REVOLUTION WITHIN THE

REVOLUTION
 INDEX
★ Introduction 2
★ Historical Context: The Cuban Revolution 3
★ The importance of women in the Cuban Revolution 6
★ Relevant women who participated in the Revolution 9
★ Women’s Organisations 15
★ Conclusion 19
★ Appendix 20
★ Bibliography 22

Pilar Noguera 1
 Introduction
How did women execute leadership during the revolution: Vilma
Espin, Haydée Santamaría and Celia Sanchez.

Are women strong? Were they always like this? The answer to this question will be
analyzed along this essay, through the investigation of the lives of some relevant women who
made an impact on the Cuban Revolution. This women are: Vilma Espín, ​Haydée Santamaría
and Celia Sanchez. In addition, I will scrutinize the ways in which women got involved in the
Revolution and how they manifested themselves, while being immersed in a chauvinistic and
patriarchal society, where 21,000 women were unemployed and searching for a job, 87,522
worked as domestic servants, 77,500 worked for a relative without pay and 40,000 were sex
workers. By looking at these numbers, we can infer that women were seen as less than men,
they were discriminated in the working market by the simple fact of being women. This is
one of the reasons why I chose this topic, because to me, we live in the 21st century and
chauvinism still exists, we live in the 21st century and women still earn less than men, we
live in the 21st century and women still have to fight for their rights, we live in the 21st
century and people still think that feminists hate men. Another reason why I chose this topic
is because it represents one of my interests which is the importance of equitative treatment
within genders and the fact women had important roles in the Revolution but are sometimes
overlooked by society. Also, this empowerment demonstrates how women can, how they
fight for their beliefs and carry a strong voice.
Along this investigation I aim to understand up to which point were women involved
in the Revolution, how women got to power and leadership, where they came from, how
women manifested themselves, if they were important as part of the guerrilla at that time and
what they achieved. The reason of this being that their role was crucial, and by their acts they
provided education and rights to all women.

Pilar Noguera 2
 The Cuban Revolution

To start with, the context in which this uprising took place becomes very relevant due
to the fact that Cuba, an island in the Caribbean, which was “controlled” by USA until 1957,
this meant that Cuba didn’t really have a clear identity nor independence. Plus, the president
at that time, Batista had suspended constitutional guarantees such as freedom of assembly and
freedom of expression. Cuba was tinted with blood, many people were being killed and no
one knew what to do. The revolution continued into 1958 with sporadic raids and
considerable destruction of property, as the unrest began to seriously disrupt the Cuban
economy. Sugar mills and plantations were burned, bombings in Havana depressed the tourist
trade, and rebel activity in Oriente province hampered the mining industry. Responding to the
unrest, the United States imposed an arms embargo on Cuba in March and suspended
delivery of nearly 2,000 Garand rifles to the Cuban government. Batista took advantage of
the violence to call for a postponement of the June 1958 presidential election, and on March
26 the elections were rescheduled for November 3. Communist groups led by Juan Marinello
responded by calling for a general strike on April 9. Although the strike did not materialize,
the communists continued to assert their role as a major force in the opposition.

Believing that the failure of the strike represented a decline in popular support for the
rebels, Batista launched a major military effort against Castro’s forces.

For his part, Castro issued a number of proclamations during the year, ranging from
appeals for a general strike to death threats against all candidates for political office. Among
Castro’s exploits was the kidnapping of 10 American and 2 Canadian civilians from the
Freeport Sulphur company mining headquarters in northeast Cuba on June 26. The following
day, 28 U.S. sailors were kidnapped from a bus outside the Guantánamo Bay naval base.
Several other U.S. citizens were seized, but the anger aroused in the United States over these
actions led Castro to release his prisoners within the following week. On July 28, U.S.
Marines from Guantánamo Bay were ​deployed to protect the base’s water supply. Raúl
Castro (Fidel Castro’s brother) whose rebel forces controlled the area around the base, voiced

Pilar Noguera 3
his opposition to the move, and on August 1 Batista dispatched Cuban troops to guard the
water supply so the Marines could be withdrawn.

As the rescheduled election date approached, three main candidates tried to appeal to
Cuban voters: Andrés Rivero Agüero, Batista’s chosen successor; Carlos Márquez Sterling,
who was supported by some moderate groups; and former president Ramón Grau San Martín,
the candidate of the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Castro threatened violence against both
candidates and voters in the days before the election. When the results of the election were
announced, however, it was clear that massive fraud had occurred. The moderate Márquez
Sterling was awarded victory in the four provinces where legitimate voting had taken place,
but Rivero Agüero was declared the overall winner, because of unchecked ballot-stuffing in
Oriente and Las Villas. Had Márquez Sterling won the election, the Cuban Revolution might
have taken a very different course. Instead, Batista’s interference virtually assured the
collapse of his regime.

