The Rio Grande do Sul Revolt of 1924 was triggered by tenentist rebels from the Brazilian Army and civilian leaders from the Liberating Alliance on 28–29 October of that year. The civilians, continuing the 1923 Revolution, wanted to remove the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Borges de Medeiros, while the military were against the president of Brazil, Artur Bernardes. After a series of defeats, in mid-November the last organized stronghold was in São Luiz Gonzaga. In the south, guerrilla warfare continued until the end of the year. From São Luiz Gonzaga, the remnants of the revolt headed out of the state, joining other rebels in the Paraná Campaign and forming the Miguel Costa-Prestes Column.
The "liberators" were the opposition to the hegemony of the Rio-Grandense Republican Party (PRR) in the state's politics. Their alliance with tenentism, a movement of national aspirations, was circumstantial. The tenentists' military authority, general Isidoro Dias Lopes, and the "civilian leader of the revolution", Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil, were not in Rio Grande do Sul. The operations were in charge of young officers trained in military science, like Juarez Távora, Siqueira Campos and Luís Carlos Prestes, and veteran leaders of Rio Grande do Sul's military tradition, such as Honório Lemes and Zeca Neto. Their enemies also combined regular units, the loyalists of the army and the Military Brigade, and irregulars, the "provisionals" (provisórios). Several PRR politicians, such as Osvaldo Aranha and Flores da Cunha, commanded government forces.
As in other conflicts in Rio Grande do Sul, cavalry was widely used and the temporary exile of rebels abroad was normal and commonplace. The initial uprisings were in Uruguaiana, São Borja, São Luiz Gonzaga and Santo Ângelo. Civilian and military governors were installed in the first three cities; their most controversial measures were the requisitions of goods and money. The rebels went on the offensive, but were unable to take Itaqui, whose loyalist garrison separated their territories. To the east, they were repelled when they tried to progress towards Ijuí and Alegrete and suffered a major defeat at Guaçu-Boi, on 9 November. In the south, the rebels continued a guerrilla campaign until their definitive expulsion to Uruguay; the last border incursion was in January 1925.
In the Missões region, the rebels concentrated in São Luiz Gonzaga, where captain Luís Carlos Prestes was designated commander in a letter from general Isidoro. The loyalists set up an "iron ring" of seven columns, in full numerical superiority, around the city. Prestes had to escape the siege to join the other rebels in Paraná, and in the process, the Prestes Column, as it would be known, began to take shape and employ its characteristic war of movement. The battle in Ramada, on 3 January, was the most violent in this phase. At the end of the month, the rebels entered Santa Catarina, and in April they joined the remnants of the revolt in São Paulo in Paraná. A community of exiles remained abroad, launching new revolts in 1925 and 1926. There is no consensus on the initial landmark of the Prestes Column (São Paulo, Santo Ângelo, São Luiz or Paraná). The memory of the revolt in Rio Grande do Sul today has its most notable public commemoration in Santo Ângelo.
Background
Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil's politics The governments of Brazil and Rio Grande do Sul were respectively headed by Artur Bernardes and Borges de Medeiros in 1924. The relationship between the two, and their oppositions, was complex. In the 1922 presidential election, Medeiros supported the opposition Republican Reaction ticket against Bernardes' candidacy for the federal government. Conversely, the Rio Grande do Sul opposition supported Bernardes, who won the election., MEDEIROS, Borges de, p. 16. To prevent Bernardes' inauguration, army officers began the July 1922 uprisings. They were quickly suppressed, but they inaugurated a movement opposing Brazil's Old Republic, tenentism. New revolts continued to be organized in the barracks.
Bernardes' victory weakened the relationship between the federal government and the Rio-Grandense Republican Party (PRR), hegemonic in Rio Grande do Sul's politics. The dominant groups were ousted in the other states that supported the Republican Reaction (Bahia, Pernambuco and Rio de Janeiro), and the threat of federal intervention hovered in Rio Grande do Sul. Borges de Medeiros was re-elected for a fifth time at the end of 1922, but the opposition, led by Joaquim Francisco de Assis Brasil, contested the results and initiated a civil war in 1923. The "assististas" were outnumbered, but expected federal support. When it did not come, they were forced to negotiate peace. Meanwhile, in the middle of the civil war, general Isidoro Dias Lopes, future commander of the revolt in São Paulo, was in Rio Grande do Sul contacting opposition leaders.
The army, represented in the state by the 3rd Military Region, remained neutral during the conflict, but its command was unable to prevent the participation of some officers and sergeants in the conflict. The federal government helped negotiate the Pact of Pedras Altas, putting an end to the conflict and prohibiting re-election in future elections.
The tenentist-liberating alliance
In January 1924, the opposition from Rio Grande do Sul united in the Liberating Alliance to contest the parliamentary elections for federal deputy and senator. This ticket was a heterogeneous alliance of three groups, the members of the Federalist Party, the "democrats" and PRR dissidents. Their common cause was to revise the Constitution of Rio Grande do Sul and break the power monopoly of Borges de Medeiros, who they considered to be authoritarian. In the same period, conspiracies in the barracks intensified. The tenentists planned to raise a great "revolutionary arc", from Rio Grande do Sul to São Paulo. The participation of civilians from Rio Grande do Sul would be advantageous, but it was not certain; the Pact of Pedras Altas could keep them away from a new conflict.
