Gabeira, Fernando Nagle (1941–)

Fernando Nagle Gabeira (b. 1941), Brazilian political activist and a leading participant in covert, often violent opposition to military rule established in Brazil in April 1964. As a member of the 8 October Revolutionary Movement (Movimento Revolucionário 8 de outubro—MR-8) Gabeira participated in the September 1969 kidnapping of Charles Elbrick, U.S. ambassador to Brazil. The military response to the kidnapping included severe repression and counterintelligence, which led to the eventual capture, torture, and exile of many revolutionaries, including Gabeira. Following a general amnesty for all political exiles, Gabeira returned to Brazil in 1979 and reemerged politically as a cofounder and 1986 gubernatorial candidate of the Green Party (PV), a leftist political party dedicated to social justice, the expansion of citizenship rights, and ecological management and preservation. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1994 and reelected in 1998, 2002, and 2006. His writings include O que é isso, companheiro? (1978) and Goiânia, Rua 57 (1987). The film version of O que é isso, companheiro?, released in the U.S. as Four Days in September, premiered in 1997 and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998.

See alsoBrazil, Amnesty Act (1979); Brazil, Revolutions: Revolution of 1964.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. J. Langguth, Hidden Terrors (1978), pp. 166-200.

Andy Truskier, "The Politics of Violence: The Urban Guerrilla in Brazil," in Urban Guerrilla Warfare in Latin America, edited by James Kohl and John Litt (1974), pp. 136-148.

Additional Bibliography

Cunha, Derneval Ribeiro Rodrigues da. "Entre Gabeira e Guevara: Notas sobre os escritos da luta armada." M.A. thesis, Universidade de São Paulo, 2002.

Reis Filho, Daniel Aarão. Versões e ficções: O seqüestro da história. 2nd ed. São Paulo: Editora Fundação Perseu Abramo, 1997.

                                   Daryle Williams