The weeks following the election saw support for Batista melt away. Although much
of the army remained loyal to him, its combat effectiveness had been seriously compromised,
because of ammunition shortages resulting from the American arms embargo. Castro’s
forces, which for years had waged a successful guerrilla campaign, could now match
government troops in pitched battle and often faced them with superior equipment obtained
from foreign sources. On December 27 1958, a rebel force under Che Guevara routed the
garrison in Santa Clara, and captured an armoured train filled with arms and ammunition that
were desperately needed by government forces. Batista, seeing that his position was
untenable, resigned the presidency in the early morning hours of January 1, 1959. He would
spend the rest of his life in exile in Portugal.

Batista had handed over power to the commander in chief of the army, Gen. Eulogio
Cantillo, who established a provisional government headed by Chief Justice Carlos M.
Piedra, Gen. José E. Pedraza, and himself. Castro, who had proclaimed the victory of the
revolution from the balcony of the Santiago de Cuba city hall, refused to deal with the junta,
and on January 3 Guevara led the first rebel column into Havana, unopposed. Castro himself

Pilar Noguera 4
did not arrive in Havana until January 8, when a new provisional government was established
with Manuel Urrutia Lleó as president and Castro as prime minister.

Indiscriminate arrests, acts of torture, and executions began almost at once throughout
Cuba. By May 15, 1959, some 600 people linked to the Batista government had been put to
death by revolutionary courts. One of the first significant acts of the new regime was to
confer upon the Argentinian Guevara the status of native-born Cuban, thus making him
eligible for any government position, including the presidency. Guevara would spend the
following months presiding over military prisons, directing courts-martial, and making
extensive tours of Asia, North Africa, and the Soviet Union.

Batista later organized an operation called Operation Verano, also known as la

Ofensiva (the offensive) and sent 12000 troops to combat Castro. This operation led to
historical battles. On August 21, 1958, Castro decided to launch his own offensive: he would
divide his forces, which had grown a lot. He sent Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto Guevara
into the plains with small armies, and he followed them with all the other rebels. They
captured entire towns and villages while they were on their way: Cienfuegos captured the
small garrison at Yaguajay, Guevara and about 300 men defeated a larger army in the city of
Santa Clara. In their way, they also captured very valuable munitions. 1

Batista and his government knew it was impossible Castro´s history not to happen so,
they fled, authorising some of his subordinates to deal with Castro and the rebels. The people
took Cuba's streets greeting the rebels who by the January the 2 entered Havana and disarmed
the left militars.

1
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-cuban-revolution-2136372
Pilar Noguera 5
 The importance of women in the Cuban
Revolution

The author Orlando Borrego Diaz, highlights that the role of women in the revolution
was crucial. He also says that it was very important at that time as it is now, due to the fact
that the is still discrimination towards women.2 Also, the author and former guerilla mentions
that women do not create sexual conflicts within the troops as many people may think, they
are extremely valuable and can perform all kinds of tasks, even combat ones. However, while
being compared to men, women are a clear minority inside the guerrillas.3
In the Cuban Revolution, women performed tasks as messengers, cooks, nurses,
doctors, seamstresses, civil organization and in combat.4 A good example worth mentioning
was a meeting, where the fidelistas were 18 people. The next day, they went to the plain,
where they held a meeting at Hacienda La Monteria. Specifically for this meeting, women
were chosen because they understood that they would have greater possibilities of crossing
army barriers. The women who attended were Haydee Santamaria, Celia Sanchez and Vilma
Espin.5 Currently, in the Museum of the Cuban Revolution in Old Havana we can see a skirt
as an example of what many women used during the revolution to hide objects and transpose
them from a place to another surreptitiously. In the book titled ​Che en la Revolución Cubana
Tomo VII Pensamiento Guerrillero​, they point out that women wore belts and underneath
their skirts they hid objects like bullets, dynamite and messages that were transported
mocking the security of the government.6
According to some authors, the Cuban Revolution was positive for women because in
pre-revolution Cuba, many women were often forced to work in domestic positions.
However, with the communist revolution came an increase in education and jobs for women.

