‘A struggle of peasant resistance against landowners, which took place in Ceará in the 1930s, when more than 400 people were killed. The name Caldeirão (lit. cauldron) refers to a depression on the land surface, where pure water was found all year round. The area belonged to Father Cícero - a famous priest and politician of the period - who handed it over to the messianic leader Zé Lourenço and his followers to work the land. The great concentration of peasants in the area, however, caught the attention of the landowners, who, fearing the growth of the workers’ organization and a possible occupation of their lands, started a war against the peasants to destroy Caldeirão. This struggle continues in the memory of the landless people of Ceará and is diffused by the MST and the Pastoral Land Commission'(Fernandes, Bernardo Mançano. Pequeno Vocabulário da Luta pela Terra. Unpublished). |