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The “Butterfly” Effect: Why November 25 Matters to Women
Today is The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and this is why.
Thus
2024-11-25T13:30:34.899Z
If you know the story of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., then the story of Rafael Trujillo shouldn’t be too foreign for you.
Like the so-called “Apo Lakay,” the so called “El Jefe” was a dictator that ruled for decades over a predominantly Catholic country formerly occupied by the United States. While Marcos ruled over the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, Trujillo ruled over the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. And, like many authoritarians, their respective holds on power began to wane when a chunk of the population they were governing could no longer tolerate them.
For Marcos, things began to go south after the assassination of his political rival, Benigno Aquino Jr. For Trujillo, it was the death of three women who openly opposed him. Unlike Marcos though, the death of Trujillo’s opponents continues to have a global impact.
On this day, November 25, we celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it’s because of them—the three women known collectively as the Mirabal sisters.
Composed of Patria (the eldest,) Minerva (the most proactive,) and Maria Teresa (the youngest,) the Mirabals were Dominican women that have become affectionately known as Las Mariposas. This means “the butterflies” in English and if the butterflies spread pollen to make a gardens bloom, Las Mariposas spread information and ideas to embolden their country against a dictator.
Seizing power in 1930, Trujillo’s reign was initially marked with modernization and prosperity. He even tried to paint himself as a progressive by granting full female suffrage in 1942 and sending one of the first female delegates (from any country) to the United Nations in 1945.
But soon enough, his reign became marred with corruption. As History.com reported, Trujillo took over the country’s economy and seized control of the production of goods like meat, salt, tobacco and rice. He reportedly channeled profits to his family and supporters. Furthermore, forces during his regime stamped out any kind of opposition. His secret police rooted out dissenters and subjected them to intimidation, torture, imprisonment, and murder. Women were also kidnapped and raped.
The website stated that his regime would ultimately be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. But it also stated that the Mirabals didn’t let this intimidate them into inaction.
Minerva was said to be the first to stand up to him and she reportedly did so face to face at the age of 22. Apparently, the Mirabals—born to a family of landowners--were invited to an exclusive party that Trujillo was present in and she rejected his sexual advances. As a result, she ended up getting jailed and banned from continuing her plans to study law. During the three years, she spent at her parent’s home in Ojo de Agua, she painted and wrote poetry about the sufferings of the poor that she felt were being exploited by her country’s government.
Eventually, she managed to continue her education. She resumed her pursuit of law and graduated with the highest honors from the National Autonomous University of the Dominican Republic.
Following the success of the Cuban revolution in 1959, many Dominicans were radicalized. Trujillo’s government responded by imprisoning hundreds. Many were tortured and many simply disappeared. Those who lived through Marcos’ martial law may find this familiar.
Like Marcos during the height of his power, Trujillo’s reign seemed impervious at that time. Dominican exiles tried to invade in 1949 and 1959 but both were failures. Still, underground forces against Trujillo continued to exist in the country and the Mirabals were among them.
Patria—who believed in religious justice and saw Trujillo’s men conduct a massacre during a religious retreat—joined the opposition. Her house was turned into a storage space for the tools and weapons of insurgents. Minerva was so adamant in resisting that she and her husband, Manolo Tavárez Justo, founded the June 14 Revolutionary Movement. Maria Teresa, who looked up to Minerva also joined them. There was a fourth Mirabal sister, Dede, but she never participated.
By 1960, the revolutionary sisters as well as their husbands were already heavily involved with the local resistance. The husbands of Minerva and Maria Teresa joined a failed revolt in June 1959 and were arrested and imprisoned. The Mirabal sisters were also arrested because of their known involvement with revolutionaries but they were released shortly after. Nevertheless, Trujillo reportedly contemplated having them killed.
Initially, his advisers spoke against it saying it would severely damage his already soiled reputation in the international community. By this time, the US—which previously supported Trujillo because they saw him as a pro-business, anti-Communist ally—began to distance from him.
