On July 9, 2022, city guard and Workers' Party treasurer Marcelo Arruda was murdered by Jorge José da Rocha Guaranho, a federal prison officer and supporter of Jair Bolsonaro, in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná. The incident received international coverage as emblematic of the climate of polarization and political violence in the 2022 Brazilian general election cycle.
Background Marcelo Aloizio de Arruda (Foz do Iguaçu, July 9, 1972 – Foz do Iguaçu, July 9, 2022) was raised in the Bancários favela, and began working as a shoeshine boy. In 2003, he graduated from college in Biology. He was a candidate for vice-mayor of Foz do Iguaçu in 2020 for the Workers' Party. In a report by lawyer and law professor Fábio Aristimunho Vargas for BBC News, on May 14, he and Arruda spoke at the Youth Against Violence Workshop, where Arruda argued that "left-wing police officers like him would be the first victims in a possible authoritarian escalation in the country, (...) to prevent them from passing on strategic knowledge to a democratic resistance." At the time of his death, Arruda was the party treasurer, a city guard for 28 years, and director of the Foz City Employees Union (Sismufi). He was married and had four children, including a one-month-old baby. On July 9, 2022, Arruda celebrated his 50th birthday at a party themed after the Workers' Party and former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The celebration was held at the headquarters of the Itaipu Physical Security Sports Association, in Vila A. The event started at 6 pm.
Jorge José da Rocha Guaranho has been a federal prison police officer since 2010, and described himself on social media as Christian, conservative, pro-life, pro-gun, and a Bolsonarista. On his social media, most of his posts are in support of Bolsonaro and his agendas, and include criticisms of Rede Globo and Alexandre de Moraes; as well as a selfie with Eduardo Bolsonaro. In 2018, Guaranho was detained for contempt of military police in Guapimirim, Rio de Janeiro. He was even subject to an internal investigation, which was shelved. In October 2019, he had a disagreement with security guards at a party in Capanema, Paraná, where a report was filed by the Military Police. There was no conviction in either case. He was studying medicine at Cidade do Leste, in Paraguay. He was secretary of the board of the Itaipu Physical Security Sports Association, where Arruda's birthday party was being held, but did not know him previously and had not been invited to the event.
Crime
Marcelo Arruda's birthday party was taking place on the premises of a club made up of public and private security agents, which had recently installed surveillance cameras throughout the premises. Around 9 pm, Márcio Jacob Muller Murback, one of the club's directors, accessed CCTV footage on his cell phone and watched Arruda's party about 700 meters away. Márcio was accompanied by Guaranho. In his testimony, Márcio Murback said that Jorge Guaranho initially did not react after seeing the images on his cell phone, and that he was for about 3 more hours at the Assemib barbecue. After that, Guaranho left Assemib and went to Arruda's birthday party at Aresf.
Security camera footage shows a car, driven by Maranho, maneuvering before Arruda's birthday party at 11:40 pm. Guaranho was not known to anyone at the party and had not been invited. A woman (Guaranho's wife) and a small child (his son) were also in the car. According to police chief initially heading the investigation, Iane Cardoso, Guaranho was playing a pro-Bolsonaro song in the car. Arruda goes up to the driver trying to talk to him, who appears to yell at Arruda. According to witnesses, Guaranho voiced his support for President Bolsonaro. Arruda then grabs a handful of dirt from a nearby flowerbed and throws it at the driver, who in turn pulls out a gun and points it at Arruda. At that moment, Arruda's wife approaches the vehicle, trying to talk to those involved. Guaranho's wife, inside the vehicle, opens the back door, asks her husband to stop, and begs them to leave. As other guests approach, Guaranho leaves the place, accelerating his vehicle abruptly.
The same security camera shows Guaranho returning to the scene at 11:51 pm. He arrives alone, parks his vehicle, and gets out, brandishing a gun. Arruda's wife, at the entrance, flashes her police badge and orders Guaranho to lower his weapon, but he ignores her. They argue briefly while Guaranho aims towards the inside of the party, he then shoots a few times and runs into the place. In the closed-circuit monitoring images, it can be seen that, when hit by one of the shots fired by Guaranho, Arruda puts his hand at waist height and falls to the floor, crawling in search of shelter under a table. The shooter then enters the location, ready to execute Arruda, who was bent over on the ground. However, a last-minute intervention by Arruda's wife throws the shooter off balance and knocks him to the ground, but not before Guaranho manages to fire a close-range shot at Arruda. At this point, the victim begins to return fire, but Guaranho tries to get up and flee toward the back door, but is shot multiple times until he falls backward to the ground. After the shooting ends, some men approach the location and begin kicking Guaranho upon noticing the criminal was still trying to move.
