Mestre Paulo Santo Amaro

Paulo Santo Amaro was a capoeira mestre who trained under Mestre Caiçara in Salvador's Cidade Baixa (Lower City) neighborhood. According to Omilad D'Angola's testimony preserved on velhosmestres.com, Mestre Caiçara "sold fish on the small market of Jardim Cruzeiro, in the lower city neighborhood. Here he got many to become his contramestres. Such as Mestre Zé, Fernandinho, Paulo Santo Amaro, Ferreirinha (Silvestre) and others."

The Jardim Cruzeiro market was situated near the famous Largo de Argolo, between the Massaranduba and Jardim Cruzeiro neighborhoods—a traditional center of capoeira activity in Salvador where Caiçara established his informal training ground while working as a fish vendor.

Paulo Santo Amaro is also documented as one of the teachers of Mestre Gato Preto (José Gabriel Góes, 1930-2002), according to the Matumbé Capoeira school's lineage documentation. This source lists Gato Preto's teachers as including "Lúcio and Catarino Góes, Cobrinha Verde, Waldemar da Liberdade, Leó, and Paulo de Santo Amaro." If Paulo Santo Amaro taught Gato Preto during the 1940s, this would place him as an older generation figure who was already established in the capoeira scene.

His apelido "Santo Amaro" indicates he originated from Santo Amaro da Purificação, a city in the Recôncavo Baiano renowned for producing legendary capoeiristas including Besouro Mangangá, Cobrinha Verde, Gato Preto, and Mestre Traíra. The naming convention "de Santo Amaro" or "Santo Amaro" was common for capoeiristas from this town who moved to Salvador or other cities, distinguishing them from local practitioners.

Beyond these two references—as a contra-mestre of Caiçara and as a teacher of Gato Preto—little documentation exists about Paulo Santo Amaro's life, full name, or specific contributions to capoeira. His place in the lineage, however, connects him to two of the most significant figures in Bahian capoeira history.