Carlos Eduardo Vidigal

Carlos Eduardo Vidigal is the true main antagonist of the Brazilian series Velho Chico (English: Old Chico, in reference to the infamous São Francisco river).

Vidigal is the successor and right-hand man of rich and influential farmer and Coronel Afrânio de Sá-Ribeiro, who is corrupt and controls the small city of Grotas in the Sertão through his politician puppets, Mayor Raimundo and Secretary Queiroz.

Biography
Though initially a good man, Vidigal is introduced as a young congressman who is engaged to de Sá-Ribeiro's daughter, Maria Teresa, and shares a long-term rivalry with Martin de Sá-Ribeiro, the Coronel's son who abandoned the family after seeing it's corruption, and Santo and Bento dos Anjos, the two main rivals of the family who wish to end it's reign over Grotas.

As the years pass, he grows corrupt and power and money-hungry, starting to threaten the de Sá-Ribeiro's competition and severing his relationship with Maria Teresa, who falls in love for Santo, and has a son with him. Vidigal then supports de Sá-Ribeiro in controlling the city, even going as far as to order beatings on the family's rivals and considering murders.

As de Sá-Ribeiro's grip over the land weakens and his heart begins to soft due to Martin and Maria Teresa, evidence of Vidigal's corruption is recovered by de Sá-Ribeiro's very old mother, who wishes Vidigal's eventual takeover to never happen. She then gives it to Bento, who gives up his quest to bring down Vidigal in order to protect his own family from Vidigal's enforcers.

However, Martin steals those documents from Bento, and continues the investigation on Vidigal. He witnesses Vidigal receiving two large suitcases full of money and rackets from the corrupt officials, and takes photos off it. However, Vidigal's goons witness it, and pursuit Martin throughout the wastelands.

Martin tries to escape by motorbike, managing to escape the enforcers' horses, but then Vidigal arrives by car and shoots at Martin, who falls off the bike and begins to bleed out. Vidigal then reaches the crash and recovers the evidence, cursing Martin for almost "getting him fucked up" and then pulls out his revolvers and viciously shoots Martin to death.

He becomes the new Coronel after de Sá-Ribeiro retired, and quickly installs a ruthless reign of terror over Grotas, murdering, beating or even framing for murder and causing lynchings those who opposed him.

All these actions committed by Vidigal, along with an attempted murder on Santo and a beating ordered by him on Bento, with other personal tragedies, made de Sá-Ribeiro regret his actions, and then rounds up some documents to bring down his operations and arrest Vidigal, Queiroz and Raimundo.

Downfall
Afraid of what might happen, Vidigal rounds up all the money on the house, about millions and millions reais on dollars, and tries to escape the city on his car. However, he is chased by Bento, the latter's allies and the local cops. The fuel of the car comes to an end, and Vidigal enters the dangerous Caatinga vegetation to escape justice.

Meanwhile, his enforcers and agents throughout the city are all arrested, and Vidigal's early reign over the city comes to an end, as Bento tries to pursuit Vidigal through the Caatinga.

The chase is abandoned by the authorities, and Vidigal seems to win, and steals a old weak horse and tries to escape, smiling in triumph. However, the vegetation isn't very kind and friendly to him, and the extremely hot sun weakens him, and as he becomes dehydrated due to the lack of water and humidity. The horse stops, and Vidigal impatiently walks off and begins to hallucinate due to the situation, and his money suitcases open and the dollar bills begin to fly, and he crazily pursues them, and in the midst of the chaos, stumbles and falls right on a cactus, the spikes of the plant striking his forehead, killing him.

Vidigal's body is never seen again, and is presumed to have been devoured by the vultures of the area.