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After successive burglaries at her home in the city of Colinas do Tocantins, Maria Lidia Martino decided to open a case at the 4th Specialized Police Station for Assistance to Women and Vulnerable Civil Police in late March.
The event brought an important turning point in the life of the woman who turned 100 on April 16. From the visit of the police officer Maria Bethânia Valadão, all of Maria Lidia’s past was mentioned.
Bethânia was suspicious of the lady’s identity document and discovered that this centennial woman was actually a guerrilla from Araguaia who had lived in hiding for 4 decades under a false name.
After Maria Lidia’s reports on the armed struggle, in which she worked on the intelligence side, and the founding of the PCdoB, the police officer searched for the relatives of a woman who had disappeared in São Paulo decades ago and discovered that the centennial was, in fact, Leonor Carrato.
Carrato also claims that he was part of the National Liberation Action (ALN) and met personally with Carlos Marighella in São Paulo. She was arrested in 1967, before going to Goiás. The false name came to be used by Leonor in 1971, after a certificate issued in Castanhal (PA).
Outside of the Truth Commission reports, Leonor also reported that three comrades in Araguaia managed to get out alive and would have gone to the United States, without revealing names.
The story was told down to the smallest detail to the journalist Lailton Costa, from Jornal de Tocantins. A ForumThen, he looked for Leonor’s relatives to talk about this meeting and the memories of the woman who faced the dictatorship and took refuge for years inside Tocantins.
Cultural producer Luciene Anacleto, Leonor’s niece, said that the family conducted several searches between 1967 and 1980 throughout the state of Goiás, at that time, Tocantins was still part of Goiás, and even hired a private detective. She believes that the exchange of names made the meeting impossible.
Luciene also commented on her aunt’s memories of the dictatorial period. Leonor resells, in Goiás, the clothes sent by the São Paulo Metal Workers Union to finance the movement.
“When she sold these clothes, she even went to Araguaia, where, according to her, her greatest weapon was always intelligence,” said the centennial guerrilla niece.
The expected return of Luciene’s mother, Telezila, the guerrilla’s older sister, who had already died, would not have happened before due to a lie that left her daughter devastated. “The companion with whom he had lived since 1965 had carried out a survey and said that his mother, Doña María, had died in 1967 out of sadness and disgust at her disappearance. What was a great lie, my grandmother passed away in the late 90’s, ”he reported.
“How a lie can transform and affect an entire family … According to her, ‘the feeling of coming back was over,'” she said. With the effort of her nieces, Leonor is now back in Andradas (MG), the city where she was born.
Watch the forum interview with Luciene Anacleto:
Forum: What was it like to receive the news that Leonor would live in Tocantins?
Luciene: I am Leonor’s youngest niece, when she disappeared I was six months old. My mother Telezila, is her older sister. I received a call from Leila, my sister, who gave me the news that a DEIC police officer from Colinas do Tocantins, Luiz Costa Jr, had contacted me to ask if I knew Leonor.
I was touched and commented that for God everything is possible. Leila said “we have to get it” and asked me if I would go and quickly said yes. We just had to make sure it was her and the other day I called the police and asked if it would be possible to chat by video call with Leonor.
On the afternoon of April 7, she responded to my request, along with the police Maria Bethania Valadão, who was Leonor’s trusted person, I was able to speak to her for about 30 minutes, where she confirmed the identity and I knew it was mine. missing aunt
F: How was the meeting? You went to the house where she lived in Tocantins, right?
L: After 2 days of traveling and almost 2,000 kilometers traveled, we reached the city where she was. I went to the police station to find the police, who were very helpful in my cause. If it wasn’t for them, we never would have met my aunt.
Then we went to the place where she lived, in an extremely precarious way. It was very sad to see the scene, no human being deserves to live in those conditions. By coincidence, it was her birthday, she turned 100 years old.
I felt that she, who only answered me through the window for “being late”, was embarrassed because of the conditions she was in. Through the window, we talked for over 30 minutes. She held my hand at all times.
F: The family even looked for Dona Leonor, right? How much did you know about her before the meeting?
L: My mother always showed photos, and in my house there was a photo on the wall of my aunt’s graduation photo and since I was a child I heard that she had gone to Goiânia and never made contact again. My mother always believed that she was alive.
Our family even hired a private investigator to trace his whereabouts, unfortunately without success. Not to mention the searches carried out by the family itself, who went to Goiânia to look for evidence of his whereabouts. This search took place from 1967 to 1980.
Today we know that it was through the name change that our searches did not yield a positive result.
F: Have you talked about the period when she fought against the military dictatorship?
L: We had long conversations about the period, especially since I have always been very interested in this period of national history.
She told me several cases, among them, about party meetings here in SP when the coup occurred. At that time she was with the São Paulo Metalworkers Union and reported that the party people sent her clothes, already in Goiânia, to resell it and thus help in the causes of the party.
Selling these clothes, she even went to Araguaia, where, according to her, her greatest weapon was always intelligence.
F: Do you have any special memories that have marked you?
L: What surprised me the most was when I asked him why he never came to us.
She replied that the companion with whom she had lived since 1965 had carried out a survey and said that her mother, Doña María, had died in 1967 out of sadness and disgust at her disappearance. What was a big lie, my grandmother passed away in the late 90’s.
How a lie can transform and affect an entire family … According to her, “the feeling of returning was over.”
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