M.M.D.C. is the acronym by which the Paulista uprising in Brazil became known. It was formed from the names of four students — Mario Martins de Almeida, Euclides Miragaia, Dráusio Marcondes de Sousa and Antonio Camargo de Andrade — who were killed by federal troops in a clash on May 23, 1932, at the Praça da República, in São Paulo. This event triggered the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution.
History
In 1932, Brazil experienced a period in which the Vargas regime governed without a constitution that formally delineated the powers of the President or that made clear the separation of powers between the National Congress, the Legislature, and municipal councils. In reaction, the Paulistas began to move against the Vargas dictatorship, and students prepared a series of demonstrations, which broke out across the capital in a climate of growing revolt on 23 May of that year. The Revolutionary League, an organization favorable to the regime of Getúlio Vargas was located near the Republic Square. A group of students tried to invade the pro-government League, which resisted with force resulting in the death of four students, Martins, Miragaia, Camargo and Dráusio died - three of them during the confrontation, and the fourth shortly afterward. A fifth student, Orlando Alvarenga de Oliveira, was injured during the fight did not have his name immediately associated with the movement since he died three months later on 12 August, 1932. Following the episode of Republic Square, an intense campaign of voluntary enlistment throughout the state commenced on July 9, 1932, culminating in the 1932 Constitutionalist Revolution. The initials of Martins, Miragaia, Camargo and Dráusio, M.M.D.C, were used to represent a secret civil organisation which, among other activities, offered military training to the Paulista guerrillas.
MMDCA
Some historians use the initialism MMDCA in honor of Orlando de Oliveira Alvarenga, who died of his wounds three months after the clash in August 1932. To honor him, the state government created the "Colar Cruz de Alvarenga e dos Heróis Anônimos". On January 13, 2004, State Law 11.658 was enacted, styling May 23 as "Dia dos Heróis MMDCA".
Toponomy
Streets named Martins, Miragaia, Dráusio, Camargo, Alvarenga and MMDC intersect in the neighborhood of Butantã. Escola M.M.D.C. is a college located in the São Paulo neighborhood of Mooca. Streets honoring Martins, Miragaia, Dráusio, and Camargo exist in the cities of Campinas, Cotia, Franca, Itaquaquecetuba, Leme, Lorena, Piracicaba, São Bernardo do Campo, Pauliceia, São José dos Campos, São José do Rio Preto, Sorocaba and Votorantim, as well as plazas in the cities of Bauru, Jundiaí, Lorraine and São Carlos.
