Remembering Doña Dedé

On February 1st, Dominican pro-democracy activist Belgica Adela Mirabal died due to pulmonary problems at the age of 88.  The following day, thousands of people including President Danilo Medina and her family participated in the funeral march for the woman lovingly nicknamed "Doña Dedé."

As we mentioned in a November 2012 post, Dedé was one of the Mirabal sisters, a quartet of very brave women who stood in the face of a brutal dictatorship.  The following text comes from that post:

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was created via a resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999.  The draft resolution for the date was introduced by the representative of the Dominican Republic, which was no coincidence since November 25th represents a dark day against women’s rights in that Caribbean country.

The Mirabal sisters (Patria, Dedé, Minerva and Maria Teresa) were four political dissidents opposed to the authoritarian rule of strongman Rafael Trujillo. They were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterfly Sisters), a nickname that came about due to their efforts for freedom and democracy in their country.  Despite dangers such as harassment from the police and the imprisonment of three of their husbands the sisters forged ahead and became symbols of the Dominican resistance movement.  

The Trujillo regime’s campaign to silence the Mirabal sisters came to a climax on November 25, 1960.  On their way home after visiting their incarcerated husbands, three of the sisters were intercepted by a group of soldiers. Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and their driver were choked and beaten to death.  The assassins brazenly tried to cover up the murder as an auto accident.

Remembering the Mirabal Sisters

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was commemorated this past November 25th in order to raise awareness of the abuse faced by women worldwide.  Thus, Friday’s posts will examine several instances of aggression and exploitation against women in the Americas.  

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was created via a resolution approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1999.  The draft resolution for the date was introduced by the representative of the Dominican Republic, which was no coincidence since November 25th represents a dark day against women’s rights in that Caribbean country.

The Mirabal sisters (Patria, Dedé, Minerva and Maria Teresa) were four political dissidents opposed to the authoritarian rule of strongman Rafael Trujillo. They were known as Las Mariposas (The Butterfly Sisters), a nickname that came about due to their efforts for freedom and democracy in their country.  Despite dangers such as harassment from the police and the imprisonment of three of their husbands the sisters forged ahead and became symbols of the Dominican resistance movement.   

The Trujillo regime’s campaign to silence the Mirabal sisters came to a climax on November 25, 1960.  On their way home after visiting their incarcerated husbands, three of the sisters were intercepted by a group of soldiers. Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa and their driver were choked and beaten to death.  The assassins brazenly tried to cover up the murder as an auto accident.

The plan to murder the Mirabal sisters backfired for the government and became a rallying cry against the Trujillo dictatorship.  Support for Trujillo decreased as more people defied the repression and spoke out in opposition to his rule.   Approximately six months after the Mirabal sisters were murdered Trujillo was ambushed and killed.

The spirit of the Mirabal sisters has lived on in popular culture through novels such as In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Álvarez and films like 2010’s Trópico de Sangre.  The surviving Mirabal sister, Dedé, helped create a museum in memory of her slain sisters and has campaigned for the rights of Dominican women.  This week, for instance, Dedé and Álvarez lent their names to a petition criticizing a proposed Penal Code reform that will allegedly infringe the rights of women and children.

The video after the page break examines the legacy of the Mirabal Sisters and includes comments from Dedé on her courageous siblings:

Daily Headlines: May 30, 2011

* Central America: An Oxfam report found that a surge in violent crime and government inaction has led to a spike in Honduran femicides since mid-2009, while this year could see an unfortunate record in gender-based murders in El Salvador.

* Peru: Undecided voters may not have been swayed by the TV debate between presidential candidates Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala that was held one week before the decisive second round.

* Dominican Republic: A new museum opened yesterday in Santo Domingo in remembrance of the thousands of victims tortured and killed under the ex-dictator Rafael Trujillo.

* Ecuador: The government is pushing for an increase in royalties from Canadian and U.S. mining firms.

Image – Claudia Barrientos/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“The body count has continued to rise since a 2009 candlelit vigil outside the National Congress in Tegucigalpa to mark International No Violence against Women Day.”)
Online Sources- The Guardian, CSMonitor.com, BBC News, CBS News, Reuters

Weekend Headlines: February 27-28, 2010

* Dominican Republic: The controversy over Aida Trujillo Ricart’s book on her late dictator grandfather continued after protestors forced the cancellation of her book debut.

* Argentina: A retired Argentine navy officer was arrested in Miami after being accused of a “Dirty War” massacre of sixteen prisoners.

* Brazil: In an unusual incident a newborn baby died after the doctors in charge of delivering her quarreled and got into a fistfight.

* Chile: The country’s economic recovery may’ve hit a rough spot after industrial output “unexpectedly “ decreased for a second straight month.

Image – Notes From Hel (Rafael Trujillo ruled the Dominican Republic with a repressive and iron hand from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.)
Online Sources- Dominican Today, LAHT, Bloomberg, BBC News, The Latin Americanist

Controversy over book award to ex-dictator’s relative

The granddaughter of former Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo has found herself in the middle of a controversy after being honored with a local literature award.

Aida Trujillo Ricart, received the Manuel de Jesus Galvan Novel Prize from the Dominican government for her book “A la sombra de mi abuelo” (In the shadow of my grandfather). The decision has been seen unfavorably by some members of the Dominican Republic’s literary community. For instance, historian Franklin Franco blasted the jury and accused them of not reading the book or being paid off by the book’s Colombian publisher.

Members of the jury have defended their choice of Ricart’s book; “of the books that we received (Ricart’s) was the best” said Mexican writer Jorge Volpi.

For her part, Ricart defended her award in this interview with a local daily:

I can assure you that my critics have not read my book or else they would not disparage it! In fact, I’ve received several criticisms from my family and from trujillistas for writing the book.

Rafael Trujillo ruled the Caribbean nation with an iron hand from 1930 until his assassination in 1961. His conservative rule was infamous for backing a "whitening” of Dominican culture via the country’s immigration policies and by promoting Spanish customs. Under his rule, civil liberties were strongly curbed, political opponents were repressed, and he ran an oligarchic state.

Image- Hoy Digital
Online Sources- El Universal, Listin Diario, LAHT

Three-peat for Dominican president

Dominican President Leonel Fernández was sworn in over the weekend for his historic third term in office – a feat which will place him among the top 4 longest-serving presidents in the country's history, along with Ulises Heureaux and former caudillos Rafael Trujillo and Joaquin Balaguer. Fernández, by contrast, has never lost a presidential election nor been accused of any serious electoral fraud in any of his 3 presidential victories.

In his inaugural address, Fernández warned of the looming threat of a faltering world economy the likes of which "has not been seen since the Great Depression.”

He also used the opportunity to shuffle key members of his cabinet, including Education, Labor and Commerce, and Interior and Police.

Several foreign dignitaries were on hand, and there was some international speculation that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez would make the visit, though he ultimately sent a diplomatic representative in his place.

Sources: AFP, Listin Diario, Dominican Today, El Caribe, DR1