The Mirabal sisters -- Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa -- were ordinary housewives and mothers, yet they were willing to give up their lives to fight against one of the most repressive dictatorships of the Western Hemisphere, that of Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961). Beautiful and educated, the sisters were raised in well-to-do circumstances. They were known by the code name "The Butterflies" by those in the resistance movement they helped to create in the 1950s, fighting for an end to the Trujillo dictatorship. They faced repeated imprisonment and torture and finally, on November 25, 1960, were brutally murdered by men working for Trujillo. The martyrdom of the Mirabal sisters fueled greater and more widespread opposition to the dictatorship and was a catalyst for Trujillo's assassination the following year. Today, the Dominican Republic is a democracy, due in large part to this little known story of courage.

The Mirabal sisters -- Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa -- were ordinary housewives and mothers, yet they were willing to give up their lives to fight against one of the most repressive dictatorships of the Western Hemisphere, that of Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961). Beautiful and educated, the sisters were raised in well-to-do circumstances. They were known by the code name "The Butterflies" by those in the resistance movement they helped to create in the 1950s, fighting for an end to the Trujillo dictatorship. They faced repeated imprisonment and torture and finally, on November 25, 1960, were brutally murdered by men working for Trujillo. The martyrdom of the Mirabal sisters fueled greater and more widespread opposition to the dictatorship and was a catalyst for Trujillo's assassination the following year. Today, the Dominican Republic is a democracy, due in large part to this little known story of courage.

Bio by: THE PROTECTOR