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Miguel Costa
Birth name	Miguel Alberto Crispim Rodrigo da Costa
Born	(1885-12-03)3 December 1885 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	2 September 1959(1959-09-02) (aged 73) São Paulo, Brazil
Allegiance	São Paulo
Service / branch	Public Force of São Paulo
Rank	General
Battles / wars	1924 Revolt Prestes Column 1930 Revolution

Miguel Alberto Crispim da Costa Rodrigues (3 December 1885 – 2 September 1959) was a Brazilian military officer, known for his participation in the 1924 Paulista Revolt, the 1930 Revolution and most notably in the Prestes Column, also referred as Miguel Costa-Prestes Columsn, in which he was one of the commanders.

Biography

Early years

The son of Jaime Costa and Dolores Costa, Spanish immigrants from Catalonia, Miguel Costa was born on 3 December 1885 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Still a child, Costa moved with his parents to Brazil, coming to live in the city of Piracicaba, in the state of São Paulo.There Costa began his basic studies and later his military career in the Public Force of São Paulo, becoming a cavalry officer. The Public Force had undergone a modernization in 1906 after a French military mission. At that time Costa became involved with young officers from the Brazilian Army and Navy, known as "tenentes". These officers were deeply dissatisfied with the First Brazilian Republic, which they perceived as dominated by oligarchies, and advocated for reforms, especially the adoption of the secret ballot.

The tensions reached their height during the final years of the presideny of Epitácio Pessoa, in 1922.

References

The conflicts for the government of the Mato Grosso state in the Old Republic involved armed violence at various times between 1892 and 1916, pitching situationist and oppositionist colonels against each other and involving the use of private militias, the state Public Force, the National Guard, the Army and the Navy. State governments were unstable and the opposition could resort to armed force to gain power. The city of Cuiabá was besieged several times. The federal government took one side. The participation of the armed forces in local politics and the conflicts of interest between the north of the state and the region of what is now Mato Grosso do Sul were relevant factors.

In 1892 the opposition, with strong military participation, overthrew the president of the state, Manuel José Murtinho, in a rebellion, but vice president Generoso Ponce led an armed reaction that reinstated the deposed president. The state government was under the control of an alliance between Ponce and the Murtinhos, especially Joaquim Murtinho, a senator and minister in Rio de Janeiro, until 1899, when the alliance was broken. The Murtinhos, allied with Antônio Paes de Barros, took power in a rebellion. In 1901 Ponce tried to regain his power and his allies launched rebellions, which were put down. During this violent period, the "Garcez Massacre" took place, the execution of 16 of Ponce's coreligionists. In 1906 Antônio Paes de Barros was president, but the Murtinhos broke their alliance, recovered the coalition with Ponce and launched a rebellion. Paes de Barros was defeated and killed. The federal government supported the victorious side in 1892 and 1899, but was not able to prevent the fall of its ally Paes de Barros in 1906. The last confrontation between the situation and the opposition, in 1916, after the death of Ponce and Murtinho, was caused due to the divergence of president Caetano Manuel de Faria e Albuquerque with the situationist party. It led to federal intervention in the state.

Background

State politics

At the time Mato Grosso was marked by coronelism. Between the late imperial period and the beginning of the republican period, there was continuity in the manipulation of elections, public offices, National Guard posts and political rights, with the novelty of the solidification of local powers thanks to the federalism of the First Republic and the strengthening of situationism. With the end of the Moderating Power, which appointed the governors and guaranteed the alternation of parties, access to power was determined only by elections, which the situation controlled. In addition, the government could threaten the press and opposition supporters. But opposition could still arise in the form of dissensions within the ruling faction.

Governors, senators and federal deputies were predominantly from the north of the state, especially from Cuiabá, with little participation of politicians from what is now Mato Grosso do Sul. As it was a border region, the military had a considerable presence, allowing them to influence state policts, at a level comparable to that of Rio Grande do Sul. The Public Force was too weak to be a counterweight to the federal army, unlike São Paulo and Minas Gerais, rich states with true state armies and only small army garrisons. When, in 1892, the military and oligarchies vied for power in the rest of the country, the same happened in Mato Grosso. In that year, the contrast between the oligarchies in the north of the state was also evident, where the sugarcane mill workers stood out, and in the south, cattle ranchers and yerba mate growers. Sugarcane was in the center of the state; at the beginning of the 20th century, in the north, rubber and ipecacuanha were common.

The main oligarchies were those of Generoso Ponce and those of Joaquim and Manuel Murtinho. The Ponce oligarchy included "Corrêa da Costa, Antônio Cesário Figueiredo, Costa Marques, Colonel João Mascarenhas, Judge Ferreira Mendes, the Azevedo family, and Senator Azeredo." The Murtinho oligarchy was more focused on a single family, but its allies were José Metello and Antônio Paes de Barros. At various times the Ponce and Murtinho were in alliance or in conflict. The Murtinhos' role was more political and diplomatic, articulating with the colonels to maintain power.

After joining the Republic, the political leaders already known in the Empire fiercely disputed power among themselves. The period from 1889 to 1917 was marked by instability, with only president Joaquim Augusto da Costa Marques (1911–1915) serving his entire term. Among politicians, ruptures and new alliances were constant. Political parties were incipient and only reflected existing groups and personal loyalties. When their leaders, who had prestige, economic power and armed force, disagreed with their allies, they formed new parties. When leaders lost their relevance, parties collapsed. Each party had newspapers defending its point of view.

The factions were willing to come to power through armed struggle and political violence; the latter, which had occurred since the Empire, happened several times, especially before the elections. Opposition colonels formed paramilitary battalions to take over the government, and situationists to defend the status quo. While the oppositionists armed and supported their fighters with their own resources, the situationists could count on the strength of the state government. The battalions were swelled by aggregates, foreign mercenaries and bandits; local banditry existed in association with coronelism. One of the factions always sought the support of the federal government. Hundreds or even thousands of men participated, many from the National Guard, and corps officers took the lead. In addition to being sometimes the only way for the opposition to gain power, the armed conflict had an economic dimension, mobilizing idle labor with little access to land, and enriching colonels in economic difficulty and merchants.

Conflicts between the main state-level elites were separated by intervals of relative peace, in which politics was negotiated and violence was mild. Although there were more episodes of violence and riots, they were at a more local level. In 1889 there was no telegraph connection between Cuiabá and Rio de Janeiro. Communications were carried along the rivers by packets, with a delay. The news of the Proclamation of the Republic, which took place on 15 November 1889, did not reach Cuiabá until 9 December.

Immediate background

At the end of the imperial period, the Liberal Party, led by Generoso Ponce, predominated in Mato Grosso politics to the detriment of the Conservative Party. The monarchy was popular and the local Republican Party, founded in 1888, was fragile, but adherence to the new form of government was immediate. With the Proclamation of the Republic, Deodoro da Fonseca nominated the Mato Grosso military officer Antônio Maria Coelho, a hero of the Paraguayan War and a member of the former Liberal Party, who, however, was passed over by his comrades when he tried to join the Imperial Senate as president of the state. He had prestige and the support of the military class, but resistance among the colonels. He formed the National Party (PN) to bring together the political forces of the state,[24][25] with historical republicans, ex-liberals and ex-conservatives.[26] He distributed positions to liberals and conservatives, but in his government he favored the conservatives.