Adda Vyctoria Caetano is a trans woman, a quilombola woman human rights defender, an artist, a cultural organiser and a community leader in the Quilombo Conceição dos Caetanos, in the rural municipality of Tururu, in the state of Ceará, in north-eastern Brazil.
Throughout her life, Adda has always fought for dignity and access to rights in a context of social inequality. Furthermore, through her experience as a trans woman in a quilombola community, she identified racism and transphobia as part of the realities she fights against, which led her to advocate for human rights. Her human rights activism and work also stems from her life experience. That is why she has focused her work on defending the rights of quilombola communities, protecting their territories, and advocating for the rights of LGBTQIAPN+ people and women.
Adda is the founder of the Coletivo África Nordestina, using art, culture, and communication to affirm Black, Quilombola, and Northeastern Brazilian identity. Her experiences in the struggle led Adda to connect with the National Coordination of Black Quilombola Rural Communities (CONAQ). She is currently the national coordinator of CONAQ’s LGBTQIANPN+ Collective, is a member of CONAQ’s National Collective of Quilombola Women, and chairs the Municipal Council for the Promotion of Racial Equality in Tururu, Ceará (COMPIR). Adda continues to fight to ensure the legal recognition of ownership of Quilombola territories and is also spearheading the development of a national campaign to map the LGBTQIAPN+ Quilombola population, with the goal of developing specific public policies for this segment of the population.
Because of her leadership and defense for human rights, Adda has faced threats, intimidation, and stigmatization. In recent years, her reputation has been under attack, which has affected her collective struggle and her community.
“My very existence is resistance, but my greatest purpose is to transform that resistance into rights, territory, dignity and a future for those who will come after me.”
