Make DR1 Your Homepage   Tell A Friend   Advertising Information  
Support Center » Knowledgebase » Who were the Mirabal sisters?
 Who were the Mirabal sisters?
Solution The Mirabal sisters were three Dominican sisters who fought and died fighting the regime of Rafael Trujillo. The sisters were Patria Mercedes Mirabal (February 27, 1924 – November 25, 1960), Maria Argentina Minerva Mirabal (March 12, 1926 – November 25, 1960) Antonia María Teresa Mirabal (October 15, 1935 – November 25, 1960). A fourth sister Bélgica Adela "Dedé" Mirabal-Reyes was not murdered the day her sisters were and now currently keeps the Mirabal Sisters Museum in Salcedo.

The sisters were part of the Movement of the Fourteenth of June, an underground movement to oust Trujillo. Inside that group, they were known as "The Butterflies" (Las Mariposas in Spanish) amd this name would become symbolic. Because of their political dealings, trying to oust Trujillo the sisters, and their husband's, were impisoned and tortured many times. Despite this, the sisters continued fighting against Trujillo's dictatorship.

After the sisters' numerous imprisonments, Trujillo decided to get rid of the sisters. On 25 November 1960 he sent henches to intercept the three women after the women visited their husbands in prison. The  sisters were led into a sugarcane field, beaten and strangled to death. Their car was  thrown off of La Cumbre Mountain, between the cities of Santiago and Puerto Plata.

Trujillo thought he had solved a problem by killing the sisters, instead he created martyrs out of them and it was the sister's murder that would be the final straw for the Dominican public. Trujillo, on the heals of the Mirabals', was killed 6 months later, in 1961.

The sister's are buried in Ojo de Agua, Salcedo. On 17 December 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 and in 2007 the Salcedo province, where the sisters are from, was renamed Hermanas Mirabal in their honor. Also, in 2007, an RD$200 bill was released in honor of the sisters. The bill has a picture of the sisters.


Article Details
Article ID: 526
Created On: 19 Nov 2007 11:07 AM

 Search
 Article Options
 Print Article
 PDF Version
 Email Article
 Add to Favorites
Real Estate Listings  |  Daily News Archive  |  Message Board Archive

The contents of this webpage are copyright © 1996-2007.  DR1. All Rights Reserved.