Mirabal sisters

For the province, see Hermanas Mirabal Province.

The Mirabal Sisters (Spanish pronunciation: [erˈmanas miɾaˈβal], Hermanas Mirabal) were four Dominican sisters who opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo, and were involved in clandestine activities against his regime.[1] Three of the sisters were assassinated on 25 November 1960. The assassinations turned the Mirabal sisters into "symbols of both popular and feminist resistance".[2]

In 1999, the sisters received recognition by the United Nations General Assembly, who designated 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in their honor.[3]

Today in the Dominican Republic the Mirabal Sisters are known for their courage and leadership of defending the people of the country. Despite the fact the Mirabal Sisters had to deal with the loss of their father, love ones, and family, they were able to fight for justice and the dominican people rights. While Rafael Leonidas Trujillo was still in office, the country was falling apart during his long dictatorship.

Sisters

Name Common Name Birthday Date of Death
Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes Patria 27 February 1924 25 November 1960
Bélgica Adela Mirabal Reyes Dedé 1 March 1925 1 February 2014
María Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes Minerva 12 March 1926 25 November 1960
Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes María Teresa 15 October 1935 25 November 1960

History

Early life

The house in which the Mirabal sisters lived for the last ten months of their lives is now a museum in Salcedo, Dominican Republic.

The Mirabal family were farmers from the central Cibao region in the Dominican Republic. Their daughters grew up in a middle-class, cultured environment raised by Enrique Mirabal Fernandez and Mercedes Reyes Camilo.[4] Unlike her sisters, Dedé never attended college, and instead worked as a homemaker and helped out with running the family business in agriculture and cattle.[5]

Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes

Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes, commonly known as Patria, was the eldest of the four Mirabal sisters and was born on 27 February 1924. She showed a great talent for painting and art and when she was only 14 was sent by her parents to the Catholic Boarding School, Colegio Inmaculada Concepcion in La Vega. She showed great promise and became educated but stepped away from school when she was only seventeen and married Pedro Gonzalez,[6] a Dominican farmer, who would later aid her in her efforts to challenge the Trujillo regime. Patria was a committed wife, mother, and activist and was willing to give her life to better her country for her children. She often said, "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." [7]

Maria Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes

Maria Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes, commonly known as Minerva, was the third daughter born to Enrique Mirabal Fernandez and Mercedes Reyes Camilo on 12 March 1926. From an early age she demonstrated great intelligence, and at the age of 12 she followed in her eldest sister, Patria's, footsteps and attended the Catholic Boarding School, Colegio Inmaculada Concepcion in La Vega.[6] However, Minerva continued her education and attended the University of Santo Domingo where she furthered her growth in knowledge and eventually met her husband Manuel Tavarez Justo who would also aid her in her fight against the Trujillo regime. Minerva, out of the three sisters, appeared to be the most vocal and radical of the Mirabal daughters. She was arrested, harassed, and tortured countless times as a direct result from orders given by Trujillo himself.[8] However, no amount of fear or intimidation could deter her from her cause. She was often quoted as saying, "...it is a source of happiness to do whatever can be done for our country that suffers so many anguishes, it is sad to stay with one's arms crossed." [7]

Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabal Reyes

Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabal Reyes, more commonly known as Maria Teresa, was the fourth and youngest daughter born to the Mirabal's on 15 October 1936. Just as her sisters Patria and Minerva did before her, Maria Teresa also attended the Catholic Boarding School, Colegio Inmaculada Concepcion in La Vega. She excelled in mathematics and in 1954 graduated from the Liceo de San Francisco de Macoris and then went onto the University of Santo Domingo where she focused her studies in mathematics. After she completed her education, she married Leandro Guzman who would also stand by her side in the fight against Trujillo. She greatly admired her older sister Minerva and as a result became extremely passionate about her sister's political views.[6] Just as her older sister, Maria Teresa was also arrested, harassed, and tortured for her political activities and opinions a direct orders from Trujillo.[8] Maria Teresa would often say, "...perhaps what we have most near is death, but that idea does not frighten me, we shall continue to fight for that which is just..." [7]

