Carlos Marighella
Carlos Marighella (lang; 5 December 1911 – 4 November 1969) was a Brazilian politician, writer, and Marxist–Leninist militant. Critical of nonviolent resistance to the Brazilian military dictatorship, he founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional, a Marxist–Leninist urban guerrilla group, which was responsible for a series of bank robberies and high-profile kidnappings. He was killed by police in 1969 in an ambush.
Also recorded as Carlos Marighela
Carlos Marighella

Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Aperj) · Public domain
- Name
- Carlos Marighella
- Born
- 5 December 1911
- Birthplace
- Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
- Died
- 4 November 1969
- Place of death
- São Paulo, Brazil
- Occupation
- Politician, guerrilla fighter, poetist, professor
- Nationality
- Brazil.
- Fields
- insurgency.
- Education
- Federal University of Bahia.
- Known for
- Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla.
- Languages
- Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.
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wikidata · Q712117 · wikipedia · Carlos Marighella
In this article
Biography
Biography
Marighella's most famous contribution to revolutionary literature was the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla.
Carlos Marighella studied at Federal University of Bahia. The recorded working language is Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The field of work recorded is insurgency. Positions recorded include federal deputy of Bahia. Works named in the authority record are Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla.
Carteira do PCB emitida em um período de legalidade do partido, de 1945 a 1947.
Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Aperj)
Marighella quando era deputado, em 1946 ou 1947.
Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Aperj)
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Carlos Marighella • Office — Member of the Chamber of Deputies • Term Start — 5 February 1946 • Term End — 10 January 1948 • Constituency — Bahia • Born — 5 December 1911 • Birthplace — Salvador, Bahia, Brazil • Died — 4 November 1969 • Place of death — São Paulo, Brazil • Death Cause — Assassination • Resting Place — Cemitério Público da Quinta dos Lázaros, Salvador, Bahia • Mother — Maria Rita do Nascimento • Father — Augusto Marighella • Partner — Elza Sento Sé Zilda Xavier Pereira • Children — Carlos Augusto • Party — Brazilian Communist Party (1932–1964) • Blank1 — Organization • Data1 — ALN (1964–1969) • Occupation — Politician, guerrilla fighter, poetist, professor
Biography
Biography
• Illustration — Marighella's parents. Marighella was born in Salvador, Bahia, to Italian immigrant Augusto Marighella and Afro-Brazilian Maria Rita do Nascimento. His father was a blue-collar worker originally from Emilia, while his mother was a descendant of enslaved Africans, brought from the Sudan (Hausa blacks). He spent his young life at a house in Rua do Desterro, at the Baixa do Sapateiro neighbourhood, where he would graduate from primary and secondary education. In 1934, he left the Polytechnic School of Bahia, where he was pursuing a degree in civil engineering, in order to become an active member of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB). He then moved to Rio de Janeiro to work in the restructuring of PCB. Son of an Italian Roman Catholic father and a mother of African Muslim background, Carlos was raised in a Catholic household, eventually becoming atheist in his early 20s.
Arrests
Arrests
• Illustration — Marighella's PCB card, issued during the party's brief period of legality Marighella was first arrested in 1932, after he wrote an offensive poem about the administration of Bahia intervener Juracy Magalhães. On 1 May 1936, during the Getúlio Vargas time in presidency, he was once again arrested for subversion by the political police led by Filinto Müller. He remained in jail for a year. He was released by "macedada" (the measure which freed political prisoners without pressing charges against them). After his release, he once again entered clandestinity, along with all members of PCB. He was recaptured in 1939. He was not released until 1945, when an amnesty during the democratization process of the country benefited all political prisoners. The following year, Marighella was elected constituent federal deputy by the Bahian branch of PCB, but he lost his office in 1948 under the new proscription of the party. Back in clandestinity, he occupied several offices in the leadership of the party. Invited by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Marighella visited China between 1953 and 1954 in order to learn more about the Chinese Communist Revolution. In May 1964, after the military coup, he was shot and arrested by agents of the Department of Political and Social Order (Departamento de Ordem Política e Social - DOPS), the political police, at a movie theater in Rio. He was released in the following year by a court order.
Writing
Writing
In 1966, he wrote The Brazilian Crisis, opting for the armed struggle against the military dictatorship. Later that year, he renounced his office in the national leadership of PCB. In August 1967, he participated at the 1st Conference of Latin American Solidarity in Havana, contradicting what party had determined. In Havana, he wrote Some Questions About the Guerrillas in Brazil, dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara and made public by Jornal do Brasil on 5 September 1968. That same year he was expelled from PCB, and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN) in February 1968.
Ação Libertadora Nacional
Ação Libertadora Nacional
The Department of Political and Social Order (DOPS) attributed the assassination of Charles Rodney Chandler to Marighella and nine others according to the Folha da Tarde at the time.
1969 kidnapping of the United States Ambassador
1969 kidnapping of the United States Ambassador
In September 1969, ALN members kidnapped the U.S. ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick in a coordinated move with the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro – MR-8). The group was responsible for several executions as well.
Assassination
Assassination
• Illustration — Vandalised tombstone of Marighella, Cemitério Público da Quinta dos Lázaros, Salvador, Bahia, designed by the modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer. After a series of successful robberies and kidnappings, the police force was determined to eliminate him. He was shot by police at an ambush at 8:00 pm on 4 November 1969 at 800 Alameda Casa Branca, São Paulo. This ambush was organized by police deputy Sérgio Paranhos Fleury, known for his work inside DOPS. Marighella was buried at Cemitério Público da Quinta dos Lázaros, a cemetery in Salvador, Bahia. His tombstone was designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, and is the only grave monument designed by the architect. It bears a quote from Marighella: "I didn't have time to be afraid" (Não tive tempo para ter medo).
