Goodbye to a Heroine of the Ages: Vilma Espin De Castro

Senora Vilma Espin de Castro has gone to take her place with legends and heroes, leaving Cuba with a longer lifespan, a lower infant mortality rate, and a greater literacy rate than the U.S. What a blessing for the rest of us - to have been privileged to witness the life of a visionary who managed to live long enough to see most of her dreams for her country fulfilled.

To say that Vilma Espin spit in the eye of the Devil and sent him packing is an understatement. ...and when the Devil was gone, she barred the door and watched it herself - for almost 50 years. While she was nation-building, Vilma Espin also found time to marry Raul Castro and raise five children with him. She is, and will continue to be in memory, the First Lady of Cuba.

When Life Gives You Lemons... make lemonade and sip it serenely in the garden under a big old shade tree. When life gives you poverty, embrace it and live with genteel grace. Don't wait for duty to call. Stand tall and walk out to meet it. Be willing to defend your own, unto death if need be. These are all accurate observations that could be made concerning the life of Vilma Espin.

Vilma Espin was a graduate chemical engineering student at M.I.T. when the call came that a 10 year old girl, who had befriended the revolutionary leader, Celia Sanchez, had been tortured and murdered by Batista. Vilma put down her books and went home to fight in the Revolution.

"Like Celia, Vilma quickly became a frontline guerrilla fighter of legendary proportions. Frank Pais was captured by Batista goons and gruesomely executed on a public street in Santiago. But the Batista goons never captured, never out-smarted and never out-fought Celia Sanchez or Vilma Espin." (Rich Haney)

Vilma Espin is, in all likelihood, one of the greatest heroines of social and cultural programs who has ever lived. She will be remembered around the world for speeches that stir the soul of every woman, every mother, and every human rights advocate who heard her or who has read her speeches. In brief, her message was that mothers don't care why their children are dying. It doesn't matter if it is because of war, sickness, or starvation. They just want their babies to live so they can raise them to be productive citizens. She brought that message around the world and made certain it was a dream that came true in Cuba.

Now, Vilma Espin is dead - and the Devil is eyeing the door... just waiting for a chance to come back from Florida. Stupid Devil. Great spirits don't die.