This paper reviews the rural strikes in the sugar agribusiness sector of Zona da Mata in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the period post- military coup, from 1964 to 1968, based in documental material, especially newspaper articles of the time. Observing the composition of the block in power and the alliances established between conservative political sectors and the clergy, the paper explores the ambiguity of the role of the rural unions of the area, at the time, a role that oscillates between an organ of cooperation with the authoritarian State and of representation of the interests of the rural workers' of the area post-64.
rural strikes; authoritarianism; reorganization of the rural syndical movement