"Aqui fue donde murieron en un accidente las Mirabal. Tan buenas mujeres y tan indefensas " [This is where the Mirabal women died. Such good women, and so defenseless].

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina

January 1961

These words were uttered to describe the death of as group of three sisters who were political activists (along with their husbands who were jailed at the time of their deaths due to their political actions against the regime). Their death made these women martyrs for the cause against the regime. Their death was orchestrated by the same man who made the comment while passing by the place of their death. Their death was one of the most important events that helped put the wheels in motion for the toppling of the Trujillo regime. Before going into the death of the Mirabal sisters, it is important to go back, and paint a picture of who these sisters were and what lead them to become enemies of the regime.

The Mirabal sisters, Patria Mercedes, Dra. Minerva Argentina, and Maria Teresa Mirabal were born in Ojo de Agua, a town in the county of Salcedo, in the year 1924, 1927 and 1935 respectively. The Mirabal sisters were born to middle class parents Enrique Mirabal Fernandez and Mercedes Reyes Camilo (Also known as Chea). The Mirabal sisters were all raised in the comforts of middle class life. They all attended and graduated from El Colegio "Inmaculada" located in the town of La Vega. The Mirabal sisters were all well loved and respected in their home community. Of the three sisters, Minerva was the one who stood out the most and made the greatest impact.

Minerva was a very passionate woman who stood firmly behind her beliefs and actions. She very often participated in activities which were patriotic in nature. Though her character brought her parents pride, they also feared the worst for Minerva. Her parents felt that her passion for her beliefs would cause her to act rashly and attract unwanted attention. Not only did her passion attract attention, but her beautiful looks augmented the attraction. In so much, the attraction came from the most powerful man in the country.

Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, known as Trujillo, was the ruler of the Dominican Republic from the year 1930 (until the death in 1961). Trujillo ruled with an iron fist and whatever he wanted, he received. Trujillo had a taste for young girls, particularly virgins, who would be given up by their parents in return for political clout and favors. Trujillo's sight was set on Minerva. In order to meet Minerva, an invitation was sent out to the Mirabal residence, directly from Trujillo's office, for the festival at Casa Borinquen, in San Cristobal, which was to be held on October 12, 1949. Minerva's parents were very nervous and were against the idea of Minerva attending this party alone. They knew that any invitation from Trujillo came with strings attached so they all attended the festival.

Upon arriving at the festival, The Mirabal family noticed Trujillo. Trujillo, as always, was regal in look and dress. At that particular moment, an agent of Trujillo, Manuel Moya de Alonzo, sat with the Mirabal family and asked Minerva to dance with him. Minerva graciously thanked him but rejected his overtures on numerous occasions. This further added to the uncomfortableness that Enrique had felt. Enrique knew that in not accepting to dance with Moya was a direct rejection of Trujillo. After a period of time, Minerva relented and danced with Moya.

The plan was simple, Moya would dance with Minerva, then Trujillo would cut in. As planned, Trujillo cut in on Moya and started to dance with Minerva. During that set, Trujillo asked Minerva questions as to her political inclination. Minerva answered that she was not interested in politics, especially his. Trujillo in turn asked her if he could send some of his subjects to conquer her into becoming interested in his politics, Minerva responded "How about if I conquer your subjects". With that response, Trujillo knew that Minerva would be problematic. At the end of the set, Minerva returned to the table where her family was seated and told her parents about her conversation with Trujillo. Enrique knew that this meant trouble for the Mirabal.

Rain started to fall on the festival causing everyone to run for shelter. At that precise moment, Enrique decided to take advantage of the situation and left with his family. When Trujillo heard that they had left before the end of the event, he was furious. Their leaving was a direct violation of Trujillo's rules of etiquette. It was deemed offensive to leave without permission from Trujillo. In response to the Mirabal's secret exit from the festival, Enrique was jailed the following day and sent to the Ozama fortress in Cuidad Trujillo. Minerva and Chea were also jailed and placed in house arrest at the Hotel Republica.

Minerva was taken everyday to the Ozama fortress for interrogations. The questions ranged from books and letters that had been sent to her by those who were considered political enemies of Trujillo to friends of Minerva that had been jailed in the same manner that Minerva had been. They were all released two weeks later under the condition that Minerva's parents would control her behavior and that she was to write a letter apologizing to Trujillo, which she never did. Trujillo would never forget Minerva's rebellious nature and attempted to break her at all costs.

Two years later, Enrique, Minerva and Chea were once again arrested. Enrique was again taken to the Ozama fortress while Chea and Minerva were placed in house arrest at the Hotel Presidente. This time their arrest came about due to Enrique's unwillingness to purchase a book extolling the virtues of Trujillo. The book was being sold directly to Enrique by an agent of Trujillo. Enrique told the agent "The one who knows about books in this house is Minerva, and she is not here now".

