Portrait of a quintessential Cuban woman

Capitán San Luis Publishing House launches Vilma, una vida extraordinaria

Subsequent presentations to take place in Santiago de Cuba and Segundo Frente

Leticia Martínez Hernández

VILMA, una vida extraordinaria (Vilma, an Extraordinary Life) can be described as a faithful portrait of this quintessential Cuba woman. It is a book which takes us back to the heroine who put love into everything she did, who changed the lives of innumerable people. It is a book which shows that inside this delicate woman, stood a pillar of strength.

This is an impassioned work, according to Juan Carlos Rodríguez, editor of Capital San Luis and responsible for compiling the contents of the book which was launched as part of the International Book Fair in Havana. "The reader is going to encounter a treasure trove of correspondence, with surprising testimony. Vilma was a brilliant narrator; her stories don’t contain high-flown or elaborate words. They do not contain anything extra and nothing is missing. Her writing is so natural, it astonishes," he writes in the introduction.

The book attempts to capture, in 240 pages, the life of Vilma Espín Guillois, beginning when she was coordinator of the 26th of July Movement in Oriente province and one of the revolutionaries most pursued by repressive forces of the Batista dictatorship, through her days as a guerrilla in the Rebel Army and her years devoted to the Cuban Revolution, during which, after January 1, 1959, she made the struggle for women’s liberation and the defense of children’s rights the center of her life.

Rodríguez said, ""Included are her experiences during the 14 months she lived underground, in absolute clandestinity and the way in which she was later involved in social justice projects such as eradicating prostitution, providing care for thousands of children living on the streets, creating the Escuela Ana Betancourt for campesinas and the establishment of day care centers for working mothers, among many others. The book allows you to understand that she was passionate about each and every task she undertook."

"Readers are going to identify a great deal with our Vilma. They are going to encounter a Cuban woman with mettle," one who took the floor in international forums to advocate for women’s equality, to denounce child labor, drug use and domestic violence… All places where her voice inspired great respect, where many times she returned to wearing her guerrilla clothing to defend just causes.

"She is the protagonist of all this history," Rodríguez commented.

"She is the author; we only put the jigsaw puzzle together based on what she wrote and all that she was involved in. From the very first page, the reader feels that Vilma is relating the events. You feel like you are listening to her," according to the editor who found that delving into the marvelous life of this woman felt like meeting the great human being she was once again.

The book contains some 1,000 images, with photographs and documents, including not only photos of Vilma, but of her compañeros in the struggle.

After two years of research, you reached the conclusion that many aspects of Vilma’s life are largely unknown. What legacy does the book provide young readers, given that they may know the least about Vilma and about this era?

"The book is a portrait of the Revolution. It also perfectly captures the crimes committed by the Batista dictatorship. You are outraged by the brutality of the repressive forces in Santiago de Cuba and the courage of young revolutionaries. For the youth of today, it’s a history lesson, a lesson in revolutionary commitment, above all, a lesson in the social justice of the Revolution’s work."

Asela de los Santos Tamayo, another woman who made history, wrote in the prologue, "May this beautiful book, in the hands of our people and especially our youth, serve as a new encounter with this quintessential, 20th century mambisa, a combatant in the trenches of ideas and in the trenches of stone, an untiring fighter for justice, a human being who taught us to face adversity and even death, always supported by the two great forces which sustained and animated her life: love and ethics."

These pages also offer testimony to Vilma’s absolute loyalty to Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro, beginning during the revolutionary struggle and consolidated over more than 50 years of joint work. It was precisely Fidel who in December, 2001, awarded Vilma the honorary title of Heroine of the Republic, the highest tribute to her tireless efforts.

In addition to telling the story of the battles in which she was involved, the book describes the love she shared with Raúl, from their time as young guerrilleros. The moments they experienced together as a new Cuba was being constructed are preserved in her letters and photos. Vilma, una vida extraordinaria, offers a portrait of a woman who struggled with the same strength with which she loved.

GRANMA

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