IN THE COURT OF PRESS

MAGALHÃES BARATA AND THE THREAT OF COMUNIST IN PARÁ (1935-1937)

Abstract

This article analyses the anti-communist campaign led by Paulo Maranhão against the military officer and politician Magalhães Barata, published in the newspaper sheet of north in Belém do Pará during the 1930s. Magalhães Barata held the position of interventor for the first time in Pará between 1930 and 1935, leaving the state in a context of extreme political dispute and division within the ruling bloc itself. His departure was in contrast to the fortification of the local opposition, one of whose leaders was Paulo Maranhão, director and owner of the main newspaper in the capital of Pará. Faced with the anti-communist wave in Brazil at the time, Magalhães Barata, the main politician in Pará during the Vargas era, was accused by the opposition of being a supporter of communism. From the episodes of accusation and defence surrounding Magalhães Barata's possible participation in the communist movement, it was possible to glimpse the strategies adopted by Pará's political elites during the period.