Speaker 1: Just a quick content warning before we start the show.
Speaker 1: There is talk of sexual abuse, gender based violence, and
Speaker 1: massacre in this episode, So if there are young ones around,
Speaker 1: or if that's something that you don't want to hear,
Speaker 1: please be aware of that. Something I think about, probably
Speaker 1: entirely too often, is the role that faith plays in
Speaker 1: my daily life. If you just rolled your eyes, know
Speaker 1: that I don't mean this sentimentally. I mean a more
Speaker 1: practical faith, you know, the kind that gives me confidence
Speaker 1: to walk out into this world full of natural disaster
Speaker 1: and human apathy, The one that keeps me from refusing
Speaker 1: to ever take risks, and that doesn't let my anxiety
Speaker 1: take over every time it wants to the trust that
Speaker 1: I have every time I hop behind the will of
Speaker 1: my car or in the passenger seat of someone else's.
Speaker 1: Maybe that word doesn't seem like it fits into a
Speaker 1: conversation about people who challenge norms thought unconventionally, analyze problems
Speaker 1: and found solutions, or lead revolutions with strategy and common sense.
Speaker 1: The word faith is bedfellows with terms like optimism, faith, surrender, belief,
Speaker 1: so on and so forth, Basically words that, when used together,
Speaker 1: can make me seem like I'm trying to sell some
Speaker 1: sort of snake oil ones that can make it seem
Speaker 1: like logic and planning have no place here and all
Speaker 1: we need to get things done is the one and
Speaker 1: only the reliable faith. But I don't think the people
Speaker 1: we talk about here on Unpopular would have the same
Speaker 1: stories if some degree of faith wasn't part of their story,
Speaker 1: if they didn't believe that what they were doing would
Speaker 1: make some sort of meaningful difference, or they didn't trust
Speaker 1: that their movements had a chance of succeeding. For folks
Speaker 1: betting on a revolution or a complete reversal in society's
Speaker 1: way of being, or thinking, there may be no one
Speaker 1: to one precedent for the changes they're trying to make.
Speaker 1: That means that they may have to believe in an
Speaker 1: outcome for which there is no proof. There may be
Speaker 1: doubts or adjustments along the way, but challenging a status
Speaker 1: quo requires a person to envision a different future and
Speaker 1: to have conviction that the charge they're leading will help
Speaker 1: steer society in that direction. I'd say that pursuing a
Speaker 1: goal or publicly supporting an idea so radical or exceptional
Speaker 1: that people may shun you or view you as a
Speaker 1: threat takes a leap of faith. I'm Eves Jeff Cote
Speaker 1: and This is Unpopular a podcast about people in history
Speaker 1: who didn't let the threat of persecution keep them from
Speaker 1: speaking truth to power. Today we turn our attention to
Speaker 1: the Meta Ball Sisters, Patria, Minerva, Maria and are collectively
Speaker 1: known as the meat of Ball Sisters. They were born
Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties in the Dominican Republic,
Speaker 1: a Caribbean country that borders Haiti on the island of Hispaniola.
Speaker 1: The United States pie the Dominican Republic from nineteen sixteen
Speaker 1: until nineteen twenty four, the year that the oldest meat
Speaker 1: of all Sister Patria was born. That same year, the
Speaker 1: US began withdrawing from the country, and Harasio Vasquez was
Speaker 1: elected President of the Dominican Republic with the backing of
Speaker 1: the United States. I'm leaving out a lot of history here,
Speaker 1: but over the years, Hispaniola was the object of imperial lust,
Speaker 1: a place of strategic and economic importance, a site of
Speaker 1: racist violence, a breeding ground for rebellion and revolution, and
Speaker 1: an island where political and economic instability were normal. So
Speaker 1: we arrived at Vasquez presidency. He took office in October
Speaker 1: of nineteen twenty four and held onto it until nineteen thirty,
Speaker 1: after having extended the presidential term to six years rather
Speaker 1: than four. His administration was corrupt and ineffective, and people
Speaker 1: began to call for his outst As the nineteen thirty
Speaker 1: elections approached, Raphael Estrea Na took power as provisional president
Speaker 1: and Vasquez went into exile. General Raphael Leonita Trujillo Molina
Speaker 1: then won the presidential election as the only candidate, as
Speaker 1: he had forced the other candidates out of the election
Speaker 1: through intimidation and harassment. Estrea was named vice president. Truilla
Speaker 1: ruled the Dominican Republic as a dictator until nineteen sixty one.
