Cuba mourns Vilma Espin, rebel 'first lady'
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
HAVANA, Jun 19 (AFP): Cuba held a day of mourning Tuesday for Vilma Espin Guillois, the guerrilla who became the most powerful woman in the revolution that propelled her brother-in-law Fidel Castro to power.
Espin died in Havana Monday aged 77 after a long illness and was cremated, an official statement read on television said. It did not name the illness.
It called her a "heroine of the underground, an outstanding fighter of the rebel army and a tireless struggler for the emancipation of women and the defence of rights of the child."
As wife of the now acting Cuban President Raul Castro, Espin was considered the country's first lady as the veteran leader Fidel Castro's own partner has stayed away from public life.
Espin died in Havana Monday aged 77 after a long illness and was cremated, an official statement read on television said. It did not name the illness.
It called her a "heroine of the underground, an outstanding fighter of the rebel army and a tireless struggler for the emancipation of women and the defence of rights of the child."
As wife of the now acting Cuban President Raul Castro, Espin was considered the country's first lady as the veteran leader Fidel Castro's own partner has stayed away from public life.