2
Borrego Diaz, Orlando. Che en la Revolución Cubana. Tomo VII Pensamiento Guerrillero. Editorial
José Martí, La Habana, 2016, page. 78.
3
Ibid., page. 78.
4
Ibid., page. 80. ​Women lend their services and can perfectly replace men, even in the case of
carrying arms, although it turns out to be very little in the guerrilla life.
5
Thomas, Hugh. Cuba La lucha por la libertad. Vintage Español, Nueva York, 2011, page. 716.
6
Borrego Diaz, Orlando. Che en la Revolución Cubana. Tomo VII Pensamiento Guerrillero. Editorial
José Martí, La Habana, 2016, page. 79.

Pilar Noguera 6
 Organizations like the Federation of Cuban Women push for equal rights in Cuba,
focused on issues directly affecting women, and started many literacy and health campaigns.
As a result, women in Cuba are highly educated, compromising of about 46.7% of Cuba’s
workforce, 65.1% of Cuba’s professional and technical staff, 43% Cuba’s of scientists and
51% of Cuba’s doctors.7 In addition, women also can easily obtain divorces, contraceptives,
and abortions. As Castro, the leader of the Cuban Revolution, once said, “a people whose
women fight alongside men – that people is invincible.” Furthermore, with the creation of the
Federation of Cuban Women FMC, women reached various jobs and opportunities that
before the revolution did not possess. Hugh Thomas in his book ​Cuba La lucha por la libertad
posits that women were an important part of the Committees for the Defense of the
Revolution.8 And he also mentions that the proportion of girls among university students was
increasing after the Cuban revolution. However, the author points out that in the aspect of
rationing and restrictions on articles, has been the worst part that women in Cuba have had to
face, together with the inevitable judgement towards them, due to the fact that women were
seen in the same level as men and that was apparently shocking for some people at that time.
An interesting detail mentioned by Hugh Tomas is that since 1959, more than half of the
Cuban exiles were women.
More in depth, Vilma Espín, who was Raúl Castro’s wife, was one of the women who
played part in the attack to the military barrack Moncada in 1953; other women who took part
were María Antonia Figueroa and Asela de los Santos.
Melba Hernández and Haydée Santamaría were the ones who let the famous speech
given by Fidel Castro “La historia me absolverá” be known.9 This was a very famous speech
that Fidel Castro delivered after the attack to Moncada, and this two women drafted it, so that
it could be later used as the manifesto of the 26 of July Movement.10
After Castro’s triumph in the Revolution, women were responsible for roles in the
party and started working for the government. Melba Hernández became a deputy in the
National Assembly and Haydée Santamaría was part of the Education Ministry. Having

7
http://apworldwiki2011-12.weebly.com/revolutions-effects-on-women.html
8
Thomas, Hugh. Cuba La lucha por la libertad. Vintage Español, Nueva York, 2011, page 1138
9
http://bureau.comandantina.com/archivos/La%20Historia%20me%20absolvera.pdf
10
https://haciendapublishing.com/articles/fidel-castro-and-26th-july-movement

Pilar Noguera 7
women involved in politics was not only a great achievement, but also a symbol of feminism
and equal roles and opportunities between genders.
Furthermore, one of the most well known situations in the Revolution were women
were part of the guerrilla groups that fought it was Sierra Maestra. Haydée Santamaría and
Celia Sánchez fought in the mountains, and other women performed different tasks. Also,
Celia Sánchez became the Secretary of the Ministers of Cuba and later, of the Minister of the
Presidency.
In 1958 Cuban Women formed their own guerrilla squad, the “Pelotón Mariana
Grajales”, even though many men who were part of the rebels didn’t agree, and it turned into
Fidel’s personal guard since he had been the one who insisted on making this group and
training women.
After the victory in 1959 the feminist organizations of the country founded in 1960
the “Federación de Mujeres Cubanas”, as I mentioned before, meaning the federation of
cuban women which had the purpose of abolishing discrimination towards women and seek
participation of the whole society. Another interesting point is that Fidel Castro himself
recognised the role of this organization in the first Congress of the communist country which
was celebrated in 1975 and he assured that the “Cuban Women doubly humiliated and
relegated by the semicolonial society, needed this organization which will represent their
specific interest and will work to gain a broader participation in the economic, political and
social part of the revolution” Cuban revolution improved women's life throughout all of the
country, and a great part of the success was thanks to the characters that were previously
mentioned.

Pilar Noguera 8
 Relevant women who participated in the
Revolution

VILMA ESPIN

Vilma Espín11 was born in the year 1930 and she started developing left political
thoughts since she was in university. She was a student leader, ballet dancer, rebel army
guerrilla in the Sierra Maestra, second female Chemical Engineer in Cuba, heroine of the
Revolution, member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, founding
president of the Federation of Women Cuban in 1960, wife of Raul Castro Ruz and first lady
of Cuba. But it must be mention that Espin, like the Castros, belonged to the high bourgeoisie
of the province of Oriente. Her link-up to the revolutionary movement got started on July
1956 and she turned an active member since November of the same year, when for example
she started the Cuban uprising. Later, in the year 1958, she joined the rebel army where she
took the position of coordinator of the fighters against the second eastern front which was led
by raul Castro, her future husband. Moreover, she participated in the “cuartel moncada” plan,
well known as it was a plan that point an intense struggle that in 1959 finished in the
revolutionary triumph.