Speaker 1: Under his regime, the press was censored and dissenters were
Speaker 1: tortured and killed. He appointed family members to important offices.
Speaker 1: He controlled pretty much every part of society, including entertainment
Speaker 1: and education. He even renamed the capital and landmarks after himself,
Speaker 1: and he accumulated wealth by securing commissions on public works
Speaker 1: projects and taking ownership of land, airlines, and manufacturers. He
Speaker 1: even called for the massacre of thousands of Haitians and
Speaker 1: Dominicans of Haitian dissent along the Dominican Haitian border. Despite
Speaker 1: thruos oppressive, totalitarian, and brutal regime, he built an image
Speaker 1: as a nationalist, upholder of Dominican values and a messiah
Speaker 1: who people feared yet admired. He did bring a modicum
Speaker 1: of political and economic stability to the country, though I'm
Speaker 1: saying this with the huge asterisk that in no way
Speaker 1: canceled out all the abuse, poverty, human rights violations, violence
Speaker 1: and corruption rampant in the administration. It was under this
Speaker 1: regime that the meta Ball sisters lived. They were born
Speaker 1: in ojode Agua, a town in Salcedo and the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 1: Their parents were Enrique and Mercedes Mirabal, and they were
Speaker 1: part of a relatively well to do, middle class family.
Speaker 1: The four sisters attended the Coleo Immaculata Concepcion, a Catholic
Speaker 1: boarding school in La Vega. They all married and had children.
Speaker 1: Maria Teresa studied math at the University of Santo Domingo
Speaker 1: and Minerva studied law at the same university. In October
Speaker 1: of nineteen four nine, thru Hio held a party at
Speaker 1: his mansion in San Crustobal, the mayor of their town,
Speaker 1: personally delivered the Meat of Ball Sister's invitation to the
Speaker 1: party to them, so they felt obliged to go. Mineeva
Speaker 1: had caught Thruhio's attention and he approached her, but she
Speaker 1: rejected his advances. Through Rio's sexual abuse of women was
Speaker 1: well known. He married three times and had mistresses. He
Speaker 1: had people go out and find young women and bringing
Speaker 1: them back to him to stay a night or longer
Speaker 1: so he could rape them. Dominican families would make their
Speaker 1: daughters hide when he was in town, so, needless to say,
Speaker 1: her rejections did not go over well with thru Hio.
Speaker 1: The Meat of Ball sisters father was soon imprisoned, and
Speaker 1: he died. Soon after he was released, Mineeva and her
Speaker 1: mother were held hostage in a hotel in Santo Domingo,
Speaker 1: only to be released if Mineeva slept with thru Hillo,
Speaker 1: though she refused. They eventually escaped, but through Yo's quest
Speaker 1: for vengeance did not in there. Minativa's rejections led through
Speaker 1: Hio to wage a vendetta against the Meat of Balls.
Speaker 1: The family was put under surveillance by the government and
Speaker 1: dinged for even the tiniest reported slights against thru Hio,
Speaker 1: people in contact with them were locked up or brutalized.
Speaker 1: Me Natava was not allowed to go back to school
Speaker 1: and put under arrest in her parents house for three years,
Speaker 1: during which time she wrote poetry about social issues in
Speaker 1: the Dominican Republic. In nineteen fifty seven, she was allowed
Speaker 1: to return to law school if she praised through Hio
Speaker 1: and his leadership. She did so and ended up graduating
Speaker 1: summa cum laude. Still, she was refused a license to
Speaker 1: practice law. Between the abuse they had suffered personally at
Speaker 1: the hands of thru Hio, the atrocities they saw him
Speaker 1: commit against other people, and the inspiration they received from
Speaker 1: the Cuban Revolution, the Meat of All Sisters were moved
Speaker 1: to join the move it against the dictator. When a
Speaker 1: group of Dominican exiles who trained in Cuba with Fidel
Speaker 1: Castro support, returned to the Dominican Republic in nineteen fifty
Speaker 1: nine to topple through Hero's dictatorship, the activism of the
Speaker 1: Meat of Ball Sisters, along with many other Dominican people,
Speaker 1: was kicked into high gear. We'll be back after this
Speaker 1: quick break. History repeats itself. We hear this phrase a lot,
Speaker 1: a statement repeated as a hard fact, undeniable. It's clear
Speaker 1: in war and fashion, But there are a lot of
Speaker 1: things in history. We can largely agree that we don't
Speaker 1: want to repeat the Black Death, for instance, Yet things
Speaker 1: that happen are often things we don't want to happen.
