Unlike the People’s Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vilma Espin Guilloys is the only Cuban woman who has participated in government affairs in Cuba. She has been described as the most powerful woman of the Cuban Revolution. Little information has been published in the international press about his life. The first reports indicated that his health has deteriorated since 2000.
He was a member of the Cuban aristocratic in the 1940s and 1950s. His father was deputy director of the Bacardi Run Company. He speaks Spanish and English very well. His mother’s French ancestry. Vilma enjoys reading and watching sports. As a member of the Castro family, he lives in luxurious residences. She is famous for being the wife of Raúl Castro, brother of Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz. Currently Raúl Castro is the interim president of Cuba. In addition, he is First Vice President of the Council of State, Vice President of the Council of Ministers, Deputy Secretary of the Politburu and of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
After completing his chemical engineering education at home, he went to the United States to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the best engineering schools in the United States. During the civil war he returned to Havana. Vilma had met Raúl Castro when he was the leader of the Cuban Women’s Movement. In 1959, guerrilla forces captured the city of Havana, the capital of Cuba. The Batista regime was deposed by Fidel Castro.
During the Cold War, Fidel Alejandro Ruz is as dictatorial as his predecessor. The country’s politics is gradually dominated by the Castro Ruz family. The new dictator maintained control over the population he thought in his secret police organization. The Castro regime became known for violating human rights and anti-American politics. Since 1961, the Island emerged as the first socialist state in Latin America. Later, Vilma Espín became president of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and assumed full control of Cuban women.
Such as María Lucía Hiriart de Pinochet (former First Lady of Chile: 1973-1990), Alicia Raquel Hartridge de Videla (former First Lady of Argentina: 1976-1981) and Imelda Remedios Visitacion Romualdez Marcos (former First Lady of the Philippines: 1965-1986 ), Vilma Espin cooperated with one of the six worst dictatorships in the world. After Cuba became a Socialist Republic, the Soviet bloc’s economic and military aid to the Cuban Revolution increased. Ms. Espin immediately began a series of reforms, including human development programs and sports projects. He built many schools, hospitals, museums, libraries, and stadiums. But she supports human rights abuses by the national government.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Cuban intellectuals, such as Lezama Lima, Heberto Padilla, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and Reynaldo arenas, called for more freedom of expression, and many women renewed their efforts to achieve recognition of human rights. Certainly, a strict control of the lives of families emerged. Under his leadership, abortion was declared legal and “Marxist Education” has received emphasis in schools, institutes, academies and universities.
Ms. Espin has carried out important diplomatic missions on behalf of the Cuban dictatorship. She was selected by Soviet World to become an anti-American activist at the United Nations World Conferences for Women (Mexico-75, Denmark-80 and Kenya-85). Of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet Ugarte. It certainly gained popularity in the Socialist Universe. From 1960 to 1990, he traveled to the USSR, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other nations. As First Lady of the Cuban Revolution, she established good relations with the Third World states.
In 1976, he presented “The Family Code”, a project on social equality between men and women on the island. Ironically, internationals report that Cuba has the lowest proportion of ministers and congressmen in its government, surpassed by Liberia, Seychelles and Mozambique.
It is an open criticism of capitalist society, but prostitution is growing on the island. On many occasions, Cuba has been compared to Thailand. prostitution brings more income to the Cuban economy.
Vilma Espín de Castro has been called “the de facto First Lady of the Cuban revolution because she is not Fidel’s wife. Certainly, Dalia Soto del Valle is the true First Lady of the Cuban Revolution because she has been married to Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz since the eighties”.
REFERENCES:
-Bourne, Peter. Fidel: A Biography of Fidel Castro, Dodd Mcad, New York, 1986.
-García, Magali. “Consuelo Gonzáles de Velasco, in the company of Commander Fidel Castro, runs through the Basic Secondary School in the Batalla del Jique field in Havana, Granma, Havana, February 25, 1973
-Gasparini, Juan. Women of Dictators, Peninsula Editions, Barcelona, 2002
-Granma. Vilma Espín’s speech: To Chilean women, sisters of struggle in the anti-imperialist cause, we reiterate from this combative act of firm and unbreakable solidarity of Cuban women, Havana, September 17, 1973
———– “August 23, 17th Anniversary of the Federation of Cuban Women”, Havana, September 4, 1977
———– “Speech by Vilma Espín, President of the Federation of Cuban Women”, Havana, September 23, 1976
-Grogg, Patricia. “Debora”, Cuba Internacional, Havana, December 1988
-Guevara Onofre, Alejandro. History of the United States Woman, Cecosami, Lima, 2002
-Human Development Report 1995: Gender and Human Development, UNDP, New York, 1995
-Rodriguez Calderón, Mirta. “The Family Code will take effect on March 8, International Women’s Day, according to Law 1289 recently issued by the Council of Ministers, Granma, Havana March 2, 1975