Why the killing of 3 Dominican sisters now marks the day to oppose violence against women

The taxable for this twelvemonth is “Every 10 Minutes, a pistillate is killed. #NoExcuse. UNiTE to End Violence against Women” which “will gully attraction to the alarming escalation of unit against women to revitalize commitments, telephone for accountability and enactment from decision-makers.” The time marks the opening of 16 days of activism, which culminates with International Human Rights Day connected December 10.

The day marks the brutal assassination successful 1960 of the 3 Mirabal sisters who were governmental activists successful the Dominican Republic.

The oppressive Trujillo regime

The Mirabal sisters were killed for protesting the oppressive authorities of Rafael Trujillo, the despot who usurped the presidency successful 1930, aft serving arsenic the country’s commander-in-chief. His 31-year-long rule, dubbed the Trujillo Era, was marked by a implicit nonaccomplishment of civic and governmental liberties.

Trujillo ruled the state with an robust fist, engaging successful state-sponsored coercion to brutally crush his enemies. This included the enactment of the Servicio de Inteligencia Militar (Military Intelligence Service, oregon SIM), the concealed subject unit and decease squad. SIM oversaw the torture, imprisonment and disappearance of thousands of Dominicans without a trace. The organisation operated with implicit impunity, creating an ambiance of panic passim the country. Their methods included surveillance, intimidation, and extrajudicial killings of anyone perceived arsenic a menace to Trujillo’s power.

He besides established a monopoly implicit the country’s economy, channelling the profits from the accumulation of goods similar salt, meat, baccy and atom to his ain family.

Trujillo besides maintained strict power implicit the property and acquisition system, ensuring the dissemination of propaganda favourable to his rule. He demanded implicit loyalty from citizens and utilized a immense web of spies to show immoderate signs of dissent.

Trujillo reportedly had a roving oculus and his “appetite for young women was legendary. Families successful the Dominican Republic utilized to fell their daughters erstwhile Trujillo was visiting their areas, for if 1 of these girls was seen and caught the oculus of the dictator, determination was nary mode of refusing the invitations that were aboriginal delivered by messenger.” (“Women’s Political Participation successful the Dominican Republic: The Case of the Mirabal Sisters”, Nancy Robinson, Caribbean Quarterly, 2006)

Why were the Mirabal Sisters singled out?

The Mirabal sisters – Patria, Minerva and María Teresa – were portion of a increasing absorption question against Trujillo’s dictatorship. They became known by the codename “Las Mariposas” (The Butterflies) and worked tirelessly to administer pamphlets astir Trujillo’s crimes and stitchery materials for equipped resistance. The trio courted apprehension connected aggregate occasions and faced relentless harassment from Trujillo’s forces. They astir notably spearheaded the 14th of June Movement, named aft the day of the failed insurrection effort successful 1959 by a radical of Dominicans successful exile, with the enactment of the Cuban government.

Minerva successful peculiar was reportedly the entity of Trujillo’s machinations, and her blatant disinterest whitethorn person spurred his idiosyncratic enmity toward the Butterflies. He embarked connected a idiosyncratic vendetta against the Mirabel family, subjecting them to a relentless humiliation run and reducing them to fiscal ruin.

On November 25, 1960, portion returning from visiting their imprisoned husbands, the sisters were stopped connected a distant upland road, wherever they were strangled and bludgeoned to decease by Trujillo’s henchmen. The bodies of the sisters and their operator were loaded into the vehicle, which was past pushed disconnected a cliff to simulate an accident.

The sisters’ murders proved to beryllium the turning constituent successful Trujillo’s regime. News of their deaths sparked wide outrage among Dominicans and solidified the absorption to Trujillo some domestically and abroad. Trujillo, who had until past projected himself arsenic a ‘champion of women and mothers’, saw his representation instrumentality a hit. He was assassinated by a radical of Dominican conspirators led by wide Antonio Imbert Barrera.

The Butterflies were survived by the 4th sister, Belgica Adela Mirabal, oregon Dédé, who was politically uninvolved and frankincense evaded the assassination. “Dédé, the lone sister to survive, became the surrogate parent to her galore nieces and nephews. She faced the daunting task of raising them during the hard play which followed Trujillo’s assassination successful the Dominican Republic.” (“Women’s Political Participation successful the Dominican Republic: The Case of the Mirabal Sisters”, Nancy Robinson, Caribbean Quarterly, 2006)