Women's Political Participation in the Dominican Republic: The Case of the Mirabal Sisters

Women's Political Participation in the Dominican Republic

  • Women in Hispanic societies have often been at the forefront of resistance against dictatorships.
  • Examples:
    • Mothers of the disappeared in Argentina.
    • Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria) in the Spanish Civil War.
    • Evita Perón in Argentina.
    • Rigoberta Menchú, Nobel Peace Prize winner for her fight against the Guatemalan military.
  • These women became symbols and catalysts for change.

Women in the Hispanic Caribbean

  • The Hispanic Caribbean, while often overshadowed by Latin America, has seen significant female involvement in political change.
  • The Caribbean was the site of the first major revolution against colonialism in the 19th century, the Haitian Revolution, and the first socialist revolution of the 20th century, the Cuban Revolution, in the Western Hemisphere.
  • Cuba: Vilma Espín, Haydée Santamaría, and Celia Sánchez were influential models.
  • Other examples:
    • Lolita Lebrón and the Independence Movement of Puerto Rico: Lolita Lebrón was jailed for her involvement in the 1954 attack on the U.S. House of Representatives and later pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 after serving 25 years.
    • The Mirabal sisters in the Dominican Republic: They were assassinated by Rafael Leónidas Trujillo and became national heroines.
      • Their deaths in November 1960 marked the beginning of the end of the Trujillo dictatorship due to public outrage.
      • In 1981, they were chosen to represent the International Day for Non-Violence against Women (November 25) in Latin America.
      • In 1999, the United Nations officially adopted November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Historical Background of the Mirabal Sisters

  • The story of the Mirabal sisters was relatively unknown outside the Dominican Republic until Julia Alvarez's novel In the Time of the Butterflies and its subsequent film adaptation.
  • The Mirabal sisters, known as "las mariposas" (the butterflies), were Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa Mirabal.
  • They were married to men who opposed Trujillo and were political activists.
  • Assassination:
    • On November 25, 1960, they were ambushed by secret police while returning home from visiting their husbands in jail.
    • They and their driver were strangled and clubbed to death, and their bodies were thrown off a cliff to cover up the murders.
    • Only one sister, Bélgica Adela Mirabal (Dedé), survived because she did not go on the trip.
  • The assassinations galvanized national sentiment against Trujillo, who was assassinated six months later.
  • Legacy:
    • Commemorative markers, schools, and streets bear their names in Dominican towns.
    • On March 8, 1997, a 137-foot obelisk built by Trujillo was transformed into a mural of the Mirabal sisters, named "Ode to Liberty."

Dominican Republic: From Killing Fields to Playground of the Caribbean

  • The Dominican Republic, once a place of terror under Trujillo, is now a Caribbean playground.
  • The Mirabal sisters were imprisoned for their political beliefs.
  • Thesis: Women as symbols of national resistance can help overcome barriers to female political participation.
  • In the Hispanic Caribbean, class or anti-imperialist struggles have often taken precedence over gender issues.
  • Evidence suggests women have used these opportunities to create a "female space in the political landscape."
  • Since 1966, all governors of Dominican provinces have been women appointed by the president.
  • It has been viewed as "noble" for women to enter politics, as an extension of their self-sacrificing nature.
  • The nation has gradually overcome the tradition of strongman rule (caudillo) and personalism in politics.

The Trujillo Dictatorship (1930-1961)

  • The Trujillo dictatorship was a period of unprecedented state terror and violence.
  • Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina created an efficient police apparatus with informers (calies) and a secret intelligence service (SIM).
  • He was despised by democratic leaders and was behind the attempt to kill President Rómulo Betancourt of Venezuela in June 1960.
  • The case of Jesús de Galíndez, who was murdered for his dissertation on the Trujillo regime, is infamous.
  • Trujillo ran the Dominican Republic as a family business, controlling every aspect of life.
  • Adulation of Trujillo was excessive and unreal.
  • Exile communities flourished.
  • Every Dominican family had a victim of Trujillo.

The Mirabal Sisters: Ojo de Agua

  • Ojo de Agua, near Salcedo, is the birthplace of the Mirabal sisters in the Cibao valley.
  • The Mirabal family was prosperous, owning agricultural land and a dry goods store.
  • The four daughters studied at a Catholic boarding school in La Vega.

Patria Mirabal

  • Born on February 27, 1924 (Dominican Independence Day), she was married at 17 to Pedro González.
  • She had three children, including one named Fidel Raúl Ernesto.
  • She was the most traditional and religious of the sisters.
  • Though never imprisoned, her husband and son were jailed.
  • Her home was where the 14th of June Movement was formally established on January 10, 1960, named after the invasion of Dominican exiles from Cuba on June 14, 1959.
  • Patria and her family reportedly made homemade bombs.
  • She was 36 at the time of her death in 1960.

