REFLECTIONS BY THE COMMANDER
IN CHIEF
VILMA’S STRUGGLES
Vilma is dead. Even
though the news was expected, it was still an impact. Out of respect for her
delicate health condition, I never raised her name in my reflections.
Vilma’s example today is more necessary than ever. She devoted her entire life to the struggle
for women’s rights when in
It was not
always this way throughout the historical evolution of our species, leading her
to fulfill the social role befitting her as a natural workshop where life is
forged.
In our
country, women came out from under one of the most horrible forms of society, that of a Yankee neo-colony under the aegis of
imperialism and its system, where everything that the human being is capable of
creating was turned into merchandise.
When what
has been defined as the exploitation of man by man started far back in history,
the mothers and children of the dispossessed bore the brunt of the burden.
Cuban
women used to work as domestic servants, or in luxurious shops and bourgeois
bars, selected for their good looks. Factories assigned them the simplest jobs,
the ones that were the most repetitive and worst paid.
In
education and healthcare --services provided on a small scale-- their
indispensable cooperation was as teachers and nurses who had only been offered
basic training. The country, 2,009.92 miles from end to end, only had one
higher education center located in the capital and later, several faculties in
university campuses in two other provinces.
As a rule, the only young women who could study there were those from
the most affluent families. In many activities, the presence of a woman was not
even dreamed of.
For almost
half a century, I have been witness to Vilma’s
struggles. I cannot forget her presence
at the meetings of the July 26 Movement in the Sierra Maestra. She was eventually sent by the movement's
directorate to carry out an important mission on the Second Eastern Front. Vilma did not
shrink from any danger.
After the
triumph of the Revolution, she began her ceaseless battle for the rights of
Cuban women and children, which led her to found and lead the Federation of
Cuban Women. There was no national or
international forum too distant for her to attend in defense of her assailed
homeland and of the noble and just ideas of the Revolution.
Her gentle
voice, steady and timely, was always listened to with great respect in Party,
State and mass organization meetings.
Today
women in
Revolutionary duties and her immense work load never prevented Vilma from fulfilling her responsibilities as a loyal wife
and mother of several children.
Vilma is dead. Long
live Vilma!
Fidel Castro Ruz