Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court Truong Hoa Binh on March 12 paid tribute to Cuban revolutionary heroine Melba Hernandez Rodriguez del Rey, who passed away at the age of 92 on March 9, at the headquarters of Cuba’s Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Binh, who is also Secretary of the Party Central Committee, expressed deep sympathies of the Party, Government and people of Vietnam to the Party, Government and people of Cuba and Hernandez’s family on the heroine’s passing.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Cuba Duong Minh told reporters that the Party, Government and people of Vietnam always keep in their mind great contributions of Hernandez, who actively joined the movement protesting the American war in Vietnam.

Her passing is a loss not only for Cuba, but also for Vietnam, he added.

Born on July 28, 1921 in Las Villas, central Cuba, she held many important positions following the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Melba Hernandez, a member of the Communist Party of Cuba’s Central Committee and a National Assembly deputy, was one of the two women who joined Fidel Castro in the famous 1953 attacks on the garrisons at Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespesdes in order to kickstart the revolution against Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship.

In 1963, she became the first President of the Cuban Committee of Solidarity with Southern Vietnam, which is now the Cuba-Vietnam Friendship Association. She also once served as Cuban Ambassador to Vietnam.

With her great contributions to the Cuban revolution and the solidarity between Cuba and other nations in the world, she was awarded many noble medals and orders from the Cuban Party, State and Government as well as from other countries around the globe.-VNA