Liga Independente das Escolas de Samba do Rio de Janeiro ( en, Independent League of the Samba Schools of Rio de Janeiro), commonly known by the acronym LIESA, is the principal association that organizes the

Carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typi ...

of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Disgruntled with the official league, the AESCRJ representatives of ten samba schools, led by bicheiros, helped found the LIESA in 1984.Impunidade na cabeca
, Istoé, March 5, 2003 They were not in agreement with the state of things in the AESCRJ, where they were a minority and always defeated in deliberations although they invested the money. Each attempt to improve the commercial success of the Carnival spectacle was being rejected. They formed an independent league, which eventually took over the organisation of the parades of the Rio Carnival. The bicheiro

Castor de Andrade Castor Gonçalves de Andrade e Silva (12 February 1926 – 11 April 1997) was a well-known ''bicheiro''A "bicheiro" or "banker" is the mobster who operates the jogo do bicho ("the animal's game"), a popular Brazilian illegal gambling game. in ...

was the first president of LIESA. Each year, the schools promoted by the Grupo de Acesso to the top league of the Special Group become affiliated to LIESA. All other schools are affiliated with the AESCRJ. In 2007, LIESA experienced one of the worst crises of its history, with the arrest of various of its leaders, such as Capitão Guimarães and

Anísio Abraão David Aniz Abraão David (Rio de Janeiro, 7 June 1937), better known as Anísio, is an illegal lottery operator ( bicheiro) and the honorary president of the samba school Beija-Flor in Nilópolis. He has been the president of the Independent League of S ...

, during Operation Hurricane by the Brazilian Federal Police. An inquiry was installed in the council of the city of Rio de Janeiro to investigate the accusations of corruption. One of the charges was that underworld figures fixed the results of Rio de Janeiro's 2007 carnival parade. Press reports suggest that Anísio Abraão David, the honorary president of

Beija-Flor The Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Beija-Flor is a Samba school headquartered in the municipality of Nilópolis, Baixada Fluminense, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In total, Beija-Flor has won 14 parades of the Carnaval do Ri ...

that won the competition, used bribes and a hitman to buy and intimidate members of the carnival jury. According to extracts from a federal police report, "some individuals who worked as carnival jurors and refused to accept benefits from Anisio were threatened or had their relatives threatened with death if the Beija-Flor school did not win the 2007 carnival".Top criminals fixed Rio carnival result, say police
''The Guardian'', June 12, 2007 On July 14, 2007, a new administration was elected, culminating in the return of Jorge Castanheira as president of the league. After the intervention of Rede Globo where understood that the spectacle, was already tiring. The Liesa in plenary approved the change of time of parade which now becomes 75 minutes, as has been discussed previously and also a decrease in the number of floats, which now becomes six.

Presidents

Grupo Especial

* Acadêmicos do Grande Rio *

Unidos do Viradouro Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Unidos do Viradouro, or simply Viradouro or Unidos do Viradouro, is a samba school that competes in the Carnival city of Rio de Janeiro. It is located in the Barreto neighborhood in Niterói. History It ...

Unidos de Vila Isabel Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Unidos de Vila Isabel is a samba school in Rio de Janeiro. It was thrice champion of the Special Group and is currently headquartered in Boulevard 28 de Setembro in Vila Isabel. The Unidos de Vila Isabel sam ...

Portela Portela or Pórtela may refer to: People * Portela (surname) Places * Lisbon Portela Airport, the international airport of Lisbon, Portugal * Residence of Portela, 17th-century country house in Paços de Brandão, Portugal Civil parishes * Po ...

* Acadêmicos do Salgueiro *

Estação Primeira de Mangueira ) Estação Primeira ( en, First station) , background color = #006400 , font color = #FF1493 , image = Image:LogoMANG.png , foundation = , colors = , symbol = Repique with a crown a ...

* Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel * Unidos da Tijuca * Imperatriz Leopoldinense *

Paraíso do Tuiuti The Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Paraíso do Tuiuti is a samba school in Rio de Janeiro, located in the neighborhood of São Cristóvão São Cristóvão (, ''Saint Christopher'') is a Brazilian municipality in the Northeastern state of ...

Império Serrano The Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Império Serrano is a samba school of the city of Rio de Janeiro, that was created on March 23 of 1947 after a disagreement of the extinct samba school Prazer da Serrinha. It was nine times champion of the ...

First Division Champions

* 1932 -

(1) * 1933 -

(2) * 1934 -

(3) * 1934 - Recreio de Ramos (1) * 1935 -

(1) * 1936 - Unidos da Tijuca (1) * 1937 - Vizinha Faladeira (1) * 1939 -

(2) * 1940 -

(4) * 1941 -

(3) * 1942 -

(4) * 1943 -

(5) * 1944 -

(6) * 1945 -

(7) * 1946 -

(8) * 1947 -

(9) * 1948 -

(1) * 1949 -

(2) * 1949 -

(5) * 1950 -

(3) * 1950 -

(6) * 1950 - Prazer de Serrinha (1) * 1950 - Unidos da Capela (1) * 1951 -

(4) * 1951 -

(10) * 1953 -

(11) * 1954 -

(7) * 1955 -

(5) * 1956 -

(6) * 1957 -

(12) * 1958 -

(13) * 1959 -

(14) * 1960 -

(15) * 1960 -

(8) * 1960 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (1) * 1960 - Unidos da Capela (2) * 1960 -

(7) * 1961 -

(9) * 1962 -

(16) * 1963 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (2) * 1964 -

(17) * 1965 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (3) * 1966 -

(18) * 1967 -

(10) * 1968 -

(11) * 1969 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (4) * 1970 -

(19) * 1971 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (5) * 1972 -

(8) * 1973 -

Mangueira Mangueira (''Mango Tree'') is a shantytown neighborhood (favela) in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, centered on the Mangueira hill or ''morro''. It is most famous for its samba school, the Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Estação Prime ...

(13) * 1974 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (6) * 1975 - Acadêmicos do Salgueiro (7) * 1976 -

(1) * 1977 -

(2) * 1978 -

(3) * 1979 - Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel (1) * 1980 - Imperatriz Leopoldinense (1) * 1980 -

(4) * 1980 -

(20) * 1981 - Imperatriz Leopoldinense (2) * 1982 -

(9) * 1983 -

(5) * 1984 -

(14) * 1984 -

(21) * 1984 -

(15) * 1985 - Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel (2) * 1986 -

(16) * 1987 -