Speaker 1: When someone to sense and attempts to incite drastic or
Speaker 1: at least meaningful change, they can work super hard to
Speaker 1: reach that goal and still not attain the success they'd
Speaker 1: hoped for. Hope, desire, and belief don't get the job
Speaker 1: done alone. But sometimes it can feel like we're in
Speaker 1: a hamster will, like we're stuck in a vicious cycle
Speaker 1: of oppression. Like even when we take two steps forward,
Speaker 1: we're taking more backward. How hard is it to maintain
Speaker 1: any sort of sense of things being better or even
Speaker 1: different when things have been bad for a long time,
Speaker 1: Or what is the point in imagining a future at all? Hopelessness,
Speaker 1: cynicism about the future, and settling for less can set
Speaker 1: in easily, but hope could be a starting point. By that,
Speaker 1: I mean the ability to see beyond the current state
Speaker 1: of things and belief in the simple possibility for change.
Speaker 1: At some point comes before action that drives change. Rather
Speaker 1: than thinking of hope as a crutch of the naive
Speaker 1: allible are innocent, maybe it's better to think about it
Speaker 1: as a necessary part of empowering people to think differently
Speaker 1: and consider political or cultural shifts they couldn't have bad
Speaker 1: them before. By the end of the nineteen fifties, resentment
Speaker 1: of thru Hio had reached a peak and people were
Speaker 1: planning attempts to overthrow the regime. Minerovamabal was the first
Speaker 1: of the Sisters to become active in the fight against
Speaker 1: the dictatorship, even though it was dangerous business. She befriended
Speaker 1: Peticleistroco Orniss, who founded the Popular Socialist Party and had
Speaker 1: been imprisoned for his opposition to thru Hillo. She was
Speaker 1: also drawn to leftist literature and intercepted radio stations out
Speaker 1: of Cuba and Venezuela that discussed politics in the Dominican Republic.
Speaker 1: Fidel Castro's leadership and the Cuban Revolution, which ended on
Speaker 1: January first, nineteen fifty nine, with Cuban dictator full Hintsil
Speaker 1: Bautista fleeing to the Dominican Republic, helped inspire hope in
Speaker 1: Dominican people who wished to fight through Hio's oppressed of rule. Minaova,
Speaker 1: Maria Teresa and their husbands spoke of launching a national
Speaker 1: resistance movement against Trillo. Dominican exiles in Cuba had organized
Speaker 1: in Cuba and trained in military guerrilla tactics with the
Speaker 1: intent of overthrowing through Villo. On June fourteenth, nineteen fifty nine,
Speaker 1: a Dominican named Enrique Humenes Moya led a group of
Speaker 1: insurrectionists who landed in several Dominican cities. Besides Dominicans, Cubans, Spaniards,
Speaker 1: Puerto Ricans, Venezuelans and Americans also took part in the insurrection,
Speaker 1: but the Dominican Republic had been given a heads up
Speaker 1: for the attack and the army and air force shut
Speaker 1: it down. Most of the people who participated in the
Speaker 1: uprising were killed and many were tortured in prison. This
Speaker 1: uprising was the namesake for the Cotors de Junio movement
Speaker 1: or fourteenth of June movement, also known as one j
Speaker 1: four or one four j. Though the attempts to overthrow
Speaker 1: Trullo had been unsuccessful, people in the Dominican Republic were
Speaker 1: stirring up rebellion. The Meat of All Sisters and their
Speaker 1: husbands helped form the fourteenth of June movement a year
Speaker 1: after the revolutionaries victory in the Cuban Revolution. Manola travadez Usto,
Speaker 1: a lawyer and Minerva's husband, was the president of the group.
