Trujillo: the God of the Dominican Republic

In Julia Alvarez's "In the Time of the Butterflies, she often compares Trujillo or "El Jefe" to God/ Jesus. In each of the narratives of the girls, they all have a moment where they lose their belief in Trujillo as an all-powerful, all-merciful ruler. In each of these moments this loss of belief in Trujillo is linked to God. " 'Trujillo did bad things?' It was as if I had just heard Jesus had slapped a baby or Our Blessed Mother had not conceived Him the immaculate conception way."(17) At this moment Minerva is incapable of accepting anything but Trujillo's good, but this is the moment where he is started to be stripped of his Godliness. Teresa has a similar moment where she comments that she had "always thought our president was like God" (39). For Patria, who's " religion was so important,"(6) losing her belief in God and in her president was a synonymous occasion. Patria's moment occurs after the loss of her child where she questions "How could our loving, all-powerful Father allow us to suffer so? I looked up, challenging Him. And the two faces had merged!"(53) This is the climax of all three girls losing their "religion" consisting of both a loss of God and the man who had become a god to them. However, they were not left without anything to believe in. In the same way that no longer believing in Trujillo's rule was replaced with the notion of freedom, their love of God was replaced with the Blessed Mother. She is used not only as a symbol of desired freedom but also protection from the patriarchy, at times literally. When Hilda is hiding from the police, "they passed right by Sor Hilda with her hands tucked in her sleeves and her head bowed before the statue of the Merciful Mother."(41) At the end of the first section is the moment where they finally trade the patriarchy for the matriarchy. We see Patria challenging the mother "where are you?"(59) and looking around her she knows she is answered. 

The Downfall of Trujillo and the People's call for Freedom
https://www.oddballfilms.com/clip/13167_8924_dominican_republic

How do the repeated and strong religious situations and language fit into the context of this story?

On page 20 we see the analogy: "The country people around the farm say that until the nail is hit, it doesn't believe in the hammer." How can we use this analogy to understand people's perception of Trujillo?

What is the significance of linking the Blessed Mother to freedom from Trujillo's rule?