Ross Robertson
MP for Manukau East
Labour Spokesperson for Senior Citizens, Small Business and Racing

22 October 2010 Media Statement

Ross Robertson to present significant international award

Manukau East MP and Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) Executive Board member Ross Robertson, Labour’s Associate Spokesperson for Disarmament and Arms Control, is to present the highly prestigious Defender of Democracy Award to Ms Belgica Mirabal of the Dominican Republic on October 23 at PGA’s 32nd Annual Forum in Istanbul.

Ross Robertson said it will be a huge privilege to meet Dedé Mirabel. “I am also delighted that a New Zealand representative has been chosen to present this highly significant award.”

Ms. Belgica Mirabal (Doña Dedé) of the Dominican Republic is a highly respected activist and Founder of the Mirabal Sisters Museum.

Ms Mirabel was nominated for the Defender of Democracy Award for her life-long struggle for the rights and elimination of violence against women, as well as the contributions she has made to further democracy as the only survivor of the Mirabal Sisters. These were three women assassinated by the Trujillo dictatorship in 1960. The Dominican Republic today enjoys a political system based on democratic principles and values because of their personal struggle and commitment.

Mirabal Reyes was a small child when dictator Rafael Trujillo came to power in the Dominican Republic in 1930. Ms. Mirabal’s three sisters were assassinated by Trujillo’s henchmen when the women were returning home after visiting their jailed husbands, who were serving time for conspiring against the regime and for supporting democratic change in the country. The murder of the sisters, on November 25, 1960, motivated the resistance movement, and former Trujillo associates assassinated the dictator in 1961.

After the death of her sisters, Ms. Mirabal – a young homemaker with three children of her own – became active in politics and came to symbolize the struggle against violent dictatorships not only in the Dominican Republic but also in Latin America.

During the authoritarian years of the Joaquin Balaguer government (1966-1978), Dedé Mirabal upheld her sisters’ legacy by working tirelessly to establish a democratic society in her country. Her family became a symbol of resistance and resilience during that difficult period.
In the late sixties and early seventies, Dedé Mirabal decided to found a museum/library in her hometown, precisely in the home where her three sisters were living at the moment they were killed. She created the Mirabal Sisters Museum because the government was not including the bloody history of Trujillo´s regime in national history books. Her foundation/museum – supported strictly by private donations – worked against the loss of the country’s historical memory. Today, the Museum is visited annually by thousands of students as well as by national and international visitors.

Without her work, the tragedy of the Mirabal sisters might have been a slight blip on the country’s historical radar. Thanks to Dedé Mirabal’s tenacity, the museum continues to sponsor workshops, tours, speakers and films on the importance of living in a democratic society. The library features books on democratic principles and women’s issues. There is an extensive section on Dominican history, particularly during the Trujillo dictatorship. The goal is to provide everyone, particularly the young, with information on the impact that the Trujillo regime had on the nation and entire families, and thereby help prevent a return to authoritarian rule and massive human rights violations.

Age has not stopped Dedé Mirabal from carrying out her mission. At the age of 85, she continues to lead tours and to speak about the constant need for the Dominican Republic to strengthen its democratic institutions.

In 1999, to honor the struggle of the Mirabal sisters against dictatorship and their tragic death, the UN General Assembly declared November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Novels, poetry, essays have honored the death of these women. However, she has remained in the background, always placing the memory of her sisters and the thousands killed during the 31-year dictatorship before anything else. In 2009, she published the book “Vivas en su Jardín”, (unofficial translation: “Alive in Their Garden”), which in early May was chosen as the best book in the country’s annual International Book Fair.

ENDS

© Scoop Media