Tiradentes Revolutionary Movement (1961–1962)

The Tiradentes Revolutionary Movement (MRT) was a clandestine political group linked to the Peasant Leagues and disbanded in 1962. Under the influence of the Cuban Revolution, and together with members of the Leagues, it aimed at a socialist revolution with peasant bases in Brazil. Eight guerrilla bases were created in the country, among which the one in Dianópolis, Goiás (now Rio da Conceição, Tocantins) was discovered at the end of 1962.

In the beginning of the 1960s, the Leagues had radicalized their positions, both the right and part of the Brazilian left saw in the countryside the possibility of a revolution, and the Cuban experience led to the questioning of the theses of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), which did not accept armed struggle. With the training of militants and possible financing by Cuba, the guerrilla camps were established at the end of 1961. Francisco Julião, the best known representative of the Leagues, did not have direct participation in the guerrilla war, with Clodomir Santos de Morais as its main leader, but historians debate whether Julião had indirect responsibility.

The militants spent a year in the camps, dispersed throughout the regions of Brazil, but there was little effective military preparation due to internal disputes and lack of resources. The security agencies monitored the movement and the Army, supported by the Goias government, dismantled the Dianópolis device at the end of 1962. During this same period Clodomir de Morais was arrested and documents linking Cuba to the guerrilla movement were found in the wreckage of Varig Flight 810, which crashed in Peru. The guerrilla project, that was already weak, thus reached failure.

Despite its small size, the guerrilla attempt made repercussions in the national press, was taken seriously by authorities in the United States, and contributed to the decline of the Peasant Leagues. The MRT is notable as a precursor, still in the democratic period, of the armed struggle against the Brazilian military dictatorship, with one of its organizations, founded in 1969, adopting the same name.