Mestre Euclides Paes

Euclides Paes, known by the apelido "Índio", was a Rio de Janeiro capoeira mestre active in the 1960s. He taught alongside Mestre Paulo Salmon (Paulinho Salmon) at the Grupo Capoeira da Guanabara, where they trained a new generation of capoeiristas in the Tijuca neighborhood.

In 1966, Euclides Paes and Paulinho Salmon took on José Maria da Silva (later known as Mestre Zé Maria) as a student. Together, the two mestres transmitted what was described as the famous secret of the "Pulo do Gato" (Cat's Leap)—a technique whose exact nature remains undisclosed but whose name suggests acrobatic agility and feline quickness. Zé Maria trained intensively under them and in 1967 graduated as an instructor of the Grupo Capoeira da Guanabara.

When Euclides Paes and Paulinho Salmon discontinued their training activities for work-related reasons, they authorized Zé Maria to continue teaching in their place—a gesture that demonstrates the confidence they placed in their student and the informal succession patterns common in that era of capoeira transmission. Zé Maria went on to found the Grupo de Capoeira do Império da Tijuca on December 20, 1967, becoming the pioneer of capoeira teaching in the Tijuca neighborhood.

The lineage of Euclides Paes extends through Zé Maria to Ecuador, where Zé Maria founded the first capoeira group in 1993. In May 2013, Zé Maria's student Henry Vizcarra (Mestre Carvão) and Marco Herrera (Mestre Perninha) received their mestre cords from both Zé Maria and Paulinho Salmon, continuing the lineage that traces back to Euclides Paes's teachings in 1960s Rio de Janeiro.