Alicia Crespo: the Woman Who Lived for Sancti Spiritus

In his long and productive working life, Alicia Crespo Díaz, who passed away this September 13th, received nearly twenty awards, honors and recognitions

 

If utility and virtue are considered inseparable terms, because when referring to people they are presupposed, it could be said that Alicia Crespo Díaz was exemplary paradigm of them both.

She was born into a peasant family on April 30, 1944, in the municipality of Cabaiguán, Sancti Spiritus. She got involved in the activities of the Cuban Revolution since very young. In response to a call from the Commander in Chief in 1961, she began studying and working as a popular teacher mainly in rural schools of the territory.

Due to her skills as an organizer and her natural intelligence, Alicia held various responsibilities in the education sector in several municipalities of the territory, while she continued to study until she got a degree on Spanish and Literature. She was later on promoted to Chief of the Education Sector and, subsequently, Director of Education in the former region Sancti Spiritus, an office she held for 14 years.

For her accumulated merits and work capacity, she was appointed secretary of the Constituent Assembly of the Governmental Body in the then emerging province of Sancti Spiritus and, on completion of the election process, she was elected secretary of the Provincial Assembly of the People’s Power.

Despite the difficulties of those years, Alicia considered her responsibility as a privilege, as well as the fact of having  participated in the building of the new province, where it was necessary to construct almost 90 percent of the necessary infrastructure so that the capital municipality (Sancti Spiritus) could be provided with the minimum conditions.

In 1995, Alicia was elected as delegate of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) in the province. As a promoter of friendship and solidarity with nations and peoples of the world, Alicia developed an active work which was  enhanced with the twinning of cities of Canary Islands and Mexico with the Yayabo village.

In his long and productive working life, Alicia Crespo Díaz, who passed away this September 13th, received nearly twenty awards, honors and recognitions. Today, this simple and great woman, also receives the respect and grateful tribute of her people.