The Washington Post's obituary pages are never immune from bias, particularly when a Communist goes on to his or her eternal reward. The passing of the "first lady" of Cuba, Fidel Castro's sister in law Vilma Espin de Castro, is no exception. The bias began even before the lede with a headline that described the dead Communist as a "politician" who "empowered women in Cuba."
It wasn't until the 17th out of the 23-paragraph obit that Post staffer Adam Bernstein noted Raul Castro's late wife "was reportedly ruthless when it came to ordering the killing of suspected informers."
Instead, Bernstein chose to view Espin "as a champion of women's rights" being "the first woman elected to full membership on the Cuban Communist Party's Politburo." Something tells me she wasn't a champion of, oh, I dunno, the right to private property, the right of free speech, the right to free and fair elections, or the right to travel freely outside of Cuba. Bernstein doesn't mention it, but other news accounts make clear she was for the right to have an abortion, the quintessential "woman's right" to many in the mainstream media.
Of course, let's be fair, being elected in a dictatorship with a one party puppet legislature is still a tremendous feat. You really have to be ruthless and vile to ascend party ranks as she did. And sleeping with the dictator's brother doesn't hurt either.
Another item of note, Espin and Raul Castro appear in a UPI photo that appears to date from Castro's revolution in 1959. The photo caption blithely reads, "Vilma Espin de Castro with her husband, Raul Castro, Fidel Castro's brother and Cuba's acting president."
