Cuba recalls Vilma Espin 17 years after her death

HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 18 (ACN) Seventeen years after the death of Vilma Espin, Cuba recalls nowadays her legacy and example, which continues to inspire generations of women.

Miguel Diaz-Canel, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and president of the country, recalled on X her trajectory as a heroine of the clandestinity and the Sierra, revolutionary founder, leader of women's emancipation, education in values and innovation for development.

For his part, Esteban Lazo, member of the Political Bureau and President of the Parliament and the Council of State, highlighted her role in the defense of women's rights, in the creation of the Children's Day Care Centers and her dedication to the Revolution, which he considered an enduring example for all generations.

"A flower for our dear Vilma, heroine of the highlands and the plains, of deep sensitivity and gentleness, who devoted her life to the Revolution and the defense of the rights of women and children," said Manuel Marrero, member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, on the same social network.

Regarding the date, Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the PCC, said that without her it is impossible to write the history of the Revolution, before and after the triumph.

Graduated as Bachelor of Science in 1948, Vilma Espin Guillois (April 7, 1930 - June 18, 2007) enrolled in Chemical Engineering at the recently created University of Oriente; and Fulgencio Batista's coup d'état in 1952 was an important moment in the deepening of her political and patriotic beliefs.

When the revolutionary events of July 26, 1953 occurred, with the assaults on the barracks of Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo, organized from Havana by Fidel, she did not hesitate to know what her destiny and militancy would be.

Vilma and several of her friends and companions of the clandestine struggle faced many times the dangers of being assassinated or disappeared by Fulgencio Batista's hired assassins, transporting groups of revolutionaries in their car and hiding weapons and medicines, which they brought to the fighters, in their wide skirts and sackcloth.

Her battle continued in 1958 as a combatant of the 2nd Frank Pais Eastern Front, under the orders of Raul Castro, southeast of the Sierra Maestra and in the Rebel Army she fulfilled military missions, participated in the educational project developed there which, in the midst of the fighting, taught literacy to soldiers and peasants of the liberated regions and provided ideological guidance.

After the triumph of the Revolution, she founded the Cuban Women's Federation (FMC by its Spanish acronym) in order to promote the empowerment of women and their contribution to the nation's growth.