Bélgica Adela Mirabal (Dedé)

  • The most politically uninvolved of the sisters.
  • In 1948, she married Jaime Fernández and had three sons.
  • She raised her nieces and nephews after her sisters were killed.
  • She still lives in the family home in Ojo de Agua, near a plaza displaying the remains of the car in which her sisters died.

Maria Teresa Mirabal

  • Born in October 1935, she was 25 at the time of her death and had one daughter, Jacqueline.
  • She married Leandro Guzman, an engineer and leader of the 14th June Movement.
  • Maria Teresa studied agronomy at the University of Santo Domingo and was active in the underground movement.
  • She was jailed twice with her sister Minerva in 1960.
  • Her diary revealed her close relationship with Minerva.

Minerva Mirabal

  • Born in March 1927, she was considered the revolutionary leader of the 14th of June Movement.
  • She spoke out against the dictatorship and was respected for her courage.
  • By her death at 33, she was a national symbol of resistance.
  • She enrolled in the University of Santo Domingo in 1957 to study law.
  • In 1955, she married Manolo Tavares Justo, also a lawyer, and had two children, Minou and Manolo, born in 1956 and 1959.
  • Manolo Tavares Justo was killed in guerrilla warfare in December 1962.
  • Dedé raised her nieces and nephews after Trujillo's assassination.
  • Juan Bosch came to power in 1962 but was ousted after 7 months.
  • The Revolution of April 1965 was sparked by calls for Bosch's return.
  • The US intervened to prevent "another Cuba" and dispatched over 40,000 OAS troops.
  • Joaquín Balaguer, Trujillo's former puppet president, returned and won the 1965 elections.
  • Balaguer's "12 years" (1966-1978) continued the practices of the Trujillo regime.

Trujillo's Relationship to Women

  • Trujillo exemplified the machismo associated with Latin American dictators.
  • He had a legendary appetite for young women, and families hid their daughters when he visited.
  • His wife turned a blind eye to the young women who were brought to the National Palace.
  • The Mirabal family was invited to a party at Trujillo's estate in San Cristóbal.
  • Minerva Mirabal rejected Trujillo's advances while dancing with him, leading to harassment, imprisonment, and ostracism for the family.
  • Minerva's father was imprisoned and died shortly after his release.
  • Minerva and her mother were kept as virtual prisoners in a hotel.
  • In 1953, Trujillo blocked Minerva's enrollment as a law student until she gave a public speech praising him.
  • After graduating summa cum laude in 1957, Minerva was denied a license to practice law.
  • Santo Domingo was renamed Ciudad Trujillo, and portraits of Trujillo with the words "God and Trujillo" were commissioned.
  • Psychological warfare, humiliation, abuse, and sexual harassment were used against women and their families.
  • Trujillo believed it was his right to take women at will, similar to plantation owners in colonial times.

Minerva Mirabal and Trujillo

  • Trujillo believed Minerva was the mastermind behind the 14th of June Movement.
  • Johnny Abbes commented that Minerva had spread the seed of sedition.
  • Trujillo held a grudge against Minerva and financially ruined her family.
  • The Mirabal family was shunned and blacklisted.
  • Even innocent conversations with Minerva could lead to torture by SIM agents.
  • Minerva's refusal to succumb to Trujillo's advances led to relentless humiliation and political opposition.

The Cuban Revolution and the 14th of June Movement

  • 1959 marked a watershed in Caribbean politics due to the Cuban Revolution.
  • The possibility of toppling Trujillo seemed within reach.
  • Middle and upper-class youth began to rebel, inspired by Fidel Castro.
  • Minerva, Maria Teresa, Patria, and their husbands were central to the movement.
  • The idea of launching a national resistance movement was proposed at a lunch attended by Minerva and Maria Teresa.
  • On January 6, 1959, Maria Teresa, Minerva, and their husbands discussed the events at the home of Yuyo D'Alessandro and Josefina Ricart.
  • They believed they could replicate the Cuban experience.
  • A plan of action was formulated, and revolutionary cells were organized.
  • A plot to assassinate Trujillo at a cattle fair on January 21, 1960, was devised.
  • The SIM began a massive roundup of June 14 supporters, including the Mirabal sisters and their husbands.
  • Massive arrests and torture took place, leading to repudiation of Trujillo by Dominican society and protests from the Catholic Church.
  • Trujillo broke with the Catholic Church after the Pastoral Letter of January 1960.
  • The attempt on Venezuelan President Betancourt's life turned countries against Trujillo.
  • The OAS condemned the Dominican government and sent representatives to visit the country's jails.
  • Many female prisoners, including Maria Teresa and Minerva Mirabal, were freed, but their husbands remained incarcerated.

