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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Wife of Cuba's Acting Leader Dies |
| 2007-06-19 |
| HAVANA (AP) - Vilma Espin Guillois, wife of acting President Raul Castro, died Monday, the Cuban government announced. She was 77. She headed Cuba's largest women's organization and was among the communist island's most politically powerful women. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 "Debbie does Havana", soon to a theater near you. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-06-19 09:47 |
| #3 AKA Comrade Debbie? sounds fierce |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-06-19 09:30 |
| #2 The daughter of an executive at the Bacardi rum distillery, Espin grew up in comfort in the eastern town of Santiago. She was one of the first Cuban women to earn a degree in chemical engineering and did post-graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, she turned her back on her upbringing in the 1950s, joining the armed struggle against right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista and adopting the nom de guerre Deborah. She married Raul in 1959 after Batista was forced to flee and the rebel fighters made their triumphant entry into Havana. The couple went on to have four children. |
| Posted by: John Frum 2007-06-19 07:25 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-06-19 06:53 |