"BERLIN, 1980" "When a part ofHistory is knocked down... one has no idea about how it all started." "October, 191 7." "Those first steps were about to divide the world for over 70 years." "On one side, capitalism." "On the other, an ideology unheard of... perhaps utopian, perhaps impossible." "The Socialist Revolution victory was about to radically change... the paths History would take in the 20th century... and the fate of this man in particular." "TH E I N N OC ENCE" "I was born in Porto alegre... but we moved to Rio de Janeiro when I was 6." "I was raised here, in Rio." "My mother and my sisters were very present in our home." "My own mother taught me to read and write." "I graduated in 191 5 as a student major from the military school." "I was the second one in line, the first being Iieutenant-colonel." "From the military school, I went straight to college." "At that time, I wanted to have a business that would make money... because my mother's life at home was very difficult." "The salary my father, a captain, was making was not enough." "HOW AMAZING 1920'S CARNAVAL WAS!" "Brazil enters the 20's... still suffering from the impact ofits first general strikes." "On the beaches of Niterói... workers, intellectuals and anarchists found on March 1922... the Brazilian Communist Party." "Arthur Bernardes is elected president." "High military ranks support the new administration." "Still not satisfied..." "Iieutenants fight for reforms in the constitution." "Crisis marches down the streets in a fast pace." "Dissatisfaction blooms in the military bases." "Everything was connected to the agony of an oligarchic republic... where political representation was a total front." "H ISTORIAN AII that culminated... to the episode of 1922:" "a manifestation of discontentment, full of violence, ardor... and heroism, obviously." "In July 1922, troops from the Copacabana Fort rebel." "The administration is quick and rigid... and orders that the fort should be bombed." "Amongst 300 rebels, 18 walk down the streets... in a suicidal march along Atlântica Avenue." "Despite the defeat, the seed of the Lieutenantist Movement blooms." "One of the officers did not join the Copacabana rebellion." "Luís Carlos Prestes was stuck in bed... with typhoid fever." "Victimized by the repression performed by his superiors..." "Prestes is sent to Santo Ângelo, Rio Grande do Sul... to oversee the construction of military bases." "Prestes was a man with an extraordinary military prestige... for having been a brilliant student at the military school... much admired by his colleagues... and he became captain in his 20's." "I believe he became Engineering captain at the age of 23." "He was a brilliant officer, with a brilliant career." "The commanding officer would never suspect me... because I was a disciplinarian within my company... and I was disciplined." "So he trusted me completely." "In my company, nobody conspired." "I had contact with the rebels... and I would give the company the heads-up about the movement." "Little by little, I would inform them." "The Lieutenantist Conspiration is not limited to Copacabana anymore." "Two years later, on July 5th, 1924..." "São Paulo becomes the newest trench against President Arthur Bernardes." "Under the command of Miguel Costa... the rebels take over the city... but are quickly surrounded by the Legalistas." "São Paulo is punished by heavy airborne attack." "" DARKER DAYS HAVE BLACKEN ED OU R COU NTRY'S HORIZON." "SÃO PAULO HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY AIRBORNE ATTACKS..."" "From July 9th through July 27th or 28th... more than 100, 000 soldiers surrounded São Paulo." "It looked like dawn... if you looked down to the city from the hills." "It looked like a birthday cake with blown out candles..." "HISTORIAN because of all the fires... the attacks started." "On the morning of July 28th... since it was impossible to go on resisting in the city... although the people was in favor of the movement... the rebels decided to retreat." "They retreated in such a beautiful, calm and organized way... that it wasn 't until the next day the administration got word of it." "The São Paulo soldiers, chased by the administration... march towards the West of Paraná." "There are many columns of mutinied soldiers." "The Phoenix column... the Undefeatable column... the Death column." "In the South, young captain Prestes... takes over the Santo Ângelo GQ and gathers more than 1, 000 men... into the Hope column, as the locals called it." "His fate had changed forever." ""lt is no longer possible to resist the intolerance of our leaders." "LETTER TO H IS MOTH ER Moved by this situation... and by the despair which suffocates our people..." "I cannot omit myself any longer." "Get ready to face harsh consequences... due to the action I 'll have to take." "After all, you raised me under rigid moral standards... planting inside of me an aversion to any kind of injustice." "Yours." "Luís Carlos Prestes "" "After successive defeats in São Paulo..." "Miguel Costa takes his troops to Foz do Iguaçu." "Prestes breaches through the enemies out of Rio Grande do Sul... and joins the São Paulo column." "When I arrived at Foz do Iguaçu... the only plan was leaving Brazil and crossing over to Argentina." "So I said I would never accept that because my column was victorious... that we had come there to unite with São Paulo." "I would never accept defeat and leaving to another country." "I would never convince my victorious soldiers to leave Brazil." "Then, The old One realized it was not wise to separate the columns." "He mixed both of them up... and created a new column... which was divided as such:" "He would still be commander-in-chief." "Under him, there was a Major State... whose chief was Luís Carlos Prestes." "Juarez Távora was the sub-chief... and there were 4 companies commanded by João Alberto..." "Siqueira Campos, Djalma Dutra... and Cordeiro de Farias." "TH E PRESTES COLUMN" "By marching, we'll thicken the column." "LETTER TO LI EUTENANTS The war in Brazil... whichever the terrain, is the war of our movement." "For us, the rebels, the movement is victory." "When the troops marched on a region cleared of enemies..." "I would organize the vanguard, the whole troop would leave... and only then I would organize the rearguard... so it could protect the column." "I've always walked wide steps, so I'd go through the entire column... talk to each soldier, and I knew each one of them by their names." "I was some kind of a peace judge." "Every complaint, every problem... was brought to me." "The column had my name because in every city we hit... if the locals had any complaints or wishes... the soldier would tell them to talk to Colonel Prestes." "So everybody would come to me, and my name was known." "That's why the column had my name." "Over 20 women followed our column around." "At the beginning, I was so strict that I didn't want women around." "I adamantly order to the troops... which were organizing the crossing of the river... that no woman could cross over to Santa Catarina... that each one of them should go back home." "I crossed the river with the Iast group." "I stayed until the end of it." "When I got to Santa Catarina, all the women were there." "They had crossed over." "What could I do?" "So they continued marching with the column, and they were very helpful." "I had to admit my mistake because... they did not harm the column in any way." "Quite the contrary, they were extremely helpful... helping with the cooking, the care of the wounded." "Some of them, during combats... gave information about the enemies movement." "Some even carried guns during the combats." "The Prestes column is polemic until today." "The heroic column crosses the country, from Rio Grande to Piauí... becomes a military epic poem... and leaves bitter memories behind." "As a survival strategy... the column went