Anita Leocádia Prestes

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Anita Leocádia Prestes (born 27 November 1936 in Berlin) is a Brazilian historian. She is the daughter of militant Communists Olga Benario-Prestes and Luís Carlos Prestes.

She was born in the Frauengefängnis Barnimstraße although she was handed to the care of her paternal grandmother, Leocádia Prestes, at age 14 months.

In 1964, Prestes achieved a degree in Chemistry from the then "University of Brazil", now known as the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Two years later she gained a Masters in Organic Chemistry.

[edit] Life in the USSR

At the beginning of the 1970s, Prestes moved into Exile in the USSR. In August 1972, she was indicted for political activities, with the Conselho Permanente de Justiça para o Exército (the Army supreme court) sentencing her in absence to 4 years and 6 months in prison.

In December 1975 Prestes added a Doctorate in political economics from the Institute of Social Science in Moscow and four years later in September 1979, the Brazilian courts reduced Prestes's sentence by four years as part of a wider amnesty.

[edit] Return to Brazil

In 1989 Prestes received a Doctorate for History from the Universidade Federal Fluminense and she is presently a Professor of Brazilian History at the University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).