José Plácido De Castro
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José Plácido de Castro (9 September 1873 – 11 August 1908) was a Brazilian soldier, surveyor, rubber producer and politician who led the armed revolt during the
Acre War The Acre War, known in Brazil as Acrean Revolution () and in Spanish as ("War of the Acre") was a border conflict between Bolivia and Brazil over the Acre Region, which was rich in rubber and gold deposits. The conflict had two phases between ...
of 1902–3, when the
Republic of Acre The Republic of Acre (, ) or the Independent State of Acre (, ) was a secessionist republic that emerged in then Bolivia's Acre region between 1899 and 1903. The region was eventually annexed by Brazil in 1903 following the Acre War and is now th ...
broke away from
Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
. He was the president of the state of Acre just before and after it was purchased by Brazil. After the war he became extremely wealthy as a rubber producer, and made many enemies. He was assassinated in 1908. He is considered a hero of Brazil.


Early years

José Plácido de Castro was born on 9 September 1873 in São Gabriel,
Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...
. His great grandfather had served in the Brazilian theater of the 1801 war between Spain and Portugal, in which the Missões territory was annexed to Rio Grande do Sul, and his grandfather had fought in the 1820s
Cisplatine War The Cisplatine War was an armed conflict fought in the 1820s between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata over control of Brazil's Cisplatina province. It was fought in the aftermath of the United Provinces' an ...
between the
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata The United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (), earlier known as the United Provinces of South America (), was a name adopted in 1816 by the Congress of Tucumán for the region of South America that declared independence in 1816, with the Sove ...
and the
Empire of Brazil The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a Representative democracy, representative Par ...
. His father, captain Prudente da Fonseca Castro, fought in
Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
and in the
Paraguayan War The Paraguayan War (, , ), also known as the War of the Triple Alliance (, , ), was a South American war that lasted from 1864 to 1870. It was fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, the Empire of Brazil, and Uruguay. It wa ...
. His mother was Zeferina de Oliveira Castro. His father died when he was twelve years old, and Plácido de Castro had to work to help support his mother and six brothers. He took various jobs before joining the 1st Regiment of Field Artillery in 1889 at the age of 16. A few months later he enrolled in the Rio Pardo School of Tactics. In 1892 he returned to his regiment as a staff sergeant. The next year he entered the
Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...
Military Academy. José Plácido was studying there at the start of the
Federalist Revolution The Federalist Revolution (Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Revolução Federalista'') was a civil war that took place in southern Brazil between 1893 and 1895, fought by the federalists, opponents of Rio Grande do Sul state president, Júlio ...
in 1893. He considered that the government of Marshal
Floriano Peixoto Floriano Vieira Peixoto (; 30 April 1839 – 29 June 1895) was a Brazilian military and politician, a veteran of the Paraguayan War and several other conflicts, and the second president of Brazil. Born in (today a district of the city of ...
was illegitimate, and direct elections should have been held to choose a new president. He joined the rebels and reached the rank of major. After the revolt was defeated in 1895 he refused the government amnesty and left the army. He stayed for a short time in São Gabriel, then moved to
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
, at that time the capital of Brazil. Plácido de Castro arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1896. He was given a position at the Military College of Rio de Janeiro as an inspector of students. He lost this job due to a quarrel with a teacher, and by March 1898 was working with the ''Companhia Docas de Santos'', which ran the docks in the port of Santos. Early in 1899 he accepted an offer from the engineer Orlando Correia Lopes to go to
Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...
to work on delimiting rubber concessions. At that time Acre belonged to Bolivia, but was mainly occupied by Brazilian rubber tappers. He began to work as a land surveyor, and soon fell ill with
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
. In July 1899 the Brazilians in Acre declared the Independent Republic of Acre. This was quickly dissolved by troops sent by the Brazilian government. Bolivia sent a small military mission to occupy Acre that was stopped by the rubber tappers. Silvério José Néri, governor of Amazonas, dispatched an expedition to Acre, known as the "Poets Expedition" due to the intellectuals among its members, which declared a second Independent Republic of Acre in November 1900. This time the republic was overthrown by Bolivian troops. The newspapers now reported an alleged agreement where Bolivia would lease Acre to an Anglo-American "Bolivian syndicate" for 30 years, and would send troops armed by the United States to defend the territory. The possibility of losing control of the rubber trade alarmed the merchants of
Pará Pará () is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian st ...
, who until then had not backed the Amazonas merchants in trying to displace Bolivia from Acre. Bolivian president José Manuel Pando obtained approval from Congress for the syndicate plan on 21 December 1901. The news that a US concern backed by troops was taking over caused panic among the Brazilian rubber tappers in Acre.


