Las Mariposas

A picture of Rafael Trujillo

For context, the Mirabal sisters stood against the regime of Rafael Trujillo, who was a general trained by the US army during their occupation of the Dominican Republic. In 1930, he took control of the nation and established a dictatorship with heavy restrictions on civil liberties. Trujillo ran the nation with loyalists and human rights violations, most notably his mass murder of Haitian residents near the border of the nation in 1937, now known as the Parsley Massacre.  

From left to right: Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal

Enter the Mirabal Sisters. Their story began with a party in San Cristóbal, where Minerva was forced to attend. She was personally invited by Trujillo in a bid to make her his mistress. After a tense exchange, between them at the party, she disrespected the dictator by rejecting his advances and leaving early. An infuriated Trujillo arrested their father and ostracized their family in retaliation. This encouraged the sisters to join the opposition against Trujillo while they were at university. Inspired by this opposition and the recent Cuban Revolution, the sisters, their husbands, and fellow dissenters launched Movimiento Revolucionario 14 de Junio, which was the movement to free the Dominican Republic from Trujillo. When this movement was discovered, Trujillo arrested hundreds of his political enemies, including Minera and María Teresa. The prisoners were treated terribly, which led Trujillo to be condemned by the Roman Catholic Church and cut off by one of their most prolific allies, the US. After a few stints in jail, the sisters were permanently silenced when Trujillo's men killed them and tried to make it look like an accident. Their deaths became the final nail in the coffin for Trujillo's regime that made even his loyalist supporters realize he hadn't kept his promises to protect the nation and its women. 

A photo of Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes

Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes was born on February 24, 1924 and was the eldest of the Mirabal sisters. She was not as involved in the revolution as her sisters but did help the movement by offering her house as a venue for meetings and a storage for weapons. Patria and her husband, Pedro González, had three children, who became the inspiration for one of her most famous quotes: "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's heroic choice to lend her home as a space for the revolutionaries helped get the movement started and eventually end Trujillo's reign. 

A photo of María Minerva Mirabal Reyes

María Minerva Mirabal Reyes was born on March 12, 1926, in the town of Salcedo. Minerva attended the University of Santo Domingo, where she studied law, graduated summa cum laude, and became the first woman to graduate from law school in the Dominican Republic. She was the one who denied Trujillo's advances when she was just twenty two years old, leading him to jail her and forbid her from practicing law. Minerva was one of the key figures of the movement, alongside her sister María Teresa, and this activism led her to be jailed. She married fellow activist Manuel Aurelio Tavárez Justo, who she met at university, and they had two children, Minerva and Manuel. Together, the couple helped lead the revolutionary movement, which led them to both be jailed. While Minerva was eventually released, her husband remained incarcerated. Shortly after her release from jail, Minerva was killed by Trujillo's secret police. Her national popularity and the botched cover up of her murder led Trujillo's regime to collapse. 

A photo of Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes de Guzmán

Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes de Guzmán was born on October 15, 1935, and was the youngest of the Mirabal sisters. Like her sister Minerva, she attended university at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo where she studied engineering. She also married fellow engineer Leandro Guzmán and had a daughter, Jacqueline, with him. María Teresa admired her elder sister Minerva, which led to join the revolutionary activities. She joined the resistance in 1959, leading her to be detained at a military base in their hometown of Salcedo. She and her sister Minerva were later switched to various torture prisons like La Cuarenta. Despite all of this, María Teresa was never deterred by the intimidation and kept up her revolutionary activities. This led her to be beaten to death alongside her sisters on the same night. The women, including María Teresa, were later honored by the UN through the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, which was dedicated to them and their brave revolutionary spirit.