The region around Canudos, Monte Santos and Euclides da Cunha in the center of the federal state of Bahia has been the starting point for social revolutionary movements in Brazil for over 100 years. A strong awareness regarding the unfair distribution of agriculturally usable land developed in this part of the sertão after the uprising in 1897. The situation last escalated in the 20th century: the 1980s – major landowners in the region began to illegally fence in areas which belonged to the rural communities and small farmers. They were taking advantage of the fact that a lot of the legal owners did not have the proper land registration for their fields and pastures. Once fenced in, the property rights were illegally rewritten with the help of corrupt officials. This practice quickly produced protests by the small farmers, who removed the fences. The major landowners then employed armed gangs in order to prevent the farmers from doing this.
This revolt, which gained national attention, was led by a padre from the small town of Monte Santo. As a priest in one of Brazil’s most important pilgrim sites – the Capela da Serra de Monte Santo, situated at the highest point of the Serra de Piquaraça – he had the power to call attention to illegal practices. Together with the Federação dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura he organized protest marches and started legal proceedings. And because of his commitment, Enoque José de Oliveira was excommunicated. This section of his life was presented in the mini-series “O Pagador de Promessas” on Brazil’s most popular TV channel “Globo”, a legend in the sertão of Bahia. In this screen adaptation, he fights as Padre Elói together with Zé do Burro against major landowner Tião Gadelha.
Today, Enoque lives only a few kilometers away from his former church in Euclides da Cunha. The regional hub has 60,000 inhabitants and is named after the creator of the book “Os Sertões”. It is situated on both sides along the BR 116 and joins the two metropolises Salvador in the south and Fortaleza in the north. Two oversized four-story hotels and several major service stations characterize the skyline. The ex-priest sits in an old wooden chair in the Casa de Canudos, which he himself founded.
The house also serves as an archive for the history of the farmers’ uprising of Canudos, as an office for the People’s Movement of Canudos and as Enoque’s living quarters, run by his housekeeper Damina (35). Damina limps in – her leg supported by a metal brace – with a tablet and serves coffee. Enoque talks continuously. The coffee in his hand grows cold while he describes the successes of his movement, emphasizes the importance of Canudos as a symbol for a more just and charitable world, and complains about his lack of financial resources. Since his excommunication, his income consists of a small salary from the agricultural workers’ union in Monte Santo. Even today he has close contact to his comrades in arms from the 1980s. They meet regularly at farms interspersed throughout the hinterland.
