An anti-fascist fighter and writer, she was affiliated with the Communist Youth and the PCE. In 1939, she was sentenced to 30 years in prison, six of which she served. After spending time in various different prisons, she was released and sent into exile in Barcelona. She was affiliated with the United Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) and in 1945 was arrested once again and brutally tortured by the brothers Vicente and Antonio Juan Creix. She entered the Les Cortes women's prison, where she was kept until 1946, when she was released on parole. She continued her struggle underground, and after 1947 she conducted a long series of interviews with former women prison mates, which culminated in different books published in the early 1980s. In 2004 she received the Creu de Sant Jordi (St George’ s Cross) from the government of Catalonia in acknowledgement of her career in the anti-Franco struggle. In 2015, the Les Corts Civic Centre came to be called the Tomasa Cuevas Centre in memory of all the women like her who suffered from repression and fought for freedom during the Franco regime.
An anti-fascist fighter, she went into exile in France in 1961 after having spent time in different Franco-era prisons. In different books published, she compiled an extensive series of interviews with her fellow women prisoners.