However, many liberators were disappointed with the pact's terms, as it did not result in Borges' immediate departure from power. Discontent was even greater due to non-compliance with part of what was agreed by the state and federal governments. The liberators still suffered persecution, and several of their leaders were sent into exile. In this way, the state political crisis was not over. For the disaffected, siding with the army conspirators may have been seen as a continuation of the 1923 struggle. Since before the 1924 revolt in São Paulo, lieutenants and liberators had already maintained contact.
The resulting alliance was circumstantial. Both wanted to overthrow rulers — the lieutenants, Artur Bernardes, and the liberators, Borges de Medeiros. The lieutenants demanded the moralization of politics, the secret ballot and other issues of national scope, while the liberators were interested in agribusiness production, smuggling on Brazil's border and other local issues. This did not prevent Assis Brasil from exerting an ideological influence on lieutenant officers. Tenentist Juarez Távora highlighted the "alignment of goals regarding national aspirations between the rebels in São Paulo and the opposition from Rio Grande do Sul". Government supporters, on the other hand, presented the rebels as opportunists, "rioters who did not accept the political defeats they suffered".
The south in the plans for São Paulo Rio Grande do Sul was of great interest as it had the largest concentration of army forces, a reflection of its position on the border with Argentina. The terrain was especially favorable to cavalry; there were three divisions of this branch and one of infantry. It would be up to a revolt in the south of the country to distract the army force based in Porto Alegre, preventing it from reinforcing the loyalists in São Paulo.
Emissaries from the center of the country, usually officers with false identities, came to weave the conspiracy. The most notable was captain Juarez Távora. The distance between the units was an obstacle. Messages could only be delivered in person, as the Post Office was monitored by loyalists. Santo Ângelo was 100 kilometers from São Luiz Gonzaga which, in turn, was 120 kilometers from São Borja. The messengers did not always arrive on time. Even abroad, the government monitored the conspiracy, bribing telegraph officials.
Repercussions of the São Paulo Revolt of 1924
The new tenentist uprising, which began in July 1924, had a smaller scope than expected, and at first was limited to the city São Paulo. The committed officers in Rio Grande do Sul awaited the order for a revolt, but were caught off guard by the events in São Paulo. There was no time to warn them, and the conspirators' focus was São Paulo. The conflict gave Borges de Medeiros the opportunity to reconcile with Artur Bernardes, contributing with battalions of the Military Brigade to the loyalist military effort. This institution was a true state army, battle hardened in the previous wars in Rio Grande do Sul's territory and guarantor of the PRR's power.
Within Rio Grande do Sul, the government reacted by persecuting the opposition press and former revolutionaries of 1923. In public, Liberating Alliance politicians declared their support for Artur Bernardes. Within the group, however, whether or not to align with the government was controversial. The liberators would have something to gain by approaching Artur Bernardes, but he was already reconciling with Borges de Medeiros, and thus, discontent with the state government became louder.
The alliance with the tenentists, until then considered unfeasible, was sealed in the following months; during the negotiations, the Alliance deputy João Batista Luzardo stood out. Assis Brasil, as leader of the liberators, accepted the position of "civilian leader of the revolution", even without participating in its planning. General Isidoro valued this membership, as Assis' political prestige would attract more support for the revolt. On the front line, the opposition forces would be represented by warlords such as Honório Lemes, Zeca Neto and Leonel Rocha. Rumors about this alliance soon circulated. The start date, scheduled for 7 September, was postponed due to government surveillance.
Coordination with Paraná
The uprising in São Paulo was unable to defend the state capital and withdrew to the interior, where the rebels reestablished themselves in western Paraná. On 5 October, civil and military liaison officers in Rio Grande do Sul met with generals João Francisco and Olinto Mesquita de Vasconcelos in Foz do Iguaçu. The emissaries argued for the viability of a new revolt in Rio Grande do Sul, and Juarez Távora, a member of the São Paulo column, was appointed to coordinate it. Antônio de Siqueira Campos, a veteran of the 1922 uprising exiled in Argentina, joined the preparations. Initiating a revolt in Rio Grande do Sul was necessary to distract the loyalists in Paraná. However, the decision was taken in the absence of the supreme commander, general Isidoro, who had not yet arrived in Foz do Iguaçu.
According to João Alberto Lins de Barros:
The federal government did not trust the army in Rio Grande do Sul, and left the units' arsenals empty. In Buenos Aires, Assis Brasil had been purchasing weapons since the beginning of October, smuggling them, inside fruit boxes, across the Argentine border in Paso de los Libres. The date was set for 29 October. On the 23rd, the press reported Honório Lemes' participation in an imminent military revolt. Members of the Liberating Alliance denied the rumors.
Overview
First uprisings