How the Mirabal Sisters Helped Topple a Dictator
The assassination of âlas Mariposasâ (âthe Butterfliesâ) fueled public outrage against one of the longest and most ruthless regimes in modern history.
Author:
Ricardo Hernandez/AFP/Getty Images
The assassination of âlas Mariposasâ (âthe Butterfliesâ) fueled public outrage against one of the longest and most ruthless regimes in modern history.
On November 25, 1960, three sisters Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal were reported killed in an “automobile accident.” Reports said a car they were riding in plunged over a cliff in the Dominican Republic.
At least, that was the story in
El Caribe, a newspaper sanctioned by the government of Rafael Trujillo, the brutal dictator who had seized control of the island nation in a military coup 30 years earlier. In reality, the Mirabal sisters were active members of the growing underground resistance against Trujillo’s regime, and everyone