The author Guillermo Cabrera points out in his book ​Mea Cuba that “the photograph
of the beautiful Cuban with a gardenia with black hair was published on the cover of Life and
toured the world as the image of guerrilla beauty in her wedding with a boyfriend in green
-live, beret and strange braid.”

There were many facets that Vilma Espín created in her life. Among his achievements
was the struggle for Cuban women, admiring the nineteenth-century Cubans Ana Betacourt
and Mariana Grajales. Vilma always quoted and named Ana Betancourt in most of her
speeches and messages to Cuban women. He also mentioned another nineteenth-century

11
View Appendix 2
Pilar Noguera 9
revolutionary female in Cuba, the mother of the Maceo, Mariana Grajales. For Espín,
Mariana Grajales represented the rebellion and patriotism of Cuban women in the struggle for
Cuba's freedom and independence. In her speech12 presented in Santiago de Cuba on June 26,
1978 entitled Mariana Grajales represented the rebellion and patriotism of Cuban women in
all ages mentions the importance of this black woman of the nineteenth century who went to
the mountains with her children and he taught them the love of freedom and fight for the
Cuban homeland.
Vilma didn’t stopped her contributions there and she led the unification of the
feminine movement of the country which culminated in 1960 with the foundation of the
women federation of Cuba (FMC) where she fought for the incorporation of women to work
and to give women a more important place to stand or participate in socials and political
processes in the country. After the revolution, she joined the committee of the communist
party and she was elected to the National Assembly from the first legislature where she
13
fought for women and children equal rights and for social care. Due to this, she received
the honorary title of Heroin of the Republic of Cuba and the Lenin Peace Prize,14 and the
current logo of the FMC15, carries a photograph of her.

Vilma Espín is one of the most remembered women in politics and women's struggle
in the twentieth century in Cuba because from a young age and before the Cuban Revolution,
this woman stood out in the student struggles at the Universidad del Oriente, where she
participated in the demonstrations against the government of Fulgencio Batista. Also, she is
considered the most influential woman in Cuba because she was a strong example and fierce
leader of the Cuban Revolution. As Fidel Castro said in Las Luchas de Vilma: “I have been
witness during almost half century of Vilma´s fights. I dont forget her in the meetings of the
movement 26 de Julio in Sierra Maestra. She was finally sent by the direction of this one for
an important mission in the second oriental front. Vilma didn't get perturbed when facing any
trouble”16

12
​“Mariana Grajales represents the rebellion and patriotism of Cuban women in all times.” Speech in
Santiago de Cuba, June 26, 1978, Vilma Espín Guillois The fire of freedom.
13
http://www.cubadebate.cu/etiqueta/vilma-espin-guillois/
14
https://www.ecured.cu/Vilma_Esp%C3%ADn_Guillois
15
View Appendix 5
16
Full speech Fidel gave after Vilma´s death
http://www.cubadebate.cu/reflexiones-fidel/2007/06/20/luchas-vilma-espin/#.Wi_56kribIU

Pilar Noguera 10
 CELIA SANCHEZ

Some authors point out that Fidel Castro's right hand was Celia Sánchez Manduley.17
Celia was the first female combatant in the Rebel Army. She was born in 1920 in Manzanillo,
near the Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba. Member of the Orthodox Party in 1947. She also
became a leader in the province of Oriente of the amnesty campaign for the Moncada
prisoners.
However, in 1955 he was one of the founders of the July 26 Movement and travelled
to join Fidel Castro in the most difficult moment of the guerrilla with the purpose of
coordinating support from the plain and helping the journalist from the new York times,
Herbert Matthews to meet Fidel, who shot down the fake Batista propaganda about Fidel
being dead. Later in that same year, Celia turned the most wanted/ persecuted women in the
country because of her strong and rejecting attitude towards the current government added to
the fact that a betrayer of the movement sold information about her to the government.
FInally, in March, she joined the rebel army as a combatant and start promoting the first
feminine squad “Mariana grajales” in honor to a well known Cuban patriot, which would be
approved one year later and led by her. The first time she fought was in may in the “uvero”
becoming the first women to occupied the position of soldier in the rebel army, where some
days later, Fidel sent her once more to the plain with new important orders.

