TCSE: Ted Corpus Search Engine

Recorded at	March 08, 2021
Event	TED-Ed
Duration (min:sec)	05:51
Video Type	TED-Ed Original
Words per minute	144.45 very slow
Readability (FK)	37.37 very difficult
Speaker	Lisa Krause


1	00:07	From 1930 to 1961, thousands of people were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered under Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.
2	00:20	Three sisters would go on to lead an underground revolution.
3	00:24	But while their courage inspired many, it threatened the man in power, and their lives would come to a tragic early end.
4	00:33	Trujillo rose through the military ranks during the United States’ occupation of the Dominican Republic.
5	00:40	He assumed power in 1930 through a coup and rigged election and created a system that enriched himself and his allies.
6	00:51	Trujillo’s family alone controlled three-fifths of the country’s gross domestic product, including monopolies over salt, beef, and newspapers.
7	01:01	He renamed the country's capital after himself and expected his portrait to be displayed in every household.
8	01:09	And he committed atrocities, including the massacre of thousands of Haitians.
9	01:14	All the while, a secret police force maintained his power by targeting opponents at home and abroad.
10	01:22	The Mirabal sisters grew up in a middle class family in the countryside.
11	01:27	Their parents sent the four sisters— Patria, Dedé, Minerva, and María Teresa— to one of the country’s best boarding schools.
12	01:37	There, Minerva met a classmate whose relative was killed on Trujillo's orders.
13	01:44	She began seeking out strong voices of opposition and discussing issues of oppression and justice with her sisters.
14	01:51	While Dedé stayed out of politics, Minerva, Patria, and María Teresa became invested in changing their country.
15	02:00	However, the Mirabal family’s safe standing soon collapsed.
16	02:04	In 1949, they were invited to one of Trujillo’s parties, which served as his personal hunting grounds for young women.
17	02:13	Declining the invitation was not an option.
18	02:16	Despite Minerva’s attempts to avoid him at the reception, she eventually danced with Trujillo but rejected his advances.
19	02:24	The Mirabal family left the party early, which was seldom done and considered disrespectful to the dictator.
20	02:31	Their father, Enrique, was imprisoned and family property was confiscated.
21	02:38	Minerva graduated with highest honors as one of the first women in the country to receive a law degree.
22	02:45	But she was denied state authorization to practice— a process Trujillo oversaw.
23	02:51	While studying, Minerva met Manolo Tavárez Justo.
24	02:56	He shared her political convictions and the two married in 1955.
25	03:01	They watched as armed revolutions launched throughout Latin America.
26	03:05	After Trujillo crushed an attempt to overthrow him in 1959, they began to prepare a revolution of their own.
27	03:13	The Mirabal sisters and their husbands formed the June 14th movement along with many others from the middle class.
28	03:21	Codenamed Las Mariposas, or the Butterflies, the three sisters organized and attended clandestine meetings and distributed pamphlets detailing Trujillo’s violations.
29	03:34	In January of 1960, they called representatives together from all over the country to establish the movement’s structure and prepare an uprising.
30	03:45	But it was not to be.
31	03:46	Trujillo had spies everywhere.
32	03:49	Soon, many revolutionaries, including Minerva and María Teresa, were arrested.
33	03:56	During this time, Patria found creative ways of transmitting information to and from imprisoned rebels.
34	04:04	Fearful of losing the support of the U.S. and the Church, which had recently begun to criticize him, Trujillo released the sisters while leaving their husbands imprisoned.
35	04:15	But they continued to threaten his regime’s stability— and his ego.
36	04:19	On November 25th, as the three sisters were returning from visiting two of their imprisoned husbands, Trujillo’s men stopped their car.
37	04:28	The sisters, along with their driver, Rufino de la Cruz, were asphyxiated and beaten to death.
38	04:35	The men rolled the Jeep off a hill to frame the murder as a car accident.
39	04:40	Patria was 36, Minerva was 33, and María Teresa was 25.
40	04:47	But Trujillo's plan to silence the Mirabal sisters and stabilize his regime backfired.
41	04:53	Much of the public wasn’t fooled by the flimsy coverup.
42	04:57	The international community condemned the assassination.
43	05:01	And the U.S. closed its Dominican embassy and secretly invested in the anti-Trujillo movement.
44	05:08	Months later, former members of the Dominican military killed the dictator, bringing his violent, 31-year reign to an end.
45	05:17	Thanks to their family, especially their surviving sister, Dedé, the legacy of the Mirabal sisters would surpass the clutches of Trujillo’s tyranny even long after their deaths.
46	05:29	Today, the Mirabal sisters are national heroes with monuments and honors commemorating their struggle.
47	05:37	In 1999, the United Nations declared November 25th, the anniversary of their deaths, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
48	05:47	Their courageous fight for justice has inspired generations.

Lisa Krause: Who were Las Mariposas, and why were they murdered?