Society Wedding

The bride wore lace and a Juliet cap of pearls; the groom wore a .45 automatic and a ponytail hairdo. Some 2,500 guests thronged the palm-thatched dance-hall restaurant of Santiago's suburban Rancho Club Motel. Thus one afternoon last week Raul Castro, 27, rebel commander in Oriente province, married Vilma Espin, 28, onetime chief of the rebels' Oriente underground in a civil ceremony performed by a Santiago rebel attorney.

Vilma, a willowy brunette, studied chemical engineering at Oriente University, and topped that off with a year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Under the nom de guerre Deborah, she bossed the rebels' underground, then moved to the hills and joined Raul's column. The two worked together but lived apart, with Vilma's quarters chastely protected by four guards and Raul's posted order: "Please do not pass through here." Together they shared some lively experiences, including the kidnaping of 47 U.S. servicemen and civilians (TIME, July 7).

Last week, as the wedding guests drained 40 cases of bubbly hard cider provided by Papa Espin, a Bacardi distillery official, a chorus of little girls insisted: "A kiss, a kiss." Bashful Raul leaned over, gave Vilma a peck; then the couple drove off for a one-night honeymoon, guarded by rebel gunners. Among the guests at the wedding were four of the U.S. mining technicians who had been kidnaped by Raul and Vilma. They chipped in for a silver ice-bucket and gave it to the newlyweds with a good-luck card.

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