Heroine Melba Hernandez remembered eight years after her death

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 9 (ACN) Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz had words today on Twitter for the heroine Melba Hernandez, on the occasion of the eighth anniversary of her death.

Marrero stressed that Melba was an example of a Cuban woman who devoted her life to the service of the country and other peoples.

Roberto Morales Ojeda, member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of Organization of the Party's Central Committee, noted on the same social network that the outstanding revolutionary fighter was an heiress of the mambi lineage of Cuban women.

Melba Hernández Rodríguez del Rey (July 28, 1921 - March 9, 2014) was one of the first members of the revolutionary movement led by the Cuban historic leader Fidel Castro and participated in the assault on the Moncada Barracks in 1953.

After that event, Melba and Haydée Santamaría compiled and disseminated Fidel's defense plea, known as La historia me absolverá (History will absolve me). She also helped organize the expedition of the yacht Granma, and on November 25, 1956, in the Mexican port of Tuxpan, she bid farewell to the 82 combatants bound for Cuba with a view to the insurrectional struggle.

She joined the ranks of the Rebel Army in the Third Front, led by Commander Juan Almeida.

After the triumph of the Revolution (January 1, 1959) she held various responsibilities in the development of the solidarity movement and foreign policy and was a founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and a member of its Central Committee, as well as deputy to the National Assembly from 1976 to 1986, and elected again as of 1993.