After returning from exile, she was honored by her local bar association, her state, and the nation of Brazil for her human rights work.

She participated in several leftist movements around the country in 1945, and joined the Partido Comunista Brasileiro (PCB) (Brazilian Communist Party) in July of that year.

Montenegro, at this time called Carmo, actively participated in the Women's Exchange and Friendship Commission and the League of National Defense Against Fascism.

[7] From East Germany, she became a member of the Latin American section of the Women's International Democratic Federation,[4] taking over as editor of their Journal de Mulheres do Mundo inteiro (Worldwide Women's Magazine), published in Arabic, English, French, German, Russian and Spanish.

[3] She also began to work with the United Nations and UNESCO on women's and human rights issues, participating in several international conferences.

She also served as adviser to the Order of Attorneys of Brazil on human rights issues in Bahia and for the Women's Forum of Salvador.

[3] In 2011, he posthumously received the Chico Mendes Medal of Resistance awarded by the human rights group Tortura Nunca Mais.