through the most inhabitable places in Brazil... in order to stay away from the main roads, used by the Legalistas." "All of a sudden, these men came from nowhere." "Some locals told me "These weird men showed up, with an accent." "We didn 't know why they were here, but they made some noise... ate our animals and arrested us." "Only God knew why they were here. "" "J O U R NALIST That was their impression." "Men came out of nowhere... and they wanted to eat, at a region where food wasn't abundant." "They wanted clothes, and they wanted women too." "So these locals saw the column as an occupation company." "The locals would run away." "We hit totally deserted villages." "That was not good." "If the village was deserted... there was no efficient way to prevent the soldiers... from pillaging the stores, because all of them were abandoned." "But when the population stayed, we respected them... and they would provide everything we needed." "So that contact was really nice." "A farmer's wife was raped... so he joined the column to find the rapist, and kill him." "He succeed, and he died in a prison cell in Campo Grande." "That means the column changed the lives of those people." "There was a discipline brigade inside the column itself." "If a soldier raped a woman, and there were some cases... he would be shot to death." "If a soldier committed an act of crime or violence..." "In fact, a commanding officer of 1,500 soldiers... is not able to account for the behavior of all those soldiers." "There was discipline in the column." "For example, each and every food request... was signed by Prestes." "After the Revolution's victory, people would be given back... in cash, what they had contributed with to the Revolution." "1927." "The great march of over 40, 000 miles was over." "Battles with mercenary and administration soldiers... men killed by hunger and infectious diseases." "The column was never defeated." "Of 2, 000 men, only 600 were left to tell the tale." "In 2 years... the column witnessed the poverty in the forsaken countryside... and it's venture represents the changes the country was asking for." "That reality touched me deeply." "The goal of the revolution... was to bring Bernardes down." "But after we saw the situation, we realized it was a social problem." "We were not aware of that." "How come there were people in such a big country in such extreme poverty?" "That helped us see how wrong we were." "Besides, we realized that the locals were the ones... who suffered the most with the civil war." "Prestes and his remaining troops find exile in Bolivia." "The horseman of Hope Column is no longer the commanding officer." "He becomes a legend... a revolutionary myth." ""My dear mother... the sole awareness of a duty..." "LETTER TO H I S MOTH ER could make me resist this... burning desire I 've had and have... to abandon everything and run to you... give you kisses and hugs. "" "Astrogildo Pereira, general secretary of the Communist Party... is one of the first ones to visit Prestes in Bolivia." "The journalist brings some presents with him:" "articles by Lenin... and the Communist Manifest." "That was the first contact of the Hope Knight with Marxism." "In Brazil..." "Washington Luiz raises to power with the support of old alliances." "REPU BLIC OF ARGENTI NA PERSONAL I DENTI FICATION" "Prestes moves to Buenos Aires and starts studying socialist texts." "The man confronts their content." "His pale idea of a political project acquires a name... an ideology... a cause." "More and more, I convinced myself the only rational explanation... that accompanied my solution to the poverty problem I had seen... in the country side of Brazil... whose cause I was investigating and trying to figure out... could only be the Marxism." "THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE PHENOMENALLY DROPPED YESTERDAY" "The West is shaken by the 1929 crisis." "The old republic agonizes in the hands of Washington Luiz." "Unsatisfied with the path the administration is taking..." "Getúlio Vargas, Rio Grande do Sul's governor... offers Prestes the commanding position of the 1 930 Revolution." "Who could start the Revolution?" "The revolutionary ones." "Who were those?" "The ones who had created the column." "Who are the heads of it?" "Such, such and such. "Let's talk to them."" "The heads of the column saw in that an opportunity... to join the movement which was a sequence... to what they had started in 1922." ""But we need a general head."" "That's when they invited Prestes to be the head of the 1930 Movement." "Prestes, as the wise politician he was, did not refuse." "He talked it through." ""To start a revolution, we need money to buy guns."" "So they said they would come up with the money." "In a secret meeting with Vargas..." "Prestes presents his Popular Revolution proposal... and asks for money and guns for his socialist cause." "They do not reach and agreement." "Even so..." "Getúlio sends him 800 contos de réis." "That posed a very serious dilemma... concerning the dignity of a bourgeois man." "I thought of giving the money back, but it belonged to the State." "I could not give it back, but he was not going to buy me... and make me change my position." "I knew well what my position was." "So I kept the money, and I kept my position." "The money was going to be useful to the revolution." "I gave it to the Latin-American Council of the Communist Intern." "The Brazilian Revolution... should start with Getúlio Vargas." "Let us fight for the sharing of lands... amongst those who work them... for the nationalization of foreign companies... for the writing off of our foreign debts!" "J U LY'S MAN I FEST" "The real fight for our national independence... can only be taken into effect... with the insurrection of every Brazilian!" "The violent repercussion of his May's Manifest..." "leads to two immediate consequences:" "Getúlio and the lieutenants drive away from Prestes... for finding his project dangerous and extreme." "On the other hand, the Communist Party, run by Otávio Brandão... accuses him of being too much of a bourgeois man... to have such blue collar ideas." "November 3rd." ""Gaúchos " tie their horses up on the obelisk on Rio Branco Avenue... in the heart of Rio de Janeiro... indicating the victory of the 1 930 Revolution." "Getúlio, with famous lieutenants from the Prestes column... takes over Palácio do Catete." "A new type of State is born." "National capitalism starts to modernize." "Until this day, many people think I should've taken part in it... because I could've changed the fate of the revolution." "It's a mistake to think a general with no soldiers could do something." "My soldiers were the lieutenants, who had elected me... as the military commander of the Revolution." "But they were for Getúlio, and I was against." "Prestes, the inflexible rebel, isolated in exile... arrives in Moscow in 1 931." "He plans his future in distant lands." "The 1 930 Revolution leads to eternal animosities." "The oligarchy wanted Washington Luiz... who did not want Getúlio, who wanted the lieutenants... who did not want the Marxism, which wanted Prestes... who did not want Getúlio, who wanted power." "TH E COU RAGE" "In Moscow, my father worked as an engineer, and also... he gave lectures... criticizing the column..." "SOVI ET U N ION analyzing it as a small bourgeois movement... that would end up dead in the water." "Honestly, there's no documentation of what he did in Moscow." "H ISTORIAN AII I have is indirect proof... of him preparing to act in Brazil... and the result is what happened in '35." "The Soviet Union is going through huge transformation." "Stalin imposes his depuration policy onto the party..." ""depuration " meaning "extermination "." "Prestes does not succeed to join the Bolchevik party" "He lives within the socialist reality... works for civil construction... and gets worked up to be a