Military Police and Fire Department personnel arrived at the scene around midnight. Arruda and Guaranho were taken to Foz do Iguaçu City Hospital. At 4:25 am, Arruda's death was confirmed. His body was laid to rest in the late afternoon of the 10th, and high-ranking Workers' Party officials, such as party president Gleisi Hoffmann, participated in the wake. Arruda's body was buried at 3:30 pm the following day, at Jardim São Paulo Cemetery, in Foz do Iguaçu, with the event attended by hundreds.
da Silva's version Guaranho's wife, Francielle Sales da Silva, denied the political nature of the crime and claimed the encounter between Arruda and Guaranho was merely coincidental. According to her, her husband was patrolling the club when the crime occurred, and Guaranho was initially provoked by Arruda, who was listening to a pro-Bolsonaro song. da Silva held that her husband did not expect to be greeted aggressively, as she had been told there were many police officers at Arruda's party. She testified her husband only flashed his gun when Arruda threw dirt at the car, and that he was very upset when people from inside the party allegedly threw dirt and rocks at the car, which caused him to leave with his family, but also led him to return to the scene to "settle the matter." She claimed that her husband was not a right-wing extremist, and that the true fanatic was Arruda.
The club's directors confirmed in their statements that these patrols were commonplace, but its president said that only the caretaker could accurately determine the frequency of Guaranho's patrols. When questioned, the caretaker replied he remembered the suspect having carried out only one of these patrols, about eight months earlier. Guaranho had been the secretary to the club, but had left the board around the same time, according to his colleagues. A police report refuted the hypothesis that Arruda had thrown stones at the car.
Investigation The Secretary of Public Security of Foz do Iguaçu, Marcos Antonio Jahnke, decried the killing and stated Civil Police would investigate the motives behind the crime: "From what we understood, it was political intolerance." A Special Parliamentary Commission was created to follow the case. Initially, Paraná Civil Police had reported that Guaranho had died. However, on the afternoon of July 10, it rectified the information, saying he was hospitalized in serious condition, and on July 12, the Paraná Public Security Secretariat announced he was under sedatives in hospital, with no discharge date. The police chief investigating the case, Iane Cardoso, received criticism because, in her first interview, she called Guaranho a "victim". Additionally, posts against the Workers' Party were found on her social media. On the morning of July 11, it was announced the state government had replaced her with the homicide division police chief Camila Cecconello. The official reason for the replacement, according to the state Public Security Secretariat's press office, is that "the homicide division has more resources and experience to handle this situation."
On July 11, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office of Paraná, a justice court issued an arrest warrant for Guaranho. On the 15th, chief Cecconello wrapped up the investigation and ruled out the possibility the murder constituted a political crime. As such, the investigation and possible proceedings against Guaranho would be carried out based on the precept that he committed a common crime. This was met with multiple criticisms from the victim's family, criminal law experts, and the Workers' Party. Lawyers for the family considered launching an international investigation to determine the facts.
On July 17, the Paraná State Secretariat of Public Security announced there was no provision for classifying the murder as political, as the old National Security Law was repealed by the Law on Crimes against the Democratic State of Law, which does not classify the situation. The agency supported the investigation published by the Civil Police and defended itself by claiming it is a technical institution and that "political opinions or manifestations are outside of its attributions expressed in the Constitution."
On July 19, Judge Gustavo Germano Francisco Arguello returned the investigation to Civil Police, requesting new information. The requested reports refer to the ballistics confrontation, video recorder analysis, analysis of the investigated person's cell phone, motor vehicle and the place of death. Then, on the 20th, state prosecutors indicted Garanho for homicide doubly qualified by futile motive and common danger. The political motivation for the crime was also highlighted, contradicting the version offered by chief Cecconello. Guaranho was given ten days to present his defense and had the right to call up to eight witnesses.
On the same date, Guaranho left hospital, after showing signs of awareness and health, but remaining under the watch of Military Police. Guaranho had bullet fragments in his head and was shot in the mouth, arms and left leg, in addition to being grazed in the neck. A day later, at the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office, family members and the two defense attorneys were allowed to visit him. On the same day, Justice Arguello accepted the Public Prosecutor's Office's indictment. On July 25, the judge imposed a two-day deadline for Guaranho's cell phone to be examined. On August 1, defense attorney Luciano Santoro stated his client had no memory of the crime because of the head injuries caused by the kicks he received.