During their house arrest, Minerva was asked to write that letter of apology that she was to have written to Trujillo while also asking for clemency for her father's release. She refused to do so. An offer was then extended by Virgilio Trujillo, brother of the dictator. The offer called for Minerva to have a private meeting with Trujillo at the Hotel Jaragua, which Minerva quickly rejected. Trujillo was met with a dilemma. He couldn't just cause physical harm to her as had been previously done with prisoners. One reason was that she was a woman and physical violence on her could turn and sway the people against him. They were jailed for a period of three weeks, then released. After the release, Enrique's health started to slowly deteriorate. While in jail, he started to have cardiac problems and depression. On the outside, Enrique started to drink heavily and further fell into depression because of the unjustified jailing of his wife and daughter. Minerva held Trujillo personally responsible for her father's failing health which led to Enrique's death on December 14, 1953.

Pursuit of Studies and Marraige

Upon her release from jail, Minerva decided to continue with her studies. Minerva enrolled in La Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Santo Domingo. Minerva's majored in Laws and Rights and was enrolled for a period of about a year when again she met trouble with Trujillo. Her registration had been revoked by the government, leading everyone to believe that Trujillo was behind it. Minerva knew what she had to do and that meant swallowing her pride. In order for Minerva to have her registration renewed, she had to write a paper praising the virtues of Trujillo and she needed to present it as well. The paper was the hardest thing that Minerva had to do. She felt as if that she was compromising her ideals but her education was more important than her feud with Trujillo. Minerva graduated with a law degree in 1957.

At the same time, the Mirabal sisters had met the men that not only would become their husbands but also the individuals who would put together the main anti-trujillista movement. All three sisters married members of the Dominican middle class that shared the disdain for Trujillo that the Mirabals had. Patria Mercedes was the first to get married. She married Pedro A. Gonzalez Cruz at the age of 17 (In 1941). Minerva married Dr. Manuel Tavarez Justo, a classmate of Minerva from law school, in 1955. Maria Teresa, married Ing. Leandro Guzman in 1958.

El Movimiento 14 de Junio (MRIJ4)

In 1957, Minerva and Manolo wanted to bring into fruition their idea of creating a resistance movement against Trujillo. Slowly and quietly, Minerva and Manolo united those who were also against Trujillo. The group's name derived from the group of Dominican exiles who decided to invade the island on June 14, 1959. They patterned themselves after an exile of Cuba who invaded that island on June 1, 1958 and liberated it from their dictator, Flugencio Batista. That exile was Fidel Castro Ruz. The Dominican group was thorougly put down, with the majority of the invaders executed.

Thirteen underground leaders were united in the town of Mao on January 10-11, 1960 to put together the group. At that meeting, Manolo was named president and Leandro (Maria Teresa's husband) was named treasurer. The group continued mobilizing with help of some of the most prominent members of the Dominican society among their ranks. As the group expanded, word got through to Johnny Abbes Garcia, the head of the SIM(Servicio de Intelligencia Militar).

Manolo was arrested on January 13, 1960 in Montecristi. Leandro was arrested on January 17th in Cuidad Trujillo. Minerva was arrested once again on the 20th of January and Maria Teresa was also arrested on January 20th, only to be released and rearrested on January 21st. Patria's husband, Pedro Gonzalez was also to be arrested but hid from the officers in Salcedo. His house was taken over by the SIM agents who found a set of nipple bombs that were to have been used in the planned invasion. Also arrrested were Ingeniera Tomansina Cabral, Dr. Tejada Florentino, Cayetano Grisante, Marcos Perez Collada among others. They were all taken to the jail of tortures called "La 40" (The 40).

The prisoners were stripped naked and placed in solitary confinement while others were tortured. Dr. Florentino was used to make an example. He was tortured in the electric chair and later assassinated for purposes of intimidation. Manolo took the interrigations with dignity, refusing to lay any blame on anyone but himself. He was often tortured in the electric chair, shocks from electric sticks, beatings as well as the pulling off of his fingernails. The very sight of Manolo taking these tortured and not incriminating anyone gave hope to the others as well as solidify his leadership of the group. Leandro, Rafael Valera Benitez and Lisandro Macarrula were forced to write El Libro Blanco (Otherwise known as Complot Develado). This book was to be written with the idea to explain why they were plotting against the regime. Laying all of the blame on the rebellers and not Trujillo. Upon his release, Valera Benitez would look for asylum at the Argentine embassy and taking with him a copy of the book to rewrite it in Argentina. On the other hand, Minerva and Maria were not judged and released on February 7th 1960. Neither was tortured and treated with some level of respect. The sisters were "freed" while having SIM agents following their every movement.

During the same time, Trujillo was leaving his mark on the face of international government. Trujillo failed in his attempt to have Venezuelan president Romulo Betancourt assassinated on June 24th 1960, leading to the ousting of the Dominican republic from the Organization of American States. He was also linked to the kidnapping and believed assassination of Columbia University professor Jesus de Galindez on the streets of New York City in 1956. Galindez wrote his doctoral dissertation on Trujillo and Trujillo's government.Trujillo was also taking heat from the church and the United States government for his treatment of prisoners. This lead Trujillo to deport a number of church officials and to jail others. The United States government had settled on their plans to eliminate Trujillo through the CIA.

