International Day Against Violence Against Women
We decided at the meeting to celebrate an international Day against Violence against Women. The date picked was 25 November, in memory of the Mirabel sisters of Santo Domingo.
Who are these women?
Patricia, Minerva and Maria Teresa, three sisters from the Dominican Republic who were victims of the violent regime of Trujillo on 25 November 1960.
Under the conditions in the Dominican Republic of the tyrannical Trujillo regime the sisters became concerned with the acute social problems and then passionately involved in the struggle for democracy.
Patricia, born on 27 february 1924 had three children. Her home was the refuge and point of contact for the coordination and organisation of the Clandestine Movement of June 14. Once the Movement was uncovered, many of its members — including her husband and 12-year old son — were put in prison.
Minerva, born on 12 March 1927, was incarcerated at the age of 22, thus making it impossible for her to continue her law studies at the autonomous University of Santo Domingo. Under house arrest in Ojo de Agua for three years, Minerva wrote poetry and prose which reflected her commitment to the exploited classes.
Maria Teresa, born on 15 October 1936, was also an activist in the Movement, and was arrested in 1960 with her sister Minerva. She was released and re-arrested several times.
The husbands of Minerva and Maria Teresa, both in prison, were constantly moved from one prison to another, which the regime claimed it was doing out of benevolence, whereas it was in fact the first step in the plan to eliminate them.
"On 25 November 1960, Minerva and Maria Teresa went to visit their husbands imprisoned in Puerto Plata, with their sister Patria and Rufino de la Cruz Disia who was driving the jeep they were travelling in. On the way to Salcedo, they were stopped in an isolated spot by agents of the Military Intelligence Service. They were taken to a nearby bamboo field where they were the object of cruel torture in what has been considered the most horrifying crime in national history.
Afterwards, only their bloody bodies, mangled, strangled and smashed from beatings, were put Into the jeep and hurled over a precipice in a futile attempt to make it seem like an accident.
The assassination of the Mirabel sisters shocked the entire nation.
It was one more sign of the limitless violence of a corrupt, decadent and retrograde regime.
The treacherous crime nonetheless strengthened the patriotic spirit of a people who desperately desired and needed a democratic process which would assure respect for human dignity.
The example of the Mirabel sisters heartens the progressive and revolutionary movement of the country today in its struggle for the total eradication of injustice and oppression which the dominant social class imposes.
The sisters have been a constant stimulus and example for Dominican women who combine admirably the roles of mother, wife and tireless fighters for revolutionary change in our society. Their struggle against tyranny raises them to martyrdom and glory."
(from a booklet: "Jornada contra la yiolenza contra las mujeres", Dominican Republic