future revolutionary commander." "The communist party was afraid of him." "Some were jealous... others really thought Prestes was a bourgeois revolutionary... who would not help the communist and socialist movements." "They resisted him." "Prestes requested to join the party many times... but he was rejected." "He was only able to join when Manu Wilsk, from the International... ordered Prestes to be allowed into the PCB." "Eventually, I joined the party by order of the International... which, at the time, actually ruled the parties." "On August 1st, 1934..." ""CIasse Operária", the party's newspaper... published my acceptance to the party as a member." "It took that long." "From then on, all I wanted was to come back to Brazil." "The seeds of the 1935 lnsurrection start to bloom." "How did the lnternational actually participated in the revolution?" "That question has always been part of Prestes history." "The International always made sure to promote revolutions everywhere... and none succeeded." "Theirs is the longest record of failures... known in the History of political movements in the 20th century." "Probably, they decided to promote one in Brazil in '31 or '32... when Prestes went to Moscow." "People mention that sometimes as a great discovery." "AII parties were affiliated to the International." "Our party, for instance, was called Brazilian Communist Party..." "Brazilian Section of the International Communist." "AII parties were sections of the International." "Another mistake of History records was assigning to PCB a central role." "In fact, PCB was considered by Moscow a security risk." "From the creation of that party, it was known it was infiltrated... manipulated and divided when it came to the same struggles... seen all along the history of PCB." "In other words, at the initial phase... at the planning of the insurrection, PCB was consciously taken aside." "She was tall, with 6. 0 ft." "She certainly looked even taller beside Prestes, who was short." "Her hair was black, her eyes were blue... and she always caught everybody's attention because of her beauty... in addition to being a determined, energetic woman." "She caught everybody's attention in the Soviet Union and here." "The party militants admired her for her beauty." "She was very attractive." "At that very moment, she was nominated by Dimitri Manuilsk... the secretary of the Comintern... to take care of Prestes safety when returning to Brazil... to attempt another revolution in 1 935." "Olga was a military espionage agent for the Red Army." "The soviets have always been obsessed with the idea of... gathering confidential information." "I think Olga was sent here for two reasons:" "First, to gather general information... valuable to the interests of the Red Army." "Second, with the mission, and there's no proof of that... but the kind of work performed by other people in her department... indicates that her function was to keep an eye on Prestes." "The front the Comlntern came up with was they were a Portuguese couple... in their honeymoon, Antônio and Maria Villar." "A rich Portuguese couple." "Rich people travel first class." "So, they zigzag through Europe to escape... from international intelligence agents... who were after her." "She was the one they were looking for." "In the middle of that trip, on the way to the United States... they slept on the same bed." "There was champagne, French clothes designers... to prepare the rich couple's trousseau." "The whole mood was..." "She was beautiful, he was attractive... a man with a very interesting life story." "Then the inevitable happened." "The front created by Comlntern... became reality when the ship arrived in NY." "They were husband and wife." "There was no romance." "There was no such thing." "But I was very happy with her." "She was really dedicated... and today she's considered as a German heroine." "He said: "I don't know if you know, but OIga was my first woman"." "I heard it and forgot it, but a minute later, it came to me." "I calculated that he was 2 years older than the current century." "If that had happened in '35, he was 37." "That was impossible." "So I said, "Excuse me, but did you say she was your first woman?" "You mean the first woman you lived with?"" ""No, my first woman." I said, "Wait, I don't understand."" ""What do you mean?" "She was my first woman."" ""You mean your first passion?" "No, my first woman."" ""That was the first time I had a woman. "" "The Brazilian administration didn 't even how I had come back." "I traveled around the Pacific... and after that I went to Buenos Aires and Montevideo... and on a Latecuair plane, I bought a ticket to Santos... but before landing in Santos, on the first landing in Brazil..." "I got off the plane with OIga." "There was no guards on the port because no passengers were expected." "Our passport didn 't even get a stamp of arrival." "Much later on, the police confiscated that passport of mine." "With the return of Prestes and his experience with the column... with his wishes to form another column... to reach the right people, he appeals to the lieutenants." "The main work of the communist party took place on the GQs." "Every piece of mail by Prestes, from his arrival till Oct 1 935... was sent to his old military colleagues from the column... asking them to organize guerrillas to revive the column." "I'm convinced, because there is documentation of that... that Prestes was fundamentally a lieutenant." "Yes, he was a communist, but he had been traditionally a lieutenant." "He says that himself, "I was fundamentally a lieutenant then"." "A controversy arose with the recent revelation of the Moscow archives." "Prestes really counted on the support of international agents... for the preparation of the communist insurrection." "Arthur Habrt, or Harry Berger, a German man... was the head of the organization, along with Prestes." "Joony de Graaf, or Franz Gruber, also German... was the specialist on bombs." "Rodolfo Ghiolgui, Argentinian... was the Latin-American leader of the lnternational." "Bruno, or Amileto Locatelli, Italian... was the agent assigned to detonate the movement in São Paulo." "Julles Paul Vallée, in fact Pavel Stutchevski... a soviet spy who deceived everybody..." "Moscow's pawn in Brazil." "Prestes knew very well, thanks to his experience, that Stutchevski... not only controlled the funds... but was also from the political police... in every movement funded by the Communist International." "The guy from the political police was always the most important." "Prestes received a salary from Moscow... along with all the other members of this operation." "The Brazilian members, connected to the communist party... had horrible salaries." "There was a system of two classes:" "the ones who came from overseas had really nice salaries." "To me, that's fair." "They were working, so they should be paid." "At first, when I started working..." "I was afraid my father's image would be harmed... that I could find something that would harm his reputation." "But the more I searched, the more I saw my father's dignity." "It's amazing." "He did receive funds for his work in Brazil in '35... he was in fact connected to Moscow... he did work for Moscow, had his own agents... but he never did all that for his own benefit." "He embraced that cause, and followed that all his life... with honesty, sincerity and coherence." "The honeymoon with the ideals of the 1930 Revolution is short." "Some lieutenants feel disappointed about Getúlio and leave." "In 1934, the communist oppositions fight... for the restoration of democracy in Brazil." "A large civic movement is born, carrying a historical acronym:" "NLA:" "National Liberating Alliance." "A track of gun powder surrounds the nation 's capital." "COMMU N IST MOVEMENT EXPLODES ON TH E NORTH" "PARAÍBA'S TROOPS ATTACK NATAL" "On November 25th, 1935, the city of Natal