Speaker 1: Leandro Gusman, Maria Theres's husband was named treasurer. Many of
Speaker 1: the people involved in the movement, including peasants, factory workers,
Speaker 1: the wealthy, and intellectuals, were from Puerto Plata, an industrial
Speaker 1: northern city. Trullo flexed his muscle against the city by
Speaker 1: cutting off rail services to the area and isolating his
Speaker 1: shipping ports. Many of the people in the movement were
Speaker 1: also members of prominent families and relatives of Thruvio himself.
Speaker 1: Despite Throo's attempts to suppress his opposition, criticism and defiance
Speaker 1: of the dictator and his policies only grew. We're going
Speaker 1: to take a quick break. The meet of Ball sisters
Speaker 1: and their husbands began organizing the resistance. They got hundreds
Speaker 1: of people to pass out pamphlets detailing the crimes the
Speaker 1: regime had committed. They began gathering guns and bombs, and
Speaker 1: through their work in the resistance, they were incarcerated several times.
Speaker 1: The sisters were given the underground name Las Mariposas or
Speaker 1: in English, the Butterflies. The movement planned to assassinate thru
Speaker 1: Heio using a bomb at a cattle fair on January one,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty, but the plan was foiled when the Servicita,
Speaker 1: or military intelligence service, rounded up supporters of the movement
Speaker 1: the day before the assassination was supposed to happen. Trhio's
Speaker 1: regime arrested and tortured people, brutality that many people rejected.
Speaker 1: Me Not and Maria Teresa, their husbands, and Patria's husband
Speaker 1: named Pedro Gonzalez, were jailed. The Catholic Church protested the
Speaker 1: witchhood and denounced the dictatorship. But despite all the atrocities
Speaker 1: through Hio had already been complicit in, it took Trujillo
Speaker 1: attempting to assassinate Venezuelan President Romolo Betancourt before other nations
Speaker 1: decided to draw the line. Beaton Court was vehemently anti Trujillo,
Speaker 1: and Trullillo had tried to have him overthrown many times before. Regardless,
Speaker 1: when through Hio's people put a bunch of dynamite in
Speaker 1: a car that exploded and injured beaton court, and killed
Speaker 1: a person. The Organization of American States condemned his regime's actions,
Speaker 1: imposed sanctions, and sent representatives to Dominican jails on a
Speaker 1: fact finding mission. Because of this investigation, many women prisoners
Speaker 1: were freed, including the Meta Balls. Their husbands were sent
Speaker 1: to a prison in Puerto Blata. Trujillo responded to his
Speaker 1: growing opposition and his sworn enemies, the Meata Balls, with vengeance.
Speaker 1: He made it clear that the Catholic Church and the
Speaker 1: Meat of Ball Sisters were his main foes, problems that
Speaker 1: he needed to get rid of. When it came to
Speaker 1: the Meat of Ball sisters, that meant death. Friends of
Speaker 1: the sisters warnant them not to visit their husbands in prison,
Speaker 1: but even though they knew the visits were dangerous, they
Speaker 1: had already made the trip to the north coast without
Speaker 1: any problems. They had even decided that they were going
Speaker 1: to rent a house in Puerto Plata so they could
Speaker 1: be closer to their husbands. November nine sixty, Patria Maria
Speaker 1: were leaving Plata after visiting their husbands in prison. As
Speaker 1: they drove down a desolate road, some of Trujillo's agents
Speaker 1: ordered their driver to stop. Patria was able to get
Speaker 1: out of their jeep and tell a passing truck driver
Speaker 1: that the agents were about to murder them, and told
Speaker 1: him to send word to the meat of all family
Speaker 1: in their hometown. But the agents beat the sisters and
Speaker 1: their driver, strangled them and put them back in the jeep,
Speaker 1: pushing it over a cliff to make it look like
Speaker 1: an accident. Dede, who was the least politically engaged of
Speaker 1: the four sisters and who had not been in the
Speaker 1: car at the time of the assassination, was the only
Speaker 1: surviving sister. It didn't take long for news of the
Speaker 1: assassinations to spread. It was pretty obvious that the deaths
Speaker 1: were not an accident but murder ordered by Trujillo. There
Speaker 1: were reportedly still fingerprints on their necks where they had
Speaker 1: been strangled when they were brought into a hospital for autopsy.
