Luis Carlos Prestes
Luis Carlos Prestes was born in 1898 in the Empire of Brazil. He grew up relatively inactive in politics until 1913, when the Socialist Union of South America was thrown out of the International Socialist Cooperative Group. Prestes joined the oppositionist Communist Party of Brazil at age fifteen (he later said that this was his rebellious period), which had been growing in popularity at the time. Prestes chapter was small, and he rose to prominence in it very quickly regardless of his age. In two years, at seventeen, Prestes became the leader of the local chapter of the Communist Party of Brazil.
As time passed, not only did the Communist Party of Brazil lose popularity as the Socialist Party regained control and distanced themselves from the Germans, the Communist Party of Brazil's agenda began to more and more resemble the agenda of the Socialist Party. The only difference was that the Communists called for the expulsion of the Germans from the continent. The Communist Party of Brazil was declared illegal by the Socialist Party soon, even further decreasing the popularity of the Communists. But Prestes remained, attending meetings held in secret. Nonetheless, he did not oppose the motion for the Communist Party of Brazil to endorse the Socialist Party agenda when war finally came between the SUSA and the German Empire in 1917, thus merging the two parties. Prestes joined the Socialist Party in that year.
Prestes moved to Rio de Janeiro and became the editor of a state-controlled newspaper,
Verdade, and came to the national stage.
Verdade was hailed as one of the most Socialist papers in the nation, and it railed against the Germans. As the paper grew in prominence, Prestes became more and more associated with Ordonez, the current Socialist Party chairman. The two became personal friends.
Ordonez gave Prestes the position of Minister of Public Communications (propaganda) in 1932, resulting in Prestes leaving his position as editor of
Verdade, though he continued to hold sway over the paper. Prestes rallied support in the SUSA for the Paraguayan War and the liberation of Bolivia. When war erupted between the ISCG and New England, he worked to shift support to the new war effort. His column on the secession of the Uruguay Collective was published all across the nation, and Prestes began the process of labeling secessionism as Capitalist.
Prestes' friendship with Ordonez paid off when the leader retired at the age of 82, making Ordonez one of the oldest, if not the oldest, national leader in the world. Ordonez named Prestes as his successor to the chairmanship, and the Socialist Party approved. Prestes became the voice of anti-secessionism and establishing the SUSA as an international Socialist power. His leadership shall soon be put to the test with the new war between the SUSA and the Venezuelan/Colombian alliance. But considering his prior acheivements and coming to power at the relatively young age of 41, many have faith that he can lead the nation.
