The Cauldron Massacre of Santa Cruz do Deserto

Among them, the best known are straws and that of Contested. However the case of cauldron did not gain the repercussion of the other mentioned movements. In common among these uprisings, the leadership of a blessed and the claims that aimed to gain greater attention from the government to the poverty situation in which the population lived. As occurred in historically better-known cases, the community of Cauldron of Santa Cruz do Deserto was invaded and its inhabitants were massacred. This type of measure, in addition to having a punitive character, also represents a way to curb the proliferation of new social uprisings.

Recent Brazilian historiography presents several episodes in which less favored social groups dared to rise up against the dominant power in search of better living conditions. Generally, the uprisings aimed to rebel against the oppression of a ruling class that showed no concern for the socially excluded population.

Episodes such as Balaiada, Cabanagem, Revolta da Vacina, Canudos, Contestado, among others, have in their essence the suffering of a people abandoned to their fate. Some of them, such as those already mentioned, went down in history and are still studied (superficially) in textbooks. Mentioning these movements is a way for the government to historically apologize and recognize their importance for changing Brazilian social structures.

However, many episodes of our history continue to be ignored due to the lack of interest in unraveling the circumstances in which they happened, is the case of the massacre of Caldeirão de Santa Cruz do Deserto, municipality of Crato, Cariri cearense. The religious community was commanded by Blessed José Lourenço, the population was composed of peasants, descendants of blacks manumissioned and pilgrims followers of Padre Cícero who lived in a system of cooperation sharing everything that was planted and produced.

Similar to the community led by Blessed Antônio Conselheiro who led the Canudos movement, the Caldeirão community received thousands of people usually fleeing the punishing life of the northeastern sertão, the place had a population of more than a thousand inhabitants, many victims of the great drought of 1932.

The period in which the community was organized was characterized by fear of the advance communist around the world, so any focus that showed traces of the “red danger” was quickly repressed. In the presidency of the republic at the time was President Getúlio Vargas, known for his declared aversion to the regime disseminated by the Russians. Vargas fiercely fought the communism during the phase of his government known as Estado Novo (1937-1945). The authoritarian measures of the head of the nation motivated the attack on the community of Caldeirão.

The collaboration system in which the residents of Caldeirão lived displeased the colonels who led the region and later the political leaders such as President Getúlio Vargas. Everything that was produced in the community was shared and all profits were divided equally, being used in the purchase of medicines, kerosene to supply the lamps and other items necessary for the subsistence of the population.

The massacre

The Brazilian northeast region for a long time suffered from the authoritarianism of local landowners known as coroneis. The political alliances that these local chiefs established with political leaders increased their power and legalized the mistreatment of residents of the poorest locations. The lack of expectation of a fairer life led the population to submit to the commands and excesses of the landowners.

The community of Caldeirão de Santa Cruz drew attention for going against the grain of the unfair system imposed by regional leaders and the government. Survivors of social injustices and the bad weather imposed by the dry climate, the followers of Blessed José Lourenço managed for some time to live in a regime guided by equality and fraternity, which displeased the landowners.

Accused of practicing primitive communism, residents of the religious community were severely persecuted. In addition to the fear that communist ideals would spread throughout the country, the big landowners feared that the collaboration example were followed by other groups in the region, which could threaten the authority exercised by they.

In 1937, the year in which Getúlio Vargas led a coup that guaranteed his permanence in the presidency of the republic and instituted a severe dictatorship in the country, residents of the community of Caldeirão were denounced and accused of practice the communism. Troops of the federal government and the military police of the state of Ceará invaded and bombed the locality, leaving a balance of thousands of dead who after the incident were buried in a mass grave.

Researchers assume that the episode may have been the biggest massacre in Brazilian history, in which a thousand people were brutally murdered. However, seventy-six years after the incident, the government and the army deny the facts and go against the massacre thesis. The bodies of the massacred residents were never found and the lack of a document recording the episode makes it difficult to unravel the mysteries surrounding this messianic movement.

Despite efforts by non-governmental organizations to discover where the bodies of the pilgrims were buried, the location of the grave that houses the bodies was never found. In 2008, the Ceará-based NGO SOS Human Rights filed a court request for the government to identify and provide a dignified burial for the dead, there was even a request for compensation that would be destined to the descendants of the residents of Cauldron. The government's negligence caused the action to be archived.

Lorena Castro Alves
Graduated in History and Pedagogy