According to Teté Puebla, when they talk about Celia, Fidel must also be mentioned
and vice versa, because in almost all things in the territory was the thought of Celia, she was
considered the soul of the Sierra Maestra. Celia was in charge of organizing all the activities
in the Sierra Maestra. Puebla points out that “Celia was the most humane, simplest person
there was.”18 In 1958, Teté Puebla helped Celia organize schools in the Sierra Maestra.
The author Raquel La Villa postulates in her article “Cuban women in the struggle
against dictatorships” that within the group they imposed on men in the Sierra Maestra was

17
View Appendix 4
18
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2016-01-08/celia-mas-alla-de-una-hermosa-tradicion
Pilar Noguera 11
Celia Sánchez and, before becoming Fidel Castro's secretary, she organized the campesinos
de Las Lomas.
Celia is considered the first woman to use the rifle in the heroic deed and is known as
the "Heroína de la Sierra", as she fought with Fidel with an M-119 in the combat of Uvero on
May 28, 1957. She was also part of the Rebel Army from April 23, 1957 and is considered
the main promoter of the creation of the female platoon Mariana Grajales.
In 1981 the Cuban children of the Embassy of Cuba in Zimbabwe considered that
their school, would be named after Celia Sánchez Manduley, as they knew the life of Celia as
an example to follow. The boys and girls of this school sing the National Anthem of Cuba
and the Song Anthem to Celia Sánchezː “Hand-held rifle, when the war, and for the people
smile and honey, the story tells of your deeds, side by side with Fidel. Rifle in hand when the
war for children the faithful mother, I know that in the Llano as in the Sierra you made a
homeland with Fidel. I am a pioneer that here in Zimbabwe I aspire to be which Camilo and
Che and I have a school that bears the name most attached to justice and law. I have a school
that has a nameː Celia Sánchez Manduley!” 20
Celia died on January 11, 1980 in Havana.21 When she passed away, she was a
member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and secretary of the Council of
State and the Council of Ministers.

19
View Appendix 1
20
In Zimbabweː Escuela Celia Sánchez Manduley. Granma, La Habana,18 de junio de 1981, Año del
XX, Aniversario de Girón, Año 17, No. 143, pág. 5.
21
https://www.ecured.cu/Celia_S%C3%A1nchez

Pilar Noguera 12
 HAYDEE SANTAMARIA

Haydée Santamaría22 was born in December 30, 1923 in the sugar mill "Constancia",
today "Abel Santamaría", located in Encrucijada. In the capital of the country, she began
military in the youths of the Ortodoxo Party and initiated her action against the dictatorship
of Fulgencio Batista. During these years her apartment, which she shared with her brother
Abel Santamaría, became the meeting place of radical youth in Havana. After the Coup D'état
of March 10, 1952, together with his brother and other revolutionaries, they published the
clandestine newspapers "Los Sismos" and "El Acusador", and they carried out an intense
work of agitation.
She was one of only two women among 160 men who helped organize and fought on
the front lines of the 1953 attack on Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba, and was in
charge of transferring the arms to Santiago de Cuba for the attack. Following that first
military operation, when she was captured and shown her brother’s eye and lover’s mangled
testicle to make her divulge information about their Movement, but the only thing they got
from her was her reply: “If you did that to them and they didn’t talk, much less will I!” “To
die for the country is to live”.23

Due to her participation, she was imprisoned during two years and she tried to help
the movement as she could. Almost immediately after her release she participated in the
printing and distribution of Cuba's manifesto24, in which Fidel and his companions in prison
presided over his irrevocable decision to continue the struggle against the regime of
Fulgencio Batista. It was also Haydee, along with Lidia Castro and Melba Hernández, who
compiled and organized the notes that Fidel was able to extract from the prison, and in which
she reconstructed her allegation in the Moncada trial.25
Haydée was one of the founders of Cuba’s 26th of July Movement. She assumed a
leadership role in the underground movement and smuggled weapons from the U.S into
Cuba. She fought in the Mariana Grajales platoon, the women’s battalion for the rebel army,

22
View Appendix 3
23
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2017-07-25/abel-santamaria-saber-morir-para-vivir-siempre-25-07-2017
-22-07-17
24
http://www.fidelcastro.cu/es/documentos/manifiesto-no-1-del-26-de-julio-al-pueblo-de-cuba
25
https://www.ecured.cu/Manifiesto_del_Moncada
Pilar Noguera 13
and was the only woman to participate in every phase of the Revolution. The following year,
she was one of the organizers of the insurrection of November 30, 1956 in Santiago de Cuba,
whose objective was to support the guerrillas who were to invade Cuba aboard the Granma at
that time.26

Following the Revolution’s victory Haydée founded and ran the cultural and arts
institution Casa de las Americas27, the most important cultural institution in Latin America.
Its purpose has been to bypass the ideological blockade the United States tried so hard to
establish along with its diplomatic and economic counterparts, and to extend the
socio-cultural relations with the countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and the rest of the
world. It has exposed Cubans to some of the world’s greatest creative minds, drawing artists
such as Violeta Parra, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Julio Cortázar, Eduardo
Galeano and Gabriel García Márquez.

