Dede Mirabal

This news item caught my eye today...

Last Mirabal Injured In Fatal Crash (from the DR1 website)
"Belgica de la Cruz Mirabal (Dede), the last surviving Mirabal sister, and mother of former Vice-President Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal, has been injured in a crash that left one person dead and another injured. The accident occurred on the highway between Nagua and Cabrera. Fernandez Mirabal was driving a vehicle that hit a small motorcycle driven by Justo Cruz Guarionel Paredes, 46. Motorcycle passenger Noelia Norberto Ramos, 22, was killed as a result of the crash. According to the national press, Dede Mirabal suffered a broken wrist and other injuries, which, at her age, 83, can be considered serious. News reports say that the accident occurred when the moto driver abruptly turned to retain a fallen baseball cap, not noticing a vehicle was behind him."

I have traveled to the Dominican Republic several times over the past eight years. One of the most profound experiences of my visits - indeed, of my life - has been the opportunity to meet and spend time with Dede Mirabal. We were lucky enough to sit with her and chat on fine summer afternoon in Ojo de Agua. Her sisters, known as "The Butterfly Sisters," were part of the movement to oust the Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo. Their story is chronicled in Julia Alvarez' novel In the Time of the Butterflies. Trujillo gave the order to assassinate the sisters and thus gave energy to the groups who brought about the overthrow and assassination of Trujillo himself. In many parts of the world, Nov. 25, anniversary of the day the sisters were killed in 1960, is known as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Salcedo, the province in which they lived in the Dominican Republic has been re-named this year to Hermanas Mirabal Province.

Please pray for Dede. She has an amazing sense of peace and grace about her. May God lay His healing hand upon her, today and each day.

Read Julia Alvarez' In The Time of the Butterflies and
Mario Vargas Llosa's The Feast of the Goat.