Margarida Tengarrinha (7 May 1928 – 26 October 2023) was a Portuguese teacher, writer, artist and illustrator. As a member of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) she was active as an opponent of the authoritarian Estado Novo regime that governed Portugal between 1926 and 1974, playing a role in document forging and publication of the Party's magazine Avante!. She spent two years in Moscow with the future leader of the PCP, Álvaro Cunhal, and then worked in Bucharest, Romania on a radio station broadcasting to Portugal. After the overthrow of the regime, she became a deputy in the Assembly of the Republic. She later wrote memoirs, taught at a Senior University, illustrated books and exhibited works of art.
Early life
Maria Margarida Carmo Tengarrinha Campos Costa was born in Portimão in the Algarve region of Portugal on 7 May 1928. Her father was a bank manager and a leading member of Portimão's middle class. Her grandfather had been a civil engineer, responsible for constructing the road between Lisbon and the Algarve. An early memory was the 18 January 1934 revolt by workers against the closure of unions by the Estado Novo regime. Previously unionised fish canners, metalworkers and agricultural workers went on strike and, from the window of her house, she saw their demonstration being attacked by government forces. The first demonstration in which she participated was on 8 May 1945, Victory in Europe Day. Although Portugal remained neutral during World War II, many demonstrators saw the Allied victory as a defeat for the Estado Novo, which they considered to be fascist.
Early activism
Tengarrinha joined the youth branch of the Movement of Democratic Unity (), a quasi-legal platform of democratic organizations that opposed the Estado Novo. At the time she was attending the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa – ESBAL, (School of Fine Arts), which is now integrated into the University of Lisbon, and became an organizer of that college's participation in MUD. Her activities included campaigning against nuclear weapons and demanding that Portugal leave NATO, with demonstrations in Lisbon in February 1952 during a NATO meeting in the city. This led to her expulsion from ESBAL in mid-1952, together with 81 other students. As one of the leaders she, together with her future husband, the communist artist José Dias Coelho, and António Alfredo Paiva Nunes, was expelled, forbidden to attend all colleges in the country and prevented from teaching at the school where she was working. That year she became a member of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
Without a source of income, Tengarrinha approached the feminist activist Maria Lamas who had recently ceased to be editor of Modas e Bordados (Fashions and embroidery), a weekly magazine published with the O Século daily newspaper. Lamas helped Tengarrinha to join the magazine, where she wrote articles with several pseudonyms and did drawings. She also worked with Lamas on women's issues, on a committee that included Maria Antónia Palla. The World Congress of Women was held in Copenhagen in June 1953 and Tengarrinha was involved in writing a speech for Maria Lamas.
Going underground
Tengarrinha went into hiding with Coelho in early 1955, not to escape the secret police but because the PCP considered that their artistic skills could be useful in producing counterfeit documents. As well as producing fake IDs and passports, the couple provided an important focal point for PCP members trying to escape detection. She also produced a bulletin aimed at female PCP members, called A Voz das Camaradas (Voice of Comrades). Early in 1961 she ceased counterfeiting work and joined the staff of Avante!, the Communist Party magazine. On 19 December 1961, Coelho was murdered by the PIDE or International and State Defence Police, (Portuguese: Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado). They had two daughters, Teresa and Guidinha.