REVOLT OF THE CHIBATA
115 years since the uprising that brought the Republic to its knees
"We, sailors, Brazilian citizens and republicans, can no longer endure slavery in the Brazilian Navy, the lack of protection that the Homeland gives us"
At 10 p.m. on November 22, 1910, the bugle sounded, as usual, on the Minas Geraes, a powerful Brazilian Navy ship stationed in Guanabara Bay, but it wasn’t calling for silence, as usual, but announcing the sailors’ revolt against the lash and the degrading conditions imposed by the military institution. In fact, for some time, sailors had been secretly planning a revolt against the officer corps due to the physical punishments and degrading conditions of the sailors.
Heavy punishments
The young Brazilian republic didn’t listen to the pleas of those who suffered on the decks, they had to make themselves heard. However, the planning of the revolt had to be brought forward. On the same 22nd, a black sailor, Marcelino Rodrigues Menezes, suffered monstrous punishment, more than a hundred lashes. In the Navy, as in the Armed Forces in general, many black teenagers suspected of wrongdoing or poor people from the cities were recruited to serve almost as slaves. The ships’ officers were almost all white, while the crews were heavily black or, to a lesser extent, mulatto.
Very low pay and cruel physical punishments were established to maintain discipline and oppression. A republican law in 1889 banned the practice, but it was repealed a year later due to widespread disobedience on the ships. However, physical punishment would be restricted to a Correctional Company, created with the purpose of “subjecting to a regime of special discipline those officers who are habitually misbehaving and punishing faults in cases that do not require a council of war.” The brutal practice remained widespread, where the white officer punished the black, mulatto and other officers with lashes when they deemed it necessary to correct any fault.
Rebellion
The situation came to a head when the sailors seized the ship Minas Geraes on the night of November 22, killing some of the officers who tried to contain the movement. The ship’s captain, João Batista das Neves, was killed in the fighting, along with several loyal crew members. The sailors took over the ship and signaled to others that the revolt had begun. They joined the Battleship Minas Gerais, Battleship São Paulo, Battleship Deodoro and Cruiser Bahia. Around 2,000 sailors rose up against the lash and oppression.
The “black “
In the most grandiose events, the right people emerge to lead them, and in this case it was no different. The black sailor João Cândido Felisberto, the “black admiral”, as he became known, led the rebels with mastery and brilliance, leading to a victory over the entire political regime, although they were later betrayed.
On the same day, João Cândido, on behalf of the revolt, sent a message to a radio station on the hill of Babilônia saying:
“We don’t want the return of the lash. That’s what we’re asking the President and the Minister of the Navy. We want an answer now. Otherwise, we’ll bomb the city and the ships that don’t revolt. The garrisons of Minas, São Paulo and Bahia“.
12-hour deadline
Before midnight, a letter was sent to the president, in which they stated:
“We, sailors, Brazilian citizens and republicans, no longer able to bear the slavery in the Brazilian Navy, the lack of protection that the Homeland gives us; and so far it has not reached us; we break the black veil, which covered us in the eyes of the patriotic and deceived people [..to reform the Immoral and Shameful Code that governs us, so that the lash, the bolo and other similar punishments disappear; to increase the pay according to the latest plans of the illustrious Senator José Carlos de Carvalho, to educate the sailors who don’t have the skills to wear the proud uniform, to order the daily service table that accompanies it to be put into effect. Your Excellency has a deadline of 12 hours to send us a satisfactory reply, otherwise the country will be annihilated…”
Newly-appointed president Hermes da Fonseca had to move from a position of non-negotiation to the approval of measures in Congress abolishing corporal punishment and increasing pay, as well as voting for an amnesty law for all sailors. This was after the insurgents bombarded Rio de Janeiro and the government proved completely incapable of taking action against the ships in revolt. João Cândido and his sailors brought the Republic to its knees.
The revolt ended on November 26, with the amnesty law and demands met, but the government betrayed the sailors, persecuting, imprisoning and murdering them after they laid down their arms. However, João Cândido and the sailors showed how to fight against oppression.
