Cuban President Fidel Castro has paid tribute to his late sister-in-law, fellow revolutionary Vilma Espin Guillois.
Espin, the wife of Mr. Castro's brother, Raul, died Monday after a long illness. She was 77 years old.
In Thursday's edition of the state-run Granma newspaper, Mr. Castro praises his sister-in-law as a pioneer for women's and children's rights.
He also pays tribute to the important role she played in Cuba's communist revolutionary movement that pushed dictator Fulgencio Batista from power in 1959.
Mr. Castro says Espin's voice was always listened to with great respect by Cuba's top leaders and institutions.
The president has been struggling with an illness of his own for the past year. He handed power to Raul last July, and has not appeared in public since.
