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Today we look at the case of the Mirabal Sisters who lived in the Dominican Republic at the time it was ruled by General Rafael Trujillo
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Please remember to subscribe and hit the bell icon as well as leave a like and a comment for more videos every week!
Brief Case is a True Crime Channel focusing on old or lost cases that have been forgotten to history. If you have any recommendations for future cases that you would like to bring to light, feel free to reach out to me to: briefcaseuk@gmail.com
Music by CO.AG Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwZB4l43iTw&t=105s
Music by Myuu -https://www.youtube.com/user/myuuji
Music by Kevin Macleod - https://incompetech.com
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LearningTranscript
00:08Today we are looking at a case from the second part of the 20th century.
00:13So sit back as we go to the Dominican Republic.
00:19Enrique Mirabel Fernandez and his wife Mercedes Reyes Camillo
00:23lived in the village of Ojo de Agua near the town of Salcedo
00:27in the central Cibao region of the Dominican Republic.
00:30The country is located on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola which it shares with Haiti.
00:36Hispaniola is only one of two Caribbean islands that is shared by two sovereign states.
00:42Enrique belonged to one of the country's more affluent landowning families
00:45and along with his wife ran a farm, a coffee shop and a general store.
00:50Together they had four daughters.
00:52The oldest was named Patria Mercedes and known as Patria.
00:57She was born on the 27th of February 1924.
01:01Next was Belgica Adela known as Dede who was born a year after on the 1st of March 1925.
01:08She was followed by Maria Argentina Minerva known simply as Minerva
01:14who was born on the 12th of March 1926.
01:18However, over nine years passed before Mercedes gave birth to her fourth daughter
01:23who she named Antonia Maria Teresa and who was known as Maria Teresa.
01:29The eldest daughter Patria was a very creative young woman
01:32and considered to be an excellent artist.
01:35She was also very protective of her younger sisters.
01:38The four girls attended the local village primary school
01:41before all of them except Dede went on to study at the Catholic girls boarding school
01:46in the city of La Vega.
01:48While the Mirabel sisters were growing up
01:50their country was being ruled by Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina
01:55a man often known as El Jefe meaning the boss or El Chivo which means the goat.
02:01He was born on the 24th of October 1891 in San Cristobal
02:06and was a third of 11 children.
02:08His parents were hard working but quite poor.
02:11As a child he was very much obsessed with the military
02:14and had put bottle caps on his clothes
02:16so they appeared to be more like an armed forces uniform.
02:20When he was 16 years old he started working as a telegraph operator
02:24but he also tried to make money from crime.
02:27This resulted in him spending some months in prison.
02:30He later worked in security on a sugar cane plantation
02:33but during the period when the country was occupied by US forces
02:38he joined the Constabulary Guard
02:40where he was trained by the US military.
02:42In 1925 he was given the position
02:46of Commander of the Dominican National Police
02:48then in 1927 he was named Brigadier General.
02:52In 1928 he became Commander in Chief of the National Army.
02:56Two years later in 1930 a group of rebels planned to overthrow
03:02the then Dominican president Horacio Vazquez
03:05as he had gone against the constitution by extending his presidential term.
03:10The situation resulted in a political leader from Santiago
03:13named Rafael Estrella UreƱa proclaiming a revolution.
03:17As the rebels marched towards Santo Domingo
03:20President Vazquez ordered Trujillo to suppress them.
03:24However, the general held back the army
03:27and maintained a neutral position.
03:29Estrella's rebels then took control of the capital.
03:32In return for his support, Trujillo had agreed with Estrella
03:36that he would be able to run for president in new elections.
03:39He became the nominee for the party
03:42CoalaciĆ³n PatriĆ³tica de los Ciudadanos
03:45or the Patriotic Coalition of Citizens Party
03:48as Trujillo controlled the army.
03:51The other contenders withdrew.
03:52He then seized power after an election
03:55in which he was the only candidate.
03:57A few months into his presidency
03:59the country's capital, Santo Domingo
04:02was struck by a hurricane that killed over 2,000 people.
04:06In response to the disaster
04:07Trujillo placed the Dominican Republic under martial law
04:11and quickly began to rebuild the city.
