On this day, 25 November 1960 three sisters – Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes,
On this day, 25 November 1960 three sisters – Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes, Minerva Mirabal Reyes and Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes – were assassinated for their opposition to the US-backed Dominican dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo (content note: mention of sexual violence). They had started a group called the Agrupación Política 14 de Junio (14 June Movement), named after the date of a massacre Patria witnessed. Two of the sisters, Minerva and Maria Teresa, were imprisoned, raped and tortured on several occasions and their husbands arrested and tortured too. However, they persisted in their resistance and Trujillo decided to put an end to them once and for all. On May 18, 1960, Minerva and Maria Teresa, along with their husbands, were convicted and were sentenced to three years in prison for undermining the security of the Dominican state. In a strange gesture, on August 9, Minerva and Maria Teresa Mirabal were released by express provision of Trujillo. Their hu...