IN
TIME OF BUTTERFLIES
Do
you know who the Mirabal sisters were? Where did they live? What
nationality were they?
Four
stunning sisters made history in the Dominican Republic by fighting
for equal rights during Trujillo dictatorship.
Minerva,
María Teresa, Patria and Dedé Mirabal grew up on a farm that
cultivated cacao and atonishing orchild flowers. They were a simple,
middle-class Dominican family.
Although
it was a fantastic country, The Dominican Republic was ruled by a
vicious and fritening tyrant named Rafael Trujillo who was
controlling the country. He was called El Jefe, “The Boss”.
No
one publicly disagreed with him, nobody was allowed to leave a room
before Trujillo, everybody was supposed to appreciated El Jefe. Over
50 thousand people were killed during his years as president. There
were many poor people in the country, people were starved. Trujillo
took all the money from taxes and put most of it in his personal bank
account.
The
sisters began to fight for freedom, democracy and against poverty.
Secret meetings were held, weapons were hidden in their homes, and
food was provided for those who were running from the government. And
so began the family chase. The Mirabal sisters' father was
imprisioned. Trujillo used people to achieve his ambition for power.
He got married twice and divorced his second wife to marry his
mistress. Because he used marriage as a tool to rise in power, it can
be assumed that Trujillo had little respect for women. Therefore,
when he made the decision to murder the Mirabal sisters, he was not
seeing three women but just three things which were standing in his
way of ultimate power. Women were considered by Trujillo as objects
to be used for his pleasure. A great woman was only meant to please
him. A beautiful woman was not supposed to have a mind of
revolutionary ideas, something that Minerva showed eagerly. And when
she rejected his proposals,it was an attack for his ego. The sisters'
husbands were imprisioned.
So,
on the 25th of November 1960, the butterflies went to the prison to
visit their husbands along with their driver, Rufino de la Cruz.
After the visit, on their way home, they were stopped by men sent by
Trujillo. Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and de la Cruz were clubbed
to death. Their bodies were gathered back in their Jeep, which was
run off the mountain road so that their deaths would look like an
accident.
In
1999, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25th November as
the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women,
in honour of the
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