Yesterday, Monday 3 February, thousands of mourners attended the funeral of Dede Mirabal at the Club Hermanas Mirabal, in Ojo de Agua, with a mass at 3pm conducted by the Bishop of La Vega, Monsignor Antonio Camilo. She was then taken to her final resting place in the Salcedo municipal cemetery.
Her son, former Vice President Jaime David Fernandez Mirabal and other family members received condolences at the entrance of the Club. Fernandez, who is the current Minister of Sports described her passing as a great loss for the country and praised her qualities as a good mother and a great human being.
The funeral was attended by dignitaries including Supreme Court of Justice president Mariano German, Senate vice president Cristina Lizardo, Santo Domingo East mayor Juan de los Santos, Environment Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez, and the deputy minister of Public Health, Jose Rodriguez Aybar.
She was the surviving sister of the four Mirabal sisters, best known as political dissidents during the regime of dictator Rafael Trujillo. Her sisters, Minerva, Maria Teresa and Patria (The Butterflies) were returning from Puerto Plata on 25 November 1960 after visiting their husbands, who were political prisoners of the Trujillo dictatorship, when they were murdered. The murder marked a turning point and led to the decline of the Trujillo regime.
Dede Mirabal went on to raise her nieces and nephews who grew up as one family. They were Nelson Gonzalez Mirabal, Noris Gonzalez Mirabal and Raul Gonzalez Mirabal (Patria’s children), Minou Tavarez Mirabal and Manolo Tavarez Mirabal (Minerva’s children), and Jacqueline Guzman Mirabal (Maria Teresa’s daughter).
In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly commemorated the sisters’ legacy by designating 25 November as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in their honor.
www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2014/2/3/309301/Miles-de-personas-velan-los-restos-de-Dona-Dede-Mirabal-en-su-natal-Ojo-de