is covered in red." "The first blast is spontaneous... taking Prestes and the directors of the movement in Rio by surprise." "Hours later, in Olinda and Recife... the communists rebel and take over both cities." "The upheaval is not as big as planned." "Socialist Northeast is suffocated in less than 3 days." "In Natal, it was a GQ movement." "Another one amongst the many that have been happening since 1 930." "Not many months would go by without a GQ riot." "That one happened because of some soldiers who had caused disorder." "When the revolution was detonated in Natal... the one in Recife was approved by the directing board of the party." "When Prestes found that out, and that also is documented... his position was "What do we do now? "" "The great doubt in Brazil was if the order to start the rebellion... came from Moscow or from Prestes." "Actually, it was both." "One of those historical coincidences that, if included in a movie... everybody will think its a lie." "Prestes asked Moscow "Can I start fighting?"" "And Moscow answers, "Yes." "I'm sending you more money"." "But things went faster than Prestes ever thought." "He was forced to fight before the positive answer from Moscow." "Deep down, when Prestes said all his life that he gave the order... he was telling a half truth." "He omitted that he asked for instructions first." "I gave the main orders." "Some were confiscated by the police." "Others are famous, especially the one to the 3rd Infantry Regiment... where the head of the GQ said he was going to help." "And he had followers." "The movement was purely military." "The Aviation School and the 3rd Regiment rebelled." "The worst is that the fight inside the 3rd Regiment... was serious and long... enabling the government troops to block the cliff on Praia Vermelha." "The revolution lacked popular support." "None of the expected strikes happened." "The GQs are the only ones to show some strength." "After thousands of bullets and a few casualties... the revolutionary troops surrender." "Getúlio and the British Espionage Service... had been aware, for some time, of the presence of Prestes in Rio." "The communist revolution fails in Brazil." "From the historical point of view, it was a disaster." "I mean, it not only hurt the democratic movement... but also isolated the communists and allowed the anti-communism... to install in a very strong way." "THE COUNTRY HONORS ITS DEFENDERS" "RIO:" "CEREMONY IN HONOR OF NOVEMBER 1935 HEROES" "The administration and the people... honor the memory of those who fell defending our institutions... on November 27th, 1935." "President Getúlio Vargas, on behalf of the administration... puts a flower crown on the mausoleum of the dead soldiers." "November 27th is now engraved on military memory." "Considered the day of victory over an internal enemy... it would feed the hate of the military and the society... towards the communists." "A wave of terror fell over Brazil..." "led, in its most part, by Captain Fillinto Muller... who had been expelled from the column years before... and had a brilliant career as the D.A. in the nation 's capital... enjoying a power as big as a department's secretary's." "He'd participate in meetings, go over documents with Vargas... and often had more power than many secretaries." "He was in charge of hunting Luís Carlos Prestes down... for two reasons:" "first, different ideology... second, he had been expelled from the column years before... charged with corruption and cowardly." "Over 10 thousand people are arrested and questioned." "In face of the arrest of Harry Berger... the international agents fall, one by one." "One of them, the young American man Victor Allan Baron... a transmission and radio specialist... goes under indescribable torture... and tells in which neighborhood in Rio Prestes and Olga are hidden." "Police search each and every house." "It was a 40-day chase." "Police are on the front, he tries to leave through the back... where there are soldiers too." "He was in his pajamas." "They had order to kill him, to bring him in dead... to prison." "He goes back to the living room, trying to escape... the policemen get in, pointing their machine guns at him." "Then OIga jumps in front of him, in a heroic scene." "She was pregnant." "She jumps in front ofhim and says, "Don't shoot." "He's unarmed"." "We were taken out of our house." "I was wearing pajamas and slippers." "We went down the muddy street." "It had rained all the time." "40 days of hard rain in Rio." "They put Olga and me in the car and took us to the central station." "CENTRAL STATION It's like a beautiful movie scene." "They put him into an old elevator, with that accordion door." "She's outside." "That's the last time they see each other." "Well, I sang..." "I didn't realize it was so important." "I found out most recently how important it is for a prisoner... to hear a singing voice." "I would hold on to the grid and I would sing." "I would sing every revolutionary song... including a version of our national anthem." "I don't remember it." "And there was a version with "Cidade Maravilhosa":" "Wonderful beach" "Filled with thousands of bullets" "Red and shiny" "Sentinel of Brazil" "By an order given by Getúlio Vargas..." "Olga Benario, German Jewish pregnant with Prestes daughter... is deported to nazi concentration camps." "Anita was born in the end of 1 936, and while still a baby... is rescued from a German prison by her father's mother... and raised with her mother's memory and her father's glory." "Dona Leocádia, a woman with a strong personality... always came to Prestes help on his most critical moments." "With Anita on her arms... she runs around the world fighting for her son 's freedom... who suffers inside the basements of Vargas ' dictatorship." "Olga 's and Prestes ' romance had become a dramatic relationship... with few happy moments." "Olga is executed in a gas chamber in 1942... at a concentration camp on the South of Germany." "She dies without ever having heard about her daughter." "When Berger's wife was arrested, OIga had been arrested already." "By mistake, the... the watching guard, who by the way helped us all a Iot... humanly speaking, not politically... he took Berger's wife to our cell, by mistake." "So we were able to hear what she said about all the torture... that she and her husband had gone under at the Special Police... who were awfully cruel." "She even showed us her breasts, all burned up with cigarette butts." "They'd burn her, twist her nipples with that tool..." "With pliers." "Anyway, she told us all that very quickly." "One hour later or something like that, they came to pick her up... because she was supposed to be in isolation." "At a certain moment, after simulating that they were... burying his wife alive at the Santo Antônio hill... they stuck a wire up his urethra, his penis..." "leaving the tip outside, and they heated it up with a burner... to try and force him to confess, but he doesn't say a word." "He left Brazil basically crazy." "Miranda, PCB's general secretary... carried on his shoulders the blame for the precipitated revolution." "The revision of what happened in '35 allows us... to reevaluate the background of this man, who was politically condemned." "It was not his fault." "It was my father, OIga e Habrt... who decided to start the revolution... on November 27th... and not Miranda." "He never took back his accountability... for the political errors of 1935." "My father always used to say that it was a mistake, an impulse." "But he could have never said that he had massive support... from the Soviet Union." ""Girl", "Elvira ", "Elza "." "Whatever alias Miranda 's wife used... she ended up involved in the defeat paranoia... and as a victim of the party's intolerance." "Miranda's wife was naïve." "That's why she was convicted." "For some days, she wandered around the station... where her husband