Besouro Manganga

Manoel Henrique, the famous besouro Maganga was born in the city of Santo Amaro in Bahia in 1897. He was also known as Besouro Cordao de Ouro and Besouro Maracangalha.

Maganga refers to an insect of the dipteros class called besouro (beetle). It is the only insect that flies because it is lazy. It is said that Besouro Manganga was very lazy and liked to do things the opposite way that they were supposed to be done. In the Bantu vocabulary, this word refers to an important and powerful person. 

Maracangalha is the name of a tiny place in the state of Bahia.  It is famous within the world of Capoeira because of the innumerous deeds of the feared capoeirista, Besouro. 

According to the elders, he was the student of a slave named “Tio Alipio,” who gave him the name Besouro (insect with a venomous bite). A popular legend states that he received the name because whenever he got into trouble and had more opponents than he could handel, he would transform into a beetle and fly away from the confusion. 

His Capoeira school was in Santo Amaro. There, he made disciples like Cobrinha Verde (Rafael Alves Franca), who was also his cousin. He was an excellent capoeirista and dangerous knife thrower. He had a “closed body” and did not like the police. There were successive fights, and many times, Besouro would side with the weaker side against farmers, engenhos, and cops. One day, he was in front of Largo da Cruz and a soldier walked by. Besouro forced him to drink some cachaca. The soldier left and went to his headquarters where he filed a complaint to his superior. The lieutenant sent ten men to capture Besouro, dead or alive. Once they got there, they had a prison order. Besouro left the bar walking backwards, went to a cross, leaned against it, spread his arms, and said he would never surrender. The soldiers began to shoot at him. Besouro pretended that he was shot and fell to the ground. The soldiers thought he was dead and left. A few minutes later, Besouro got up and left singing.

A strong black man with an adventurous spirit, he always carried a “patua.” Be it by train, horse, or foot, Besouro  went from Santo Amaro to Maracangalha and back. He worked in sugar-cane plants and farms. He never worked at a fixed place and never had a defined profession. 

In 1924, he got a job at Dr. Zeca’s farm. He was the father of a boy called Memeu. Besouro had a discussion with Memeru and was marked to die. After the discussion, Dr. Zeca told Besouro to get a job at a sugar cane plant that his friend administered. 

He sent a letter to the administrator, which was delivered by Besouro. Because he was illiterate, Besouro could not read the contents of the letter. The letter said that whomever received it, should put an end to the deliverer’s life. Once the administrator received the letter, he asked Besouro to wait until the next day for him to write the response. Besouro spent the night in a whorehouse. The next morning, he went to pick up the “response letter.” When he arrived, he was caught up in an ambush. He was stabbed in the back with a knife made of tucum or Aticum (a very resistant wood, which some believe to possess magical powers). Besouro died at age 27.

This is a short description of his doings, told by his student, Mestre Cobrinha Verde. Besouro was unemployed and he went to look for a job. He arrived at a sugar cane plant and was given a job. Payday arrived. Besouro knew that his employer would call his workers only once. On the second time, he would say, “quebrou para Sao Caetano,” which means that they would no longer be paid. If the workers complained, they would be whipped and beaten. They would be left with their arms and legs tied around a wooden trunk for an entire day. They would then be sent away. 

When it was Besouro’s turn to be paid, the boss said “quebrou para Sao Caetano.” All of the workers received their earnings except for Besouro. Besouro invaded the mans house and shouted “Pay Besouro Cordao de Ouro his money! Are you gonna pay or not?!” The man quickly asked Besouro be paid. Besouro took the money and left. 

Besouro hated the police. Many times, he would run across friends of his that were being arrested. He would release them from the hands of any soldiers. He would beat the cops, take their weapons, take them to the headquarters and say: “Here you go you pigs” and throw the guns at them.