Vilma Espin, first lady of Cuban revolution, dies

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

HAVANA, June 19 (Reuters) Vilma Espin, sister-in-law of convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro and one of the most powerful woman in Cuba's political leadership, died in Havana. She was 77.

State-run Cuban television yesterday said Espin died from complications from a long-standing illness, but did not give further details.

A key figure in advancing equality for women in Communist Cuba, Espin was married to Castro's younger brother Raul, who took over as acting president in July 2006 after the elder Castro underwent emergency intestinal surgery and was sidelined from power.

Espin, who was rumored to be ill for more than a year, was Cuba's unofficial first lady because Fidel Castro has always kept his private life out of the public limelight and his wife Dalia Soto del Valle has never played any official role.

Espin was president of the Cuban Women's Federation since its creation in 1960, a year after Castro took power in a leftist revolution. She met Raul Castro, who would later become defense minister, when she joined his brother's guerrilla movement in the Sierra Maestra mountains.

One of the first women to graduate as a chemical engineer in Cuba, Espin founded the women's federation, a mass organization that mobilized women for the revolutionary cause and to advance gender equality. The federation has about 3.6 million members today, or 85 per cent of the island's women.

REUTERS KN SBA BST0607

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