and some militants were being held... and that immediately caused her to be seen as working with the police." "Later, they found out she was not." "The board of directors of the part... assuming Miranda worked with the police... takes it out on his wife, who was a girl, hence her nickname." "She was 1 6 or 1 7, barely educated, barely literate." "She was killed in a very cruel way, by suffocation... by 3 militants of the party, her body was broken in half... her bones were broken so that she could fit in a bag... in a fabric bag... and then buried in the backyard of one director of the party." "There are notes signed by Prestes calling on her execution." "It had already been decided that she was going to be killed... and it was being delayed." "It's a handwritten note from Prestes insisting on her execution." "Elza 's murder is the deepest wound in the history of PCB." "That tragic event... causes Prestes to be tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison." "There are no good news ahead." "But when one has ridden hope... one may very well tame pessimism." "TH E H O P E" "The nazi-fascist wave lands on our beaches." "The Green Shirts raise their sleeves, led by Plínio Salgado... some kind of a native Brazilian führer... and join Vargas in order to destroy a common enemy:" "the shattered Brazilian Communist Party." "In 1938, lntegralistas feel betrayed with the New State... and resort to force:" "they try to knock the power down by invading Palácio do Catete." "A few hours later, 1, 500 Green Shirts are arrested... and Plínio is exiled in Portugal." "The New State has two faces." "The first caresses... offering economical progress and new work laws." "The second abuses, with a police front... which through PMD, the Press and Marketing Department... isolates and censors." "PRESS AN D MARKETI NG DEPARTMENT" "Prestes lives in prison with no contact with the outside world... and is not aware of his mother's death, Dona Leocádia." "At the Special Police, I had a Iittle clean room." "The only thing I could do was take seven steps... forwards and backwards... and memorize all the multiple numbers of seven." "That was my only distraction." "However, the Special Police guards... managed to never let me spend than 4 days without a newspaper." "It was not allowed, but they would give it to me." "It's a wonder I'm not blind now." "I'd cut the paper in double rows..." "I would roll up those rows... and since it was cold those days..." "I'd lie underneath my blanket, and under it I'd read those rolls." "Ironically, a devoted Catholic, the attorney Sobral Pinto... takes up Prestes defense, against his own will." "In a lunch on April 19th, 1945..." "Prestes ate poached fish, rice and beans." "That was his last meal in prison." "With the end of the New State and amnesty to political prisoners... his 30 years in prison are reduced to 9." "Now, at the age of 47... and a nomination as general secretary of PCB..." "Prestes will, at last, sleep in his own bed." "In the workers cafeteria at the Social Security Building... took place a lunch in honor of our guest, who could observe... one of the greatest accomplishments of our government... and have direct contact with our employees." "The end of World War ll reveals an age of reconcilement." "In the campaigns of 1946..." "Prestes amazes the country with a coalition with Getúlio Vargas." "How can two different political bodies occupy the same space?" "One of the most controversial moves in Prestes' life... was his support to Vargas in 1 945... a few years after OIga being executed in a concentration camp... in Germany." "Many important people in the communist party left the party... for not agreeing with that." "I once asked Prestes... in a recorded interview... what led him to do that." "He answered... with no heroism or regret..." ""The best interest of the people were above my personal tragedies."" "He didn't make any agreement with Getúlio, he just supported him." "In fact, there's a picture where it seems Prestes raises Vargas ' hand... or that he's holding the microphone for Vargas, and that's not true." "It is somebody else 's hand." "But he supported Vargas in 1945." "Employees ' children enjoy rides installed at Quinta da Boa Vista... during the celebration of Labor Day." "The communist party enjoys its legality for the first time." "PCB prepares itself for the elections." "Prestes rehearses for his new phase:" "the contact with the people... who only knew him from his manifests... and the legend that involves his name." "When Prestes got out of prison... he came for a rally here in São Paulo on June 1 5th, 1945." "PRESTES' FORMER BODYGUARD I used to live at Angélica Avenue." "I saw a Iarge crowd going towards Pacaembu." "Since there was no soccer game that day..." "I didn't understand what was going on." "SÃO PAULO RALLY FOR LUÍS CARLOS PRESTES" "So I decided to go and check what it was." "I went down to Pacaembu... and I asked someone at the gate, "What's going on here?"" ""It's a rally." I didn't know what a rally was." "I went in, but I had never heard anything about Prestes." "SAVE THE GLORIOUS F.E.B." "São Paulo for Luís Carlos Prestes... a crucial step in the march for democracy." "Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet... senator in his country through the communist party... came especially to São Paulo to watch the rally." "Neruda wrote something to the Brazilian people." "From every corner Of our America" "The people congratulate you, Prestes" "With their small lamps From which big hopes shine" "Today, I ask for silence From volcanoes and rivers" "I ask for silence From children and men" "I ask for silence From America" "From the snowy mountains To the fields" "Silence" "Let the people 's captain speak" "Silence" "For Brazil will speak Through his mouth" "The future we 're supposed to build with the material we have... with the forces we effectively have... and based on our economic, social and political reality... and on the world's." "Save the people of São Paulo." "Hooray to a free, united... democrat and progressive Brazil." "1946." "After long years of dictatorship, Brazil experiences free elections." "Prestes is the senator with larger number of votes in the country... and the communist party has 1 5 elect candidates." "Among them, the writer from Bahia, Jorge Amado." "PCB includes on the Constitution the Strike Law... and the Declaration of Civil Rights." "The party growth is evident." "Prestes and Anita meet each other for the first time." "Now, at the age of 9, she 's almost a teenager." "Besides being a senator... images reveal what a loving father he was." "The party's legality lasts for a short year." "In May 1 947, PCB's license is revoked by a legal trap... and communists are buried into deep illegalities." "The Superior electoral Court, for 3 votes against 2... on May 7th, 1 947 declared the communist party illegal... arguing that, because it was the Brazilian Communist Party... it was a branch of an international party." "That international party was centered in Moscow... and Moscow had only one party." "So they were against the existence of different parties... now matter how much they said they were in favor." "It was an arbitrary and sophistic act... a shame for the Superior electoral Court." "Two judges voted against." "THE COMMUNIST PARTY WAS CLOSED DOWN" "All of a sudden... the Cold War starts, our party is illegal, communists are persecuted." "It was a 180-degree change." "The restrictions were bigger... and another civil war was being prepared." "Total lack of contact with reality." "Vargas successor, General Gaspar Dutra... joins this circus and is more merciless persecuting communists." "55 directors are executed." "The Cold War wallows very closely over Brazil." "In the early 50's... a terrible and definite conflict seems imminent." "Capitalism and communism measure forces... on an