All who knew her agree that one of her most remarkable traits was her kind, affectionate nature and simplicity. Melba Hernández Rodríguez del Rey, a heroine of the Cuban Revolution, passed away on March 9, 2014, after dedicating her life to the struggle for the well-being of the people.
Much could be written about this courageous revolutionary who was always at the forefront of her generation, a Heroine of the Assault on the Moncada Barracks and of the Republic of Cuba, Doctor Honoris Causa of the Higher Institute of International Relations, ambassador, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba, member of the Central Committee since its Third Congress, and deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power until her death.
She was born on July 28, 1921, in Cruces, in the former province of Las Villas, into a family with a long history of fighting in the Cuban War of Independence. She graduated with a law degree from the University of Havana's Faculty of Law in 1943, at the age of 22, and also earned a degree in Social Sciences.
Melba, as she was simply known, actively participated in the fight against the Batista dictatorship, being among the first to join the ranks of the revolutionary movement led by Fidel Castro.
Along with Haydée Santamaría, she was one of only two women in the attack on the Moncada Barracks on July 26, 1953, forming part of the group of heroes who participated in the takeover of the Saturnino Lora Provincial Hospital, where she was arrested and sentenced to prison in the Guanajay National Women's Prison.
Melba, along with Haydée, was released on February 20, 1954. Her parents, Haydée's parents, her brother Aldo, and a small group of revolutionaries, several of whom would later form part of the commando unit that stormed the Presidential Palace on March 13, 1957, awaited her outside the prison to take her to Havana. The first thing Melba and Haydée did was lay a wreath at the tomb of the Orthodox leader Eduardo Chibás.
Almost immediately, she participated in the printing and distribution of the manifesto "To Suffering Cuba," in which Fidel and his fellow prisoners declared their irrevocable decision to continue the fight against the Fulgencio Batista regime.
Along with Haydée and Lidia Castro, Melba played a crucial role in compiling and organizing the notes that Fidel managed to smuggle out of prison, written with lemon juice, in which he reconstructed his defense speech for the Moncada attack trial, which would later become known as "History Will Absolve Me," as well as in its subsequent clandestine printing and distribution.
In a letter dated June 18, 1954, Fidel entrusted Melba and Haydée with making every effort and concentrating resources on printing "History Will Absolve Me," and little by little they managed to raise the funds to print and distribute the manuscript.
In May 1955, she participated in the meeting held on the ship "El Pinero," which transported those granted amnesty for the Moncada attack from the Isle of Pines, and in which, under Fidel's leadership, the name 26th of July Movement was chosen, and she became a member of its first clandestine National Directorate.
With a small portion of the money raised and following Fidel's instructions, Melba traveled to Mexico to make contact with the group of Moncada attackers who were living in exile there in precarious economic circumstances.
She participated in the preparations for the Granma expedition and bid farewell to the 82 combatants on November 25, 1956, at the port of Tuxpan. She returned to Cuba and joined the ranks of the Rebel Army in the Third Front Mario Muñoz Monroy, under the command of Commander Juan Almeida.
After the triumph of the Revolution, she held important positions, including President of the Cuban Committee of Solidarity with South Vietnam, and later with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos; member of the Presidium of the World Peace Council; Secretary General of the Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (OSPAAAL); Cuban ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Kampuchea; and director of the Center for Asian and Oceanian Studies.
He died in Havana on March 9, 2014, a few months before his 93rd birthday, as a result of complications associated with diabetes mellitus, an illness he suffered from for many years. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated and his ashes taken to the Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in Santiago de Cuba, where they were placed in the Mausoleum of the Martyrs of the Revolution, alongside his comrades who fell in the Moncada attack.