On November 25, 1960, three women of the Dominican Republic headed home from visiting their husbands in prison were ambushed on a mountain overpass and assassinated by SIM officers sent by then-dictator Rafael Trujillo. Although it was staged to appear as a car accident, it was discovered that the women were killed in a sugar-cane field first then placed back into the car which was then rolled over the side of a mountain. These three women were the Mirabel sisters, also known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies), and had been outspoken against Trujillo’s regime. Because of this, the sisters were viewed as a threat to the stability of Trujillo’s dictatorship; however, his plan to eliminate the sisters and thus their revolutionary ideas backfired because with their murders more citizens became interested in their cause. A little more than six months later, Trujillo himself was assassinated (“Rafael Trujillo”, n.d.; “The Butterflies,” 2000). A fourth Mirabel sister and many the progeny of the assassinated sisters still lives today; in fact, one daughter is currently serving as a senator.
While many in the United States, including children and adolescents, have heard of Fidel Castro and know at least some information about his reign in Cuba, the same cannot be said of Rafael Trujillo’s reign over the Dominican Republic. Although the United States “has a strong interest in a democratic, stable, and economically healthy Dominican Republic” and “has been an outspoken supporter of that country's democratic and economic development” (“Dominican Republic,” 2008), very little about this country is seen in the news or taught in the schools. This could be because the United States originally supported Trujillo’s hold over the country, but later change its views when Trujillo’s idea of government began to follow that of Castro (“Rafael Trujillo: Dominican Dictator”, n.d.) or it could be that since the Dominican Republic now has a government that is essentially identical to our own (“Dominican Republic Government,” n.d.), the need to defame those in power is no longer there. Whatever the case may be, this country, which is the “largest Caribbean economy” and “an important partner in hemispheric affairs” (“Dominican Republic,” 2008), often does not even appear as a blip on our radar.
The same can be said of the assassinated Mirabel sisters: Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa. These were citizens who risked their lives to defend their beliefs, people who formed political cells, distributed inflammatory literature, and even spent time in prison (“The Butterflies,” n.d.). In fact, their struggle was so well recognized that in 1999 the United Nations declared that November 25th, the day Trujillo assassinated the sisters, to be the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” (United Nations, 2009). So how is it that many Americans do not even realize that this day exists, much less the reason for its existence?
In the United States we speak reverently of great figures who shaped our country: Anne Bradshaw, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Molly Pitcher, Sitting Bull, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and many more. These are people who believed in something, and acted on their beliefs. In America, we respect that need to speak up despite possible consequences and honor people who do so. Much like the figures listed above were central figures in shaping American political and social history, the Mirabel sisters and the reign of Trujillo were crucial in shaping the history of the Dominican Republic and we as teachers need to understand that, and even more, to respect it.
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This leads me to my next topic: U.S. sponsored dictatorships. An update on that in the near future.
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