irresponsible tug-of-war." "The direction of PCB, wishing to preserve its general secretary... turns Prestes into a clandestine in his own party." "TH E S HADOW" "He was a prisoner of the executive director, not of the committee." "The directors didn't even have an address for us to contact him." "So we told him about the situation little by little." "So he started insisting on participating of our meetings." "They said it was a big risk Prestes go to the meetings." "He shouldn't." "We said it was the opposite because of one single factor:" "he was the only man able to unify the party." "We thought that for a Iong time." "Prestes was the only man able to unify the party." "Because of that... we would accept many things he used to do... in ideological and political terms." "The illegal PCB releases in 1950 the August Manifest... an extreme herald encouraging fights in arms." "This little manual contains unbelievable rules:" "the ridiculous imposition of marriage between militants... and the prohibition of talks with Trótski followers." "The party's huge popularity starts to escape through their fingers." "In August 1950... we published an extreme left-winged manifest... calling people to fight." "That was the August 1 st Manifest, in 1 950." "It hurt and isolated our party from the big popular masses... because it was not viable." "Prestes was a legendary man... supported by a group that enjoyed that kind of... charismatic leadership." "Those were Ieaderships with little political judgement... as sectaries as Prestes himself." "Prestes... at crucial times... would make wrong judgements... and very often disastrous decisions... to the cause he was dedicated to and to his followers." "Bottom line, he was a Brazilian branch of the Stalinism." "Prestes was an inflexible Stalinist." "GYMNASTICS" "Weight-lifting, gymnastics and body modeling are most practiced by men." "However, the fragile sex is also dedicating itself to exercises... posing a risk to the hegemony of the asphalt Tarzans." "PCB decisions show themselves as null." "The fights in arms is no more than a delusion... and the choice for the null vote is not even taken seriously." "SAVE GETÚ LIO VARGAS 1950." "Getúlio invests his second term on Brazil's industrialization." "Oil and steel belong to us." "Despite his popularity, Getúlio suffers all kinds of pressure... from Carlos Lacerda to the communists." "Stuck between resignation and death..." "Getúlio does not think twice." "The mistake Prestes made was crucial to his career." "On the eve of Vargas suicide, August 23rd... the party's newspaper attacks Getúlio." "He does not see that Getúlio is being put against the wall." "He does not see..." "No leader of the communist party... was aware of what was going on." "They were stuck to the game of the most stupid bourgeois in Brazil... the Lacerda bourgeois." "They pressed Getúlio into the corner... up to his suicide." "When did they wake up?" "When the people started to... set fire on the trucks of Lacerda 's Tribuna da lmprensa... and of Voz Operária." "Then they saw it was not quite right." "During the 50's, Prestes still lives in illegality." "Fate does not give him another choice." "His cause and his personal life walk side-to-side." "Now, he has a new partner." "I met Prestes in a clandestine central." "I was designated to take care of a house... not knowing who was coming to live with us." "That was in São Paulo, in the 50's... in Jabaquara." "At night, I was taking care of that house... cleaning a set of marble stairs... as the Iast preparation to the arrival of our new guest." "I was not done yet, the bell rang, I Ieft the bucket by the stairs... and went to the door." "Then I saw that short man, wearing a hat." "In my head, Prestes was a tall man... based on the stories everybody told... about his bravery in the column and in prison." "I had imagined he was a tall, strong man." "After I met him, I felt a Iittle disappointed with his height." "There was no such thing as a first kiss and all that." "I really took care of him." "If he'd turn the radio up, I turned it down." "If he'd open the curtains to peek out the window, I'd go there and..." "He realized I was not kidding around." "So he asked me to marry him." "Then I felt like I was on cloud nine." "Marrying someone from inside the party was too much for me." "The Old One loved honeysuckle, jasmine... red and yellow roses." "Usually, when the houses had a yard, he would create a garden." "In the center of the garden... we would always plant red roses... and yellow roses of some kind." "When they started to bloom, he'd sit and admire them." "He loved them." "The impact of the Kruschov Report... causes an internal crisis in PCB never seen before." "Kruschov reveals that Stalin executed over 20 million people... victims of ideological depuration." "That convention shook the international communist movement... especially with the report that criticized the worship of Stalin." "It was a shocker because all of us considered Stalin... the personification of the international communist movement... of the revolutionary fight." "Socialism self-criticism forces Prestes to rethink his position... and realign PCB with the new communist order." "With his preemptive arrest suspended..." "Prestes is a citizen again." "From January 1948 through March 1958... more than 1 0 years, as a clandestine... having trouble to know what was going on in the country, the party." "TH E MATU RITY" "1955." "Brazil is reborn with an unarmed spirit." "Juscelino Kubistchek inaugurates Gordinis... open the doors of Brazil to foreign investors... and raises his dream from the ground at Planalto Central." "No, there was no coalition." "It was another front." "Although the administration was completely able... to complicate the life of the communist party... it committed itself to not doing that." "It promised no communist would go to jail... that the party's parallel work would not be disturbed... meaning the organizations, the class movements... and the influence on the working unions." "The administration pretended the communists did not exist... for better, for worse." "On their side, the communists should not provoke strikes or anything." "They should give the administration a sursis." "That worked 1 00%." "In 1961..." "Brazil is being balanced on the president's peculiar sense of humor." "Jânio Quadros, a fighting rooster, creates rules far from ordinary." "He bans the two-piece bikini from lpanema... and shakes his maracas with Cuban revolutionaries in Havana." "Conservative Jânio turns 4 years of power... into few months of disappointment." "Jânio 's resignation awakens the impatience in the military." "For a new constitutional crisis, a homeland solution is found:" "half-parliamentarism, half-presidentialism." "João Goulart and Tancredo Neves share the same occupation." "Today is great day for democracy." "It's a great day for freedom, a great day for independence." "Here we are, to bring into your homes... 