guaragno during his birthday party, the theme of which was former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Paraná. According to witnesses, before committing the crime, Guaragno walked to the door of the party and they argued about political preferences. Sons of bitches, thief Lula, this is Bolsonaro, this is a myth, the killer would have shouted. For the police, the Foz do Iguaçu episode is not a political crime. The case was not considered during the audit Stadao.

Murder monitoring shows that homicide investigation bodies rarely record political motivations for fear of retaliation. The data shows that municipal elections have the highest number of homicides. However, majorities for the president, governor, and senator, and proportional majorities for federal and state MPs, already represent peaks in the number of murders. This was the case in 2010 (73 cases), 2018 (71), 1998 (57) and 2002 (43).

The 2022 election year outperforms the direct competitions of 1989 (23), 1994 (17), 2006 (25) and 2014 (20) in terms of murders. The main targets of the killers were former municipal secretaries and secretaries (five cases), civil servants (four), councilors and public figures (three), police officers associated with politicians (two) and activists (one).

In the place where native Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips were killed in June this year, Alto Solimões has already registered politically motivated killings. In May, Olimpio Guedes Olavo Junior, an SDP adviser to neighboring Tabatinga, was shot dead in Manaus. He was attacked in September after a series of complaints against politicians and drug dealers.

Another hallmark of the problem of violence in politics is that no single force takes responsibility for combating it. In 2020, the then President of the High Electoral Court (TSE), Luis Roberto Barroso, stated in an interview that such murders were the result of a crime in general and did not involve the body.

Earlier this year, current TSE President Edson Fachin met with political and religious leaders to ask for their support in fighting political violence. “Electoral justice has faced the result of growing intolerance and an obvious process of degradation of values,” the minister said. The information is taken from the newspaper. State of Sao Paulo.