In popular culture
In popular culture
Marighella was portrayed by Geraldo Del Rey in the 1987 Brazilian drama film Dedé Mamata. In the 2006 biographical drama film Baptism of Blood, Marighella was portrayed by Brazilian actor and musician Marku Ribas. In the 2019 drama Marighella, Marighella was portrayed by Seu Jorge; the film was accomplished actor Wagner Moura's directorial debut. The movie was exhibited at international film festivals, but Brazil's Agência Nacional do Cinema (National Agency of Cinema), during Bolsonaro's government, barred it from distribution in Brazil, citing "subversive elements"; it finally appeared on Brazilian screens in November, 2021.
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
He also worked under the names Preto and Menezes. The authorities additionally record the heading Carlos Marighela. His recorded languages were Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. He was the child of Maria Rita do Nascimento Marighella. One child is recorded: Augusto Marighella. Other recorded relations include Maria Marighella.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Carlos Marighella worked in insurgency. Recorded position is federal deputy of Bahia. He belonged to Brazilian Communist Party and National Liberation Action.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1911
Carlos Marighella was born in 1911 at Salvador.
1969
Carlos Marighella died in 1969 at São Paulo.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Salvador.
Birth place
São Paulo.
Death place
Legacy
Marighella's most famous contribution to revolutionary struggle literature was the Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, consisting of advice on how to disrupt and overthrow a military regime as part of a Marxist revolution. Written shortly before his death in late 1969 in São Paulo, Minimanual was first published in North America by the Berkeley Tribe in Berkeley, California in July 1970 in an English edition.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Carlos Marighella, revision 1367998490 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Marighella, Carlos. Carta à Comissão Executiva do Partido Comunista Brasileiro. Marxists.org. 1966-12-01.
- 2.Sulzberger, C. L. Terror Without A Philosophy. The New York Times. 1977-10-22. 0362-4331.
- 3.The Terrorist Classic: Manual of the Urban Guerrilla. Foreign Affairs: America and the World. Spring 1986. 2009-01-28. 0015-7120.
- 4.Urban Terrorism in Latin America. Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. Of America. 1969-11-06.
- 5.SAGE Publications, Inc. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism. 2011. 9781412980166.
- 6.Müller, Kai. Carlos Marighella - der gute Terrorist. Der Tagesspiegel Online. 15 February 2019.
- 7.Schaefer, Annette. Inside the Terrorist Mind. Scientific American. 2017-12-01.
- 8.Ekaterina, Stepanova. Terrorism in asymmetrical conflict: ideological and structural aspects. Oxford University Press. 2008. 978-0199533558.
- 9.Marighella: who is the terrorist brought by Wagner Moura to the movies?. Gazeta do Povo. 2019-02-18.
- 10.White, Jonathan. "Ideological Terrorism." Chapter 12 in Terrorism and Homeland Security, 5thEdition. Mason, Ohio, Cengage Learning, 2006. Page 218.
- 11.Williams, John W. Carlos Marighella: The father of urban guerrilla warfare. Terrorism. 12. 1. 1–20. January 1989. 0149-0389.
- 12."Não tive tempo para ter medo": 50 anos após Marighella, militante ainda inspira gerações. Diálogos do Sul.
- 13.Magalhães, Mário. Marighella: o guerrilheiro que incendiou o mundo. Companhia das Letras. 2012. 978-85-359-2170-0.
- 14.Quem foi Carlos Marighella, personagem central do primeiro filme dirigido por Wagner Moura. Metro Jornal.
- 15.Sereza, Haroldo Ceravolo. Carlos Marighella: liderança negra e comunista nos Super-Revolucionários. Opera Mundi. 13 May 2019.
- 16.Betto (Frei). Batismo de sangue: guerrilha e morte de Carlos Marighella. Rocco. 2006. 978-85-325-2061-6.
- 17.Ferreira, Muniz. RADICALIZANDO A POLÍTICA: A CRÍTICA DE MARIGHELLA ÀS POSIÇÕES DO PCB NO IMEDIATO PÓS 64. Revista Novos Rumos. 50. 2. 2013. 2763-9096.
- 18.Quem foi Charles Rodney Chandler, militar americano morto pela luta armada citado por Bolsonaro nos EUA. BBC News Brasil.
- 19.Marighella: who is the terrorist brought by Wagner Moura to the movies? Texto em inglês com áudio. Wise Up News: textos em inglês com áudio da Gazeta do Povo. 2019-02-18.
- 20.Holmes, Richard. Oxford Companion to Military History. Oxford University Press. 549. 2001. 978-0-19-860696-3.
- 21.Cite Q Q107380297
- 22.library of congress.gov/chronicling america/berkeley tribe
- 23.University of Michigan.gov/archives/underground newspapers/microfilm collection
- 24.Dedé Mamata at Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes.
- 25.Batismo de Sangue at Recanto das Letras. Recanto das Letras. 3 May 2007.
- 26.Oliveira, Joana. 'Marighella', na zona cinzenta entre cortes, problemas na Ancine e censura sob Bolsonaro. El País Brasil. 2019-09-14.
- 27.Capuano, Amanda. ‘Marighella’ chega aos cinemas com aura de fenômeno pop. VEJA. 2 November 2021.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- Federal University of BahiaOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Carlos Magalhães de AzeredoAuthor
- Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y QuesadaAuthor
- Carlos María GutiérrezAuthor
- Carlos María RamírezAuthor
- Carlos Martínez RivasAuthor
- Carlos MastronardiAuthor
- Carlos Mejía GodoyAuthor
- Carlos MontemayorAuthor
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