The Butterflies

Patria, Minerva and Mate Mirabal

Today we watched the movie In the Time of the Butterflies, based on the book by Julia Alvarez by the same name.  I read the book before I left and so had a good idea about the lives of these four women, three of whom were murdered by the dictator Trujillo in 1960.  For those of you who have never heard of them, here is a brief overview:

The four Mirabal sisters grew up in the Ojo de Agua region of the Dominican Republic.  Patria, Minerva, Dede and Mate.  They were just children when Trujillo took power in 1930, and so grew up under his reign of fear and intimidation.  None were involved in the underground in their younger years.  I get the feeling that, along with the general fear of being murdered if they spoke up, the sisters and their family had not ever been directly affected by Trujillo’s system of domination and so it was easier to ignore it. 

Trujillo, for his part, was not only a mass murdering, racist dictator; he was also a serial rapist.  He essentially thought himself a Don Juan and many a pretty girl that crossed his path ended up in his bed. 

Now Trujillo had heard about the sisters Mirabal, especially of Minerva, the most beautiful.  Long story short, he invites them to a dinner/dance, tries to feel Minerva up, she slaps him (a very dangerous thing to do), their father is arrested, tortured and later dies at home from heart failure. 

As a result, Minerva joined the underground movement to topple Trujillo and was later joined by her sisters Patria and Mate.  Everyone in the underground had code names and the sisters were known as Las Mariposas (the Butterflies).  Minerva and Mate, their husbands and Patria’s husband were all arrested, put into prison and tortured.  The sisters were eventually released and returned home. 

Returning from a visit to see their jailed husbands, Minerva, Patria, Mate and their driver were stopped by the military on the side of a mountain road.  There, they were all beaten to death.  Their bodies were then put back in the car and driven off a cliff to make it look like an accident. 

The anniversary of their death, November 25, is celebrated in many Latin American Countries as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.  This year will mark the 60^th anniversary of their assassinations. 

I highly recommend both the book and the movie.  The Mirabal sisters are an extremely important part of Dominican history.  I also recommend the movie Tropica de Sangre.  This is also the story of the sisters, in Spanish, and more graphic about the reality of Trujillo’s reign.