Carlos Marighella Carlos Marighella ( 5 December 1911 – 4 November 1969 ) , was a Brazilian Marxist revolutionary and writer . Marighella ' s most famous contribution to guerrilla literature was the " Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla " , consisting of advice on how to disrupt and overthrow an authoritarian regime aiming at revolution . Written shortly before his death late 1969 in Uruguay , " Minimanual " was first published in North America by " The Berkeley Tribe " in California in July 1970 in an English edition . Marighella also wrote " For the Liberation of Brazil " . The theories laid out in both books have greatly influenced contemporary ideological activism . Unlike Che Guevara , who proposed guerrilla activity in the countryside , Marighela ' s theories on urban guerrilla warfare envisaged cities as the source of rebellion . As an advocate of urban guerilla warfare as means to neutralize and defeat political institutions in order to effect radical social change , Marighella ' s work was the latest tome in the small library of revolutionary political literature in the 20th century . The " Minimanual " was highly admired among student revolutionaries in America , Europe and Ireland including the Weathermen , Irish Republican Army , Greek N17 , Basque ETA separatists , the Red Army Faction , Red Brigades and Direct Action - France . Biography . Marighella was born in Salvador , Bahia , to Italian immigrant Augusto Marighella and Afro - Brazilian Maria Rita do Nascimento . His father was a blue collar worker originally from Emilia , while his mother was a descendent of African slaves , brought from Sudan ( Hausa blacks ) . He spent his young life at a house in Rua do Desterro , at the Baixa do Sapateiro neighbourhood , where he would graduate from primary and secondary education . In 1934 , he left the Polytechnic School of Bahia , where he was pursuing a degree in civil engineering , in order to become an active member of the Brazilian Communist Party ( " Partido Comunista Brasileiro - PCB " ) . He then moved to Rio de Janeiro to work in the restructuring of PCB . Marighella was first arrested in 1932 , after he wrote a poem criticizing the administration of Bahia intervenor Juracy Magalhães . On May 1 , 1936 , during the Getúlio Vargas dictatorship , he was once again arrested for subversion . He was tortured by the political police led by Filinto Müller , now considered the " patron of torturers " in Brazil . He remained in jail for a year . He was released by " macedada " ( the measure which freed political prisoners without pressing charges against them ) . After his release , he once again entered clandestinity , along with all members of PCB . He was recaptured in 1939 , being once again tortured . He is not released until 1945 , when an amnesty during the democratization process of the country benefited all political prisoners . The following year , Marighella was elected constituent federal deputy by the Bahian branch of PCB , but he lost his office in 1948 , under the new proscription of the party . Back in clandestinity , he occupied several offices in the leadership of the party . Invited by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China , Marighella visited China between 1953 and 1954 in order to learn more about the Chinese Communist Revolution . In May 1964 , after the military coup , he was shot and arrested by agents of the Department of Social and Political Order ( " Departamento de Ordem Política e Social - DOPS " ) , the political police , at a movie theater in Rio . He was released in the following year by a court order . In 1966 , he wrote " The Brazilian Crisis " , opting for the armed struggle against the military dictatorship . Later that year , he renounced to his office in the national leadership of PCB . On August 1967 , he participated at the 1st Conference of Latin American Solidarity in Havana , contradicting what his party had determined . In Havana , he wrote " Some Questions About the Guerrillas in Brazil " , dedicated to the memory of Che Guevara and made public by " Jornal do Brasil " on September 5 , 1968 . That same year he was expelled from PCB , and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional ( ALN ) on February 1968 . In September 1969 , ALN members kidnapped the U . S . ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick in a coordinated move with the Revolutionary Movement 8th October ( " Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro — MR - 8 " ) . After a series of successful robberies and kidnappings , the police force was determined to eliminate him . He was shot by police at an ambush at 8pm on November 4 , 1969 at 800 Alameda Casa Branca , São Paulo . This ambush was organized by police deputy Sérgio Paranhos Fleury , known for his work inside DOPS .