KINGSTON, Jamaica – Gladys Bustamante, the widow of Jamaica’s first prime minister and a fierce supporter of women’s and workers’ rights, has died. She was 97.
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Gladys Bustamante, the widow of Jamaica’s first prime minister and a fierce supporter of women’s and workers’ rights, has died. She was 97.
A statement from the office of Prime Minister Bruce Golding says Bustamante died Saturday at the hospital after suffering from a fever.
“Lady B,” as she was known, married Alexander Bustamante in 1963, one year after Jamaica was granted independence from Britain. Her husband was named a national hero, an honor bestowed to a select few, including Black civil rights leader Marcus Garvey.
Gladys Bustamante continued to work for the Jamaica Labor Party long after her husband died in 1977 at age 93.
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