Becoming a member of the Central Committee of the governing Cuban Communist

Party in 1965, Haydée used her revolutionary prestige to nurture and protect many artists and
writers within the house. She accepted all, ignoring race, class, or gender. She was the
president of the Latin American Solidarity Organization (OLAS), which was to meet in
Havana in 1967 to coordinate the insurrectional struggle across the continent.

Finally, on July 28, 1980, Haydée committed suicide in The Havana.

26
https://www.ecured.cu/Hayd%C3%A9e_Santamar%C3%ADa
27
http://www.casa.co.cu
Pilar Noguera 14
 Women’s Organisations

FEDERACIÓN DE MUJERES CUBANAS

Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (FMC) was founded by Vilma Espín Guillois on

August 23rd, 1960. Some women's groups united in a single organization for all the Cuban
women. The FMC was outstanding in achieving equality for women in Cuba. An important
aspect was that it helped the elimination of prostitution in Cuba. Schools were founded for
women who worked in prostitution and were then placed in work centers to be independent
as honest work.46 It is interesting to observe in Cuba, the great participation of women in
society. But it can not be appreciated in the same way in the political aspects. We find
women of different ages working in all trades. From police officers to taxi drivers. In
addition, a large number of female students at the University of Havana.
Some of the FMC’s most important achievements have been supporting the mass
education of women, incorporating women into the workforce, and pushing for legislation
and social reform for gender equality. During the great literacy campaign in 1960, over
100,000 volunteer “people’s teachers” reached out to 700,000 people, over half of whom
were women, and contributed to Cuba having the second-highest national literacy rate in the
world.
Due to the labor shortage created by the mass exile from Cuba during the revolution,
the FMC also created both programs in cities that taught rural women sewing skills, who then
returned home and taught others, as well as locally-run night literacy and farming training
classes in agricultural communities. In the realm of legal and social support for women, The
FMC played a pivotal role in passing the Family Code in 1975, which ensures equal property
and social rights for women in the home. Finally, the FMC publishes two magazines that
serve as important communication portals between the leadership and members of the FMC.

Women and the FMC have also had important influences on Cubans’ health status
and their health care system. Public health and nursing were two of the first professions seen

Pilar Noguera 15
as “fit” for women. In recent times, there have been as many female medical students,
doctors, general practitioners, and hospital directors as there are male counterparts. In the
early years of Castro’s regime, the FMC was highly effective in supporting the government’s
campaigns to improve vaccination rates and educate the public on health and hygiene topics.
Information also flows upwards from the grassroots level to FMC and central leadership in
the form of health debates, in which communities of women come together periodically and
discuss important health topics in their lives.

Another major accomplishment of FMC’s is helping to pass maternity leave laws in

1974. Under these laws, pregnant women are guaranteed three months of paid leave. The
FMC also helped to establish maternity homes, so that virtually all women delivered their
babies under the care of trained attendants, most of whom were FMC volunteers.

Pilar Noguera 16
 PLATOON MARIANA GRAJALES

The platoon Mariana Grajales, known as Las Marianas, participated in the Cuban
revolution since 1958. But all the women who formed the platoon were in the Sierra Maestra
and collaborated with the revolutionary cause since before 1958. Specifically, on September
4, 1958, He held a meeting that lasted more than six hours. Where men did not want women
to engage in combat. The men asked, ː “How are you going to give a gun to women with so
many unarmed men?” And Fidel Castro answered ː “Because they are better soldiers than
you are. They are more disciplined.”28 Then, the women's platoon Mariana Grajales was
formed.