04:13Six years later, he renamed the capital Ciudad Trujillo.
04:17He was, however, a ruthless leader.
04:20He had a very effective secret police force
04:22and monitored opponents both within the country and overseas.
04:26He was aware that in order to maintain absolute power
04:30he had to have full support of the army.
04:32During his rule, Trujillo did bring some stability to the country.
04:36He improved sanitation, education, communication links
04:40and the health system.
04:42The economy grew and foreign debt reduced.
04:45Most people also benefited from a higher standard of living.
04:48However, his rule was brutal.
04:50His secret police would seek out dissenters
04:53and they would often be imprisoned and tortured.
04:55His regime was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people.
05:00The wealth that was generated by the economic improvements
05:03was not distributed fairly.
05:06Trujillo made sure that his family and supporters
05:08received substantial payments.
05:10While the people of the Dominican Republic
05:12lost many of their civil and political liberties,
05:16he promoted anti-Hasian prejudice.
05:18And in October 1937,
05:20in an incident known as the Parsley Massacre,
05:23he ordered the killing of more than 20,000 Haitian migrants
05:26throughout Trujillo's dictatorship.
05:28His intelligence service and secret police
05:31suppressed and controlled the people,
05:33arresting anyone who opposed his regime.
05:36And the Mirabelle sisters all opposed it.
05:41They had all grown up to be very attractive young ladies.
05:44Patria, who was the eldest,
05:46had married a farmer named Pedro Gonzalez
05:48and had three children.
05:50She would not put Trujillo's picture up in her house,
05:53something that was considered as a sign of disagreement
05:56with the country's ruling party.
05:58She said,
05:59we cannot allow our children
06:00to grow up in this corrupt and tyrannical regime.
06:03We have to fight against it.
06:05And I am willing to give up everything,
06:07even my life, if necessary.
06:10In 1949,
06:12Enrique Mirabella Fernandez,
06:14his wife Mercedes Reyes Camillo,
06:16and their daughters,
06:18were invited to a party hosted by Trujillo himself.
06:20By now, Minerva was 23 years old
06:23and a young lady who had been described as distinctly beautiful,
06:27vivacious and extroverted,
06:29and someone who always stood out wherever she went.
06:32She had many talents.
06:33She was artistic and wrote poetry.
06:36And when she spoke,
06:37she had the ability to be able to hold the attention
06:40of everyone around her.
06:41Some considered that she was a natural leader.
06:44She had certainly been noticed by the general,
06:47who while dancing,
06:48made inappropriate advances towards her,
06:51approaches that were declined.
06:53Rejection was not something familiar to Trujillo,
06:56and Minerva's response had made him angry.
06:58Not only had she declined his offer,
07:00the family had also left the party.
07:03He instructed his men to find them,
07:05but the weather was very bad,
07:07and it was raining heavily,
07:08so the men were unable to locate the Mirabelle family.
07:11However,
07:12leaving a party,
07:13hosted by the president,
07:14was not going to go unpunished,
07:16and shortly afterwards,
07:18the sisters' father was arrested,
07:20and spent the next few days in prison.
07:22Meanwhile,
07:23their mother and grandmother
07:24were held in a hotel for two months.
07:26The treatment encountered by their parents,
07:29made the sisters determined to do something
07:31about the Trujillo dictatorship.
07:34Minerva had been planning to study law,
07:36but following her rejection of the president,
07:38her parents became concerned for her safety,
07:41and prohibited her from attending classes.
07:43They later changed their minds,
07:45and she studied at the University of Santo Domingo.
07:48Here she met her future husband,
07:50Manolo Tavares Justo.
07:52She also became the first woman to graduate from law school
07:55in the Dominican Republic.
07:56However,
07:57the fact that she had rejected the country's leader,
08:00had not been forgotten,
08:01and following her graduation,
08:02her application for a license to practice law,
08:05was turned down.
08:07During Trujillo's dictatorship,
08:09there were no liberties,
08:10as no one could marry,
08:12graduate,
08:12or travel abroad,
08:14without first gaining permission from the state.
