Coluna Prestes
The Coluna Prestes, also known as Coluna Miguel Costa-Prestes, in English Prestes Column, was a social rebel movement that broke out in Brazil between 1925 and 1927, with links to the Tenente revolts. The rebellion's ideology was diffuse, but the main issues that caused it were the general dissatisfaction with the oligarchic First Brazilian Republic, the demand for the institution of the secret ballot, and the defense of better public education. The rebels marched some 25,000 km through the Brazilian countryside. They did not aim to defeat the forces of the Federal government in battle, but rather to ensure their survival and their ability to continue threatening the government.
Uprising
On 5 July 1924, on the second anniversary of the Copacabana Fort revolt, a new armed revolt broke out in São Paulo. The Tenentes, young army officers that were deeply dissatisfied with the country's political and social landscape, under the command of general Isidoro Dias Lopes, occupied large parts of the city. However, they were soon besieged by increasingly numerous federal troops. After 3 weeks under heavy bombardment the rebels abandoned their positions. Filling a train with men and supplies, they retreated into the countryside eventually reaching and occupying the city of Foz do Iguaçu in the state of Paraná, on Brazil's border with Argentina, starting the Paraná Campaign. There the rebels established a powerful defense line, and waited for their enemies, soon to arrive under the command of general Cândido Rondon. In support of the revolutionaries similar uprisings broke out in the states of Amazonas and Sergipe, but they were quickly suppressed. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, however, events took another turn with the outbreak of a new revolt.As it happened, 3 months after the retreat of the Tenentes from the city of São Paulo, numerous army units also rebelled in the cities of Alegrete, Cachoeira do Sul, Uruguaiana, São Luíz Gonzaga, Santo Ângelo and São Borja. An energetic response by the state government meant that soon the rebels were in disarray. Only in the region of São Luiz Gonzaga they were able to resist under the leadership of captain Luís Carlos Prestes of the 1st Frontier Battalion of Santo Ângelo. Under his orders, the remaining rebel forces were reorganized.
In December 1924 fourteen thousand men loyal to the government marched towards São Luíz Gonzaga and started to fortify positions around the rebels. By then, Prestes had made contact with an envoy of general Isidoro Dias Lopes, João Franscico, a veteran of the Federalist Revolution known as "Hiena do Cati", who informed him of his promotion to colonel by the revolutionary command, gave him full control of the rebel forces in Rio Grande do Sul and ordered him to march north with his men in order to join forces with the São Paulo rebels on the shores of the Paraná river. Breaking the siege on 27 December 1924 and escaping his pursuers, Prestes and his column arrived in April 1925 in the city of Santa Helena.