Still, Trujillo was reportedly incensed by their fearlessness. Minerva in particular had been arrested three times already but she continued to be linked to revolutionary activities.
On November 25, 1960, the Mirabal sisters were led to believe that they were given permission to see Maria Teresa and Minerva’s imprisoned husbands. On the way to the prison, however, they were intercepted. The sisters were separated, strangled, and clubbed to death. Their bodies were then gathered and put in their vehicle which was then run off the mountain road to make it seem as though their deaths were caused by a vehicular accident.
Not long after, Trujillo himself was assassinated. General Pupo Román, who was part of the armed forces when the women were killed, stated that he had personal knowledge that the sisters were killed by Trujillo’s right hand man Victor Alicinio Peña Rivera along with others: Ciriaco de la Rosa, Ramon Emilio Rojas, Alfonso Cruz Valeria, and Emilio Estrada Malleta—men who were part of Trujillo’s secret police.
It is not known exactly if Trujillo gave the order to have them murdered or if the secret police acted on their own but the deaths of Las Mariposas had a massive impact.
Historian Bernard Diederich claimed it "did something to [the Dominican] machismo." History.com, meanwhile, quoted Elizabeth Manley, author of The Paradox of Paternalism: Women and Authoritarian Politics in the Dominican Republic. She said that “killing women...was just beyond what people could stomach, and that catalyzed a lot of people to become more active in the movement.”
Eventually, more people turned against Trujillo; key aspects of his power eroded and on May 30, 1961, also in a car, the dictator was intercepted and assassinated.
Years after, the Marcos presidency began and—like Trujillo’s—it started out as a hopeful step towards progress that soon walked through the mud of murder and corruption. Marcos was toppled in 1986 but other authoritarians rose in various forms and fell soon after as if both dictatorships yielded no lessons against tyrants.
Meanwhile, November 25—the date of the Mirabal murders—was chosen by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. And, it was chosen merely because even after what the Mirabals suffered, even after what many suffered after them, women all over the world continued to face violence in various forms—as if history taught us nothing.
Like the so-called “Apo Lakay,” the so called “El Jefe” was a dictator that ruled for decades over a predominantly Catholic country formerly occupied by the United States. While Marcos ruled over the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, Trujillo ruled over the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961. And, like many authoritarians, their respective holds on power began to wane when a chunk of the population they were governing could no longer tolerate them.
For Marcos, things began to go south after the assassination of his political rival, Benigno Aquino Jr. For Trujillo, it was the death of three women who openly opposed him. Unlike Marcos though, the death of Trujillo’s opponents continues to have a global impact.
On this day, November 25, we celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and it’s because of them—the three women known collectively as the Mirabal sisters.
Composed of Patria (the eldest,) Minerva (the most proactive,) and Maria Teresa (the youngest,) the Mirabals were Dominican women that have become affectionately known as Las Mariposas. This means “the butterflies” in English and if the butterflies spread pollen to make a gardens bloom, Las Mariposas spread information and ideas to embolden their country against a dictator.
Seizing power in 1930, Trujillo’s reign was initially marked with modernization and prosperity. He even tried to paint himself as a progressive by granting full female suffrage in 1942 and sending one of the first female delegates (from any country) to the United Nations in 1945.
But soon enough, his reign became marred with corruption. As History.com reported, Trujillo took over the country’s economy and seized control of the production of goods like meat, salt, tobacco and rice. He reportedly channeled profits to his family and supporters. Furthermore, forces during his regime stamped out any kind of opposition. His secret police rooted out dissenters and subjected them to intimidation, torture, imprisonment, and murder. Women were also kidnapped and raped.
The website stated that his regime would ultimately be responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. But it also stated that the Mirabals didn’t let this intimidate them into inaction.
