On December 4, 1963, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, where he was the internal of the traditional São José College. Carioca who would spend most of his life in Maceió and Brasilia, was only 14 years old at that time.
In the following decades, Collor graduated in economics, performed various political functions in Alagoas and, waiving the position three years later in the midst of an impeachment process. .
In December 4, just over 61 years ago, businessman and journalist Arnon de Mello, Collor’s father, was preparing in Brasilia for his first speech as a senator.
There was expectation among congressmen regarding the speech of the Alagoas politician. Not because Arnon were to announce an innovative proposal or something, but for his old rivalry with the countryman Silvestre Pericles, a senator since 1959. Both had already occupied the chair of governor of Alagoas.
Days earlier, Arnon had said he made a point that disaffection followed his first speech. Silvestre said that “would not listen without reaction any insult” coming from the rival. Previously, he had referred to Arnon as “silences”.
Silvestre was in the plenary when, around 3 pm, Arnon began his speech, addressing the president of the Senate ,. “Mr President, allow you to do my speech by looking at Senator Senator Pericles of Góis Monteiro, who threatened to kill me.”
“Crápula”, reacted Silvestre, with his left hand extended along the body, holding a 45 caliber pistol, as the journalist, columnist, tells columnist Sheetin (Ed. Companhia das Letras, 1999).
Arnon immediately drew a 38 revolver and fired three times toward his rival, who threw himself on the floor. No shot hit wild, but one of the shots hit Jose Kairala, the acre congressman who said goodbye to the Senate just that day – family members accompanied the tribune session.
Kairala was taken to the district hospital and died that night. The next day, the Sheet highlighted the episode :.
From Rio, Fernando Collor accompanied the events on the radio. The tragedy in the Senate soon became one of the major subjects of the last weeks of 1963 in Brazil.
In the act of acting by congressmen, Arnon said he had only shot “to scare” Pericles and that he had not been responsible for the death of Kairala. However,
He remained in prison for seven months until he went to a popular jury – it was in 1969, six years later, that the Constitution determined that deputies and senators should be tried by the Supreme Court. Arnon was acquitted, contrary to what happens now with Fernando, the room of his five children, the result of the marriage with Leda Collor de Mello.
The former president’s father remained in Congress until 1981, in recent years as a bionic senator. Died in 1983.
