Vovô Lipo was not killed in prison. He fled for Paris, where he lived apart from his wife and his daughters for fifteen years. Vovô Lipo came back to Recife after the amnesty in 1979, which protected him from prosecution just as it protected the generals and the torturers. And, when state elections resumed in 1986, Vovô Lipo was elected governor of the state of Pernambuco for the second time. Sugar cane land. He rolled his sleeves up. He was a hero. His hair was grey. His wife slept in another room. The sugar mills had been industrialised, machines raked the earth. The unions weren’t asking for land reform anymore. It was true now that everyone could vote, although not everyone was literate. 1994 he was re-elected again.

There were many history books about Vovô Lipo and some statues of him and one street named after him. And although none of his daughters ever ran for elected office, of his nieces two became leftwing politicians at state level, and one a senator; significantly, none of them were communists either.