Grupo Zumbi de Capoeira

Grupo Zumbi de Capoeira was the first capoeira group founded in Belém, the capital of Pará state, established on 15 March 1972 by Antônio Bezerra dos Santos (Mestre Bezerra). The name honors Zumbi dos Palmares, the 17th-century quilombola leader.

Mestre Bezerra had begun studying capoeira in 1966 in São Luís, Maranhão, under Mestre Roberval Serejo within Grupo Bantus (MA), later receiving the mestre graduation in 1970 from Mestre Sérgio (Sérgio Luiz de Souza Vieira). After settling in Belém, he founded Grupo Zumbi de Capoeira on 15 March 1972, cited as the first organized capoeira group in the city and a milestone in introducing the practice to Pará state. On 8 October 1974 the group held Pará's first capoeira batizado (baptism ceremony), graduating twelve students — an event described as decisive for the organization and consolidation of capoeira in the state. Among the capoeiristas formed by Mestre Bezerra during this 1970s period in Belém was Mestre Waldeci, who later died in Belém-PA. Independent verification of the founder's official page and the Mapa Cultural do Pará group listing was limited (both pages were partially inaccessible to automated fetching), so the exact founding date, while consistent across multiple aggregated sources, is treated here with 'likely' rather than 'verified' confidence.