Minerva was said to be the first to stand up to him and she reportedly did so face to face at the age of 22. Apparently, the Mirabals—born to a family of landowners--were invited to an exclusive party that Trujillo was present in and she rejected his sexual advances. As a result, she ended up getting jailed and banned from continuing her plans to study law. During the three years, she spent at her parent’s home in Ojo de Agua, she painted and wrote poetry about the sufferings of the poor that she felt were being exploited by her country’s government.
Eventually, she managed to continue her education. She resumed her pursuit of law and graduated with the highest honors from the National Autonomous University of the Dominican Republic.
Following the success of the Cuban revolution in 1959, many Dominicans were radicalized. Trujillo’s government responded by imprisoning hundreds. Many were tortured and many simply disappeared. Those who lived through Marcos’ martial law may find this familiar.
Like Marcos during the height of his power, Trujillo’s reign seemed impervious at that time. Dominican exiles tried to invade in 1949 and 1959 but both were failures. Still, underground forces against Trujillo continued to exist in the country and the Mirabals were among them.
Patria—who believed in religious justice and saw Trujillo’s men conduct a massacre during a religious retreat—joined the opposition. Her house was turned into a storage space for the tools and weapons of insurgents. Minerva was so adamant in resisting that she and her husband, Manolo Tavárez Justo, founded the June 14 Revolutionary Movement. Maria Teresa, who looked up to Minerva also joined them. There was a fourth Mirabal sister, Dede, but she never participated.
By 1960, the revolutionary sisters as well as their husbands were already heavily involved with the local resistance. The husbands of Minerva and Maria Teresa joined a failed revolt in June 1959 and were arrested and imprisoned. The Mirabal sisters were also arrested because of their known involvement with revolutionaries but they were released shortly after. Nevertheless, Trujillo reportedly contemplated having them killed.
Initially, his advisers spoke against it saying it would severely damage his already soiled reputation in the international community. By this time, the US—which previously supported Trujillo because they saw him as a pro-business, anti-Communist ally—began to distance from him.
Still, Trujillo was reportedly incensed by their fearlessness. Minerva in particular had been arrested three times already but she continued to be linked to revolutionary activities.
On November 25, 1960, the Mirabal sisters were led to believe that they were given permission to see Maria Teresa and Minerva’s imprisoned husbands. On the way to the prison, however, they were intercepted. The sisters were separated, strangled, and clubbed to death. Their bodies were then gathered and put in their vehicle which was then run off the mountain road to make it seem as though their deaths were caused by a vehicular accident.
Not long after, Trujillo himself was assassinated. General Pupo Román, who was part of the armed forces when the women were killed, stated that he had personal knowledge that the sisters were killed by Trujillo’s right hand man Victor Alicinio Peña Rivera along with others: Ciriaco de la Rosa, Ramon Emilio Rojas, Alfonso Cruz Valeria, and Emilio Estrada Malleta—men who were part of Trujillo’s secret police.
It is not known exactly if Trujillo gave the order to have them murdered or if the secret police acted on their own but the deaths of Las Mariposas had a massive impact.
Historian Bernard Diederich claimed it "did something to [the Dominican] machismo." History.com, meanwhile, quoted Elizabeth Manley, author of The Paradox of Paternalism: Women and Authoritarian Politics in the Dominican Republic. She said that “killing women...was just beyond what people could stomach, and that catalyzed a lot of people to become more active in the movement.”
Eventually, more people turned against Trujillo; key aspects of his power eroded and on May 30, 1961, also in a car, the dictator was intercepted and assassinated.
Years after, the Marcos presidency began and—like Trujillo’s—it started out as a hopeful step towards progress that soon walked through the mud of murder and corruption. Marcos was toppled in 1986 but other authoritarians rose in various forms and fell soon after as if both dictatorships yielded no lessons against tyrants.
Meanwhile, November 25—the date of the Mirabal murders—was chosen by the United Nations as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. And, it was chosen merely because even after what the Mirabals suffered, even after what many suffered after them, women all over the world continued to face violence in various forms—as if history taught us nothing.
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