The Federação Brasileira de Escolas de Samba (Brazilian Federation of Samba Schools), or FBES, was an organisation that represented the samba schools of the city of Rio de Janeiro. It was created on January 2, 1947 and existed until 1952, when it merged with its rival, the União Geral das Escolas de Samba do Brasil, to form the Associação das Escolas de Samba da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro. FBES organized parades from 1949 to 1951.
Because the União Geral das Escolas de Samba do Brasil, then called UGES, was linked with the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB), more conservative sectors of Carioca politics spurred the creation of FBES in 1947 with the goal of weakening the communists. Until the Carnaval of 1946, only schools affiliated to UGES were recognized, but in that year the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro, led by then-mayor Mendes de Morais, decided to send appropriations to the schools affiliated to both entities.
FBES, attempting to conceal its real constituency, used names of schools that probably never existed. Many had similar names, such as Voz do Catete, Voz da Piedade, Voz da Terra Nova, and Voz de Botafogo, while other schools listed had ceased to exist, such as Vizinha Faladeira and Deixa Falar. In total, FBES said it counted on 61 affiliated schools, but the majority of these schools did not parade in the following year's Carnaval.
In 1948, with the PCB already illegal, the City Hall only sent appropriations to schools affiliated to FBES. Therefore, many schools affiliated themselves with FBES. However, with Irênio Delgado, sypathizer of the samba school Império Serrano, present in the judging commission of that year, and already elected to the presidency of FBES, other big schools decided to abandon he entity, alternating between UGES and the União Cívica de Escolas de Samba in the three following years.
With the end of Irênio's, FBES and UGESB resolved to act together in the Carnaval of 1952. Afterward, they united to give rise to the Associação das Escolas de Samba da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro.[1]
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