Besouro Mangangá

Manoel Henrique Pereira was born in 1895 in Santo Amaro da Purificação, in the Recôncavo region of Bahia—an area with deep African cultural roots. His father was João Matos Pereira, nicknamed "João Grosso", and his mother was Maria Haifa (also recorded as Maria Auta Pereira). According to Mestre Cobrinha Verde, his cousin, "Besouro's father was named João, nicknamed João Grosso, and his mother was Maria Haifa. Maria Haifa was my aunt, so Besouro was my cousin, and was raised as my brother".

As a boy, Besouro learned capoeira from Tio Alípio, an African ex-slave and Babalaô (Candomblé priest) who had been brought to Brazil in chains to work at the Engenho de Pantaleão sugar mill. Training took place in Trapiche de Baixo, the poorest neighborhood of Santo Amaro, done in secret because capoeira was forbidden by law.

His nickname "Besouro" (beetle) came from his ability to escape dangerous situations—people said he could scurry away or take flight like a beetle, evading capture. "Mangangá" derives from the African word for a type of medicine taken in a ritual believed to create a "corpo fechado" (closed body), attributed to him because of his apparent invincibility to bullets and blades.

Beyond Tio Alípio, Besouro trained with a circle of capoeiristas who would meet on Sundays: Paulo Barroquinha, Canário Pardo, Siri de Mangue, and Maria Doze Homens. Together they formed what some sources call a "gang of capoeira resistance fighters". He became a dangerous knife fighter (faquista), known for playing with a straight razor using his foot.

Besouro served in the army, stationed at the 31st Infantry Battalion. In September 1918, when police seized a berimbau from his group, he went to the police station in São Caetano, Salvador, to recover it. When the officer refused, Besouro attacked with companions. Repelled by police aided by local residents, he retreated to the 31st Infantry Battalion, gathered soldiers, and returned with a squad of 30 men to arrest the police officers. The neighborhood of São Caetano came to a halt. He was subsequently expelled from the army.

After the military, he worked as a saveirista (dock worker for traditional boats), as a vaqueiro (cowboy), and in sugar-cane plants. Historian Antonio Liberac Cardoso Simões Pires notes: "His practices cannot be associated with banditry, because Besouro has always characterized himself as a worker throughout his life, never being arrested for robbery, theft, or common criminal activity".

He began teaching his younger cousin, Rafael Alves França (later Mestre Cobrinha Verde), when Rafael was just four years old, around 1912. On his deathbed, according to Cobrinha Verde, "Besouro called together all his students and told me that I, Cobrinha Verde, was the only one to whom he was giving his spirit to teach capoeira".

In July 1924, at around age 29, Besouro accepted work at the Maracangalha plantation from Dr. Zeca, a local landowner. According to legend, he unwittingly carried a note—being illiterate—that read "kill the man who is delivering this card". He was surrounded by approximately forty armed men. When they opened fire, he dodged the bullets as usual. But his protective patuá had allegedly been stolen by a woman the night before. Eusébio de Quibaca stabbed him in the back with a knife carved from tucum wood—a material said to have magical properties capable of penetrating a corpo fechado. The knife had been blessed by a sorceress specifically for this purpose.

Besouro was stabbed on July 6, 1924. He did not die immediately but was taken to the Santa Casa de Misericórdia hospital in Santo Amaro, where he died on July 8. His death certificate records: "Manoel Henrique, dark mulatto, single, 24 years old, native of Urupy, resident at Usina Maracangalha, profession of cattle herder, entered on the 8th of July 1924 at 10:30 hours of the day and died at seven o'clock in the evening, (due to) an injury piercing the section of the abdomen".

Shortly after his death, Besouro became a mythical capoeira hero. His fame spread nationally from the 1930s and internationally as capoeira expanded to other continents. He is celebrated in countless songs and stories. A 2009 Brazilian film "Besouro" (directed by João Daniel Tikhomiroff, with Ailton Carmo in the title role) dramatized his life.