Catarina Efigénia Sabino Eufémia (; February 13, 1928 to May 19, 1954) was an illiterate harvester from Alentejo, Portugal who was murdered during a worker's strike by lieutenant Carrajola of the Guarda Nacional Republicana in Monte do Olival, Baleizão, in Beja, Alentejo. Catarina had three children, one eight months old, who was with her when she was shot. The historic tragedy of Catarina came to personify the resistance movement against the regime of Salazar. She was adopted as an icon by the Portuguese Communist Party in Alentejo. Poets Sophia de Mello Breyner, Carlos Aboim Inglez, Eduardo Valente da Fonseca, Francisco Miguel Duarte, José Carlos Ary dos Santos, Maria Luísa Vilão Palma and António Vicente Campinas have all dedicated poems to her. António Vicente Campinas' "Cantar Alentejano" was put to music by Zeca Afonso on the album "Cantigas de Maio", made on Christmas day, 1971. (Hear part of the song here.) Context Alentejo was a region of large estates and seasonal jobs and the living conditions of the peasants and salaried workers were extremely difficult. This socio-economic and labor situation agitated the peasant masses in the region starting in the mid-1940s, and this social agitation escalated over the next two decades. There were constant uproars and rural workers' strikes, which were watched by the Portuguese police, who were looking for communist agitators and infiltrators. Death Murder On May 19, 1954, during the wheat harvest, Catarina and thirteen other harvest-women complained with the supervisor of the property where they were, trying to obtain a two escudo increase in their daily pay. The fourteen women frightened the supervisor enough for him to go to Beja to call the owner and the police. Catarina was chosen to present the worker's grievances to the police. In response to a question of a police lieutenant, Catarina answered that they only wanted "work and bread". The lieutenant slapped her and she fell to the ground. When Catarina stood up, she said: "Now kill me already." The lieutenant shot her three times, shattering her vertebrae. The eight-month-old boy she had in her arms was injured, along with another peasant. Catarina died a few minutes later in the hands of her own boss (who had arrived in the meantime.) He lifted her out of the pool of blood she lay in. Funeral and burial After the funeral, fearing the reaction of the populace, the authorities resolved to carry out