1962." "Parliamentarism has a short life span and does not resist the crisis." "A plebiscite shows the desire to have Jango on the presidency... and for social changes and accomplishments." "...constitutional... elected by you, by us... who represent the people:" "João Goulart." "In a moment, our audience will see..." "Why didn 't we start right away... a transforming process at that time?" "Coming to think of it, I believe... we were not very experienced." "Deep down, we were too young." "We lacked deep knowledge about how things worked... how people worked, how reality worked." "I think History brought that moment to us on a silver platter." "And we let it go." "The left-wing thinking spreads around society." "The fear of a revolutionary riot scares Brazil's elite... and put the administration on warning mode." "The country gets too extreme too quickly." "Meanwhile, Brazil's bourgeois class... feared the working class, which had achieved many victories... had received raises, while inflation was going up." "Our economical situation got stuck and started to recede." "So the bourgeois class started to prepare, financially speaking... the military coupe of 1964." "We had the feeling that some kind of reaction was being prepared." "But we never thought it could have been triggered so quickly." "So much so that there was basically no counter-reaction." "Everything started falling down like a house of cards." "I believe that... the right-wing had no conditions to take over the administration... and start the coupe." "It was our lack of conscience... our lack of preparation... our naiveté that enabled them to start the coupe." "They arrived, they pushed the door... and since nobody stopped them, they got in." "They found other doors, they pushed them open, nobody there... they got in." "That's what happened." "They were not ready for the coupe... and if the administration had been more alert... not to mention all the democratic and popular areas... they would have never been able to start the 1 964 coupe." "AII of us were defeated in 1 964:" "the communist party, the Democratic Socialist Movement... and the working class, who suffered the worst defeat... the one without a fighting chance." "It retreated and never fought." "Right after the 1964 coupe... a search finds a large amount of documents in Prestes ' house... including his controversial little notebooks... which later on proved to have unimportant records." "He 's accused of being a careless filer for the party... and of overestimating Jango 's ability to resist the military." "Once more, the left wing misjudges a political moment... and surrenders to the coupe." "That's when they took away everything that belonged to Prestes." "Two trucks, fully loaded, with everything: children's clothing..." "Maria had been giving a jaguar fur coat from Moscow." "Prestes had a big amount of silver cutlery..." "China dishes..." "He was always getting presents." "That was very common." "They took everything away." "They even removed the light bulbs from the ceiling." "The most wanted communist in the country submerges." "Prestes premieres the police photo album." "He 's put in confinement regime and is officially charged." "Luís Carlos Prestes, now in his 60's... is the father of 9 other children:" "Ermelina, Rosa..." "Mariana..." "Zóia..." "Paulão, João..." "Luís Carlos..." "Yuri, Pedro." "Actually, the moment I was more in touch with Prestes... was right after the 1 964 coupe... through clandestine visits, at houses here in São Paulo..." "I would visit him, either by myself or one of my brothers." "Those visits were mostly about calling us into account." "I was the son who was supposed to be his substitute... because I was the oldest." "So, in fact, he would call me on my responsibilities." ""How were the other kids behaving?"" "So my role was to be the oldest son." "Someone would come to pick us up." "We were not blindfolded, but told to keep our eyes shut." "Then, we would spend a day, a day and a half with him." "At the car stop, the driver would wait for us." "We would get in the car, sometimes we would be blindfolded... and then they'd take us to the farm." "We would arrive at night... stay for one or two days, and leave." "Usually, we were in São Paulo, and we would come to Rio." "PCdoB, Cuban Line, PCBR..." "PRESIDENT COSTA E SILVA" "The gaps in the PCB give way to many other parties... that choose to fight in arms." "The party did not give up and resisted the military regime... in a pacific way." "There were conflicts amongst ourselves during those riots." "We said that only an armed fight could bring the dictatorship down." "They said that an organized society could bring the dictatorship down." "There was a conflict of positions, and it continued after 1964." "On one side, the Brazilian Communist Party... stuck to the pacifist way of fighting..." "On the other side, we kept saying the pacifist way had failed... that the only way was to use the force." "That came from an analysis of what had happened in 64... and from what started to get into our system... after the success of the Cuban Revolution." "However, the board of director of the party was against that." "We are not against using force." "The people itself can use force when they find it resourceful... but, at that time, the use of force would have been a mistake." "POET It was a big mistake." "Mainly because common sense indicates that... you should not fight on a terrain where the enemy can be stronger." "Correct?" "If I have no guns, no trained personnel... why would I challenge the Armed Forces to fight with me?" "It goes against the common sense." "The weak point of the military was the fight for democratic freedom... because the military supported an antidemocratic administration." "In December 13th, 1968, there was a coupe inside the coupe... with the Al-5." "The economy went back on track... more investors started to come, the economical growth started... which enabled them to trap the middle class again." "The middle class... who was scared and unsatisfied with the dictatorship..." "later on became the middle class who said..." ""Brazil, love it or leave it"." "It was trapped by the myth of the Brazilian economical miracle." "Many young militants arm themselves to fight the military regime." "Bank robberies, kidnappings, prisoner swaps, repression... torture." "Once more, its the repetitive Brazilian History all over again." "H ELP R P ROTECTI NG YOU R LI FE" "The official explanation says we 're living in a civil war... and that there have been casualties on both sides." "Whatever the name of the war is... every victim has the right to have their graves identified." "We should not put a stone over the issue... but a gravestone over the bodies." "We were being erased from the Earth." "The so-called revolutionary organizations lost many people." "Part of them were sent to jail, and another part were sent to exile." "The latter substantially fed the kidnapping process:" "an ambassador was kidnapped, a group was released." "Later, another one was kidnapped, and another group was released." "With that, we were able to save 120, 1 30 people." "The thing is, if the ones who challenged the regime using force... suffered with repression, the ones who didn't challenge suffered too." "These were also killed, tortured, eliminated." "That because they were at war, and we were considered all the same." "When I was arrested, the officer said "You're all the same!" "They are your partners." "You pretend to disagree with one another, but it's the same thing!"" "They used that as an excuse to eliminate us." "The process is very complex." "It's not one general who decides... he's going to torture and kill." "The country has to be in the right mood." "TRICHAMPIONSHIP" "BAHIA CONGRATULATES OUR SOCCER HEROES" "PRESIDENT MÉDICI" "While most people is still inebriated with the World Cup..." "Prestes, under a disguise, packs his bags to resist overseas." "Society, with the help of many communists... starts to be reorganized around the flag of democratization." "In 1971, at a Central Council meeting... as a suggestion from many comrades... in order to escape the ever growing persecution... and since the whole council could be destroyed... it was suggested that part of it went overseas." "Some say it was not for protection, but to isolate me from the party." "I accepted it because it was the only solution then." "In March 1971, I traveled overseas, to the Soviet Union... where I stay until I got amnesty, in 1979." "The unanimity around Prestes leadership... starts to be questioned within PCB." "The Old One has divide himself between the party crisis... and the dangerous art of being commander-in chief... of a big family." "TH E R EMAI N I NG YEARS" "Prestes wrinkled hands, which took care of his roses... have