“Cañera, tupamara, clandestina y pobre”: The Testimonies of the Uruguayan Activist Nélida

Abstract

This paper analyzes testimonies given by Nélida “Chela” Fontora, Uruguayan sugar cane worker, union leader and activist in the Movimiento de Liberación Nacional Tupamaros (MLN-T). Her stories as dictatorship victim and political prisoner reveal an experience shaped by her subaltern upbringing. Initially, the author found in prison a space where all basic needs, such as shelter and food, were satisfied, in sharp contrast with her previous life as a free person. It was also during captivity that she achieved literacy with the help of her inmates which, later on, allowed to publish two works: Más allá de la ignorancia (1989) and La llama no se apaga (2018). The situation endured by sugar cane workers in the countryside, the discrimination exerted by the repressive apparatus, the difficulties surrounding prison visits due to the family’s lack of resources, and the complex social reentry conditions after release are some of the themes referred to in her testimonies. These offer the opportunity to delve into the impact of state repression on women in the subalternate classes and to investigate how such particular experiences are represented in the texts.