Aida Paula (9 December 1918 – 25 October 1993) was a Portuguese communist who opposed the authoritarian Estado Novo government, was arrested on three occasions, and spent many years as a political prisoner.
Aida da Conceição Paula was born on 9 December 1918 in the Campo de Ourique area of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.
When Paula was still at primary school, she began to work with a footwear manufacturer, supporting her father, a building painter, and her mother, a weaver.
Released a few days later, having already been in prison for a year, she resumed her political work and again went underground with her mother, moving to Freixial near Loures, to the north of Lisbon.
Paula and her mother were the only two women present, albeit as secretaries, at the first Illegal Congress of the Portuguese Communist Party, held in Monte Estoril in 1943.
During her time in hiding Paula wrote in communist papers, such as A Voz das Camaradas, with the pseudonym of "Marta", and collaborated in the production of Avante!.