People's Vanguard Army

The People's Vanguard Army (in : Exército da Vanguarda Popular/ in Kwaba: Vanguard-abá Naurutiwa), also known by the acronym PVA or EVP, it was an armed political group from Maracatibe, having been created in 1956 by the then banned People's Vanguard Party with the aim of overthrowing Raymundo Cunha's dictatorial government and reestablishing a Socialist Maracatibe. It was terminated in 1986, when it accepted the proposal of the government of then President Ernesto Nonato, in which the PVA agreed to cease its activities on the condition that its members be forgiven under the controversial Peace Treaty of 1986. During its creation until its extinction, was the main domestic terrorist organization in Maracatibe. At its peak, it had more than 189,000 armed members. It was the main socialist militia in the Maracatibean Conflict.

Antecedents
In 1944, the socialist state of the People's Republic of Maracatibe was dissolved after a coup, and the People's Vanguard party would be banned from politics, with several of its members being arrested, executed, exiled or had their political rights permanently revoked. The party's banishment provoked a strong reaction from supporters, and an intense conflict occurred in 1944 between the new government and the pro-socialist army. The conflict sealed the fate of PV in the coming decades: illegality. The PV carried out a series of attacks between 1944 and 1956 against government buildings, corporate headquarters and other facilities.

Creation of the new army
In 1956, President Cláudio Mendonça articulated for the legalization of People's Vanguard and amnesty for its members. The agreements took place in January of that year, and on February 14, Mendonça signed the decree to renew the party's registration, while traveling to São Pedro for the opening of a hospital. Sebastiana's fateful rally, in which Mendonça shouted against the coup threat, the bankers and the imperialists, caused a coup d'état on February 4, 1944. With the coup, People's Vanguard returned to lawlessness.

The following day, the leaders of People's Vanguard were arrested by Raymundo Cunha's dictatorial government. This resulted in the creation, by Isaac de Oliveira, of the People's Vanguard Army, with the objective of overthrowing the dictatorship and reestablishing a socialist government, along the lines of the People's Republic of 1926-1944.

Supported by various newspapers and unions, and with sympathetic military personnel, People's Vanguard Army managed to cause a major internal conflict in Maracatibe. Important support was given by the governors of Morucá and Pioca, which guaranteed important positions at the beginning of the conflict.

They would be massacred by government troops in 1960, and the PVA strategy would return to the. Between 1960 and 1982, the PVA carried out bomb attacks on barracks, embassies, government buildings, headquarters of big companies, in addition to invading farms and killing their owners. The PVA was also linked to the murders and kidnappings of several journalists, diplomats, politicians, businessmen and other important people who were strongly opposed to the movement or were on the basis of support from the Cunha dictatorship. To maintain itself, the PVA counted on the contribution of ordinary people, who hid weapons and housed guerrillas in their homes, in addition to smuggling and piracy networks. The PVA was also supported by drug trafficking through the Ichocó Cartel, whose boss was a sympathizer.

Divisions
He suffered divisions throughout the war, with the guerrilla Tomás de Caminha disagreeing with the PVA leadership and forming the Maracatibean Liberation Army. Anarchists would be expelled from the group in the 1960s for having great ideological disagreements, and they gave rise to the People's Liberation Front. Other groups from other socialist currents, anarchists and even indigenous suprwmacists would be formed by PVA dissidents. Even so, the PVA remained the largest socialist group.

Assassination of the president
The PVA was responsible for the murder of dictator Raymundo Cunha, which led to an increase in the government's efforts to destroy the group. It was during the government of Raymundo Cunha Filho that the PVA began to see several defeats. At the end of the dictatorship, the PVA merged with the Maracatibean Liberation Army.

Redemocratization and dissolution
With the Redemocratization in 1982, the social democrat Ernesto Nonato was elected president, and began to mobilize for a peace agreement with the PVA. The negotiations were not immediately successful, with PVA attacks continuing between 1982 and 1986, albeit on a smaller scale. Only in 1986 did the negotiations succeed, as Nonato agreed to amnesty all members (even those who had committed violent crimes). The PVA was then dissolved on December 25, 1986, with many of its members founding the United Socialist Party of the Maracatibean People.

Ideology
The members of the People's Vanguard Army were nostalgic for the Maracatibean socialist government (1926-1944) and wanted to return to that period, seeing armed struggle as the only way to achieve this result. For this reason, the main enemies were businessmen, diplomats from capitalist nations, journalists supporting the government and the Cunha government itself.

Remnants
The Maracatibean Liberation Army, which had merged with PVA in 1981, was resurrected by PVA members who disagreed with peace agreement. The MLA is still active today, but it does not have the same adherence as the old PVA, although it is still considered a major public security problem, responsible for several attacks on farmers.