Acre revolution

Plácido de Castro was working in the
Purus River The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean annual discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto Purús National Park a ...
area when he heard of the Bolivian government's leasing plan. At the start of 1902 he accepted an invitation from Rodrigo de Carvalho and two other large rubber producers to lead a revolt against Bolivia. Plácido de Castro took a boat up the Acre river, ostensibly to conduct land surveys in the south but in fact carrying arms and ammunition. He stopped off briefly in Puerto Alonso (also called Puerto Acre, now
Porto Acre Porto Acre (), originally called Puerto Alonso during bolivian rule, is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the northeast of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Acre (state), Acre. The economy is mainly based on agriculture. ...
) to meet the Bolivian governor Lino Romero and evaluate his future opponent. In the south he organised the rubber tappers and other inhabitants for the revolt. He then returned to Brazil, bypassing Puerto Alonso to avoid alerting the Bolivians. Plácido participated in the 1 July 1902 meeting at which the revolutionary junta was formed with a goal of obtaining the independence of Acre and then integrating it with Brazil. Although he argued for immediately attacking the garrison of 230 troops at Puerto Alonso, Plácido de Castro was persuaded to first take the outpost at
Xapuri Xapuri () is a municipality located in the southeast of the Brazilian state of Acre. It was the scene of an early bloodless victory during the war to make Acre independent of Bolivia. The town is known as the birthplace of the rubber tapper and ...
. He entered Xapuri with 33 men in the early morning of 6 August 1902 and captured the sleeping garrison without spilling blood. On 7 August 1902 he issued a manifesto proclaiming that Acre was independent. He planned to next take Puerto Acre, but news of an approaching column of Bolivian troops from the Orthon River caused many of his 200 men to desert. When the remaining 63 rebels were attacked at Volta da Empresa (now Rio Branco) on 18 September 1902 they were decisively defeated, losing half their number. The Bolivian commander, Colonel Rojas, issued a proclamation in which he called the rebels and their leaders cowards. As a result, Plácido's ranks quickly swelled to at least 500 angry rubber tappers. Rojas had lost men and was short of supplies. He made camp at Volta da Empresa and sent messengers to Puerto Alonso and Riberalta asking for fresh guns and ammunition Plácido de Castro surrounded the Bolivian camp but failed to achieve surprise in an attack on 5 October 1902 and instead settled into a siege, digging diagonal trenches to close in on the Bolivians. He invited Rojas to surrender on 9 October. Rojas held out for a few more days, then surrendered on 15 October and led his disarmed men back to Bolivia. On 14 October 1902 the rebels captured some of the outer defences of Puerto Alonso and the armed Bolivian launch ''Rio Afua'', which they renamed the ''Independencia''. Further successful fighting continued in the south against a column of Bolivian rubber tappers and a picket of poorly trained troops at Santa Rosa del Abuná. Plácido de Castro could not persuade his men to continue south to destroy the Bolivian base on the Orthon, and turned back towards Puerto Alonso. Lino Romero had failed to organise for defence. Plácido de Castro surrounded the town on 8 January 1903, and launched an attack on 15 January 1903 that soon petered out. By now Plácido had 2,000 men under his command. They started to dig zigzag trenches to the Bolivian lines. Eventually, with his forces exhausted and almost out of ammunition, Romero surrendered on 24 January 1903. Plácido de Castro's leadership skills had played a key role in the success of the revolt, helped by supplies of food, ammunition and weapons from the great rubber barons of Acre.


