July 9

 July 9

A soft, quiet rain has been falling on the earth since last night. It's that nice rain... almost a drizzle. Meek, sneaky... and brings us the cold back. At the moment the temperature would be pleasant, if it weren't for your presence. We are at 16ºC, which, under normal conditions, would be enough for us to feel warm. Funny...due to the rainfall, the feeling is cold...that icy chill...well, maybe it's to match today, isn't it? After all, eighty-one years ago, on that date, we were in a fraticidal conflict, where brothers killed each other for not agreeing with each other... I'm talking about the conflict between the State of São Paulo and the rest of the country...

On July 9, 1932, the Constitutionalist Revolution began. But what triggered such a movement? In order to understand this, we have to go back a little further in time, two years more, in fact. The country was experiencing turbulent times, there was a coup d'état, which overthrew the President of the Republic, Washington Luís and prevented the inauguration of his rightful successor, elected in the March 1930 elections, Júlio Prestes, in addition to deposing most of the State Presidents. (today called Governors), closing the National Congress, the State Legislative Assemblies and the Municipal Chambers, in addition to annulling the 1981 Constitution, in force until then. It was the end of the "Coffee with Milk Republic", when São Paulo and Minas Gerais alternated in nominating the President of the Republic, thus preventing representatives from other states from assuming command of the country...

When the Revolution of 1930 took effect, Getúlio Vargas, defeated candidate for the post of President of the Republic and one of the leaders of the Revolution, he provisionally assumed the chair for the post he had lost in the elections. The main commitment of the group that assumed power was to call new presidential elections (after all, the President was, in theory, provisional) and form a National Constituent Assembly to promulgate a new Constitution. Well, neither one nor the other was done. And this began to generate frustration among the people, in addition to resentment against the Provisional Government, mainly in the State of São Paulo. And what caused this resentment? Well, Getúlio governed in a discretionary way through decrees, without the support of a Constitution and a Legislative Power. this situation caused the Brazilian States to lose the autonomy they had with the 1891 Constitution. We have to remember that the interventors, appointed by the Federal Government, were mostly military and did not correspond to the interests of local political groups. Nor can we forget the Great Depression of 1929, which brought down international coffee prices, ruining the São Paulo oligarchy.

The death of four young people by Getulista troops on May 23, 1932 during a protest against the Federal Government was the trigger to trigger the Revolution. After the death of these young people, a clandestine movement called MMDC was organized, whose acronym used the initial letters of the four young people killed... Martins, Miragaia, Dráusio and Camargo. In the months preceding the movement, resentment against the President gained such strength that a possible armed revolt was already on the horizon. The Federal Government began to work with the hypothesis of a possible Civil War, where the State of São Paulo was possibly trying to separate itself from the rest of the Union and this idea was used in propaganda during the conflict, thus instigating the public opinion of the rest of the country against São Paulo, facilitating the engagement of volunteers to fight against the rebels.

After 87 days of conflict, São Paulo surrendered to loyalist forces. Its defeat was mainly due to the betrayal of its possible allies, Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, who had committed themselves to fighting alongside the Paulistas, but when the conflict began, they allied themselves with the Federal Government. The only Brazilian State allied with São Paulo was Mato Grosso. Well, São Paulo was defeated, got some small blessings, and so it went on... one of its blessings was a civil intervenor and São Paulo... it wasn't a big deal, but it already looked like a small victory...