Eleutério

Eleutério de Souza, known as "O preto Eleutério" (Black Eleutério), was a founding figure in Recife's labor movement and one of the city's feared valentões during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

According to the Jornal Pequeno of November 9, 1938, Eleutério was "one of the founders of the primitive stevedore work in Pernambuco". The Stevedores Union of Pernambuco (SINDESTIVA/PE), founded March 19, 1891 by formerly enslaved workers, became the oldest stevedores union in Latin America. Many of its founders, like Eleutério, had emerged from slavery just three years earlier and immediately organized to fight for their rights and better working conditions.

Beyond his role in the labor movement, Eleutério was a "valiant man" who "made an era in Recife in his youth". He was deeply connected to the political machinery of the era, "always preferred by old politicians" who employed him as their bodyguard, "especially during complicated elections". This was common practice in Recife and throughout Brazil, where capoeiristas and valentões served as enforcers during the fraud-ridden elections of the First Republic, dissolving rival political gatherings, intimidating voters, and providing muscle for their patrons.

In 1907, Eleutério was involved in disturbances on a train returning from a religious festival, alongside Adama and Formigão—fellow valentões of the era. This incident places him among the network of capoeiristas and tough men who dominated Recife's streets in this period, walking openly armed through neighborhoods like Santo Antônio, São José, and Afogados.

The documentary record suggests Eleutério's prime occurred earlier than the other named valentões of the period. His founding role in the stevedore movement indicates he was already an established figure by 1891, and by 1907 he may have been among the elder statesmen of Recife's valentão community.