Ironically, the regime’s treatment of the Mirabal sisters and other women of the resistance helped fan the flames of the movement, writes historian Elizabeth Manley, drawing “significant national and international attention to the dictator’s crumbling political drama.”
Though his actions were opposed by a growing number of Dominicans and even the Catholic Church, which publicly condemned him in 1960 after years of supporting the regime, Trujillo carried a particular grudge against the sisters, declaring them his main enemy.
On November 25, 1960, he finally got rid of them. That day, Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria were on their way to visit the prison where two of their husbands were imprisoned when their chauffeured car was intercepted by Trujillo’s thugs. The men strangled and beat all three women and their driver to death, then staged the car crash.
Though the Trujillo regime claimed the sisters had died in an accident, Dominicans at home and abroad knew they had been murdered, and the Mirabals immediately became national heroes.
It was the beginning of the end for Trujillo. Just six months later, he met a similar fate when he was assassinated by a group of seven dissidents who intercepted him on his way to visit his mistress. The sisters’ murderers were also arrested, convicted, and imprisoned—although they ended up escaping from jail and never served out their sentences.
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Publish date : 2024-11-25 01:31:00
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