08:16Maria Teresa,
08:18the youngest of the sisters,
08:19was also a highly intelligent young lady,
08:22who graduated from the same university in 1954,
08:25with a degree in mathematics.
08:26Four years later,
08:28she married Leandro Guzman.
08:30The second Mirabel sister, Dede,
08:32did not go to university.
08:34Instead, she assisted her father with the family business.
08:37While at college,
08:39Minerva learned that the father of her friend,
08:41Daisy Arisa,
08:43had been murdered by Trujillo's secret police,
08:45as he had spoken out against the regime.
08:48She was very saddened by this,
08:50but knew that it was just one of the many terrible injustices
08:53that went on in her country,
08:54and decided to get involved in the political movement,
08:57that opposed the dictator.
08:59Soon after,
09:00Minerva told her sisters of the movement.
09:03Patria then joined,
09:04as did Maria Teresa.
09:06Dede, however,
09:07did not become a member,
09:08mainly because her husband did not want her to get involved.
09:11The three Mirabel sisters,
09:13and their husbands,
09:14started to become more active in the movement.
09:16They called themselves,
09:18the 14th of June movement,
09:20which was the date in which a group of exiled Dominicans,
09:23had tried to overthrow the general,
09:25and although they had been defeated,
09:27their attempt had only strengthened the anti-Trujillo sentiment
09:30throughout the country.
09:31Although Minerva's husband,
09:33Manolo Tavares,
09:34was the backbone of the movement,
09:36the sisters are also becoming,
09:38highly visible symbols of the resistance.
09:41They often spoke out,
09:42against the unjust way the country was governed.
09:44They started to listen to a radio broadcast from Venezuela,
09:48where they learnt about how the Cuban revolution was progressing,
09:51led by Fidel Castro.
09:53Minerva, in particular,
09:55was known to the secret police,
09:57and she had been arrested in the past,
09:59for being suspected of participating in opposition activities.
10:02She started to distribute leaflets,
10:05which outlined some of the atrocities,
10:07that had happened under the authoritarian rule of Trujillo,
10:09and explained why the country needed a new democratic government.
10:13She also obtained materials for weapons,
10:16and together with Patria and Maria Teresa,
10:19made small bombs out of firecrackers.
10:21Standing up to the regime,
10:23did not come without consequences,
10:25and the three of them were constantly persecuted for their outspoken views.
10:29Trujillo's police would interrogate people who spoke against him.
10:33Following the formation of the 14th of June movement,
10:37the police had begun to arrest many of the leading resistance figures,
10:40that arrested the three Mirabel sisters,
10:43along with the husbands of Minerva and Maria Teresa.
10:47The sisters were sent to prison,
10:48where they were interrogated.
10:50However, unlike many other inmates,
10:53they were never tortured.
10:54Once in prison,
10:55they became known as Las Mariposas,
10:58the Butterflies,
10:59and this gave inspiration to the people of the country,
11:01who were starting to develop a sense of solidarity against the regime.
11:06Minerva and Maria Teresa's husbands,
11:08were both sent to the prison in Santo Domingo.
11:11Trujillo, however, wanted to show that he could be merciful,
11:14so later released most of the female prisoners.
11:17This included Patria,
11:18but Minerva and Maria Teresa were held for a few more weeks.
11:23The general, however,
11:24was becoming increasingly more worried,
11:26and his inner circle of trusted confidants started to decrease.
11:30He considered that there were members of his party who wanted to seize his power,
11:34and believed that other governments were trying to overthrow him.
11:38International pressure was starting to mount against the regime.
11:41On the 24th of June 1960,
11:44there was an assassination attempt against Venezuelan President Romulo Betancourt,
11:49which apparently had been ordered by Trujillo.
11:52Betancourt had denounced Trujillo's dictatorship,
11:55which led the general to support plots by Venezuelan exiles to overthrow him,
11:59an incendiary car bomb placed in a parked vehicle,
12:03was detonated as the presidential car drove past in one of the main avenues in Caracas.
12:08President Betancourt was badly burnt,
12:11his driver was injured,
12:12and his head of security was killed.
