Cover of the “Heroines of this story — Women searching justice for relatives killed by the dictatorship” book, that reunites 15 profiles of women who fought for memory, justice and truth in Brazil | Image: Used with permission. Marli witnessed a military policeman killing her brother. Clarice‘s husband was tortured and his death was disguised as a suicide. Damaris was arrested, tortured and forced to watch her partner being murdered in front of their family. Crimeia was a political militant who joined the armed guerrilla forces. These are some of the 15 women who are profiled in a recently published book, “Heroinas desta historia” (Heroines of this History), about their experiences during the 1964 to1985 military dictatorship in Brazil. The dictatorship, which began with a coup d'état in 1964, led to five military presidents over the course of 21 years, and at least 434 dead and disappeared. The publication is the first of a larger project by the Institute Vladimir Herzog, named after a journalist whose death at the hands of Brazilian army agents in 1975 was disguised as a suicide. His wife, Clarice Herzog, fought for decades against the official version of her husband's death and is one of the ‘heroines’ in this recent publication. Global Voices interviewed Tatiana Merlino, one of the project's coordinators, via email about women's role in the resistance and why it's important their stories are being told during a Bolsonaro presidency. Global Voices (GV): What role did women play in the opposition to the 1964 Brazilian dictatorship? Tatiana Merlino: Elas participaram dos espaços de resistência na cidade e no campo, nas universidades e movimento estudantil, nos clubes de mulheres nas periferias, entraram em organizações de esquerda, na luta armada, enfrentando até os próprios companheiros de organização que não acreditavam em sua capacidade de resistir. Participaram da guerrilha do Araguaia; participaram de greves operárias, como a de 1968, em Contagem (Minas Gerais, a primeira grande greve sob o regime militar) e Osasco (SP). A de Contagem foi a primeira e dirigida por uma mulher, Conceição Imaculada de Oliveira, do Sindicato dos Metalúrgicos. Nos anos de 1970, ainda sob a vigência do AI-5, as mulheres da periferia tiveram seu protagonismo ao saírem às ruas, nos movimentos contra a alta do custo de vida. As mulheres que lutaram contra a ditadura foram presas e torturadas. Foram alvo sistemático de violações sexuais. Sofreram estupros e abortamentos forçado devido a chutes na barriga ou foram colocadas em “cadeiras do dragão”, levando choques elétricos na vagina, na barriga, nos seios, na cabeça. Houve aquelas que tiveram seus bebês nos DOI-CODIs. Tatiana Merlino: They took part in spaces of resistance in the cities and in the countryside, in universities and student movements, and in women's clubs in the peripheral areas. They joined leftist organizations, fought among guerrilla groups, and even faced their own comrades who did not believe in their capacity to resist. They participated in the Araguaia guerrilla [one of the main armed movements against the dictatorship], in blue-collar workers strikes such as the ones organized in Contagem (the first major strike under the dictatorship in the state of Minas Gerais) and Osasco (São Paulo). The one in Contagem was the first and it was led by a woman, Conceição Imaculada de Oliveira, from the Metalworkers Union. In the 1970s, still under Institutional Act Number 5 [AI-5, the issuing that suspended rights and gave the regime power to punish those that opposed them], women from peripheral areas had leading roles while marching in the streets against the high cost of living. The women who fought against the dictatorship were arrested and tortured. They were systematically objected to sexual violence. They were raped, some underwent forced miscarriages due to kicks to their stomachs or for being put in the “dragon's chair“, suffering electric shock in their vaginas, bellies, breasts, heads. Some of them even gave birth inside the DOI-Codis [department subordinated to the Army]. Carolina Rewaptu, indigenous woman and leader of the Xavante Marãiwatsédé people who were expelled from their lands during the dictatorship. She is one of the women profiled in the book | Image: Mariana Leal/Instituto Vladimir Herzog/Used with permission. TM: Partimos de uma pesquisa longa nos principais documentos e livros que tratam dos atingidos pela ditadura: o relatório final da Comissão Nacional da Verdade, o livro Direito à Memória e À Verdade (editado pela Secretaria dos Direitos Humanos) e o Dossiê Ditadura Mortos e Desaparecidos Políticos no Brasil, da Comissão de Familiares de Mortos e Desaparecidos.