The official mourning period will last from Monday 6 p.m. to Tuesday 10.00 p.m. and the Cuban flag will be lowered to half mast at all public facilities and military bases.
Gatherings to pay homage to Espin will take place June 19 at 6.00 p.m. at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, and as stated in her will she will be cremated.
Espin was Cuba's unofficial first lady after her husband and Fidel Castro's younger brother took control of the Communist Caribbean country - for the first time during Castro's 47 years as a leader - when Fidel underwent surgery last July and was hospitalized.
Vilma Espin was born April 7, 1930 to a wealthy family - her father worked as an executive at the Bacardi rum distillery - she became a young rebel fighting the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who seized power during a coup in the 1950s.
During her struggle against the Batista dictatorship she joined Fidel Castro's guerillas, where she met Raul and fell in love, they eventually married in 1959 after the end of the Cuban Revolution.
After the revolution Espin was an influential member of the Cuban Communist Party and founded the Cuban Women's Federation, which united women in the revolution and promoted gender equality, she chaired the Federation for over 30 years.
Espin and Raul had four children.
