Mirabal sisters

Mirabal sisters

The Mirabal sisters opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Three of the four sisters were assassinated on 25 November 1960. The last sister, Dedé, died of natural causes on 1 February 2014. In their honor, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

About Mirabal sisters in brief

Summary Mirabal sistersThe Mirabal sisters opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. Three of the four sisters were assassinated on 25 November 1960. The last sister, Dedé, died of natural causes on 1 February 2014. In their honor, the United Nations General Assembly designated 25 November the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The sisters grew up in a middle-class environment, raised by their parents, Enrique Mirabal Fernández and Mercedes Reyes Camilo. Patria, Minerva, María Teresa, and Dedé were involved in clandestine activities against his regime. The assassinations turned the sisters into \”symbols of both popular and feminist resistance\”. The last surviving sister of the family died at the age of 88, and professed her entire life that it was her destiny to survive so that she was able to tell her sisters’ story. Dedé started the Mirabal Sisters Foundation and theMirabal Sisters museum to continue her sisters’ legacy.

The Mirabal family were farmers from the central Cibao region of theDominican Republic. They had four daughters: Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes, commonly known as Patria; María Argentina Minerva Mirabal, known as Minerva; María Teresa and Antonia María Guzmán. The fourth and youngest daughter, Dedé, was born on 15 October 1935. She attended the Colegio Inmaculada Concepción, graduated from the Liceo de San Francisco de Macorís in 1954, and went on to the University of Santo Domingo, where she studied mathematics. She became passionate about her older sister Minerva’s political views. She once said, \”Influenced by Minerva, we shall continue to fight for that which is just as important as death. We have to fight against it, and I am willing to give up everything, even my life if necessary.’’ The sisters were active in the political movement from 1930 to 1942, and from 1938 to 1942 to 1952 as a dictator ruled behind the scenes.