The Mirabal Sisters
Patricia, Marie and Minerva Mirabal
Original Images Owned by the Mirabal Family
To see more pictures go to El Bohio
“What matters is the quality of a person. What someone is inside themselves ” — Maria Teresa (Maté) Mirabal
Four Dominican women from Salcedo, Dominican Republic. These women followed their convictions with bravery and selflessness to fight for what they believed. To fight against a dictator’s rule they felt was wrong. Three of them – Patricia, Minerva, and Maria Teresa – gave their lives for their cause. They were killed savagely by some henchmen following the Dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo orders. They were a threat to this commanding man because they were involved with trying to overthrow his cruel, ruthless and fascist government.
The families first real run in with Trujillo was at a party to which they were invited. The family left early. Trujillo was angry about this so he had the father, Don Enrique arrested (no one was permitted to leave a party before Trujillo). Minerva and Doña Chea were also arrested the following day. Every day Minerva was taken to the Fortaleza Ozama and interrogated by two of Trujillo’s men. She refused to write a letter of apology to Trujillo. Since the family was well connected, they knew the right people. They got Trujillos brother, with whom they had acquaintance, to intercede for them and have the family members that were imprisoned released.
They were again arrested a few years later and were always in fear of Trujillos men. This constant fear and stress led to Don Enrique, the girls’ father’s death on December 14, 1953.
The group the Mirabal sisters helped form that fought against the Trujillo regime was known as the Movement of the Fourteenth of June. The sisters were known as Las Mariposas/ The Butterflies
On November 25, 1960 Trujillo decided he had enough of the sisters’ trouble making and decided it was time to get rid of them. He sent his men to intercept the three women on their return home from visiting their husbands who were incarcerated. Trujillo had these men imprisoned in hopes that it would make the ladies shut up and stop their activities, which it did not. The sisters’ car was stopped. They were led into a sugarcane field. Here they were mercilessly beaten and strangled to death. Then their car was taken to a mountain known as La Cumbre, between Santiago and Puerto Plata, and thrown off.
Trujillo thought he was finally free of “the problem”. But what happened was just the opposite of what he had hoped. The plan failed. The people of Dominican Republic, along with the Catholic church, were outraged. These ladies’ lives were cut short because of their convictions. Trujillo, with this action brought more attention to the rebellion. Instead of eliminating the overthrow of his dictatorship he brought its downfall. This contributed to his assassination in 1961, only six months later.
The story about the The Mirabal sisters, In the Time of the Butterflies, was made into a movie in 2001.
Minerva Argentina (the second sister, was born on March 12, 1926) is the one that initially got involved with the underground movement to overthrow the government. While she was away at school she had friends whose families had been tortured by Trujillo’s men. With this her eyes were opened. She always a bit of a rebel and hated when someone or something was wronged. With her interest in politics (Minerva went to University in Santo Domingo which then was called Ciudad Trujillo) and her desire to study to become a lawyer, this was the perfect cause for her. She met the leader of the Popular Socialist Party and started her fight for freedom of the country. She married Manolo (Manuel Tavarez and had 2 children), who was also anti-Trujillo.
Maria Teresa (the youngest sister, was born on October 15, 1936) was seeing Leandro Guzmán (they had 1 child) who was also involved in the anti-Trujillo movement. So they worked together for the over throw of Trujillo’s government.
Patricia Mercedes (the eldest sister, was born on February 27, 1924). She was leaning towards being a nun when she met and married Pedro Gonzalez (they had 4 children).
Dedé, her given name is Bélgica, was born February 29, 1925 (her birth was filed on March 1st so this is her legal birthday). She is the sister that was not with the rest of the sisters on that tragic day. She has since dedicated her life to preserving her sisters memory. She has 9 children, one of which is Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal. He served as the vice-president during Leonel Fernández’s first term as president between the years of 1996 and 2000.
Read more.
Quote:
On December 17, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated November 25 (the anniversary of the day of the murder of the Mirabal sisters) as the annual date for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women in commemoration of the sisters. This day also marks the beginning of the 16 days of Activism against Gender Violence. The end of the 16 Days is December 10, International Human Rights Day.
Read more.
Cross-posted at Hillary’s Village.
N.B. This entry has been edited here for clarity. I have not edited the wikipedia page, however.
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this is a awesome pictureto bad they got killed by trujillo men im so glad that el jefe got assasinated
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[…] dia 25 de novembro, dia da não-violência contra as mulheres, dedicado às irmãs Mirabal, três militantes que foram assassinadas durante a ditadura de Trujillo, também conhecidas com o […]
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[…] um já passou, dia 25 de Novembro. Foi dia da não-violência contra as mulheres em homenagem as irmãs Mirabal, três militantes que foram assassinadas durante a ditadura de Trujillo. No dia 1º de dezembro, […]
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[…] ação começou no dia 25 de novembro, dia da não-violência contra as mulheres, dedicado às irmãs Mirabal, militantes assassinadas durante a ditadura de […]
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this is the same info that i got from another site!
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It is, as I cited, an edited version of a wikipedia page that I did not edit. How many copies of this exist on the internet is impossible to know since it regularly gets top hits every week since it was posted. Even right now, this page is getting the most hits. I don’t even know how something that was posted in March gets that many visits.
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[…] in the run-up to Women’s History Month, for which this blog has received year-long traffic at this post from last March about the Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic, I guess I am here to remind myself of King’s teaching. Neither should we judge a woman by […]
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hello great blog yea nice job Ry interesting to read
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Thank you very much!
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this woman made history whom was very intersting knowing that theirs people out there defending humans rights like they did and on the other hand im reading the book about them name “hermana Mirabal” i really recomand this book…
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Dedé could not be born on Februay 29, 1925, as that was not a leap year. Therefore she must be born on March 1, 1925, as registered.
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Thank you for pointing that out.
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[…] 1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated. […]
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[…] About the Mirabal Sisters: https://departmentofhomegirlsecurity.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/the-mirabal-sisters-in-honor-of-womens-… […]
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I just saw the movie. I started out thoroughly enjoying this movie and wen it took that turn of the death of those sisters….I cried like no other cry I could remember. I did not expect them to die…..I actually thought they we’re going to torture the husbands and throw the three of the wives in prison forever. I hav now words.
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Yes, very sad and brutal. I love the movie, even though it is sad.
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[…] 1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated. […]
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[…] in Zero Dark Thirty. That is fewer than 15% and deplorable! Karen Silkwood, Anne Frank, the Mirabal sisters, the machinists of Dagenham, and Barbara Castle were nowhere to be seen in that montage. The […]
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[…] 1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated. […]
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