Political involvement

Influenced by her uncle, Minerva became involved in the political movement against Trujillo, who served as the country's official president from 1930 to 1938 and from 1942 to 1952, but ruled from behind the scenes as a dictator from 1930 to his assassination in 1961. Minerva studied law and became a lawyer, but because she declined Trujillo's romantic advances in 1949,[9][10] she was only allowed to earn a degree, but not have a license to practice law. Her sisters followed suit, first Maria Teresa, who joined after staying with Minerva and learning about their activities, and then Patria, who joined after witnessing a massacre by some of Trujillo's men while on a religious retreat. Dedé joined later, due to having been held back by her husband Jaimito. They eventually formed a group called the Movement of the Fourteenth of June (named after the date of the massacre Patria witnessed), to oppose the Trujillo regime. They distributed pamphlets about the many people whom Trujillo had killed, and obtained materials for guns and bombs to use when they finally openly revolted. Within the group, the Mirabals called themselves Las Mariposas ("The Butterflies"), after Minerva's underground name.[2]

Minerva and María Teresa were incarcerated but were never tortured due to mounting international opposition to Trujillo's regime. Three of the sisters' husbands (who were also involved in the underground activities) were incarcerated at La Victoria Penitentiary in Santo Domingo. Despite these setbacks, they persisted in fighting to end Trujillo's leadership.

In 1960, the Organization of American States condemned Trujillo's actions and sent observers. Minerva and María Teresa were freed, but their husbands remained in prison.[9] On their remembrance website, Learn to Question, the author writes, "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."[9]

Assassination

On 25 November 1960, Patria, Minerva, María Teresa, and their driver, Rufino de la Cruz, were visiting Maria Teresa's and Minerva's incarcerated husbands. On the way home, they were stopped by Trujillo's henchmen. The sisters and the driver were separated and were clubbed to death. The bodies were then gathered and put in their Jeep where it was run off the mountain road to look like an accident.[9]

After Trujillo was assassinated in May 1961, General Pupo Román admitted to having personal knowledge that the sisters were killed by Victor Alicinio and Peña Rivera, who were Trujillo's right-hand men. Ciriaco de la Rosa, Ramon Emilio Rojas, Alfonso Cruz Valeria and Emilio Estrada Malleta were all members of his secret police force.[11] Whether Trujillo ordered the secret police to kill them or whether they acted on their own is unknown. Virgilio Pina Chevalier (Don Cucho), a Trujillo family member, wrote in his 2008 book, La era de Trujillo. Narraciones de Don Cucho, that Trujillo said that the Mirabal assassinations had nothing to do with him. However, as Chevalier notes, "we know orders of this nature could not come from any authority lower than national sovereignty. That was none other than Trujillo himself; still less could it have taken place without his assent."[12]

Aftermath

The old house of the Mirabal family and the residence of Dedé Mirabal until her death on 1 February 2014, aged 88.[5]

According to historian Bernard Diederich, the sisters' assassinations "had greater effect on Dominicans than most of Trujillo's other crimes", noting that "it did something to their machismo" and paved the way for Trujillo's own assassination six months later.[13]

However, the details of the Mirabal sisters' assassinations were "treated gingerly at the official level" until 1996, when Joaquín Balaguer was finally pressured to step down from his six terms of presidency over the course of 22 years. Balaguer had been Trujillo's protégé and was the president at the time of the assassinations in 1960 (though at the time he "distanced himself from General Trujillo and initially carved out a more moderate political stance").[14] A review of the history curriculum in public schools in 1997 recognized the Mirabals as national martyrs.[2] The post-Balaguer era has seen a marked increase in homages to the Mirabal sisters, including an exhibition of their belongings at the National Museum of History and Geography and the transformation of Trujillo's obelisk into a mural dedicated in their honor.

