The case of the murder of Benedito Cardoso dos Santos, 44, with about 15 knife and axe blows given by Jair Bolsonaro (PL) supporter Rafael Silva de Oliveira, 24, during an argument in a farm located 34 kilometers from Confresa, in Mato Grosso, generated great repercussion in social networks. The case happened on Wednesday (7), but until this Friday afternoon (9) the “peak” of comments had been at 2:06 p.m. (Cuiabá time), shortly after former president Lula (PT) commented on the fact.

From Wednesday (7) to Friday (9) at 4 p.m. there were 3,600 tweets on the subject, 44% from women and 56% from men. The posts came mainly from Brasília (21%) and São Paulo (13%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (10%), Belo Horizonte (4%), Salvador, São Luís and Recife (3%), Curitiba, Belém and Rio Grande (2%).

The most used hashtag in the post was “#genocida” (Genocidist). The words associated with “Confresa”, also used in the publications, were: Cardoso (66%), Benedito (65%), Santos (65%), hate (54%), rural (50%), bolsonarist (50%), murder (46%) and Mato Grosso (43%).

The most republished tweet was Lula’s (1,675 retweets), followed by the profiles ‘Pensar a História’, Humberto Costa and Kalil Oliveira. The most quoted was Humberto Costa, president of the PT. An interesting fact is that, among the most answered tweets on the subject are two associated with Lula’s speech about the Ku Klux Klan: one from the Uol article about Bolsonaro’s irony towards Lula’s speech, and another from a Bolsonaro follower also ironizing the former president’s speech.

The case

Supporter of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Rafael Silva de Oliveira, 24, killed his co-worker and supporter of former president Lula (PT), Benedito Cardoso dos Santos, 44, with about 15 knife and axe strokes, during an argument in a farm located 34 kilometers from Confresa, in Mato Grosso. The victim was hit in the eyes, forehead and the last blows were to the neck with the aim of decapitating the man.
The crime happened last Wednesday night, September 7, after a day of work. The two were alone in the house when they started an argument. At one point during the fight, Benedict punched Rafael in the jaw, and Rafael fought back.

Next, the supporter of Lula grabbed a knife and went after his rival, who managed to take the weapon and hit him. Benedict tried to escape, but was chased by the supporter of Bolsonaro and killed with extreme cruelty.

Originally from Goiás, Benedito was little known in the region, and had no family in the city, where he was working. Few people knew what to say about him.

Rafael, who had lived in Confresa for a longer period, had criminal records for crimes committed in the city. Nevertheless, according to him, he had no relatives in the region, only a sister in Cuiabá, with whom he has little contact.

The Digital Democracy Room at FGV ECMI is an initiative to monitor and analyze the public debate on the internet. Currently, it has partnerships to help monitor politics on the networks in Brazil and in Latin America. This content was produced by the partner Olhar Direto.