Since the end of its dictatorship in 1985, Brazil has enjoyed relative calm at election time. Attacks have been largely limited to municipal candidates and politicians, often involving political rivals or criminal gangs. This campaign has been different.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Marcelo Arruda was wearing a black T-shirt bearing the face of his hero, presidential election front-runner Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the day he was killed.Jorge Jose da Rocha Guaranho, drove to Arruda’s Lula-themed birthday party, blasting the song
Analysts now see the killing of Arruda in the southern city of Foz do Iguaçu as the first in a spate of incidents in an unusually deadly election campaign20th century to the brutal military dictatorship in the second, Brazil has suffered a long history of political violence. But since throwing off the dictatorship in 1985, Latin America’s largest country has enjoyed relative calm at election time.
One in five voters here considers the use of violence when an opponent wins justified to at least some extent, according to a recent survey by Quaest for the University of São Paulo. About half of those believe violence is “very justified.” There’s little variation between Lula and Bolsonaro supporters.“I have never felt this kind of fear,” said Sonia Campello, a 68-year-old retired teacher in Brasilia, the capital.
Lula has condemned the violence and decried a “climate of hatred in the electoral process which is completely abnormal.”Bolsonaro initially refused to condemn Arruda’s killing, saying he would wait for the investigation to establish a motive. But after the second killing by a self-proclaimed Bolsonarista“There is no point in blaming me for the actions,” he said during a presidential debate on Saturday.
Fabiano dos Santos, 42, a convenience store worker in São Paulo, said he will vote for Lula as he has always done. But this year, he said, he will not“Am I afraid of suffering reprisal? Of course I am,” he said. “You can’t even put a sticker on your car anymore — you’d have your car scratched.”Dos Santos said another friend was harassed at a train station while wearing a Brazilian flag T-shirt, often worn by Bolsonaro loyalists.
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