Luis Carlos Prestes

Prestes commanded a rebel column that marched over 25,000 km through Brazil's interior from 1925 to 1927, protesting the oligarchic republic. The column evaded government forces but failed to spark a popular uprising, becoming a symbol of resistance.

Prestes formally joined the PCB after years of exile in the Soviet Union. He became the party's leading figure, advocating for a Marxist-Leninist revolution in Brazil.

Prestes directed an attempted communist uprising in Brazilian army barracks in Natal, Recife, and Rio de Janeiro. The revolt was quickly crushed by government forces, leading to Prestes' arrest and imprisonment for nine years.

After the failed 1935 uprising, Prestes was arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was held in solitary confinement for much of his sentence, becoming a symbol of communist martyrdom.

Prestes was released under the amnesty of the democratization process at the end of the Vargas dictatorship. He returned to lead the PCB, which was briefly legalized, and was elected senator in 1945.

Prestes was expelled from the PCB for criticizing the party's moderate, Eurocommunist turn. He spent his final years in relative isolation, maintaining a hardline Stalinist stance.