[News] Many messages of condolence for Vilma Espin, Cuban Revolutionary

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/junio/mier20/many-messages-of-condolence.html

Havana.  June 20, 2007

Many messages of condolence

WOMEN’S organizations from all over the world 
have sent countless messages of condolence to the 
National Secretariat of the Federation of Cuban 
women at the death of their president, Vilma 
Espín Guillois, who “played a very important role 
in the emancipation of women,” affirmed 1992 
Nobel Peace Laureate Rigoberta Menchú, who 
expressed her profound sympathies for the demise 
of the heroine of the Cuban Revolution.

Messages received also include one from the 
historic Puerto Rican independence leader Rafael 
Cancel Miranda, who said that the patriotic 
Puerto Rican people join, in their hearts, with 
the Cuban people in confronting the departure of 
a woman who fought heroically for her beloved homeland.

 From El Salvador, Violeta Menjívar, the mayor of 
San Salvador, described Vilma as “an 
extraordinary woman whose example we should 
follow throughout Latin America.” She said that 
“I want to tell our sister people of Cuba, their 
government and particularly the women, that we 
profoundly regret the decease of a great leader.”

 From Chile, the Communist Party expressed its 
sympathies over the death of the outstanding 
revolutionary leader in a message signed by party 
chairman Guillermo Teillier. In his turn, the 
editor of the Chilean magazine Punto Final, 
Manuel Cabieses, said that Vilma is one of the 
immortal figures of the Cuban and Latin American Revolution.

The Uruguayan media reflected the significance of 
this great loss, and Colombian news agencies gave 
wide coverage to the news of the Cuban heroine’s 
death, providing information on her life and 
especially the fact that she was one of the top 
figures of the guerrilla struggle, together with Fidel and Raúl.

“Cuban revolutionary Vilma Espín is an important 
example, both in word and deed,” affirmed the 
Peruvian Communist Party (PCP), expressing its sympathies.

For his part, Peruvian poet Winston Orrillo 
expressed his deep sorrow at the death of the 
Cuban leader, paying tribute to her as a “heroine and persistent combatant.”

Likewise, Javier Diez Canseco, former 
parliamentary deputy and leader of the Peruvian 
Socialist Party, described Vilma as an extremely 
outstanding person, a tireless organizer of the 
women of her country and profoundly committed to 
the island’s historic process.

Víctor Mayorga, president of the Peru-Cuba 
Parliamentary Friendship League, affirmed that 
Vilma gave her life, to the end, in defense of 
the dignity of her homeland and her people. In 
their turn, the staff of the Peruvian newspaper 
Nuestra Bandera stated in their message that “she 
symbolized the effort and heroism of the island’s women.”

 From Argentina, workers at the Ernesto Che 
Guevara South American History Museum and the 
Chaubloqueo Solidarity with Cuba School in Buenos 
Aires said that Vilma, like so many other 
heroines of peace, forged in a boundless 
struggle, was a living example of Cuba’s women.

And the Committee to Free the Five and Cuba 
Solidarity Movement in Argentina (MASCUBA) 
communicated their deepest sympathies to the 
Cuban government and people for, as they said, 
“the loss of a woman who will continue to mark 
the path to follow for all revolutionaries in the world.”

Argentine writer and journalist Stella Calloni 
said that Vilma Espín’s death is a great loss to 
Cuba, Latin America and humanity. “She was an 
extraordinary person who helped others to grow, 
and that, in all times, is revolutionary,” the well-known researcher affirmed.

In Venezuela, the state-run nightly news, the 
Agencia Bolivariana de Noticias and the 
international broadcasting network Telesur were 
the first to transmit the news.

On Tuesday the 19th, the All-China Women’s 
Federation also sent a message to the offices of 
the Cuban diplomatic mission in Beijing, 
expressing its deepest sympathies for the death 
of Vilma Espín Guillois, “a Cuban heroine of 
great vision and a friend of the Chinese people, 
who made important contributions to the promotion 
of cooperation between the women of both countries.”

In Buenos Aires, Hebe de Bonafini, president of 
the Association of Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, 
said in a statement that Vilma is not dead, 
“because the great ones like her will never die, 
because with her example, she demonstrated to 
other women how to commit themselves to the 
revolutionary struggle. Beloved Vilma, you will 
be present every Thursday in our Plaza de Mayo, 
together with our children and with Che.”

Dozens of messages of sympathy from all over came 
via email to Granma International.

One was from Dan and Teresa Dolt, who expressed 
their condolences to Cuban Vice President Raúl 
Castro Ruz, and praised Vilma Espín’s work at the 
head of the Federation of Cuban Women.

The leadership of the Nazim Hikmet Center in 
Istanbul, Turkey, emphasized that they would 
always remember this brave revolutionary, who 
fought for equality and for her country’s freedom.

 From Toronto, Canada, Angela and Pastor Valle-Garay wrote:

“Never in the history of humanity did such a 
standard-bearer for human rights, for the rights 
of all the world’s women and for the rights of 
Cuba, shine out as did Vilma Espín Guillois. Now 
she is leaving. As it must be. Close to the heart 
of the free nation that she loved so much. A 
well-merited rest. Her exemplary life will serve 
as a guide for illuminating and inspiring the 
course of many and new generations in Cuba and throughout the world.”




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