In the years after the Second World War, the Dominican Republic, which shares an island in the Caribbean with Haiti, was governed by a nasty dictator, Rafael Trujillo. The Mirabel sisters were a family who organized an underground revolt against this nasty piece of work after one of them rejected Trujillo’s amorous advances. Calling themselves Las Mariposas (the butterflies), three sisters and their driver were on this day in 1960, stopped at a roadblock and bludgeoned to death.
Trujillo, who had ordered their murders, was himself assassinated six months later and the United Nations, in their honour declared this day the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which also marks the start of the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. The 16 days ends on International Human Rights Day.
– Posted by Douglas Racionzer (serendipiday.blogspot.com)