Mabel Rodriguez
Art and Women
professor: Doris Caçoilo

                   The Mirabal sisters (Las Hermanas Mirabal)  are symbols of femenist resistance. this four sisters were from Dominican Republic,they names are Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes( Patria), María Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes(Minerva),Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes( Maria Teresa), and Bélgica Adela Mirabal Reyes( Dedé). they opposed the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (the boss) and were involved in activities against his government. the way that patria motto was  "We cannot allow our children to grow up in this corrupt and tyrannical regime. We have to fight against it, and I am willing to give up everything, even my life if necessary' . Minerva was arrested and pester her constantly that way she can give up herself to Trujillo. She studied law, but because she had declined Trujillo's sexual advances in 1949,^[10][11] she was denied a license to practice.. Mirabal motto was  "It is a source of happiness to do whatever can be done for our country that suffers so many anguishes. It is sad to stay with one's arms crossed'. Minerva, María Teresa, and Patria formed a group called the Movement of the Fourteenth of June .They distributed pamphlets about the many people whom Trujillo had killed, and obtained materials for guns and bombs to use when they eventually openly revolted. Within the group, the sisters called themselves "Las Mariposas" ("The Butterflies")after Minerva's underground name,Rohter, Larry (15 February 1997).https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/15/world/the-three-sisters-avenged-a-dominican-drama.html. New York Times. It is the day they people against trujillo reunited that day to plan how to kill trujillo but they have a traitor amongs them so in the end most of them were subject to indescribable torture at the prison" La 40' and a few were killed. That massacre Patria witnessed was the reason they named like that.
       Three of the four sisters (Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa) were assassinated on  November 25 1960 by Trujillo's henchmen.The sisters and the driver de la Cruz were separated, strangled,and beat to death. The bodies were then gathered and put in their Jeep, which was run off the mountain road in an attempt to make their deaths look like an accident. http://www.stmuhistorymedia.org/las-mariposas-the-mirabal-sisters-role-as-heroines-of-the-dominican-republic/. The last sister  Dedé died of natural causes on  February 1 2014.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters).  In november 17 1999, in  honor of the mirabal sisters the United Nations General Assembly indicate that the November 25, it is the international day for the elimination of violence against woman    It marks the beginning of a 16-day period of Activism against Gender Violence.The last day of that period, December 10, is International Human Rights Day.  Being globally recognized as a symbol of social justice and feminism, the sisters have inspired the creation of many organizations that focus on keeping their legacy alive through social actions. An example of one of these organizations is the Mirabal sisters cultural and community center ,a non-profit organization that seeks to improve the status of immigrant families.   Sisters, Mirabal. "Misión". www.mirabalcenter.org. Retrieved 2016-09-08. 
      There is a book called " En Tiempo de Las Mariposas' (In Time of Butterflies) by Julia Alvarez, that talk about their lives or "Vivas en su Jardin by Dede Mirabal'. also, you  can see the Movie "In Time of The Butterflies.'