End of a Hero

Brazilian workers mourned a decomposing head and two half-devoured arms--the dubious remains of a national hero.

Manoel Olimpio Meira, called "Jacare" (Alligator) after his natal village, became the modern hero of Brazil's jangadeiros, half-starved "sharecropping" fishermen, last autumn when he and three mates sailed their flimsy jangada (sailing raft) Sao Pedro on a 61-day, 1,650-mile trip to Rio de Janeiro to tell President Vargas the fishermen's troubles. From Getulio Vargas they won full union rights--and pensions. Their story (TIME, Dec. 8) so kindled Cinema Director Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)that he flew Jacare and his mates to Rio again, to enact their feat for his camera.

Jacare took to his new task with simple dignity. He had always idolized a legendary jangadeiro called "Dragon of the Seas" who kidnapped slaves, hid them safely from posses in the hinterland. If the Dragon could free slaves from slavery, figured Jacare, he could free the jangadeiros from exploitation. And the film's publicity would help.

Last fortnight, the luck ran out. During the filming of a shark-octopus battle, Jacare was spilled from the tricky jangada. Though he managed to swim away, he was caught in a treacherous current and, like his fisher-father before him, swallowed by the sea.

But last week, when a 440-lb. shark caught off Barra da Tijuca was opened, there rolled out a human head, two human arms. Jacare's own comrades, examining the teeth, were doubtful it was Jacare. though expert criminologists, judging from the skull formation and skin color, were sure it was from Jacare's region. In any case, it was another poor jangadeiro.

Deeply moved, Orson Welles revised his script, now dedicated throughout to "An American Hero." Inspired by Jacare's feat, four messenger boys of the Telegrafo Nacional planned to walk the same distance from Fortaleza to Rio to ask President Vargas for a better wage. But what would have pleased Jacare most was that the first pension won for the jangadeiros by his efforts goes to his wife and nine children.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.