It was named after an important woman of the revolution during the nineteenth
century. Mariana Grajales, the mother of the Titan, General Antonio Maceo.29 Its leader was
Isabel Rielo and Teté Puebla was second in command. The squad was made up of 13 women.
In this squad was Delsa Esther Teté Puebla, who became a brigadier general in the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba and was a founding member of the Cuban Communist
Party and the Federation of Cuban Women. The young women dressed in olive green who
composed the Mariana Grajales Women's Squad were: Isabel L. Rielo Rodriguez, Delsa
Esther Puebla Viltres Teté, Olga E. Guevara Pérez, Angela Antolín Escalona Angelina,
Edemis Tamayo Núñez La Gallega, Orocia Soto Sardina, Celeste Pérez Flower Chávez, Eva
Rodríguez Palma, Lilia Rielo Rodríguez, Rita García Reyes, Juana Bautista Peña Peña, Ada
Bella Acosta Pompa and Norma Rosa Ferrer Benítez.

28
​Puebla, Teté. Marianas in Combate Teté Puebla the female platoon Mariana Grajales in the Cuban
Revolutionary War 1956 ̵1958. Pathfinder, New York, 2003, p. 46
29
​ ​The squad took the name of Mariana Grajales a nineteenth-century Cuban woman who participated
in the revolutionary cause. All his children participated as soldiers in the nineteenth century
revolution. She is the mother of General Antonio Maceo.

Pilar Noguera 17
 The platoon was taught to shoot by Fidel Castro and used the M ̵ 1 rifle. But they
knew how to use all kinds of weapons. In addition, they became Fidel's outpost. Teté Puebla
points out that Fidel Castro did it to demonstrate his confidence in women, in the equality of
women. The revolution triumphed on January 1, 1959. Isabel Rielo and Teté Puebla were
promoted with the rank of first lieutenant. Then, on May 24, 1959, Teté Puebla was promoted
to captain.

Pilar Noguera 18
 CONCLUSION

To conclude, I would like to say that throughout this investigation I found the answer
to my initial question. Yes, women are strong and they have always been this way. The way
in which they participated in this Revolution, the organisations they created and the
inspiration they transmitted to all the women around the world is unexplainable. They
assumed a role of leadership, a role that involved strength, a role that stood between the thin
line of life and death.

Many people have made intensive research towards the Cuban Revolution, yet few
focused on the role women had and the importance of it. Anyway, I found the research
empowering and amusing, it showed how equity is possible and the great consequences it
has. Also, women that I mentioned, such as Vilma Espín, Haydée Santamaría and Celia
Sánchez were crucial in the instauration of equity in the twentieth century, but they are only
the visible faces or names we know, there were many women behind them, women we most
probably never know their names, but we will know their strength. As Fidel Castro once said
“La mujer es una Revolución dentro de la Revolución … Cuando en un pueblo pelean los
hombres y pueden pelear las mujeres, estos pueblos son invencibles, y la mujer de este
pueblo es invencible.”

Pilar Noguera 19
 APPENDIX

2 Vilma Espín

3 Haydée Santamaría

Pilar Noguera 20
4 Celia Sánchez

5 FMC logo

Pilar Noguera 21
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

★ Ap World Class Weebly, “ Revolutions’ Effects on Women” in:

http://apworldwiki2011-12.weebly.com/revolutions-effects-on-women.html
★ Book: ​Che en la Revolución Cubana Tomo VII Pensamiento Guerrillero by Ernesto
Che Guevara
★ Borrego Diaz, Orlando. “Che en la Revolución Cubana. Tomo VII Pensamiento
Guerrillero.” Editorial José Martí, La Habana, 2016, [p. 78], [p.79], [p.80].
★ Casa de las Américas in: ​http://www.casa.co.cu
★ Chebbab, Alia, “4 Cuban Revolutionaries Who Fought For Their Country, Women’s
Rights & A Better World” in: ​https://nadja.co/2016/08/02/4-women-revolutionaries/
★ Cox, Dolores, “Women’s inspiring role in Cuban revolution” in:
https://www.workers.org/2015/03/21/womens-inspiring-role-in-cuban-revolution/
★ Diario Público, Redacción La Tinta, “Las mujeres en la Revolución Cubana” in:
https://latinta.com.ar/2017/07/las-mujeres-la-revolucion-cubana/
★ Diario Público, “Las mujeres en la Revolución Cubana” in:
https://www.publico.es/internacional/mujeres-revolucion-cubana.html
★ Dr. Miguel Faria, “Fidel Castro and the 26th of July Movement” in:
https://haciendapublishing.com/articles/fidel-castro-and-26th-july-movement
★ EcuRed, “Celia Sánchez” in: ​https://www.ecured.cu/Celia_S%C3%A1nchez
★ EcuRed, “Manifiesto de Moncada” in:
https://www.ecured.cu/Manifiesto_del_Moncada
★ EcuRed, “Melba Hernández” in: ​https://www.ecured.cu/Melba_Hern%C3%A1ndez
★ Guitan, Aleia, “Cuban Revolutionary Women” in:
file:///C:/Users/Student/Downloads/5528-Texto%20del%20art%C3%ADculo-12013-
1-10-20131208.pdf
★ Hinze, Malena, “The revolutionary role of women in Cuba” in:
https://www.liberationnews.org/06-03-01-the-revolutionary-role-women-in-html/
★ http://what-when-how.com/women-and-war/cuban-revolution-women-in-the/

