Born in Fortaleza, Ceará, José Maria joined the Navy in 1959, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1964, on vacation, he visited his family in Santa Luzia in Paraíba, at that time José Maria talked about joining union movements, showing at the time several books on social issues. He intended, together with other sailors, to create an institution called the Association of Sailors and Marines of Brazil, this type of institution was prohibited by the Laws of Brazilian Navy.

As soon as the 1964 military coup took place, José Maria and other comrades were arrested for 'insubordination', having been held isolated on Ilha das Flores for four months. In a document from the Navy Archives, it is noted that, in April 1964, José Maria was arrested 'by order of the person in charge of the military police investigation to investigate subversion in the Navy'. The same documentary source contains the expulsion in December 1964.

During this imprisonment, he sent a letter to the family, trying to reassure them by not mentioning being in prison. In his last letter on December 6, 1966, signed with the 'codename' Miguel, he says he would have to stay a few months with no communications; however, he didn’t state his motivations. From then on, the family lived in great fear, even having their correspondence always violated, most likely by the military who sought information about José Maria.

It was in 1981, with the return of the amnesties to Brazil, that José Maria's family managed to discover the truth. Another amnesty revealed that José Maria was in Cuba as a member of the MNR militant group. 

While in Cuba he married the Paraguayan Soledad Barrett Viedma, and together they had their daughter Ñasaindy. In 1970, he returned to Brazil to proceed with VPR's actions.

He had contact with Corporal Anselmo - José Anselmo dos Santos, for having worked together with him in the mobilizations of sailors in the early 1960s. Later it was discovered that Corporal Anselmo, was a double agent infiltrated in the organizations of the left, responsible for the death of several resistance members.

Documents from the security organs of the military regime record the information that José Maria was killed on 9/23/1970, in a bus terminal in Anhangabaú, in the center of São Paulo, when he reacted to the arrest that would be made by DOI-CODI/SP agents. The day before, the agents of that repression body would have detained Mário de Freitas Gonçalves, also a VPR activist, known as Dudu, who reported on the meeting with José Maria, managing to escape spectacularly due to José reaction to the arrest.

It was discovered in the archives of IML / SP that José Maria Ferreira de Araújo was buried under the false name of Edson Cabral Sardinha in block 11, grave 119 of the Cemetery of Vila Formosa I. The sources are contradictory as to the circumstances of his death, in the DOPS/SP archives. There is a response of DOPS Delegate Alcides Cintra Bueno Filho to the Colonel Chief of the 2nd Section of the II Army, where it reads: “... died as a result of a violent shootout with security agents”, but the request for an autopsy, by the same delegate states: “having been arrested for terrorist activities, he died when he was admitted to the district police station, presuming to be suddenly ill.”