Diogo da Lapa

Diogo da Lapa, also known as Fernão Diogo, was a capoeirista active in Rio de Janeiro during the tumultuous final years of the Brazilian Empire. His full name was Diogo Francisco de Oliveira, and he was associated with the capoeira maltas of the Largo da Lapa neighborhood, one of the traditional strongholds of the Nagoas faction.

In the aftermath of the abolition of slavery on May 13, 1888, the capoeira maltas of Rio de Janeiro became deeply involved in the political conflicts between monarchists and republicans. The Conservative Party, which had overseen abolition through the Lei Áurea, sought to harness the loyalty of freed slaves and capoeiristas to defend the monarchy. From this alliance emerged the Guarda Negra da Redentora, a paramilitary organization composed of former slaves and capoeiristas who aimed to protect Princess Isabel and the imperial regime against the rising Republican Party.

Diogo da Lapa participated in the Guarda Negra operating in the Largo da Lapa area, as well as with a group of ten capoeiras in the Santana neighborhood. The Lapa and Santana regions were traditional Nagoas territory, and the maltas there—including the feared "Espada" gang that controlled Largo da Lapa—provided many of the shock troops for the Guarda Negra.

The Proclamation of the Republic on November 15, 1889, marked the beginning of a violent campaign against capoeiristas. The new police chief, João Batista Sampaio Ferraz—known as "Cavanhaque de Aço" (Steel Goatee)—immediately began mass arrests and deportations. In a single week from December 12-18, 1889, 111 capoeiras were arrested. Diogo da Lapa was among those detained in mid-December 1889, arrested for his participation in the Guarda Negra.

His fate after arrest is unknown. Many of the captured capoeiras were deported to the remote island prison of Fernando de Noronha, where they were subjected to forced labor. On January 3, 1890, a war steamer carrying 154 capoeiras set sail for the island, and within the first forty days of the Republican regime, an estimated 1,300 capoeiras had been exiled there.