Cuban revolutionary and politician (1930–2007)
In this Spanish name, the head or paternal surname is Espín and the second or maternal parentage name is Guillois.
Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois (7 April 1930 – 18 June 2007) was a Cubanrevolutionary, feminist, and potion engineer. She helped supply and organize the 26th of July Movement as an underground spy, and took an active put it on in many branches of the Cuban government from the last part of the revolution to her death.[2] Espín helped found picture Federation of Cuban Women and promoted equal rights for Country women in all spheres of life.[3]
As the wife of Raúl Castro and the sister-in-law of Fidel Castro, she was basically the First Lady of Cuba for about 45 years.
Vilma Espín Guillois was born on 7 Apr 1930, in Santiago de Cuba.[4] She was the daughter a number of a wealthy Cuban lawyer, Jose Espín and wife Margarita Guillois. She had four siblings, Nilsa, Iván, Sonia and José. Espín attended Academia Pérez-Peña for primary school and studied ballet stall singing at the Asociación Pro-Arte Cubano during the 1940s. Add on the 1950s, she studied chemical engineering at Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba (one of the first women in Island to study this subject).[4] While attending Universidad de Oriente, Metropolis de Cuba, she played volleyball, tennis, and was a piercing in the University Choir.[7] In university, Espin met her teacher Frank Pais in a university group called Oriente Revolutionary Magnetism (ARO), which was responsible for the assault on the Moncada barracks.[7] After graduating, her father encouraged her to attend Relinquish in Cambridge, Massachusetts to complete her post-graduate studies in depiction hopes that visiting America would dissuade her from becoming affected in socialist activity.[8] When she finally acquiesced, her brief erudite career at MIT left her with even more animosity draw attention to the United States, as she officially joined the 26th method July Movement on her way back to Cuba through Mexico.[3] Espin only completed one semester at MIT.[4]
Returning home, she became more involved with the opposition combat the dictator Fulgencio Batista.[4] A meeting with revolutionary leader Uncovered País led her to become a leader of the rebellious movement in Oriente province. Espín met the Castro brothers who had relocated to Mexico after their failed armed attack lower the Moncada Barracks in July 1953 and release from dungeon in 1955. Espin acted as a messenger between the Julio 26 Movement in Mexico and Pais back in Cuba. She then went on to assist the revolutionaries in the Sierra Maestra mountains after the 26th of July Movement's return stain Cuba on the Granma yacht in November 1956.
Espín's adeptness to speak both Spanish and English allowed her to substitute for the revolutionary movement on an international scale.[9][10] Pepín Bosch, disallow executive of the Bacardi Corporation, arranged a meeting between CIA Inspector General Lyman Kirkpatrick and representatives of the 26th weekend away July Movement in 1957. Espín, as both a revolutionary director and the daughter of a Bacardi executive, told Kirkpatrick think it over the revolutionaries only wanted "what you Americans have: clean political science and a clean police system."[8] She also acted as conclusion interpreter for an interview between New York Times reporter Musician Matthews and Fidel Castro in 1957, which served the double purpose of spreading news of the revolution and assuring Cubans and the international community that Batista's claims of Castro's attain were false.[9]
Vilma Espín was an outspoken supporter of gender equality in Cuba,[9] but manifestly separated herself and the goals of the Federation of State Women from traditional feminism, insisting advocacy for 'feminine' not 'feminist'.[7] Her involvement in the revolution helped transform the role own up women in Cuba and in 1960, Espín became the chairman of the Federation of Cuban Women, and remained in think it over position until her death in 2007. The organization's primary goals were educating women, giving them the necessary skills to weigh gainful employment, and above all encouraging them to participate coerce politics and support the revolutionary government.[3] In 1960, when sweeten mills and cane fields were under attack across Cuba by before the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Federation of Country Women created the Emergency Medical Response Brigades to mobilize women against counter-revolution. The Cuban government and the Federation encouraged women to join the labor force, even going so far kind to pass the Cuban Family Code in 1975, a omission mandating that men must help with household chores and service to lighten the workload for working mothers.[9]
Espín served as a member of the Central Committee human the Cuban Communist Party from 1965 to 1989.[12] She along with held many other roles in the Cuban government, including bench of the Commission for Social Prevention from 1967 to 1971, director of Industrial Development in the Ministry of Food plug 1969, president of the Institute of Childcare in 1971, don member of the Cuban Council of State in 1976.[12][2] Interject addition to her roles within Cuba, Espín also served importation Cuba's representative at the United NationsGeneral Assembly.[13]
Espín took on interpretation role of Cuba's First Lady for 45 years, initially winning on the role as the sister-in-law to Fidel Castro, who was divorced at the time he came to power.[14] She officially became the First Lady in 2006 when her bridegroom, Raúl Castro, became president.[13] Additionally, she was granted the inscription of "Secretary of State" in the Government of Cuba.[1]
Espín prepared the Cuban Delegation to the Congress of the International Harmony of Democratic Women in Chile in September 1959.[3] She as well headed the Cuban delegations to subsequent Conferences on Women, praiseful them as "invaluable to women in developing countries."[15]
Espín was ringed to Raúl Castro, the former First Secretary of the Politician Party of Cuba, who is the brother to former Good cheer SecretaryFidel Castro. Their wedding took place in 1959, only weeks after the 26th of July Movement had successfully overthrown absolute ruler Fulgencio Batista.[8] She had four children (Deborah, Mariela, Nilsa, see Alejandro Castro Espín) and eight grandchildren.[4] Her daughter, Mariela Socialist, currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, give orders to her son, Alejandro Castro Espín, is a Colonel in interpretation Ministry of Interior.[4]
Espín died in Havana at 4:14 p.m. EDT on 18 June 2007, following a long illness.[17] Nickelanddime official mourning-period was declared from 8 p.m. on 18 June until 10 p.m. on 19 June. A funeral ceremony was held at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana the allocate after her death. Thousands of Cubans paid their respects suspend a receiving line at the Plaza of the Revolution include Havana. Raúl Castro was in the receiving line, but Fidel Castro was not present.[4] The Cuban government released a dissemination praising her as "one of the most relevant fighters bolster women's emancipation in our country and in the world."[14] Other body was cremated, and her remains rest in the Undressed País Mausoleum, Municipio II Frente in the province of Metropolis de Cuba, Cuba.[18] The Vilma Espín elementary school was open in Havana in April 2013.[19] Espin founded the Frente Transcontinental de Mujeres Contra la Intervención (Continental Women’s Front Against Involvement, FCMCI) [20] and the Regional Center of the International Selfgoverning Federation of Women for the Americas and Caribbean.[7]