The sisters all have different stories for joining the movement. As a girl Minerva goes away to school. There, she meets Sinita, who tells Minerva the terrible stories of Trujillo. Sinita tells her the story, of her three uncles, the sneaky way Trujillo became president, and other killings he orchestrated. This is where Minerva’s journey begins, that night she feels so sick to her stomach. Then Minerva watches Trujillo take a liking to Lina, one of the older, most beautiful, popular girls at the school. After her seventeenth birthday Trujillo takes her away to be one of his girlfriends and gets her pregnant. When his wife finds out he ships Lina away to Miami where she will be safe. This does not sit well with Minerva at all. Later on Minerva …show more content…
During the church retreat they watch Trujillo kill his own men, women, and children. After this the church has no choice but to turn its back on Trujillo. “The time was now, for the Lord has said, I come with the sword…” The church was ready to set up its underground revolution and go against Trujillo. They changed their name to Accion Clero-Cultural. Later on Padre de Jesus is arrested and Padre Gabriel takes over. One day at mass Padre Gabriel begins speaking about God given human rights. “Later, we found out this was happening all over the country. The bishops had gathered together earlier in the week and drafted a pastoral letter to be read from every pulpit that Sunday. The church had at last thrown in its lot with the people.” It was not just one church any longer that had witnessed the brutality of Trujillo but now churches across the country had taken stand …show more content…
From the very beginning of the book everyone is very aware of what they say and who they say it to, for fear of not knowing who could be an informant. When people who speak out against the regime disappear, the best way to stay protected from the regime would be to join them. As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. For others it could be a source of money, “Every large household was said to have a servant on double payroll”. The easiest way for someone not making much money to get a little extra cash would be to provide the regime with any type of information they could gather. Anyone could become an informant; even those working against Trujillo could give up information out of fear. Fear was a huge tool used to manipulate the people, especially political prisoners. As for them, torture could turn most prisoners into informants very quickly. The most notorious form of torture in the book came from La 40, a torture chamber that Maria Teresa had experienced. They prodded Maria Teresa in front of Leandro in order to get him to cooperate, most likely a very common practice, and very real fear for anyone living under the