Maria Berta de Menezes Bragança[1] was born on 17 December 1911 in Cuelim village in Mormugao taluka.

[6] Since 1929, Menezes Bragança was part of the Goa committee of the Goa Congress Committee (GCC), briefly affiliated to the Indian National Congress, and actively worked to enroll members.

[9] In her capacity as Secretary of the GYL, in response to Ram Manohar Lohia's call to freedom on Goa Revolution Day, she and Cunha attempted to offer satyagraha at Margao on 30 June 1946.

However, on 16 April 1950, she and her husband, António Furtado, were forced to escape to Belgaum, after she was threatened with deportation to Africa.

[2] In 1955, she participated in the mass satyagraha at Patradevi that was organised by Gerald Pereira and the Goa Vimochan Sahayak Samiti (GVSS).

[12] She was chosen to represent India at the Afro-Asian Women's Conference in Cairo, during which the problem of Goa's freedom was discussed in detail.

She was also part of a delegation to Moscow meant to attract attention to the same issue, along with the Goa liberation movement.

In 1959, she was a member of the Goa Political Convention at the Afro-Asian Solidarity and All India Peace Council.

In this capacity, she travelled across India, participating in conferences in major cities like Bombay, Ahmedabad, Calcutta and Delhi, demanding military action for Goa's freedom.

Menezes Bragança contested from the Cortalim Assembly constituency but neither her nor the seven others were able to win any seats.