Later years

The Brazilian government sent troops under General Olímpio da Silveira to take control. Plácido de Castro went to Rio de Janeiro to report on the campaign to José Paranhos, Baron of Rio Branco. On his journey he was acclaimed in
Manaus Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...
and
Belém Belém (; Portuguese for Bethlehem; initially called Nossa Senhora de Belém do Grão-Pará, in English Our Lady of Bethlehem of Great Pará), often called Belém of Pará, is the capital and largest city of the state of Pará in the north of B ...
, and received with honour in Rio. He declined an offer to become a colonel in the National Guard. In August 1903 Plácido was made provisional commander of the army of Acre and president of the territory of Acre. Plácido de Castro's views were those of a ''
caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; , from Latin language, Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of Personalist dictatorship, personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise English translation for the term, though it ...
'' rather than a democrat. He was not impressed by Brazil's lack of support for the revolt, and favoured an independent state of Acre. However, under the Treaty of Petrópolis of 17 November 1903 Brazil formally acquired Acre for two million pounds sterling, ceded some land in
Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – ) is one of the states of Brazil, the List of Brazilian states by area, third largest by area, located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible ...
and undertook to build the
Madeira-Mamoré Railroad The Madeira-Mamoré Railroad is an abandoned railroad built in the Brazilian state of Rondônia between 1907 and 1912, during the rubber boom. The railroad links the cities of Porto Velho and Guajará-Mirim. It became known as the "Devil's Railro ...
to allow export of Bolivian products via the Amazon River. Plácido remained leader of Acre until February 1904. After leaving office Plácido de Castro bought the Capatará rubber concession on credit, and also obtained property in Bolivia. He became a major landowner, culminating with the purchase on credit of the great Bagaço rubber concession. His rapidly acquired fortune earned him enemies. In June 1906 he was appointed mayor of Alto Acre, one of the four departments of the territory of Acre. He had to deal with various intrigues, including opposition by a former subordinate, Colonel Alexandrino José da Silva. He resigned from his post due to a disagreement with the government. On 9 August 1908, as he was preparing to return to Rio Grande do Sul, he fell into an ambush prepared by José da Silva. He was shot from behind, and died two days later. His dying words were recorded as, "Death is a phenomenon as natural as life. He who knows how to live will know how to die. I only lament that having had so much occasion for glorious death, these 'heroes' have shot me in the back". His body was taken to
Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...
and buried in the Santa Casa cemetery.


Legacy

Plácido de Castro has become admired as a hero of Brazil. The municipality of
Plácido de Castro, Acre Placido may refer to: People Surname *José Plácido de Castro (1873–1908), Brazilian soldier and politician *Michele Placido, (born 1946) Italian actor and director *Plácido Vega y Daza, (1830-1878) 19th century Mexican general and politician ...
, was created in 1963. Rio Branco has a Plácido de Castro square. José Plácido de Castro was included in the
Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom The Tancredo Neves Pantheon of the Fatherland and Freedom () is a cenotaph in the Brazilian capital Brasília, dedicated to the honour of national heroes. It was conceived during the national shock following the death in 1985 of president-elect ...
in
Brasília Brasília ( ; ) is the capital city, capital of Brazil and Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. Located in the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region, it was founded by President Juscelino ...
on 17 November 2004 as the liberator of Acre. The Rio Branco International Airport was renamed the Rio Branco-Plácido de Castro International Airport in 2009.


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Placido de Castro, Jose 1873 births 1908 deaths Assassinated Brazilian military personnel Assassinated Brazilian politicians People from São Gabriel People murdered in Brazil 20th-century Brazilian politicians 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Brazilian Roman Catholics