Historical Context

The Trujillo Regime and The Butterflies

General Rafael Leónidas Trujillo came to power in 1930 and established an oppressive dictatorship in the Dominican Republic that lasted until his assassination in 1961. El Jefe (The Chief), as Trujillo was called, used his secret police to make arrests at will. Civil liberties were nonexistent and brutality and terror dominated his regime. Dominicans were required to hang a picture of Trujillo in their homes and schoolchildren taught to revere him. In 1936, he changed the name of the capital city Santo Domingo to Cuidad Trujillo (Trujillo City).

One of the most infamous episodes of his dictatorship was the massacre of thousands of Haitian citizens in 1937. Trujillo's soldiers murdered Haitians working as sugar cane cutters or living in Dominican territory. Estimates of the men, women and children killed range from 13,000 to 20,000.

Mirabel Sisters The Butterflies, or Las Mariposas, became the code name of Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal, three sisters who led an underground movement to overthrow Trujillo. They were born in Ojo de Agua near the city of Salcedo to Enrique Mirabal and María Mercedes Mirabal.

Early relationships and incidents began Minerva's political questioning and eventual commitment to the underground movement. Minerva became friends with students at her Catholic boarding school whose relatives had been arrested, tortured or killed by Trujillo's men. At a dance, Minerva slapped Trujillo for making sexual advances towards her. Soon after, she was briefly jailed and her father was imprisoned for two years. Fifteen days after his release he died from malnutrition and beatings.

Patria and María Teresa joined their sister in her political activities. The sisters married men who were also anti-Trujillo and together the three couples organized underground opposition. A fourth sister, Dedé, was forbidden by her husband to take part in her sisters' political activities.

Trujillo crushed an insurrection attempt in 1949 when exiled Dominicans tried to overthrow the government. Exiles tried to invade again on June 14, 1959 but were killed. The failed invasion inspired an organization for internal resistance known as the 14th of June Movement. The Mirabal sisters and Alvarez's parents joined the movement, which planned to assassinate Trujillo in January of 1960. The plan was uncovered and movement members fled or were imprisoned; many were killed.

On November 25, 1960, the three "Butterflies" were returning from a visit to Minerva and Patria's husbands in a distant prison. Trujillo's men ambushed them on an isolated mountain road and beat them and their driver to death.

The Butterflies became symbols of courage, dignity and strength in their country. Their deaths galvanized the political insurrection that led to Trujillo's assassination in 1961. Today, November 25 is observed in many Latin American countries as the International Day against Violence against Women in memory of the Mirabal sisters.

Sources

Time. December 12, 1960. p.32
"In the Time of the Butterflies." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 9. Detroit: Gale, 2002.
Chicago Public Library

Dominican Republic Timeline

1492	Christopher Columbus lands and names the island Hispaniola (Little Spain).
1496	First Western Hemisphere Spanish colony established at Santo Domingo.
1697	Treaty of Ryswick awards western part of island (Haiti) to France and eastern part (Santo Domingo) to Spain.
1822	Santo Domingo annexed by Haiti's President Boyer.
1844	After Boyer's overthrow Santo Domingo becomes independent and renamed the Dominican Republic.
1861-63	President Pedro Santana returns the Dominican Republic to Spanish rule.
1863-64	Spain withdraws from and annuls its annexation of the Dominican Republic following a popular revolt.
1865	The second Dominican Republic begins with treaty giving the U.S. fifty years' control over its customs department in exchange for the U.S. assuming the Republic's debts.
1916-24	Occupation by U.S. military to put down internal disorder.
1924	U.S. troops leave after constitutional government reestablished.
1930	General Rafael Trujillo gains total control after overthrowing the President. Capital city, Santo Domingo suffers severe hurricane damage, and Trujillo rebuilds the city.
1936	Santo Domingo is renamed Ciudad Trujillo, a name it retains until Trujillo’s assassination.
1937	Trujillo orders military to massacre an estimated 13-20,000 Haitians living in Republic near the Haitian border.
1955	Trujillo orders every household to hang a plaque that reads: “In this house, Trujillo is chief."
1959	Trujillo breaks relations with Cuba soon after Castro takes power.
1960	Trujillo, angered over Venezuela’s call for the Organization of American States (OAS) to break relations with the Dominican Republic, backs a botched attempt to assassinate Venezuelan President Betancourt in June. Minerva, Patria and María Teresa Mirabal are murdered, November 25.
1961	Trujillo assassinated.
1962	Juan Bosch, founder of the leftist Dominican Revolutionary Party elected president in the first democratic elections for nearly four decades.
1963	Bosch deposed in military coup and replaced by a three-man civilian junta.
1965	Some 30,000 US troops invade the Dominican Republic following attempt to return Bosch to power.
1966	Joaquin Balaguer, a Trujillo protege and former leader of the Reformist Party elected president. Elected president in 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1990 & 1994
1996	Balaguer steps down after massive public demonstrations.
2004	Leonel Fernandez, former Dominican leader (1996-2000), reclaimed the presidency in vote that reflected frustration with the nation’s worst economic crisis in decades.