In 1958, following a difficult separation from Celemildo Lyra de Arruda, Sattamini moved to the United States, seeking a life of personal and economic independence. When Sattamini got to the United States, she taught herself English and began working as an interpreter for USAID.
Sattamini had a green card to be in the United States, and was in the process of becoming a naturalized citizen. But, by the fall of 1970, she wrote a letter to Virginia Congressman Joel T. Broyhill to help her expedite the process. With his help and the help of her sponsor Tom Doherty, she became a US citizen. By the end of November, with her new American passport, Sattamini was able to travel to Brazil again. She resigned from her job with USAID, and gave up her apartment in Washington to return to Brazil to fight for her son’s release.
As soon as Marcos was set free, Sattamini began trying to persuade him to go with her to the United States. He was very hesitant to leave Brazil, but when Técio learned that the authorities were going to try and arrest Marcos again, he agreed to leave the country. The next day, Sattamini visited the Consul and asked for a visa for Marcos, which was immediately issued. On May 8, 1971, Sattamini and her son boarded a plane for the United States.
Marcos spent his time in Washington reading and walking, as well as speaking out against the Brazilian dictatorship. In September 1971, The Washington Post interviewed Marcos and released an editorial denouncing torture in Brazil. Later that fall, Marcos and Sattamini learned that there would be an official meeting between President Médici and President Richard Nixon in December. Marcos and Sattamini, along with members of the CARIB (Committee Against Repression in Brazil), and the theatre group Earth Onion mobilized to protest. They took pictures of Marcos stimulating torture and created a slideshow. When Médici reached the White House, the group held a demonstration in Lafayette Square, holding posters denouncing the dictatorship and showing the slideshow. Meanwhile, in Brazil, Técio continued working on Marcos’ case and on June 6, 1972 Marcos was acquitted. In 1979, after eight years of exile, Marcos was able to return home.
Sattamini returned to Rio, where she owns an apartment downstairs from her son Marcos. When Brazilians in the 1990s suggested that society should forget and move on from the era of political repression and torture, Sattamini protested and began working on a memoir that detailed her family’s experiences. In 2000, she published A Mother’s Cry in Brazil. In 2010, the text was published in the United States, edited with an introduction by James Green, and an epilogue by her son Marcos. The book was translated into English by Rex P. Nielson and James Green and published by Duke University Press. The book tells the story of the suffering that Marcos went through because of his actions against the military dictatorship as well as how Sattamini’s family fought to save Marcos’ life.
When she reached Rio, she went to the American embassy and spoke with the Consul General about Marcos’ situation. She also spoke with the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, Dom Aloísio Lorshcheider, and public relations officers at the Ministry of War, and family friend Colonel Octavio Mederios. As a result, Mederios’s mother called Sattamini’s mother and told her that Marcos would be home by Christmas. However, by the time Christmas rolled around, they received word that Marcos was at the hospital again and would not be coming home. The family was told that because of the kidnapping of the German Ambassador, they would not be able to visit Marcos. When the family relayed that information to Colonel Mederios, he was shocked and had no idea that Marcos wasn’t released by Christmas.
