Women and the Amnesty Commission

This month, dedicated to women, the Amnesty Commission honored activists who dedicated their lives to the country. Among them were five women from Ceará: Jana Barroso, who disappeared in Araguaia; Mércia Pinto, who was imprisoned and lived in Brasília; Nancy Soares; and Helena Serra Azul. The fifth, Mariana Cavalcante, had her amnesty request granted. I will comment on the last three.

Nancy Lourenço Soares, who recently passed away in Recife, was a militant in the Bolshevik Trotskyist Fraction. Even before entering law school, she was the first woman president of the State Union of Students in Ceará. She entered UFC (Federal University of Ceará) as a political force, mobilizing and helping to gather crowds in the student events that shook the state during the 68 period. A lifelong companion of the sociologist Arlindo Soares, they married by proxy due to the difficulties of the time. Both were kidnapped, tortured, and imprisoned.

Helena Serra Azul Monteiro, a retired professor of medicine at UFC (Federal University of Ceará), is an icon. Widow of Francisco Monteiro, she formed the PCdoB (Communist Party of Brazil) couple known as Helena Concentração (Helena Concentration) and Chico Marchata (Chico March). Helena gave birth in prison: Manoelzinho spent almost a year in jail.

The third case is unique. Mariana Cavalcante Ferreira is the daughter of two of the most prominent student leaders of the time: Ruth Cavalcante (a professor recently awarded an honorary doctorate by UFC) and João de Paula Monteiro Ferreira (an entrepreneur), president of the Central Student Directory of UFC. Both were imprisoned. From prison, the couple went into exile. Mariana was born in Frankfurt. There, her request for Brazilian nationality was denied by the Brazilian Consulate. A direct act of violence perpetrated by the State against her, as if being born in exile and living under the constant burden of generational traumas wasn't enough.

Mariana has Down syndrome. She faces more difficult obstacles than other women already oppressed by patriarchy. This fact has never prevented her from expressing civic awareness: she is a regular figure in demonstrations defending democracy. She deservedly received an apology from the Brazilian state.

These women warriors demonstrate the importance of Ceará in the resistance against the dictatorship and how the Amnesty Commission recognizes this value.