4) Why does Trujillo kill the sisters even though they’re no longer directly involved in the revolution? Were the women victims, martyrs, heroes, or something else? What about the men? Why doesn’t he kill them? What does he do instead?

Despite their current inactive roles in the movement, and the fact that they had been living withdrawn lives in relative isolation, it almost seems puzzling that Trujillo decides to murder the Mirabel sisters. I believe there were several reasons that contributing to Trujillo’s decision for killing. The most important of these factors is the damage that already had been done. The Mirabel sisters embodied the revolution. They represented inspiration. The girls had made tremendous sacrifices: time, energy, family, freedom, money, property; they were model revolutionaries, noble faces of the cause, loved by all their people. Dede comments on their popularity, “At the pharmacy, in church, at the mercado, Dede was approached by well-wishers. Take care of our girls, they would whisper. Sometimes they would slip her notes. Tell the butterflies to avoid the road to Puerto Plata. It’s not safe.”

Things were bad off for Trujillo toward the end of the book:  OAS peace committees conducting investigations into prisons, sanctions imposed, South American countries (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela) breaking relations, sights of an American warship. At this point, Trujillo is becoming pretty desperate, willing to do anything to turn the tide. Several blatant remarks by Trujillo himself reveal just how responsible he believes the Mirabel girls are for everything. First he says, indirectly, through his brother, “Minerva Mirabel was the brain behind the whole movement." Clearly he is pretty adamant in these beliefs, and it is no secret. This thought then follows: “So Trujillo was no longer saying Minerva Mirabel was a problem, but that all the Mirabel sisters were.” Taking this into account, Trujillo must surmise that if he eliminates that Mirabel sisters, it will eradicate other revolutionary ideas and actions. Possibly, and even maybe easier, Trujillo kills them, quite simply, because he believes that he can. It must have been hard for a man, whose rule was defined by depravity and despotism, whose power knew few limits or bounds, to imagine that some petty women could undermine his power, and that he couldn’t do anything about it. There is no way that his ego can allow this type of behavior to continue.

          The Mirabel sisters meet the requirements for being victims, martyrs, and heroes. The enormous sacrifices make them victims: time and energy, money, property lost, the imprisonment and the lost time; Minerva, Mate, and Patria even lost their lives; Dede lost her sisters and continues to live with pain and burden (these reasons also make them martyrs). The girls are also heroes for many obvious reasons, most important being how they are embraced, honored, and viewed by their own people. The men should also be seen as heroes of the revolution for their own respective roles. Based on what the book reveals, characters like Manolo, and even the other husbands, with Jaimito the sole exception (however, he did manage to contribute in his own way too), played vital roles in the movement. For these reasons alone, they cannot be forgotten and shouldn’t be overshadowed by the sisters. The book has always portrayed the men as ‘guilty by association.’ By this mere fact, the men don’t even pose a threat to Trujillo, and simply don’t carry enough weight to where it is necessary for Trujillo to rub them out; so Trujillo just keeps the men in jail; perhaps to add extra incentive for the girls to behave. After jail, Manolo is the only one that continues with his radical revolutionary behavior. He is dead within 3 years. The rest of the men scattered, going their separate ways.