Support Centers: Letters

^(*) The letters, as well as their senders, are works of fiction. They are based on the stories told by pioneers in the audiovisual archives at the Federal District Public Archives and in the interviews they gave to various newspapers.

At the same time, they are an attempt to provide some context for the modern-day reader about the perspectives and experiences of those who arrived between 1956 and 1960, before the city of Brasilia was inaugurated. They are also a way of paying tribute to the thousands of unknown heroes, those characters in the huge epic of raising an immortal city from the ground in the Brazilian Highlands.

"Dorinha, my sweet, I'm still not there yet, but all I need to do is close my eyes to see your tear-filled eyes in my mind. Surrounded by dust on this endless road, it is only the hope that got me up onto this truck in the first place that makes me think that the journey will be worthwhile.

But it was when that lad said that Brasilia was going to be like a devil's arrow ⁽¹⁾, emerging from a sheet of paper towards a lake designed solely for its enhancement, that I couldn't resist being part of that group who were going to make a city emerge out of the dust, a city that is the already the future right now!"

And those who see the sign of the cross, as Lúcio Costa himself had intended. What is certain is that the propaganda of the time was full of the magnificence of the New Capital. It would be a landmark, a watershed between a backward country and a nation that was open to the future. It was the promise that would embody the greatness of Brazil, the sleeping giant of the Americas!

"My Dorinha, Hunger is stopping me sleeping … I met a man on the truck ⁽²⁾. He's brought his whole family along: his wife and five children. The kids cry all the time. The poor little one is sick, and that's why they all came. I gave them my food.

He said that he's heard that anyone who can read and write can get a good job in Brasilia. He told me that his mother was a teacher and she'd hold and guide his hand so he could learn to write. But his mother died when his youngest brother was born. Then his father broke his pencil and burnt his notebooks. He said that out in the fields, what really matters is a hoe.

But, when it got dark and everyone in the house was asleep, he'd write with his finger on the front of the netting, just so that he could remember his mother's hand on his.
So he never forgot what he'd learned and, as the drought was tough on them, they came to try their luck instead of dying of hunger.”

In May 1959, a trial census was held and it calculated an average monthly increase of 2,100 people. This census also showed that, at the start of construction works in Brasilia, there were 192 men for every 100 women.

Nobody can specify the exact number of workers when the city was inaugurated in April 1960, but it is believed that the city was already home to 120,000 people. Most of those who came were from the Northeast, perhaps driven out by the huge drought of 1958, in search of better living conditions.

“Dorinha, sweetheart,
I still haven't seen that devil's arrow, but I have seen a Free City⁽³⁾! The truck dropped people off here. The city is all built of wood, just like in that film about the Wild West that we saw once.

There are three long streets, there's water in some houses, electric lighting from a generator, and there are these two things tied to a couple of posts that people here call loudspeakers. That must be because they are so loud!
These loudspeakers play music and give out news about jobs.  

I've heard of one place called Candangolândia. It's sounds as if that's where they take on people to work. And what's not in short supply around here is work! They say that there is work available night and day!
The loudspeaker called for anyone who can read and write for a warehouse job.

I think that this must be the new Wild West right here. They've even got a sheriff!"

But this was just a loan for use contract. It envisaged that the buildings would be made of wood so that, at the end of the four years needed to build the New Capital, all the buildings in the Free City would be taken down.

The Free City was the point of arrival for workers, but once they found work at the companies that were building the Pilot Plan, they were housed in company dormitories or they settled in clusters of self-built shacks. These precarious dwellings came to be known as the invasions (invasões).

“Dorinha,
Tell my cousin Chico that he'd like it here!
The city is really lively! It even feels like there are round-the-clock fairs! The stores are full of stuff. There's a shop selling ready-made clothing. There's a movie theater, hotel, restaurant …

And, down below, at the end of the main street, there's a house of pretty girls you can fall in love with. But, listen … I've never been there! Honest! I only know that it's there because I went for a walk around so I could get to know the city …" ⁴⁾

It also offered specialist services, such as car repair shops, a carpentry shop, a photography studio, and a bank. There was even a bohemian section, with bars and a tolerance zone, as the red light district was called.

The city's first movie theater, the Cine Bandeirante, was also there. The Cine Brasilia movie theater—planned by Oscar Niemeyer for the Asa Sul district—would only be built years later.

“Dorinha, my sweet ...
I've learned that the newspaper that comes in every day by plane is going to open an office in the city.
I'm going to go along there tomorrow morning. Who knows, in this land that nurtures so many dreams, I might realize mine, too, and finally become a writer … I want to tell the story of this city!

Not the story about the concrete Brasilia as that'll be there for all humanity and it's already made the news, even in other countries … But the story of this wooden Brasilia that they think will only be temporary, but it's the flesh and bones of the arms that are building that other Brasilia with their sweat and suffering. If that other Brasilia is made of steel and concrete and therefore eternal, then those who think that they can simply level this wooden one are wrong. Because this one underpins the other …  and it's built of something stronger than steel. It's built of hopes and dreams ⁽⁵⁾ …

And if I manage to get a position at the newspaper tomorrow, I'm coming to get you with my second pay check. We'll get married, and you'll come to Brasilia with me to see that they simply had to think up this place!

