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"Code Name: Butterflies" A one hour documentary about the three heroic Mirabal sisters who died in the struggle against Trujillo. In production in the Dominican Republic. |
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"CODE NAME BUTTERFLIES" INTRODUCTION 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. |
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Code Name: "Butterflies" will tell the remarkable story of the Mirabal
sisters and the struggle to bring democracy to the Dominican Republic. This
60-minute documentary for LPB will draw on archival films and photographs,
evocative present-day shooting and dramatic recreations, and interviews with
participants in this history, including members of the former government,
the Church, and the resistance movement, as well as friends and family of
the Mirabal sisters, most notably a fourth surviving sister, Dedé. |
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The video promises to be documentary television at its best. It offers a
dramatic story of resistance and struggle, a tragic tale of a family
sacrificing material comfort and physical safety in an effort to change
circumstances throughout their country. All of the martyred Mirabal sisters
were married to men who also faced repeated imprisonment and torture. Their
parents and their children, too, lived with danger but supported the
sisters¹ work. Yet as extraordinary as their actions were, the Mirabal
sisters were simply ordinary people moved to take action and fight or human
rights and democracy. Theirs is an inspirational story that resonates
worldwide. Since 1981, the November 25 anniversary of their deaths has been
recognized in Latin America and in growing numbers of nations around the
world, where it is celebrated as "International Day Against Violence Against
Women." The day was adopted and recognized in 1999 by the UN General
Assembly, in denunciation of gender violence from domestic battery and rape
to the torture and abuse of women political prisoners. |
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