Maria Auxiliadora Lara Barcelos

Born

1945-02-25

Died

1976-06-01

Birthplace

Minas Gerais, Brazil

Biography

Maria Auxiliadora Lara Barcelos (Antônio Dias, March 25, 1945 - West Berlin, June 1, 1976) was a guerrilla member of the organization Vanguarda Armada Revolucionária Palmares – VAR-Palmares – who participated in the armed struggle against the military dictatorship installed in Brazil in 1964. On November 21, 1969, she was imprisoned and brutally tortured, being released in January 1971 and sent to Chile after the swiss ambassador Giovanni Bucher was kidnapped by the armed guerrilla VPR which damanded that political prisoners were set free in exchange for the ambassador's life. She died by suicide in 1976.