Even so, again according to IPHAN, in 1971, more than 80,000 residents of the towns near the Free City were relocated to satellite towns, especially Ceilândia. 

Nevertheless, the Movement organized so that the original Núcleo Bandeirante was completely urbanized by the late 1970s
So, there was no going back: the Núcleo Bandeirante had become a satellite town, with its new status passed into law by a vote in Congress and sanctioned by the president of Brazil.

“My dearly beloved wife Helena,
I begin these lines by missing you so much!
Here the days have been so tiring. We are the only place offering support to I don't know how many people. Every day new trucks, new buses arrive, bringing men with almost no luggage but with a huge willingness to work.

The hospital ⁽⁶⁾ is small, but well equipped, and despite the work being hard, I do feel like those doctors in the small hinterland towns.
In fact, speaking of towns, the buildings around the hospital have become a very pleasant little town. I think that you'll like living here a lot and you'll enjoy the company of the neighbors."

It was a busy place because it issued health cards. These documents were required by anyone before they could be hired by the companies that were building the future capital. The Living Museum of Candanga Memory (Museu Vivo da Memória Candanga) now stands in the grounds of the IAPI Hospital.

The Living Museum of Candanga Memory (Museu Vivo da Memória Candanga) now stands in the grounds of the IAPI Hospital.

“My most beautiful lady of Troy … Today, my heart is feeling content. My hands helped bring the first native candango into the world. He was born in what will be the most modern city in the world ⁽⁷⁾. He's a strong boy and he will certainly be brave, just like all those who are born in Free Cities and who pioneer God's lands."

Cultural treasures such as the Centro de Ensino da Metropolitana School, the Nossa Senhora Aparecida Church and the Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira Hospital are all located in the Núcleo Bandeirante, and they are part of Brasilia's historical and cultural heritage.

“Helena …
How many more battles there are than just Troy!
The stocks of medicines I brought with me are running out. There's so much more diarrhea, venereal diseases, and snake bites than I'd imagined. But the sickness that afflicts these poor mortal souls the most is homesickness …

But there's also the malnutrition and the exhausting work days. Countless men complain of pains here and pains there … I give them any medicine I have to ease their muscular pains; they then go and have some brandy … and many of them get as high as kites …

Another common complaint is about the extensive violence. We have a Special Brasilia Guard … I was in Goiânia … It was Carnival … They said that the Special Brasilia Guard went into a camp ⁽⁸⁾ and shot people in cold blood … some talk about several dead and injured … others that there was just one person killed and one injured … those poor workers … those poor candangos …"

In an interview given to the Correio Brazilinese newspaper on January 27, 1994, Ernesto Silva—who had been a NOVACAP director in April 1959—said, "the only isolated event during the three and a half years it took to build Brasilia stemmed from a worker uprising that was followed by looting of the accommodation facilities. The riot was put down by the police. There was just one person killed in the fray."

“My dear friend Paulo,
I hope that these lines find your heart at peace with me …
I've arrived at the place where a city will be born out of the dust! The place where I currently am is called Lonalândia ⁽⁹⁾. It's a piece of open land where they've put up tents made out of some tarpaulin they've borrowed from the army until they can build houses.

Two of us are sharing a tent—me and a colleague who works for Novacap. She's great fun! She has this soft laugh, and she even laughed when her new shoe got stuck in the slimy mud.

I've also met a pretty, young lady. She's really adventurous, and she came here to work as a truck driver!
Brasilia is a city that embraces every dream!”

On November 10, these premises received a visit from President Juscelino Kubitschek himself. He was in Brasilia on this occasion to officially open his temporary residence, christened Catetinho or the "palace of wood." 

Lonalândia—which takes its name from lona, the Portuguese word for tarpaulin—was built to house the 30,000 Novacap workers. Novacap—short for the Urbanizing Company for the New Capital—was commissioned, as its name suggests, to plan and implement the location, construction, and urbanization of Brasilia, having been set up by Law no. 2,874/56, which also stipulated the transfer of the Federal Capital. 

The tarpaulin tents were quickly replaced by wooden houses to house the company's engineers and technicians. From then on, it would be simply known as Vila Operária (Workers' Town) or Vila dos Candangos (Candangos' Town). 

In addition to these Novacap houses and sheds, the town had a vault, a health center, a hospital, a police station, two restaurants, and a school. Retail establishments, however, were banned and residents had to travel to the Free City to do their shopping.

“Dear Paulo, my guitar continues being your voice. Missing you …

We are no longer living in tarpaulin tents ⁽¹⁰⁾. They've been replaced by wooden houses, which will be demolished when Novacap transfers its headquarters to the city. The workers' town has started to look like a town in the hinterland.

I happened to accompany the company CEO, Mr. Israel Pinheiro, on his visits to the earthmoving works. I've been busy, sometimes working through the night doing calculations and drawings. 

