Yesterday and always, Vilma among us.
Seventeen years after her departure, Vilma Espín is still alive in her people, in her people, in each of those women for whom she fought so hard and whom she helped unconditionally.
When talking about Cuban women of universal stature, the name of Vilma Espín stands out in the list.
On April 7th, 1930, Santiago de Cuba welcomed a little girl who would later multiply the ethical values learned in her native Cuba.
She studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Oriente, a stage that marked the beginning of a strengthening and development of her political ideas. He stood out for his participation in cultural and sports activities, and was a member of the Eastern University Student Federation.
During her school life she was influenced by Spanish exiled professors, who arrived in Cuba after the Civil War and she joined the position of the Eastern university student body with respect to the coup d’état in actions of confrontation to the dictatorship. She was linked to the National Revolutionary Movement and to the conspiratorial activities of the young Santiago leader Frank País García, before both joined the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement.
It was during the preparations for the new stage of the struggle, when she stopped over in Mexico, that she met with Fidel Castro and received his instructions and messages for the combatants who were in hiding in Cuba, without imagining that she was forming a bond for her future life.
Life companion of Army General Raul Castro, mother of four children, clandestine fighter, relentless guerrilla, woman of great human sensitivity who dedicated part of her life to defend the place of women in society, founder of the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC), an organization that she led with passion and justice.
Seventeen years after her departure, Vilma Espín is still alive in her people, in her people, in each of those women for whom she fought so hard and whom she helped unconditionally.
Her imprint will last in time, in the history of a country that today puts her name in every space of the Cuban woman.
Written by Dunia Bermúdez.
