Mirabal sisters
The three sisters Patria (born February 27, 1924 ), Minerva (born March 12, 1926 ) and Maria Teresa (born October 15, 1935 ) Mirabal were Dominican regime opponents who were victims of an assassination attempt on November 25, 1960 by the dictatorial regime of Rafael Trujillo were. Only her sister Dedé (born March 1, 1925 ) survived. The "Hermanas Mirabal" (Mirabal sisters) are in the Dominican Republic as a symbol for the resistance against the dictatorship.
Life and murder
The sisters came from the area of Santiago de los Caballeros . You belonged to a respectable middle-class family. Together with their husbands they supported the group Agrupación política 14 de junio ( Movement of June 14th ) , which planned the overthrow of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Within the group, the sisters were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies) .
After the uprising failed, some members of the family were arrested; However, under pressure from the USA and the OAS - together with other prisoners - had to be released. After Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa visited their still imprisoned husbands in the prison in Puerto Plata on November 25, 1960 , they were ambushed in the mountains by Trujillo's henchmen on their way home and strangled together with their chauffeur. A car accident was fabricated to cover up the murder, but the crime was exposed.
effect
With the murder of the opponents of the regime, Trujillo lost further sympathy at home as well as in the USA and other South American countries.
In 1981, November 25th was proclaimed at a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean feminists to commemorate victims of violence against women.
In 1999, November 25th was declared International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by the United Nations .
The province of Salcedo was officially renamed Hermanas Mirabal on November 21, 2007 by President Leonel Fernández . The "Museo Hermanas Mirabal" is located at the last place of residence of the sisters, five kilometers east of Salcedo in Conuco and was directed by Dedé Mirabal (1925-2014), the only survivor of the four siblings. Her sisters are buried in the back of the museum property.
Literature and film
In 1994 the novel En el tiempo de las mariposas (The time of the butterflies) by Julia Álvarez was published , which was filmed in 2001 by Mariano Barroso under the title In the Time of the Butterflies ( The time of the butterflies ) . The leading roles include Salma Hayek , Edward James Olmos and Mía Maestro . In 2008 the film Crimen by director Etzel Báez and Del fondo de la noche by Javier Balaguer were released.
In 2009 the documentary Codename: Butterflies by the Chilean filmmaker Cecilia Domeyko was released . In 2010, Trópico de Sangre was published by Juan Delancer , which is dedicated to the life story of the sisters, especially that of Minerva Mirabal.
literature
- Julia Álvarez: The time of the butterflies . Piper, 2004, ISBN 3-492-23540-9
Web links
- Website of the documentary Code Name: Butterflies (English)
- El asesinato de las hermanas Mirabal in: ABC , November 25, 2009 (Spanish)