The Mirabal Sisters

        The Mirabal sisters were four sisters who opposed the Trujillo regime. For more information on the regime, see my other post, The Dominican Republic during the Trujillo Regime. Three of the four sisters openly and sometimes violently opposed the regime.

Patria Mirabal

Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes (Patria)

        The oldest of the sisters, Patria was usually the role model. Though she was not the leader of the rebel uprising, she played an active part in it. She went to the Inmaculada Concepcion,  a convent and boarding school, when she was 14. She married Pedro Gonzalez when she was 17. Pedro also actively supported the rebels. There are records of her saying "We cannot allow our children to grow up in this corrupt and tyrannical regime. We have to fight against it, and I am willing to give up everything, even my life if necessary." She was one of the three sisters who was murdered by Trujillo's henchmen on  November 25, 1960.

Dede Mirabal

Bélgica Adela Mirabal Reyes (Dede)

        Born one year later, Dede did not actively participate in the rebellion. She likely would have participated, but her husband, Jaimito, wouldn't let her. It does not end there, though, as Jaimito disapproved of  what the other three sisters were doing so much that he called the police on them. She filed for divorce in 1984.  As she was the only sister who survived the conflict, she devoted the rest of her life to continuing the legacy of her other three sisters. Jaimito's calling the police resulted in the other three sisters and their husbands being sent to prison, but they had to be let out when spectators appeared. The husbands were transferred to a prison in the mountains, where the sisters were murdered and run off a cliff. Unlike her sisters, Dede did not go to college. She stayed home and helped with the family business, as she was a prodigy at math.

Minerva Mirabal

María Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes (Minerva)

        Since Minerva was the third sister born within a year of the other two, her father was beginning to realize that he wasn't going to get a boy. Minerva was arguably the leader of their movement, as she had learned of the horrors of the regime at a fairly early age. She was exposed to this at the Inmaculada Concepcion by a friend who had her brother, along with the rest of the men in her family, murdered by the regime. She also had another friend who became one of the many girlfriends of Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, the current leader of the regime. She is quoted as saying "It is a source of happiness to do whatever can be done for our country that suffers so many anguishes. It is sad to stay with one's arms crossed."

Maria Teresa Mirabal

Antonia Maria Teresa Mirabal Reyes (Maria Teresa)

         Born five years after Minerva, Maria Teresa was the fourth and final sister. She did not learn of the rebellion until it was on the brink of violence, but joined and openly participated anyway. She married Leandro Guzman, who also participated in the conflict. She studied math at the University of Santo Domingo. She was crucial to the conflict with her knowledge of mathematics and all around devotedness. She is quoted as saying "… perhaps what we have most near is death, but that idea does not frighten me, we shall continue to fight for that which is just…"