Conselheiro, Antonio

(Antonio the Counselor). Born circa 1850; died September 1897. One of the leaders of a peasant war for land in Brazil.

Conselheiro was a poor peasant who later worked as a mason. He opposed latifundismo and the ownership of land by the church and advocated Christian equality and an ideal peasant democracy. After he died in battle in September 1897, his body was exhumed by a punitive expedition on October 5, decapitated, and burned.