But I feel immensely proud when I think that I'm part of a team of pioneers who, with daring and courage, are building the foundations of what will be the first capital in the world to be built on the cornerstones of Modernist concepts!”

And that, my dear friend, was how we started this huge epic. We completed it in three and a half years and there it stands today, summoning all the glories of Brazilian courage and sense of adventure.” 

Building the airfield—which is now the President Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport—took huge commitment from the workers. Work started on November 6, 1956. On April 2, 1957, President Kubitschek stepped down from a plane for the first time in the new capital. 

On May 3, the airport was officially opened and the first international flight left Brasilia for New York.

"Paulo... My letters are still being met by your silence … and my heart continues to beg you for forgiveness.


I know that you can't understand what brought me here, but if you'd seen what I witnessed today, I'm sure that you'd regret not having come with me. 

Today, the digger broke ground at the city's ground zero! It cut the earth, like someone making the sign of the cross to ask God's blessing for the huge undertaking that's about to begin. And the reddish earth gave its consent and accepted this new shoot that has sprouted from the point where genius meets the desire to make something that will be here forever.
I think we'll be having a party in town!”

The city faced a promising future, but the authorities were relying on the workers returning home once the building works in the capital were complete. That was the reason why masonry buildings were banned in the Support Centers and all the shacks and houses were made of wood. 

But Lúcio Costa himself, in his Pilot Plan report, had already warned of the risk of favelas popping up around the Federal Capital, which had been planned for just 500,000 inhabitants. He wrote: : "In this regard, we should prevent favelas appearing in both urban and rural areas. It falls to the Urbanizing Company to provide decent, affordable accommodation for the entire population within the proposed scheme.”

To prevent this from happening, Taguatinga became the first satellite town set up by Novacap to house workers who were living in shacks all across Brasilia. Lured by the opportunities on offer and the hopes of a better life in Brasilia, many gave up any intention of returning to their home towns and cities

"Paulo …
Your silence is hurting me …
But I'll go on telling you about my days …

Today, I had the honor of accompanying the man whose personal charisma will build a city in three and a half years. I was with Mr. Israel Pinheiro, accompanying President Juscelino Kubitschek himself, during a works inspection. 

Between shaking hands, giving hugs, and pausing for coffees, the president infects everyone with his hope and energy. Whether speaking to one, two, ten, or a thousand men, he shows the same magnetism, and he gives them pride of place in this chronicle which, day and night, is only about one thing: the desire to build what the staff here have nicknamed the rhythm of Brasilia. 

Calling them the second Candangos—he claims he was the first—he told the workers that he trusts them to ensure that the project is completed by the target date and that their names would go down in history. The happiness was infectious and everyone went back to work, feeling excited and singing.

From the window of my room ⁽¹¹⁾, at night, you can make out the sparks from the welding, dancing salamanders rising up to leave the imprints of those who are writing the future right now in the skies of history."

There has been a change in the once derogatory sense of the word Candango. Initially associated with unqualified workers, its new meaning is loaded with pride and honor for having made the dream of building Brasilia a reality.

On July 16, 2020, the Governor of the Federal District, Ibaneis Rocha, passed the Law no. 6,633/20, establishing Candango Day across the Federal District in tribute to those pioneers who built the capital. The date is to be commemorated every year on September 12, the birthday of the first Candango, the former President Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira himse

Just as the term candango was used by President Juscelino Kubitschek to refer to the workers who were building Brasilia, he is also rumored to have coined the name modern-day pioneer.

Seeing all the different workers arriving in their denim work pants, he made a connection between them and the pioneers who opened up the roads into the Brazilian hinterland during colonial times.

In 1956, the Urbanizing Company opened three main avenues as the first step towards building the urban center. In 1961, with retailers moving to the Pilot Plan sector, the Free City became known as the Núcleo Bandeirante (Pioneer Center).

It became part of the Brasilia Metropolitan Region, by virtue of the Law no. 4,545 in 1964 In February 1966, the Decree no. 488 fixed the city limits. In 1989, the Law no. 049 made the Núcleo Bandeirante into the Federal District's Administrative Region No. VIII. 

In a world where there were almost two men to every women, according to data from the 1956 trial census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), women certainly faced a lot of disdain and violence, especially those brought in for entertainment purposes.

Two months after the law granting permission for Brasilia to be built was passed, there were three contractors on the building site: Metropolitana, Rabello, and Coenge. Initially, three prostitutes from the nearby region of Luziânia were brought in, but within two months, their numbers had increased to almost 40.

One month after the three small houses were built, new brothels sprang up in the Free City, near a sign for Mercedes Benz, the truck manufacturer. These professional ladies catered for the workers' needs.

For wealthier clients, there was the Casa da Mariazinha, or Fazendinha near the IAPI Hospital.

The army's tarpaulin shelters were put up between blocks 4 and 7 in the area that would become Candangolândia. The site was chosen for its proximity to the three streams Riacho Fundo, Guará, and Vicente Pires, which provided the necessary water for the workers and pioneers. In fact, Candangolândia covers blocks nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7. No, we haven't skipped over no. 6. No. 6 doesn't even exist. That is because the odd-numbered blocks were built first!