Trujillo was disturbed at the fact that so many individuals were part of the MRIJ4 movement. Specifically, many of those individuals came from prominent families of the country and even some of his godchildren. Trujillo was now an old man who for thirty years eliminated all of his enemies as he pleased. At the end of his regime, Trujillo knew that it was him against the world and he decided that would not go without eliminating some of his enemies.

The Death of the Mirabal Sisters

While the Mirabal sisters were free, they continued on with their political work. Even though they were discreet in their actions, notice of the work got back to Trujillo who decided that he had enough with the Mirabal. Trujillo gave the order for their murder to be executed as soon as possible. On May 18th of 1960, Minerva and Maria were arrested once again and taken to La 40. They were given 30 years in jail which was appealed to 5 years. In an act of "Good Faith", they were released and told to go home. Their days were numbered.

In order to facilitate their murder, Manolo and Leandro were transfered to the jail at Puerto Plata, which made it easy for them to be visited. Two times the Mirabal sisters visited their husbands and they avoided death. Very often, they were accompanied by elderly people and children, which confused the soldiers that were assigned to carry out the order. Trujillo was livid at the fact that his orders were not carried out. He was asked how many people could be killed and Trujillo left the amount at 5 (which in reality meant kill all you can as long as the job gets done).

On November 25, 1960, Minerva and Maria teresa were accompanied on their trip to the jail by Rufino de la Cruz, the driver of the jeef in which they rode. They were also accompanied by their sister, Patria Mercedes, who was told not to go by her mother and other sister Dede. They had heard through circles that the order for their deaths was placed. Patria decided that if she had to go, she would do as she had been doing it all along, fighting the regime. They spent the entire day at the prison talking with Leandro and Manolo. On their way back home, the event occured.

Along the Marca Pica bridge, on theLuperon Highway the "Calies" laid in wait for the Mirabal. When their jeep approached the area, they were stopped and ushered out of the jeep. At that same moment, a vehicle was passing along the road when Maria Teresa managed to release herself and ran towards the vehicle asking for help. The vehicle did not stop and she was recaptured and taken to a field where Minerva, Maria Teresa, Patria Mercedes and Rufino de la Cruz were beaten to death. In order to make the deaths look like an accident, the lifeless bodies were placed in the jeep and the jeep was pushed off of the cliff to give the impression that they ran off of the road.

After the Death of the Mirabal Sisters

Trujillo himself was assassinated on May 30th 1960, by members of his army and governement with the backing of the CIA. He was also killed along a road (Avenida George Washington in view of the obelisk he had built in his honor) and stuffed in the trunk of his car to be found two days later. With the toppling of the regime, the truth of the deaths of the Mirabal sisters was revealed and the trial was set.

The trial began on June 26, 1962. The proceedings were headed by Justice Oswaldo B. Soto who on November 24 of the same year (Almost a year to the date of the death of the Mirabal Sisters) laid out the sentences of the murderers. Manuel A. Cruz Valerio, Ramon E. Estrada and Ramon Rojas Lara recieved 30 years of harrd labor. A Ciriaco de la Rosa, Nestor Perez Terrero, and Alicinio Pena Rivera were given 20 years for their part in the murders.

To this day, the legacy of the Mirabal is still felt in the Dominican Republic. November 25th of every year (The anniversary of their death) is known as the International Day Against Violence Against Women. many books have also been written about the Mirabal. Most recently, Julia Alvarez wrote "In The Time of Butterflies" , a novel in memoriem of the sisters. Two decendants of the Mirabal are also active in the Dominican Political Process. Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal, the nephew of the sisters is currently the vice president of the country. Minou Tavarez Mirabal, daughter of Minerva, is a deputy foreign minister of the country. In progress is the renovation of the 137 foot obelisk that was built in honor of Trujillo by Trujillo. The obelisk will be painted in pastel colors and will have the faces of the three murdered sisters as well as the fourth sisters who kept the spirit of her sisters alive. This monument will be completed the summer of 1998.

More and more, the Mirabal sisters are being remebered through poems, songs, and literature. They experieces in toppling a regime made them martyrs of the oppressed and Latin American feminist icons. In retrospect, not much was found on the sisters showing that there is still more work that needs to be done to bring the bravery of these sisters to light.

Sources Used

Garcia, Miguel Aquino. Tres Heroinas y un Tirano: La historia veridica de las Hermanas Mirabal y su asesinato por Rafael Leonidas Trujillo., 1996.

Garcia, Miguel Aquino. Holocausto en el Caribe: Perfiles de una tirania sin precedentes, La matanza de Haitianos pro Trujillo. 1995

Gallegos, Gerardo. Trujillo: Cara y Cruz de su dictadura., 1968.

Galvan, William. Minerva Mirabal:Historia de una Heroina., 1982.

Brito, Monsenor Hugo Eduardo Polanco. Salcedo y Su Historia.,1980.

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