The aim of this article is to focus the drama lived by Isaltino Veiga dos Santos (one of the most important leaderships of the Brazilian black movement in the 1930´s decade) in the prisons of Vargas´s government. Besides being in jail in the Delegacia de Ordem Política e Social (Deops) under the accusation of performing subversive activities, Veiga dos Santos strongly denied being communist. So, the central question to be answered here is: Was he really communist or had there been any kind of mistake coming from the repression organs of Vargas´s government?
black people; social movements; black movement; Vargas´s political system.