Writing requires hard work, but a bit of luck and coincidence can also be helpful – Press Enterprise

By Carlos Cortes | Contributing Columnist

Earlier this year, my wife Laurel and I got to talking about coincidences. She asked me if I remembered any important coincidences in my life. For some reason, Rony Lopes de Almeida came to mind. Here’s why.

I spent most of 1966 and 1967 in Brazil, where I was researching my doctoral thesis on the history of the politically powerful Rio Grande do Sul in the 20th century. Rio Grande do Sul is the southernmost state of Brazil and the birthplace of several Brazilian presidents. During my more than a year in the state capital, Pôrto Alegre, I made many Brazilian friends, including a young couple who invited my wife and me to spend a weekend in their apartment on the Atlantic.

That Saturday afternoon, my friend Pedro Chaves Barcelos and I went to the beach to play volleyball. After it was my turn, I took a break and happened to sit down on the sand next to an older man. When I introduced myself, he returned my request and said his name was Rony Lopes de Almeida.

I stiffened. Thirty-four years earlier, in 1932, a journalist named Rony Lopes de Almedia had been a key figure in the 1932 revolution in Rio Grande. After the failed revolution, some of the rebels sought refuge in neighboring Uruguay before returning to Brazil a few years later.

Since I was writing a political history of the Rio Grande from 1930 to 1964, I was relatively well informed about this revolution. So I asked, “Are you by any chance related to Rony Lopes de Almedia, who played a prominent role in the 1932 revolution?”

The man stared, smiled and replied: “I am this Rony Lopes de Almeida.”

Any thoughts of returning to volleyball vanished as the oral historian in me took over. My shock at meeting Rony was as great as his shock that any North American was interested in and aware of this far-off event, so we talked nonstop until dinner. My team did just fine without me.

This chance encounter led to Rony inviting me to visit him at his house in Pôrto Alegre. He mentioned that he had some documents about the revolution that might interest me. Could? I could hardly contain myself.

When I visited Rony at his home, he greeted me with a glass of scotch, a common expression of friendship in southern Brazil. We chatted a little at first, then got down to business when he pointed to a box of handwritten documents. It turned out that Rony, a professional journalist, had used his time in exile to conduct long interviews with revolutionary leaders about their experiences in 1932. Back in Pôrto Alegre, Rony had barely looked at them again. Then, more than three decades later, this young North American happened to sit down on the beach next to this former revolutionary.

As I began to devour the letters, Rony made me a typically Brazilian, generous offer. “Would you like to take these to your apartment to read them more thoroughly?” I replied that these interviews were extremely valuable and that I did not want to risk taking them from his house. But Rony insisted. Just bring them back.

Over the next few days, all I did was read Rony’s insightful interviews and painstakingly summarize them on my portable typewriter. They included intimate stories of well-known Brazilian exiles that had never been printed. As soon as I could, I gave the irreplaceable interviews back to Rony. My head pulsed with new insights into this unique event.

Needless to say, Rony’s treasure formed the basis for a chapter of my dissertation and subsequent book, Gaucho Politics in Brazil. Years later, my book was translated into Portuguese and published in Brazil.

I was lucky and happened by chance. I became friends with Pedro Chaves Barcelos. That weekend I went to the beach with him. I took a break from playing volleyball, crouched down next to this older guy and introduced myself.

But the story has one final twist. I recently googled Rony Lopes de Almeida. He didn’t come up, but many Brazilians with the name Rony Lopes (including a well-known football player) or Lopes de Almeida did. This included Rony Lopes de Almeida Neto, a lawyer, possibly a descendant.