Assassination of the Mirabal Sisters

  • Feeling betrayed by the US and stunned by the 14th of June Movement, Trujillo responded defensively.
  • Unable to quell dissidence and facing OAS sanctions, Trujillo believed eliminating the Mirabal sisters was the only solution.
  • Trujillo transferred Patria and Minerva's husbands to a jail in Puerto Plata.
  • On November 2, 1960, Trujillo publicly stated that his only problems were the Catholic Church and the Mirabal sisters.
  • Friends warned the Mirabal sisters of the dangers they faced.
  • On November 25, 1960, the Mirabal sisters were overtaken by Trujillo agents on a deserted road.
  • Patria managed to escape and warn the driver, but the sisters and their driver were captured.
  • They were bludgeoned, strangled, and pushed over a cliff in their jeep.
  • News of the "accident" spread rapidly, and popular indignation against Trujillo grew.

Consequences of the Mirabal Sisters' Murders

  • Trujillo could not withstand the growing pressures after the Mirabal sisters' deaths.
  • The murders affected Dominicans' machismo.
  • Six months later, Trujillo was assassinated by military leaders.
  • The assassins were caught and tried.
  • The trial was televised and significant for Dominicans.
  • Trujillo's henchmen escaped from jail during the 1965 Civil War.
  • Under the PLD government elected in 1996, Jaime David Fernández Mirabal (son of Dedé) was chosen as Vice President, and Minou Tavares Mirabal (daughter of Minerva) was selected as Under Secretary of Foreign Relations.

The Impact of the Mirabal Sisters on Women's Participation

  • There was significant mobilization of women in the 1965 Dominican Crisis/Civil War.
  • Women participated in the 14th June Movement, inspired by the Cuban Revolution.
  • Manolo Tavares was killed by government troops.
  • The US/OAS occupation placed Joaquín Balaguer back in power.
  • Balaguer had been a Trujillo collaborator and was president when Trujillo was killed.
  • There was no true break with Trujillismo, impeding catharsis.
  • The Mirabal sisters legitimized women's political participation as political activists.
  • Their lives portray the experience of young, middle-class, university-educated Latin American women of the 1950s-1970s who believed in social change.
  • The Cuban Revolution was an inspirational model.
  • The Dominican national poet, Pedro Mir, eulogized the Mirabal sisters in his poem, "Ode to the Butterflies."
    • "When I heard the three Mirabal sisters had fallen I said to myself: established society has dies… Cuando supe que habían caído las tres hermanas Mirabal Me dije: la sociedad establecida ha muerto."

The Legacy Today

  • The Mirabal sisters have become national icons in the Dominican Republic.
  • Their last house in Conuco has been converted into a museum.
  • Memorabilia, photographs, and clothes of the era are displayed.
  • Artifacts of the sisters' murder, such as shoes, handbags, papers, and Maria Teresa's braid, are preserved.
  • School children visit the house and gardens with commemorative busts.
  • Dedé dedicated her life to preserving the memory of her sisters and set up the Mirabal Sisters Foundation.
  • On November 25, 2000, the remains of Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Manolo were moved to the museum grounds.
  • The Museum was declared an extension of the National Pantheon of Heroes.
  • The Mirabal sisters have received numerous posthumous tributes.
  • Dominican textbooks are incorporating this new vision of historical events.
  • The name "Trujillo" has vanished from the Dominican Republic.
  • Foreign tourists are beginning to visit the Mirabal Museum.
  • The country has transformed from a place of repression to a destination for world tourism and democratic rule.
  • Repression is a thing of the past, and the military stays out of politics.

What if the Mirabal Sisters had Survived?

  • What role would the Mirabal sisters have played in this new context?
  • Their recognition stands in lieu of a U.N.-sponsored Truth Commission.
  • The Mirabal sisters symbolize ersatz restitution for a nation that never confronted the crimes of its past.

Conclusions

  • The role of women in the struggle against dictatorship in Latin America has not been fully recognized.
  • Histories of the Dominican Republic have overlooked the importance of women as symbols of popular resistance.
  • The Mirabal sisters capture the story of university-trained women in the 1950s and 1960s committed to social change.
  • They symbolize women's human rights, including the right to a life free of violence.