Nation bids farewell to wife of Fidel's younger brother
From Elizabeth Mistry in Havana
HER NOM de guerre was Deborah and she was the most powerful woman in
Cuba. For almost 50 years she was the Caribbean island's de facto first
lady, appearing alongside her brother-in-law, Fidel Castro, at official
events and founding the largest womens' organisation in the country.
But although she was - by marriage - a Castro for almost 50 years, she
was known throughout the island until her death last week simply as
Vilma Espin.
As the wife of Castro's younger brother, defence minister Raul, who is
currently acting as caretaker president while Fidel continues to
recuperate following major surgery last year, Espin was destined for a
very different life from the one she had been born into.
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The daughter of a middle-class lawyer for the Bacardi Rum company and
his French wife, she was still a student when she joined the clandestine
network supporting the guerrilla movement seeking to topple dictator
Fulgencio Batista.
She used the codename Deborah while working with one of the most senior
insurgents, Frank Pais, who was killed by police after an informant
revealed where he was hiding.
She also passed messages between Fidel and his contacts on the island
while he was in exile in Mexico.
The partners of Fidel, who is believed to have married twice, hardly
ever appeared in public, and while Dalia Soto del Valle, his second wife
and the mother of five of his sons, remained out of the limelight, it
fell to Vilma to represent the country's women both internationally and
at home - where, it is rumoured, many years ago, she became friendly
with a young visitor to the island named Hillary Rodham who, as Hillary
Clinton, is currently seeking the Democrat nomination for US
presidential candidate.
A trained scientist, Vilma Espin dedicated much of her later life to the
Federacion de Mujeres Cubanas, the Cuban Womens' Federation, which was
responsible for passing a bill that required men - in principle at least
- to help with housework. Her replacement as head of the FMC is already
the subject of considerable debate in a country where political and
genetic heritage are still intertwined. Espin's eldest daughter with
Raul, Mariela, a noted sexologist who has overseen important
developments for gay and lesbian rights on the island has been mentioned
as a potential successor.
"She was irreplaceable, a unique woman, who did tremendous work
educating us all about women's rights," Reinaldo Valdez Grillo, a Cuban
trade unionist and MP who knew her well, told the Sunday Herald.
Stephen Wilkinson, assistant director of the International Institute for
the Study of Cuba at London Metropolitan University, believes her death
will be particularly poignant for many Cubans on the island who have
spent almost a year under the caretaker presidency of Raul Castro. "It
says a lot about the longevity of the leadership, as she is the most
important member of Fidel's circle to die since Celia Hernandez another
prominent revolutionary more than 20 years ago. It is now clear that the
generation that made the revolution is passing away. It's a death knell
for them of sorts. It will concentrate minds again about what is to come."
But with Fidel Castro, who did not attend any of the events marking his
sister-in-law's death, still understood to be in a delicate state of
health and unlikely to return to mainstream political life, quite what
the future holds for the island remains unclear.
The possibility that relations with the European Union might improve -
things have been strained since the EU criticised Cuba's human rights
record in 2003 - seems unlikely in the short term after a meeting of the
EU's Council of Ministers last week. The council concluded that human
rights remained a matter of concern but added that it was "open to
dialogue", a position that was rejected by Havana, although it was not
clear if Cuba would send a delegation to Brussels as suggested by the EU.
And in the US, moves to ratchet up the 45-year economic and political
blockade of the island were stepped up on Friday as Congress voted an
extra US$10 million towards funding opposition groups in Cuba. The US,
which has drawn up a plan to manage "regime change" on the island has
also sought to put pressure on US companies abroad which trade with
foreign businesses which in turn trade with Cuba. Recent cases have
involved the Hilton hotel chain, which recently told a British
parliamentary committee that it could not accept bookings from Cubans at
its properties in the UK as this would violate US law. A number of banks
and other UK businesses are also under pressure from the US government
over similar cases. MP Ian Davidson told the Sunday Herald that the
Scottish Affairs Select Committee cancelled a booking at a Hilton
property in Dundee and will not use the hotel group's properties until
the company agrees to abide by British law.
http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.1494282.0.0.php
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