Vilma Lucía Espin Guillois

Chemical Engineer. Fighter and leader of the Cuban Revolution. She was president of the Federation of Cuban Women and member of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba.

She was born in the city of Santiago de Cuba, her parents were José Espín Vivar and Margarita Guillois Gachassin-Lafite, they had six children: Liliana, Vilma, Nilsa, Iván, Sonia and José Alejandro. Her maternal grandmother was a cousin of Paul Lafargue, one of the founders of the French Socialist Party and son-in-law of Karl Marx.

She completed her primary studies at the Academia Pérez Peña, and secondary studies at the Colegio El Sagrado Corazón, both in her native city, and graduated as a Bachelor of Science in 1948.

Her admission to the newly created University of Oriente marked the beginning of a decisive stage in the strengthening and development of her political ideas. As a student, she stood out for her dedication to study, and in particular for her inclination toward mathematics, physics and chemistry. She also excelled in sports, as a member of the women's volleyball team, of which she was captain for some time, representing the University of Oriente under the name of Mambises in various sporting competitions. She also participated in cultural activities, such as the University Choir, which she joined in 1950.

When the coup d'état of March 10, 1952 occurred, Vilma Espín, along with the faculty and students of the University of Oriente, protested against Fulgencio Batista's coup. She joined the newly created National Revolutionary Movement (MNR), founded by university professors, whose Provincial Action chief was Frank País.

Following the attacks on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks in Bayamo—which Fidel Castro led on July 26, 1953—Frank País established the organization Eastern Revolutionary Action (ARO) to promote armed struggle against the Batista dictatorship. Vilma Espín was among his closest and most active collaborators.

Subsequently, Frank País integrated the ARO into the Revolutionary Movement of July 26 (MR 26-7); Vilma continued her insurrectional activity as a front-line activist.

On July 14, 1954, she took her final exam to complete her university studies, earning the degree of Chemical Engineer. She was one of the first two women to graduate in Cuba in this specialty. That same year she traveled to the United States to pursue postgraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After completing that academic stay, she received guidance to pass through Mexico City to carry out revolutionary tasks. There she established contact with Fidel and Raúl Castro.

Under Frank País's orders, she participated in the armed uprising in Santiago de Cuba on November 30, 1956, which was one of the actions planned to favor the landing of the expeditionaries of the Granma, led by Fidel Castro. After this event, Vilma Espín's house became the General Headquarters of the MR 26-7 in Santiago de Cuba.

In February 1957, the leadership of the MR 26-7 decided, for security reasons, that she should go underground. She then used the pseudonyms of Alicia, Luz, Mónica, Déborah and Mariela.

Shortly before being assassinated, Frank País appointed her Provincial Coordinator of the Movement in Oriente, a position she held until June 1958. She was also a member of the National Leadership of the MR 26-7.

The persecution by the repressive bodies of the dictatorship forced her to join the Rebel Army in the II Eastern Front Frank País, in which she had a prominent role as a fighter.

Following the triumph of the Cuban Revolution on January 1, 1959, she carried out different tasks as a leader of the MR 26-7. On January 26, 1959, Vilma and the then Commander Raúl Castro, chief of the II Eastern Front "Frank País," married, and subsequently built a family of four children and eight grandchildren.

On August 23, 1960, after intensive preparatory work, the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) was officially created. Within fifteen months, the fledgling organization, driven by Vilma, had created its first grassroots delegations and intermediate bodies, and undertaken actions that mobilized women toward the construction of schools and hospitals, the collection and care of homeless children, participation in improving the lives of marginalized neighborhoods and other activities.

Vilma Espín was elected President by the Founding Assembly of the Federation of Cuban Women, and ratified in each of the congresses held by the organization, from the first in 1962 to the seventh in the year 2000.

From the beginning, she directed the organization of first aid courses and promoted the incorporation of women into the National Revolutionary Militias, in response to their demand to prepare for the defense of the Revolution. She promoted and established sewing and tailoring courses and joined the National Literacy Commission. She later directed the incorporation of housewives into the educational follow-up plan to achieve sixth and ninth grade education, in addition to promoting the creation of adult advancement classrooms.

She directed and coordinated, in 1961, the creation of the Ana Betancourt School for Rural Women, and the Evening Schools for Domestic Worker Advancement. In 1962 she created the Fe del Valle School of Cadres. She presided, from 1969 to 1976, over the Institute of Childhood, an organization that unified the direction of children's institutions in the country.

Also, in work related to her profession, she was technical director of the Ministry of Food Industry (MINAL), where she promoted scientific-technical research. With the purpose of knowing the scientific results achieved in the sugar cane derivatives industry, she maintained collaboration with researchers from the Cuban Institute of Research on Sugar Cane Derivatives (ICIDCA). But her field of action went beyond the technological and scientific work of this Ministry, as she developed creative work that extended to the sectors of service and consumption, industrial design, packaging and supplies and social food services, among others.

In addition to structuring departments and directorates that existed in MINAL, she created new ones, and selected researchers and qualified personnel to found the Research-Development Department of MINAL, which later became the Institute of Research for the Food Industry.

In 1972 she promoted the creation of the National Working Group on Sex Education (GNTES), officially established in 1977 and attached from 1981 to the Standing Commission for Attention to Children, Youth and Equality of Women's Rights of the National Assembly of People's Power. She founded and presided, from 1987, over the Commission for Prevention and Social Care attached to the Council of Ministers.

She founded the Continental Front of Women Against Intervention. She presided, in 1984, over the Regional Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations for Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1985 and 1988 she also presided over two major continental women's events held in Havana.

She was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) since its founding in 1965, and received ratification in all subsequent congresses.

She presided over the Working Commission that, under her direction, developed the Thesis on the Full Exercise of Women's Equality, discussed at the I Congress of the PCC in 1975, and the Commission that adopted the Resolution on this thesis, setting conceptual and programmatic guidelines on the subject. In 1980, during the II Congress of the PCC, she was elected as alternate member of its Political Bureau, and promoted, at the III Congress of the organization, to full member, a position she held until 1991.

On December 2, 1976, when the National Assembly of People's Power was constituted, she was elected deputy and member of the State Council. She received multiple decorations, titles, national and international orders, among which stand out the honorary title of Heroine of the Republic of Cuba, the Lenin Peace Prize and the Order "Mariana Grajales."

Vilma Espín Guillois died in Havana, on June 18, 2007. Her remains rest in the Mausoleum of the fighters of the II Eastern Front Frank País, in Mayarí Arriba, northwest of the Sierra Maestra.