Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register SAO PAULO, July 10 (Reuters) – A local official of Brazil’s leftist opposition Workers’ Party (PT) was shot on Saturday by a federal prison guard who was shouting support for right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, a state police report and a witness said. Marcelo Arruda, a municipal guard and PT executive, was celebrating his birthday party in the southern Brazilian city of Foz de Iguacu, in the state of Parana, when Jorge Jose da Rocha Guaranho walked into the event and shot and killed him. Arruda, who was also armed, retaliated, killing Guaranho, according to a PT statement. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The deaths of the two men bode ill ahead of October’s elections, which many expect to be particularly tumultuous in politically polarized Brazil. Leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the PT’s presidential candidate and currently leads Bolsonaro in the polls. Bolsonaro, who has long railed against Lula and his leftist allies, has championed the idea of not accepting any electoral defeat, citing unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud and problems with Brazil’s widely respected electronic voting system. According to a state police report and a witness who spoke to Reuters, Guarano showed up at the party, uninvited, brandishing a gun while also yelling pro-Bolsonaro insults at attendees. Aluizio Palmar, a journalist at the party, told Reuters that a man arrived and started screaming in support of Bolsonaro, describing him as a “legend”. According to Palmar, the man left but returned about 15 or 20 minutes later, pointing a gun at Arruda. Arunda ordered him to stop, identifying himself as a member of the security forces. Both men then opened fire, killing each other, according to the PT statement, the police report and security camera images in local media. “Another dear comrade died this morning, a victim of intolerance, hatred and political violence,” PT national president Glacy Hoffman said in a statement. Bolsonaro’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On social media, Bolsonaro repeated a 2018 post “rejecting support from those who use violence against opponents”. “I ask these types of people, for consistency, to switch sides and support the left,” Bolsonaro tweeted. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Edward Simons. Ana Mano writes. Edited by Chizu Nomiyama and Christopher Cushing Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