to stand another cold season in the Soviet Union." "Luís Carlos Prestes, known as "The Old One "... starts his struggle for amnesty." "I ask all ofyou to join me in a toast... to the victory of democracy in Brazil... and other countries in Latin America." "The best 1 0 years of my Iife I spent in Moscow, with my family... and with The old One." "The whole family would get together." "We were all together on Sundays, when everybody could come." "We would have lunch all together... then our children 's friends would come... many people would come to visit." "That was my life with Prestes." "Well, I really was introduced and got to know my father in Moscow." "In Brazil, when we used to visit him..." "I'd call him "uncle", not "father"." "In Moscow, when I saw that man who lived in his study... reading all the time... we developed a very cold relationship... because we were not used to him." "We were always with my mother." "Everything we needed and wanted, we would go talk to my mother." "My father's participation was much more passive." "To me, it was really insane." ""I have a father?" "Where had he been all this time?"" "That's when I started to get interested in why I never knew him." "I felt pretty frustrated at the same time for knowing... that I had always had a father, but I never could enjoy his company." "Our relationship with him, as his children, was very difficult." "He was not a very present father because the moment we lived in... demanded from him to be more of a militant than a father." "None of us could say he was a role model." "He was very aloof." "My father was a man who..." "I believe was very lonely." "Very lonely." "He was a man who... had a strong will." "If he thought something was right... if he was convinced... he had the ability, as he did many times... to abandon everything, to leave everything behind... and start from scratch all over again... because of what he felt was right." "He was always carrying this huge, heavy briefcase full of books." "He was working all the time." "His work schedule... was extremely disciplined." "He would wake up at 5 pm... have his breakfast at 8h30, his lunch at 12h30... he'd have a cup of tea at 5 pm, soup at 7 pm... and then he'd go to bed at 1 am." "When he managed to sleep from 1 am to 5 am, 4 hours a night... he was extremely happy because he was able to rest." "Sometimes, he didn 't even sleep that much." "I was raised in my house..." "listening to my mother call my father "old One"." "His comrades, when they called the house, they'd ask for The old One." "That's where the nickname comes from." "That was the name he was called of." "He lived most of his life as a fugitive, chased by the police." "So it was easier to call him old One... than Luís Carlos Prestes, right?" "I used to think, "He never did that to me"... but with his grandchildren, he would play, walk on all fours... read his books to them." "With us, he never had that opportunity." "I remember when I was making a movie about his life... and he didn't let me shoot him." "I kept shooting the movie, he was about to leave to Brazil." "This was in..." "It was 1979 when I was making that movie." "I got a shot of him, he started saying his good-byes..." "I thought he was not saying good bye to me, but then he did and said:" ""Congratulations." "You did exactly what I told you not to do." "In life, if we think we should do a certain thing... no matter how banned it is, we have to be determined enough... to do what we believe in. "" "TH E DICTATORSH I P IS TH E REAL TERRORIST" "GEN ERAL AMN ESTY" "After a large national demonstration... and the end of the economical miracle... the doors ofjustice are finally wide open." "The amnesty, in 1979... enables the return of those who should have never left." "RETU RN OF TH E EXI LED A PEOPLE'S ACCOMPLISHMENT" "Pressured by the public opinion... the dictatorship begins a very slow opening process... which ends with presidential elections 1 0 years later." "What is that document?" "I'II tell you about it later." "After 35 years as general secretary... the old captain... the old knight separates from his sword." "What does it say?" "No comments right now." "In an open conflict with the old direction of the party..." "The Old One decides to leave PCB." "We'II see that later." "I'II tell you later." "In March, after different attempts to resign his position... my father announces that he feels he's no Ionger general secretary... since he cannot make the decisions he thinks are necessary." "Formally, my father still had the position... because it's a decision of the Congress." "But, in fact, he had isolated himself from the directors... and he wanted no direct contact with them." "He came back to Brazil no longer being general secretary." "This is an interesting fact, and few people know about it." "Prestes was never expelled from the party." "Never, although that's what people say." "But that did not happen." "There might be someone who could argue that... he had isolated himself so much from the party... that he had created so many confrontations and conflicts... that it caused him to leave." "But there was no such thing in other parties... and in PCB as a decision to expel him." "I was the one who stopped attending the Central Council meetings." "In Brazil, that Council got together in May, 1980... to take from me the position as the party's general secretary." "São Paulo's CUT... calls to the stage on this May 1st... a comrade who represents the tradition of our struggle... the live tradition of our struggle." "Comrade Luís Carlos Prestes!" "I... and my friends... revolutionary communists... not opportunistic communists... salute the people from ABC." "Through you, we salute... the people from São Paulo and the working class." "Now, come to the streets, to elect, to put on..." "As a Quijote ofhis own legend..." "The Old One, now at the age of 92... keeps on confronting the mills ofintolerance... and takes on the stage of numerous civic campaigns." "Prestes becomes a reference to struggle... the image of an determined man, often stubborn... a coherent man, often impossible to understand... who faced prison, death... gave up his freedom, his love and his money." "The Old One has cultivated a cause." "To me it was very hard when he was in the hospital already... and the doctors told us he would not live past March 5th... which is my birthday." "That day for me, in 1990... was absolutely awful." ""If The old Man dies on my birthday, it's over."" "Then all of us stayed at the hospital." "He could not talk anymore, but he was conscious." "When I said it was me beside him, he squeezed my hand... and I felt he was wishing me a Happy Birthday, the only one who did." "Everybody else had forgotten, he was the only one who remembered." "And I was at the hospital when he died." "I heard his last breath." "March 7th." "Luís Carlos Prestes hardened his hands by preparing the ground... saw with his very eyes the plants grow and give fruits." "Surprised, he saw the sky blackening above his head... and the storm taking his dream somewhere else." "Not here, not now." "Maybe one day, like any other day." "The garden was full of roses Underneath the sun" "Leaving this watery presence Everywhere" "Everything clear Like the sound of a flute" "If we wanted to We could kiss the ground" "Our mouth really caressed The crystal landscape" "The shadows hung on To the leaves of the trees" "As the mind heavy with laziness" "Such an old peace on the garden" "Such a gap ressembling Hands washed with lime juice" "Then I desired" "But I didn 't desire a woman" "I just desired" "If I had right there Walking by my side" "Let's say Lenin, Carlos Prestes, Ghandi, any of those" "On a sweet nearly gone morning" "I would cordially talk to them" "Sit down for a while" "To talk about things which Would serve as party treats" "For men whose minds Are stormed with seriousness"