Speaker 1: The assassinations intensified resistance in the Dominican Republic even more,
Speaker 1: not the effect that Trujillo had intended. On May thirtieth nine,
Speaker 1: Trujillo was ambushed as he was heading home and killed
Speaker 1: some of the people who murdered him were part of
Speaker 1: his armed forces. The assassins who killed the Meat of
Speaker 1: All Sisters went to trial in nineteen sixty two. They
Speaker 1: were sentenced to twenty to thirty years of heart labor,
Speaker 1: but they did not serve out their sentences as they
Speaker 1: had escaped from prison during the Dominican Civil War of
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five. Dada ensured the persistence of her sister's
Speaker 1: legacy and helped raise their children. Minatava, Maria, Teresa, and
Speaker 1: Patria died tragically under the thumb of a cruel dictatorship
Speaker 1: that they risked their lives to subvert. They mobilized women
Speaker 1: to join the resistance movement. They injected a sense of
Speaker 1: hope for social and political progress into the Dominican people,
Speaker 1: though the rule that followed their deaths was nowhere near revolutionary.
Speaker 1: But the Meat of Ball Sisters stand as a model
Speaker 1: for middle and upper class young folks who wished to
Speaker 1: reject silence and complacency in favor of action and optimistic
Speaker 1: resistance when rebellion is necessary. The Meat Up Ball Sisters
Speaker 1: weren't the only people who took part in the fourteenth
Speaker 1: of June movement or the resistance against through Heeo's dictatorship.
Speaker 1: Though they played a major role in the road towards
Speaker 1: through Heeo's downfall, it wasn't their actions alone that put
Speaker 1: an end to the oppressive regime. I don't say that
Speaker 1: to diminish the importance of their leadership and movement work.
Speaker 1: I just like to acknowledge the huge amount of work
Speaker 1: and people it takes to transform our tear down massive establishments.
Speaker 1: But one person's actions can have a rebel effect. It
Speaker 1: is definitely easy to just accept things as they are
Speaker 1: a lot of the time. That's the case when issues
Speaker 1: don't directly affect us, or when they do directly benefit us.
Speaker 1: When we don't have enough knowledge of an issue or
Speaker 1: have not taken the time to research it and are
Speaker 1: not emotionally affected by it. When the prospect of harsh
Speaker 1: punishment seems too scary, when we don't know what the
Speaker 1: outcome of a challenge would be so we don't want
Speaker 1: to risk putting in the work. When something seems so
Speaker 1: impossible to change that it doesn't seem worth putting any
Speaker 1: effort into it. The meat of All Sisters and all
Speaker 1: the other Dominicans who resisted the regime were up against
Speaker 1: a dictatorship that stripped away civil liberties and killed people ruthlessly,
Speaker 1: and that did so while exalting itself. They could not
Speaker 1: and did not accept the way things were, even though
Speaker 1: the terrorism that surrounded them was a constant reminder of
Speaker 1: the horrible consequences their actions could have. Tria was in
Speaker 1: power for thirty one years, and those years were characterized
Speaker 1: by a lot of violence and death. The Meat of
Speaker 1: All Sisters activism not only ignited and effective movement, but
Speaker 1: also showed that a life without violence was within the
Speaker 1: realm of possibility and influenced later activists to strive for liberation.
Speaker 1: They helped make the other side conceivable. Thanks again for listening.
Speaker 1: We'll see you next week with another episode of Unpopular.
Speaker 1: Our producer is Andrew Howard. Holly Fry and Christopher Hasiotis
Speaker 1: are our executive producers, and you can subscribe to the
Speaker 1: show on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcast. I'd also like to give
Speaker 1: a shout out to Tracy and Holly of Stuff you
Speaker 1: missed in History Class, who have a great episode on
Speaker 1: the Meat of Ball Sisters. So take a listen, and
Speaker 1: if you are so inclined, You can send us an
Speaker 1: email at unpopular at i heart media dot com.