The mayor of the small Brazilian city of João Dias in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Norte in the northeast of the country, Marcelo de Oliveira, and his father, Sandy Alves de Oliveira, were shot dead on Tuesday, August 27, in a rural area of the municipality. Marcelo de Oliveira, as he was called, but his real name was Francisco Damião de Oliveira, was campaigning for re-election to the local council next October in this city of only 3,000 people, but with an extremely intense political life.
According to local police, the mayor and his father were surrounded by at least eight gunmen as they walked along a side road in the São Geraldo area, a parish far from the center of João Dias. The killers, in two cars that were found burned out hours later in other parts of the municipality, cornered the father and son and riddled them with bullets, with the mayor hit by at least 11 rounds from a pistol and a shotgun.
Marcelo de Oliveira was elected in the last local elections in October 2020, but resigned in July 2021, claiming that Deputy Mayor Damaria Jacome and her family had threatened to kill him, also related to turbulent local politics. In October 2022, the court granted Marcelo’s petition, removed his successor Damaria from office, and reinstated the elected mayor.
Throughout his term, Marcelo Oliveira has reported death threats from the Jacome family, which has also had a turbulent trajectory. Two of Damaria’s brothers were killed by police in Bahia state, two others were arrested in Sergipe state, all of whom are accused by authorities of drug trafficking, and Damaria herself was convicted last year of violations and crimes such as extortion, but is awaiting appeal at large.
The Rio Grande do Norte Secretariat of Public Security has sent reinforcements of military police agents, responsible for supposed public security, and judicial police to the small but far from peaceful city to investigate the crimes. Until Wednesday, nothing had been said, but rumors had been circulating in the city, spread with caution given that everyone knows everyone else and there is a general atmosphere of fear, that the deaths of Marcelo and his father could have been politically motivated.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha (Correspondent in Brazil)
Source: CM Jornal
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