The Mirabal sisters, Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa, were born in Salcedo in the Cibao region of the Dominican Republic, three out of four daughters of a family of landowners. In 1930, when the dictator Rafael Trujillo became the country’s leader, their parents opposed the new regime and even refused to hang a picture of the tyrant in their home.
After earning their primary education at the village’s school, they attended the country’s best boarding school, El Colegio de la Inmaculada, in La Vega.
The oldest sister, Patria, left school at 17, married, and had three children.
The third sister, Minerva, continued her education and studied law at the University of Santo Domingo, becoming one of the first women to graduate from law school in the country. However, following an incident that occurred a few years earlier, in which Minerva caught the eye of Trujillo at a party and rejected his sexual attempts, her diploma was revoked from her honors as summa cum laude and got disapproved from practicing law.
The youngest sister, María Teresa, attended the Liceo de San Francisco de Macorís and later studied mathematics at the University of Santo Domingo.
As a student, Minerva became more aware of Trujillo’s atrocities and became involved in the political movement against the totalitarian regime. Soon, her sisters, husbands, and older children followed.
The three couples became the leaders in the underground movement to change the regime. It was named The Fourteenth of June resistance movement after the date the activists tried to overthrow the government and were tortured and killed. They distributed pamphlets, gathered materials for weapons, and made makeshift bombs. The sisters became known within the movement as the Las Mariposas – The Butterflies.
However, their activity didn’t last long, as they were discovered only a few weeks after its foundations. On January 22nd, 1960, the secret police raided their meeting place at Patria’s house, burned it to the ground, and arrested Minerva, María Teresa, and the three husbands. The two sisters were released after three weeks but were later sent back to prison for several more months.
On November 25th, 1960, the secret police ambushed the three sisters and their driver, Rufino de la Cruz, returning from visiting their incarcerated husbands. The four were strangled and beaten to death with clubs; their bodies were put back into their Jeep, which was pushed off the road to make it look like a car accident. Patria was 36, Minerva 34, and María Teresa 25.
The Mirabal sisters’ assassinations significantly impacted public opinion and spurred the events that led to Trujillo’s assassination six months later.
Following their death, their surviving sister, Dedé, took in and raised her sisters’ six children. She devoted her life to preserving and promoting their legacy, establishing the Mirabal Sisters Foundation and the Mirabal Sisters Museum.
The sister became national heroines and a worldwide symbol of feminist resistance and social justice.
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