A Historical/Fictional Timeline

Prepared by Dr. Silvio Sirias

Department of Foreign Languages

Appalachian State University

For Julia Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies

1891 - October 24 - Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is born.

1930 - General Rafael Trujillo comes to power via a military coup.

1938 - Patria, Dede and Minerva enroll in the Inmaculada Concepcion Catholic School. There they meet the character of Sinita who opens their eyes to Dominican reality.

1940 - Rafael Trujillo seduces Lina Lovaton.

1944 - Minerva and friends perform the play before Trujillo.

1946 - Patria awakens to Liberation Theology, which in essence represents a new direction in the Catholic Church that sides with the poor and endorses profound political and social changes. Liberation Theology, in reality, emerged throughout Latin America in the 1960s.

1949 - Minerva slaps General Trujillo - incident actually did happen.

1953 - Enrique Mirabal, the father of the Butterflies, dies.

1955 - The Organization of American States (OAS) imposes a limited boycott of the Dominican Republic to force its democratization.

1959 - January 1 - Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba.

June - Failed military invasion against Trujillo which was supported by Venezuela and Cuba.

1960 - January - Minerva and Maria Teresa (Mate) are imprisoned. Released in August.

June - The Trujillo-engineered plot to assasinate the Venezuelan president, Romulo Betancourt, fails.

August - The OAS urges its members to break diplomatic relations with the Trujillo government.

November 25 - The Butterflies are murdered.

1961 - January - The OAS calls for an embargo of the Dominican Republic.

January - Rafael Leonidas Trujillo is assassinated by members of the military.

1996 - Dr. Jaime Fernandez Mirabal, Dede's son, becomes Vice-President of the Dominican Republic.

Minou Tavarez Mirabal, Minerva's daughter, is appointed Deputy Foreign Minister.

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