"We cannot allow our children to grow up in this corrupt and tyrannical regime. We have to fight against it, and I am willing to give up everything, even my life if necessary." - Patria Mirabal-Reyes
The sister are seen in the above image from: Patria (bottom left), Minerva (top centre) & Maria-Teresa (bottom right)
The Mirabal's were four sisters from Salcedo, Dominican Republic. The Mirabal family were middle-class farmers in the central, Cibao region of the Dominican Republic. Their parents were Enrique Mirabal-Fernandez & Mercedes Reyes-Camilo. They went by the names, Patria, Dede, Minerva & Maria Teresa. Belgica Adela Mirabal-Reyes was born March 1, 1925. Unlike her sisters, Dede didn't go to college, instead working as a housekeeper and helping run her parents agriculture & cattle business.
The three sisters collectively opposed the dictatorship of, Rafael Trujillo (aka. El Jefe) & were involved in underground activities, to bring down the Trujillo regime. Minerva was the first to vocalize her distaste for the deterioration of the country, under the influence of the dictatorship. Maria-Teresa followed suit, after she visited her sister at home and learned of her ambitions. Finally, Patria joined after witnessing a massacre, carried out by a group of Trujillo's men, while she was on a religious retreat. Dede didn't join her sister's underground political movements in part because her husband, Jamito, didn't want her too. Minerva, Maria-Teresa & Patria formed a group called the Movement of the 14th of June, the date on which Patria had witnessed the massacre; the sisters also took to calling themselves, "Las Mariposas" or "The Butterflies".
Patria Mercedes Mirabal-Reyes was born February 27, 1924; she was the oldest of the Mirabal sisters. When she was 14, her parents sent her off to attend a Catholic boarding school, Colegio Inmaculada Concepción, in La Vega. She left school at the age of 17 and married Pedro Gonzalez, a farmer, who would later aid her in going up against Trujillo's government.
Maria Argentina Minerva Mirabal-Reyes was born March 12, 1926, she was the third eldest of the Mirabal sisters. When she was 12, she followed in her elder sister's footsteps & attended Colegio Inmaculada Concepción. After she graduated, Minerva enrolled at the University of Santo Domingo, where she studied law but because she refused the romantic advances of Trujillo in 1949, she was denied a license to practice. While at university, she met her husband, Manolo Tavarez-Justo; he would also help the sisters in their fight against the regime. Minerva was the most vocal of the 3 sisters and is known to have been captured & harassed on an untold number of occasions.
Antonia Maria-Teresa Mirabal-Reyes was born Oct 15, 1935, she was the fourth & youngest daughter. Like her two older sisters, Maria-Teresa also attended Colegio Inmaculada Concepción. She graduated from Liceo de San Francisco de Macorís, in 1954. Then went on to attend Santo Domingo College, where she studied mathematics. After finishing her education, she married, Leandro Guzmán. Maria-Teresa greatly admired her older sister, Minerva and passionately followed her sister's lead in plotting the fall of the dictatorship, that had wreaked havoc in the Dominican Republic for 30 years. Because of this, Maria-Teresa was also arrested and interrogated on a number of occasions, on the orders of Trujillo.
As a group, the Mirabals distributed flyers, describing how many people Trujillo had had killed and were eventually able to obtain materials to manufacture their own guns and explosives, which they used in an open revolt against the government. Minerva & Maria Teresa were imprisoned but thankfully, due to growing opposition of Trujillo's regime, were spared from torture. Manolo & Leandro were imprisoned along with Patria's husband, Pedro at, La Victoria Penitentiary, in Santo Domingo; under the suspicion of being involved in "suspicious underground activities".
In 1960, the OEA (Organization of the United States), condemned Trujillo's regime and sent people to observe the situation. Maria-Teresa & Minerva were freed but their husbands remained in prison. On the website, Learn to Question, the author states, "No matter how many times Trujillo jailed them, no matter how much of their property and possessions he seized, Minerva, Patria and María Teresa refused to give up on their mission to restore democracy and civil liberties to the island nation."
Three of the four sisters, Patria, Minerva & Maria-Teresa were assassinated on November 25, 1960, along with their driver, Rufino de la Cruz, upon returning from a visit with Minerva & Maria-Teresa's husbands, Manolo & Leandro. They were stopped by some of Trujillo's men and pulled from the vehicle; separated, strangled and clubbed to death & then their bodies were placed back in the Jeep they'd been driving & ran off the mountain road, in an attempt to make their deaths look accidental. Trujillo was assassinated 6 months later, in May 1961.
After the assassinations of her sisters', Dede dedicated her life to preserving their legacy. She raised their 6 children, including, Minou Tavarez-Mirabal (Minerva's daughter), who served as deputy foreign minister, from 1996-2000 & deputy for the National District in the lower house of Dominican Congress, since 2002. Dede created the Mirabal Sisters Foundation (1992) & opened the Mirabal Sisters Mueseum (1994), in the sisters hometown, Salcedo. Dede died of natural causes; in the Mirabal family home, on February 1, 2014, at the age of 88.
According to historian, Bernard Diederich, the sisters' assassinations, "had greater effect on Dominicans than most of Trujillo's other crimes". The deaths, destroyed the morals of his followers and made way for his death soon after. However details of the Mirabal sisters' assassination were largely kept under wraps until 1996, when President Joaquin Balaguer was forced to step down, after more than 20 years in power. He was Trujillo's protégé and had been president when the sisters were killed in 1960. The revised history curriculum taught in schools, turned the sisters' into national heroes. In the era since Balaguer left his post, interest in the Mirabal sisters' story has grown exponentially; this includes a collection of their belongings at the National Museum of History & Geography, in Santo Domingo & the transformation of Trujillo's obelisk into a monument commemorating Patria, Minerva & Maria-Teresa.
Side notes:
Rafael Trujillo- president of the Dominican Republic from 1930-38 & 1942-52 but behind the scenes he had held power with an iron grip, as a full-fledged dictator, until his death in 1961.
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Female Rebels & Activists
Não Ficção"We need women who are so strong they can be gentle, so educated they can be humble, so fierce they can be compassionate, so passionate they can be rational and so disciplined they can be free" ...