After the assassinations of her sisters, Dedé devoted her life to the legacy of her sisters. She raised her sisters' six children, including Minou Tavárez Mirabal, Minerva's daughter, who has served as deputy for the National District in the lower House since 2002, and before that as deputy foreign minister (1996–2000). Of her own three children, Jaime David Fernández Mirabal, is the current Minister for Environment and Natural Resources and former vice president of the Dominican Republic. In 1992, she founded the Mirabal Sisters Foundation and in 1994 the Mirabal Sisters Museum in her hometown Salcedo.[5] She published a book, Vivas en su Jardín, on 25 August 2009.[15] She lived in the house where the sisters were born in Salcedo until her death in 2014, aged 88.[16]

Legacy

In 2005, Amaya Salazar.[22] In 2011, Banco del Progreso sponsored Dustin Muñoz to re-do the mural.[23]

In books and movies

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Rohter, Larry (15 February 1997). "The Three Sisters, Avenged: A Dominican Drama". New York Times.
  3. 1 2 "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women". United Nations. Retrieved 23 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Peter Farrington (17 December 2013). "Mirabal Sisters of The Dominican Republic". The REAL Dominican Republic. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Garcia, Franklin (3 February 2014). "Last Surviving Mirabal Sister, Doña Dede, Dead at 88". Huffington Post.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Mirabal Sisters- The Nov. 25th Revolution", "Safe World for Women", 7 March 2016
  7. 1 2 3 "Historia de las Hermanas Mirabal", "Mirabal Sisters Cultural and Community Center", 7 March 2016
  8. 1 2 Nancy Pineda-Madrid "Celebrating Our Latina Feminists Foremothers", "Project Muse", 7 March 2016
  9. 1 2 3 4 "The Mirabal Sisters". LearnToQuestion.com. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  10. ↑ Ferullo, Giovanna (26 August 2011). "Violencia y discriminación de la mujer, un problema muy grave en R.Dominicana". MSN Noticias (in Spanish) (Panamá). EFE. Retrieved 10 June 2013. (...) Once años antes del triple asesinato, 'había habido una intención del dictador de sumar a mi madre a la lista de mujeres que le pertenecían, como las vacas de sus fincas', algo a lo que Minerva se negó, contó Tavárez Mirabal.
    A partir de allí nació la 'obsesión' de Trujillo contra la familia Mirabal, que empeoró cuando se percató de que una mujer, Minerva, era la 'organizadora del movimiento de oposición más importante que tuvo que enfrentar en 30 años de dictadura', añadió.
  11. ↑ "Mirabal Sisters of The Dominican Republic". TheRealDR.com. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  12. ↑ Virgilio Pina Chevalier, La era de Trujillo. Narraciones de Don Cucho, p. 151.
  13. ↑ Bernard Diederich (1999). Trujillo: The Death of the Dictator. Markus Wiener Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 978-1558762060.
  14. ↑ Kershaw, Sarah (15 July 2002). "Joaquín Balaguer, 95, Dies; Dominated Dominican Life". New York Times.
  15. ↑ Amazon. "Vivas en el Jardin". ISBN 0307474534.
  16. ↑ Tennant, Paul; Yadira Betances (3 February 2014). "Dominican heroine dies". Eagle-Tribune. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  17. ↑ Camara de Diputados. "Proyecto de Ley mediante el cual se modifica el nombre de la provincia Salcedo a provincia Hermanas Mirabal" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  18. ↑ Diario Libre. "Provincia Salcedo pasa a llamarse "Hermanas Mirabal"" (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  19. ↑ El Tiempo. "La historia de las hermanas Mirabal" (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  20. ↑ Educando. "Las hermanas Mirabal en otra dimensión" (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 November 2014.
  21. ↑ Keys, Janette (29 June 2011). "New Painting on the Obelisk". Colonial Zone News Blog.
  22. ↑ "Restauran Obelisco del Malecón". Hoy (in Spanish). 3 March 2005.
  23. ↑ Brito, Reynaldo (27 July 2011). "Obelisco del malecón restaurado con obra de Dustin Muñoz". Imagenes Dominicanas.
  24. ↑ "Michelle Rodriguez Producing and Starring in Historical Feature". Michelle-rodriguez.com. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  25. ↑ Author, Nobel Prize Winner Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat, translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman. Originally published by Alfguana in Spain under the title La fiesta del chivo . 2000. ISBN 0-312-42027-7
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