She spent two years in Moscow with the future leader of the PCP, Álvaro Cunhal, and then worked in Bucharest, Romania on a radio station broadcasting to Portugal.
Previously unionised fish canners, metalworkers and agricultural workers went on strike and, from the window of her house, she saw their demonstration being attacked by government forces.
Although Portugal remained neutral during World War II, many demonstrators saw the Allied victory as a defeat for the Estado Novo, which they considered to be fascist.
As one of the leaders she, together with her future husband, the communist artist José Dias Coelho, and António Alfredo Paiva Nunes, was expelled, forbidden to attend all colleges in the country and prevented from teaching at the school where she was working.
[1][3][4] Without a source of income, Tengarrinha approached the feminist activist Maria Lamas who had recently ceased to be editor of Modas e Bordados (Fashions and embroidery), a weekly magazine published with the O Século daily newspaper.
Tengarrinha went into hiding with Coelho in early 1955, not to escape the secret police but because the PCP considered that their artistic skills could be useful in producing counterfeit documents.
On 19 December 1961, Coelho was murdered by the PIDE or International and State Defence Police, (Portuguese: Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado).
[3][5] Between 1962 and 1964 Tengarrinha was in Moscow, working with the Portuguese communist leader, Álvaro Cunhal, and collaborating on his 300-page book Rumo à Vitória – As tarefas do Partido na Revolução Democrática e Nacional.
[1][3][4] After the Carnation Revolution in April 1974, which overthrew the Estado Novo, Tengarrinha returned to Lisbon in 1975, where she worked with the PCP on agricultural policy issues, such as agrarian reform.