Remexido, the nickname of José Joaquim de Sousa Reis (Estômbar, 19 October 1796 – Faro, 2 August 1838), was a civil servant and wealthy heir and land tenant who became a notorious guerrilla leader of the Algarve in Portugal, defending the rights of king Miguel to the Portuguese throne and the antiliberal absolute monarchy in the Kingdom of Portugal. He was accused of several crimes, which made him famous and feared by then, although some studies suggest Remechido did not commit them at all or in part. He was the son of Joaquim José dos Reis and wife Clara Maria do Carmo da Rocha, both born in Estômbar, in the municipality of Lagoa, and died before a firing squad at the Campo da Trindade (site of the present school hall of the Tomás Cabreira Secondary School) in Faro on 2 August 1838.
He served as a supporter of the absolutist status quo personified by Miguel of Portugal under General Tomás Cabreira at the Battle of Sant’Ana, during the Liberal Wars (1828–1834). After the defeat of absolutist forces and the victory of liberalism in Portugal in 1834, Remechido didn't surrender and found himself savagely persecuted. He took refuge in the mountains of the Algarve supported by some mountain people in and around São Marcos da Serra, in Silves Municipality. Resorting to guerrilla tactics, he systematically thrashed the government forces. In order to discover his whereabouts, the government forces publicly interrogated his wife with physical punishments, and when she would not betray him, killed his 14-year-old son, two actions which made him resolve never to surrender and to punish those who had wronged him. He was, however, captured and brought for judgement before the Council of War. Even in his last days he was the victim of injustice: although Queen Maria II of Portugal granted him a pardon, for political and personal reasons the Council of War nevertheless sent him to his death before a firing squad.
Life
José Joaquim de Sousa Reis was born in Estômbar, in 1796 to Joaquim José dos Reis and Clara Maria do Carmo. He was given the surname "de Sousa" from his godfather Reverend José Joaquim de Sousa, a priest. but it was São Bartolomeu de Messines the place where he settled, married and traced his destiny. As a boy, he went to study for the Catholic seminary in Faro. There he took the minor orders but, given his talent for oratory, he soon aroused the admiration of the bishop who authorized him to go up to the pulpit and speak to the people. However, he would end up abandoning the promising ecclesiastical career to marry Maria Clara Machado de Bastos, daughter of a distinguished wealthy family. Still, it took a lot of persistence and use of all the rhetoric he learned to overcome the reluctance of the girl's uncle, a wealthy man and landowner in the vicinity of São Bartolomeu de Messines and São Marcos da Serra. From this insistence he would receive from Maria Clara the nickname of Remexido, which was forever stuck to his name. A literate young man, very talkative and in line with the absolutist regime of the time, he quickly gained a prominent social position and public recognition. He got improvements for the village of São Bartolomeu de Messines, like a public elementary school, a community oven and a free fair in honor of Nossa Senhora da Saúde (Our Lady of Health), which still takes place today. After the first liberal revolution of 1820 he was appointed juiz de vintena, an official magistrate position which would be abolished on January 1, 1831, due to the liberal revolution's ideals, simultaneously managing the assets of his wife's wealthy uncle. As juiz de vintena, he would personally collect the tithes of the lands of São Bartolomeu de Messines and São Marcos da Serra.