Altamira Rodrigues Sobral Prestes (2 February 1930 – 4 February 2022), known by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Maria Prestes, was an activist with the

Brazilian Communist Party The Brazilian Communist Party ( pt-BR, Partido Comunista Brasileiro), originally the Communist Party of Brazil (), is a communist party in Brazil founded on 25 March 1922 which makes the disputed claim of being the oldest political party stil ...

and the second wife of the party's longtime leader

Luís Carlos Prestes Luís Carlos Prestes (January 3, 1898 – March 7, 1990) was a Brazilian revolutionary and politician who served as the general-secretary of the Brazilian Communist Party from 1943 to 1980 and a senator for the Federal District from 1946 to 1948 ...

Biography

Prestes was born Altamira Rodrigues Sobral in

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in 1930. She grew up working in the fields; her parents João Rodrigues Sobral (known as "Camarada Lima") and Mariana Ribas Pontes Rodrigues Sobral were peasants and Brazilian Communist Party activists, and her father was imprisoned for a large portion of her childhood. Her first marriage, at a very young age, fell apart quickly, leaving her with two children, Pedro and Paulo. Like her parents, she was involved in communist activism in Brazil, and she also joined the women's rights movement. She used the name Maria do Carmo Ribeiro in an effort to avoid police persecution. Around 1950, she began a lifelong partnership with

, the Communist Party's longtime general secretary, a widower. The two had met when Maria was appointed as his security guard. They had seven children together: Antônio João Rodrigues Sobral Prestes, Rosa Rodrigues Sobral Prestes, Ermelinda Rodrigues Sobral Prestes, Luís Carlos Rodrigues Sobral Prestes Filho, Mariana Rodrigues Sobral Prestes, Zóia Rodrigues Sobral Prestes, and Yuri Rodrigues Sobral Prestes. Luís also raised her sons Pedro and Paulo as his own. Their relationship lasted until his death in 1990, although they never legally married. In 2012, Prestes wrote ''Meu companheiro'', a memoir of her partnership with the Communist Party leader. She also published a collection of essays about her time living in exile with her family in

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during the 1970s, titled ''O sabor clandestino de Maria Prestes''. Prestes was given the Diploma Bertha Lutz, a women's rights honor issued by the

Federal Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. Senate or the Senate may also refer to: * Any one of the national senates in the world, including ** The Brazilian Senate ** The United States Sen ...

, in 2012. She lived among her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in Rio de Janeiro until her death on 4 February 2022, of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, at age 92. Brazilian women's rights activist Edna Calheiros called her death a "great loss of a compatriot, a comrade, a fighter."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prestes, Maria 1930 births 2022 deaths People from Recife Brazilian communists Brazilian expatriates in the Soviet Union Brazilian exiles 21st-century Brazilian women writers Brazilian women activists Brazilian women's rights activists Brazilian Communist Party politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (state) Brazilian memoirists Women memoirists 21st-century memoirists Brazilian essayists Women essayists 21st-century essayists People granted political asylum in the Soviet Union