Mirabal sisters: Patria Mirabal Reyes

Patria Mirabal Reyes enjoyed painting and art. She was deeply religious, and always had a craving to be a nun.

In The Time of Butterflies: The Mirabal Sisters

        In The Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez is focused on the horrific tale of the Mirabal sisters. Dede, Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa are their names.

1. Bélgica Adela "Dede" Mirabal Reyes

Dede Mirabal Reyes was the only survivor of the Mirabal sisters. She was born in Dominica on March 1, 1925. She had two younger sisters, Minerva and Maria Teresa, and one older sister, Patria. She lived with her parents, Enrique Mirabal Fernandez and Mercedes Reyes Camilo, middle-class farmers At age 13, she was sent to Catholic Boarding School with Minerva and Patria. Dede married Jaimito, and had one child, Jaime. She later had to raise the 6 other kids of her sisters after their tragic deaths. Dede lived to the ripe old age of 88 when she died Saturday, February, 1, 2014 of pulmonary complications.

2. Patria Mercedes Mirabal Reyes

Patria Mirabal Reyes was born on February 27, 1924. She had 3 younger siblings, Dede, Maria Teresa, and Minerva. She loved painting and art. Patria was sent to a Catholic Boarding School at age 14 along with Dede and Minerva. At age 17, she married a farmer named Pedro. She had 4 children: Noris, Nelson, Raul, and baby Juan who died 5 months later. Patria supported Minerva's anti-Trujillo movement and lost all her stuff in the process. She was brutally murdered on November 25, 1960 (age 36).

3. María Argentina Minerva Mirabal Reyes

Minerva Mirabal Reyes was born March 12th, 1926. She was very intelligent. She followed her two older sisters to Catholic Boarding School. Minerva pretty much led the sister's revolution. All her sisters supported her in her hunt to bring Trujillo down. She married Manuel and had two children: Minu and Manolito. Minerva was taken to the capital under house arrest in 1949. On November 25, 1960 she too was brutally murdered (age 34).

4. Antonia María Teresa Mirabal Reyes

Maria Teresa Mirabal Reyes was born October 15, 1935. She followed her sisters to Catholic Boarding School. Maria Teresa excelled in math. She married Leandro and had one daughter, Jacqueline. Maria Teresa was detained at a military base, but freed the same day. Two days later Minerva and Maria Teresa were put in a known torture camp. They moved camps and were freed for a short period of time but spent most of the time from 1/20/1960-8/18/1960. She was brutally murdered, age 24, on November 25, 1960.

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Spotlight Author: Julia Alvarez

Julia Alvarez was born on March 27, 1950 in New York City, New York. Her parents, both native to the Dominican Republic, soon moved back to their home-country. There Alvarez was raised until she was 10 and was forced to leave the country due to her family’s support of a failed overthrowing of the current dictator, Rafael Trujillo. She struggled in the new country, having grown up in Dominica, but graduated from Middlebury College, and later Syracuse University. Alvarez wrote her first book, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents in 1991 and followed up with In the Time of the Butterflies. Garcia Girls  was about the Garcia sisters and their struggle to adapt as immigrants in America, while still holding tight to their Island/Latino culture. Butterflies is the story of the Mirabal sisters, 4 girls who played a key role in the Dominican Republic’s revolution of Trujillo. The story is true, though Alvarez has admitted openly and without hesitation that she certainly used her poetic license in crafting the story, due to “not enough information” for a truly biographical tale. Julia Alvarez is currently 64 and resides in her Alma Mater, Middlebury College.

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Pictures: Julia Alvarez, http://www.gradesaver.com/file/novelAuthorImages/3857-julia-alvarez

Book Cover, https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQK3jZRgbvG0i15HyB-89QZNTvNV9jZQgZsNTQ08Qbv3rmOvwRJDA

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