Pilar Noguera 22
 ★ In Zimbabweː Escuela Celia Sánchez Manduley. Granma, La Habana,18 de junio de
1981, Año del XX, Aniversario de Girón, Año 17, No. 143, [pág. 5.]
★ Minster, Christopher, “A Brief History of the Cuban Revoution” in:
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-cuban-revolution-2136372
★ P. Erikson, Daniel, “Raúl Castro, Cuban Head of State” in:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Raul-Castro
★ Pérez Cabrera​, ​Ángel Freddy​, “Abel Santamaría: saber morir para vivir siempre” in:
http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2017-07-25/abel-santamaria-saber-morir-para-vivir-siem
pre-25-07-2017-22-07-17
★ Pogolotti, Graziella, “La mujer en la Revolución” in:
http://www.cubadebate.cu/etiqueta/celia-sanchez/
★ Puebla, Teté. “Marianas in Combate Teté Puebla the female platoon Mariana Grajales
in the Cuban Revolutionary War “1956 ̵1958. Pathfinder, New York, 200, [ p. 46]
★ ​Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada​, Ricardo, “Che en la ONU: El mensaje imborrable” in:
http://www.cubadebate.cu/opinion/2014/12/04/che-en-la-onu-el-mensaje-imborrable/
#.W88Bfy2ZP-Z
★ Rivera de Jesús, Noemí, “La Participación de las Mujeres en la Revolución Cubana”
in:
file:///C:/Users/Student/Downloads/Dialnet-LaParticipacionDeLasMujeresEnLaRevol
ucionCubana195-6202337%20(1).pdf
★ Rodríguez Barrios, Liurka, “Nosotras, las cubanas, en frentes de solidaridad con
Vietnam” in: ​http://www.cubadebate.cu/etiqueta/vilma-espin-guillois/
★ Rodríguez Barrios, Liurka, “Vilma Espín Guillois” in:
http://www.cubadebate.cu/etiqueta/vilma-espin-guillois/
★ Sparks, Karen, “Melba Hernández, Cuban Revolutionary” in:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Melba-Hernandez
★ Speech in Cuba, December 9, 1966, Castro Ruz, Fidel, “Las Luchas de Vilma” in:
http://www.cubadebate.cu/reflexiones-fidel/2007/06/20/luchas-vilma-espin/#.W88Kzi
2ZMdV
★ Speech in Santiago de Cuba, July 23, 1953, Gómez García, Raúl. “Manifiesto de
Moncada” in:

Pilar Noguera 23
 http://www.fidelcastro.cu/es/documentos/manifiesto-no-1-del-26-de-julio-al-pueblo-d
e-cuba
★ Speech in Santiago de Cuba, June 26, 1978, Vilma Espín Guillois “The fire of
freedom”
★ Speech in Santiago de Cuba y Bayamo, October 16, 1953, Castro Ruz, Fidel. “La
Historia me absolverá” in:
http://bureau.comandantina.com/archivos/La%20Historia%20me%20absolvera.pdf
★ Suárez Pérez, Eugenio, “Celia, más allá de una hermosa tradición” in:
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2016-01-08/celia-mas-alla-de-una-hermosa-tradi
cion
★ teleSUR, “Participación de las mujeres en la Revolución Cubana” in:
https://www.telesurtv.net/telesuragenda/revolucion-cubana-protagonismo-mujer-elecc
iones-generales-20180308-0019.html
★ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica​,​ “Cuban Revolution” in:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Cuban-Revolution
★ The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Vilma Espín Guillois, Cuban
Revolutionary and Women’s Rights Activist” in:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vilma-Espin-Guillois
★ Thomas, Hugh. Cuba “La lucha por la libertad” Vintage Español, Nueva York, 2011,
[p. 1138], [p. 716]
★ Upi, “Cuban Revolution” in:
https://www.upi.com/Archives/Audio/Events-of-1959/Cuban-Revolution/
★ “Cuban Women in Revolution” in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOEuXRdg8Os
★ “Cuba Visual Essay: Did women experience a revolution within the Cuban
Revolution?” in: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3QEn7ile1Y
★ “Efectos de la Revolución Cubana” in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0LB0mC_TnU

Pilar Noguera 24
Pilar Noguera 25