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Brazil mayor was shot in 'fake attack' for election boost but lost in landslide

José Aprígio da Silva was seriously hurt in October by assailants with assault rifles but police say it was faked

As campaign strategies go it was unorthodox and illegal: buy an AK-47, hire a pair of phony hitmen, and stage a fake assassination attempt against the mayor that would generate public sympathy and help him win a second term in power. Silva, the town’s re-election-seeking mayor, was hit in the left shoulder and rushed to the intensive care unit of one of Brazil ’s top hospitals as relatives and allies denounced what they called a brazen attempt on his life. Officials including São Paulo’s rightwing governor, Tarcísio de Freitas, and the country’s leftwing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, weighed in with messages of outrage and support.

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