12:15Following this, the Organization of American States imposed sanctions on the Dominican Republic,
12:20and sent observers to monitor what was actually happening in the country.
12:24Public opinion throughout the Caribbean was very much against Trujillo.
12:28In August 1960, the United States government withdrew financial supports,
12:33and the US Embassy in Santo Domingo was downgraded to a consulate.
12:38It now seemed that the international community was becoming more concerned about the way Trujillo was governing the Dominican Republic.
12:44But despite this, he still continued to persecute those who opposed him.
12:49While he did, the Mirabel sisters carried on their political activities against his leadership.
12:57Manolo Tavares Justo, the husband of Minerva,
13:01and Leandro Guzman, the husband of Maria Teresa,
13:04were still incarcerated and were transferred to the prison in Puerto Plata.
13:09This was 89 kilometers from Salcedo, in a very mountainous and isolated area.
13:14The roads to reach the prison were known to be dangerous.
13:16Nevertheless, the sisters would visit their husbands weekly, sometimes with their children.
13:22Trujillo continued to have them watched, and was aware of their every move,
13:26including the dates when they visited the prison.
13:29On the 25th of November 1960,
13:32Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa, along with a driver named Rufino de la Cruz,
13:39traveled to Puerto Plata.
13:40Their mother had not wanted them to go.
13:42She was worried, as there had been speculation that Trujillo was planning to do something to her daughters.
13:48However, Minerva assured her that he would not,
13:51as he was now being watched by the international community.
13:54The sisters arrived at the prison, and were advised by Leandro and Manolo,
13:59that they should no longer travel on the dangerous roads, and instead rent a small house nearby.
14:05Strangely, the visit was interrupted by the guards, which was unusual.
14:09There was a sense of tension, that concerned the two detained men,
14:13who were then returned to their cells.
14:15As her sisters traveled back, they were stopped by the secret police,
14:19along a remote mountain road.
14:21Along with the driver, they were beaten, strangled, and killed.
14:25The four bodies were then placed back in the car,
14:28and pushed off the mountain road,
14:30in an attempt to make it look like a tragic accident.
14:33No one was fooled, and when the incident was reported,
14:37it caused outrage, both in the Dominican Republic and beyond.
14:41Their death served as a catalyst for overthrowing the regime,
14:44and on Tuesday 30 May 1961,
14:47General Rafael Trujillo Molina was shot and killed,
14:51when his blue 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air was ambushed on a road outside the Dominican capital.
14:57Following Trujillo's death, General Pupo Roman said that he believed that Rafinha de la Cruz,
15:04and the Mirabel sisters, were killed by members of his secret police.
15:08He then went on to name those he considered to have been responsible.
15:11Trujillo was succeeded by President Joaquin Balaguer,
15:15and while he governed the country in quite an autocratic way,
15:18which included some restrictions on the citizens' personal freedoms,
15:22the people were no longer subjected to the brutal regime they had lived through,
15:27during Trujillo's years in power.
15:29Dele Mirabel had not been as active in the resistance movement as her sisters,
15:34and following their deaths,
15:35she took on the responsibility of helping to raise their six children,
15:39as well as her own.
15:41Minerva's daughter, Minau Tavares Mirabel,
15:44went on to serve as deputy for the national district in the lower house,
15:48of a Dominican Congress,
15:50and before that, served as deputy foreign minister.
15:53Dede's own son, Jaime David Fernandez Mirabel,
15:57later became Vice President of the Dominican Republic.
16:00In 1999, the United Nations designated November 25th,
16:05the anniversary of the death of the three Mirabel sisters,
16:08as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
16:12Dede also created the Mirabel Sisters Foundation,
16:16and in 1994, she opened the Mirabel Sisters Museum,
16:20in her hometown of Salcedo.
16:23She continued to live there, until her death, aged 88.
16:31Hello everyone, and thank you so much for listening.
16:34As you know, I really value all your comments and feedback,
16:37so please leave any that you may have,
16:39and I hope to see you all again, in the next brief case.
16:44Bye-bye.
16:44Bye-bye.
16:46Bye-bye.
16:47Bye-bye.
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