- Juanita Castro, the sister of Cuban dictators Fidel and Raul Castro, who collaborated with the CIA to undermine the communist government, died on Monday. She was 90 years old.
- Mr. Castro, an expatriate who lived most of his life in Miami, was confirmed dead by Maria Antonieta Collins, co-author of Mr. Castro's 2009 book. Fidel and Raul, my brothers. secret history.
- “Juanita Castro was a man who preceded us in life and death, an extraordinary woman and a tireless fighter for the Cuba I love,” Collins wrote on Instagram in Spanish. Ta.
Juanita Castro, sister of Cuban rulers Fidel and Raul Castro and who collaborated with the CIA against the communist government, has died in Miami at the age of 90. Florida has been her home since shortly after she fled the island nearly 60 years ago.
Journalist Maria Antonieta Collins, co-author of Juanita Castro's 2009 book “Fidel and Raul, My Brothers. The Secret History,” died Monday, she wrote on Instagram.
“Juanita Castro was ahead of us in life and death. She was an extraordinary woman and a tireless fighter for the Cuba I love,” Collins wrote.
I fled Castro's Cuba in search of American freedom. After 61 years, the family is still celebrating our arrival.
The Cuban government and media had not mentioned her death as of Wednesday.
Juanita Castro, a staunch anti-communist, wrote in her book that she began working with the CIA shortly after the United States' failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.
She originally supported her brothers' efforts to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista, raising funds and purchasing weapons. She became disillusioned when Fidel Castro, who came to power for her in 1959, became a hardline communist and forced those she opposed from government.
When his home in Cuba became a mecca for anti-communists in the early 1960s, Fidel Castro warned his sister not to get involved with the “gusanos,'' as the government called people opposed to the revolution.
In her book, she said that it was the wife of Brazil's ambassador to Cuba who convinced her to meet with CIA officials during a 1961 visit to Mexico City. She said she told her agent she didn't want the money and didn't support violence against her brother or others.
She said the CIA used her to smuggle messages, documents and money hidden in cans into Cuba. They communicated with her on her shortwave radio, playing a waltz and a song from the opera Madame Butterfly as a signal that her handler had a message for her.
She remained on the island while her mother lived, believing it would protect her from Fidel's wrath.
“My brothers were able to ignore or appear to ignore what I did so as not to hurt my mother, but that didn't mean I didn't have a problem.” she wrote. After her mother died in 1963, she said, “everything became dangerously complicated.”
The late Juanita Castro speaks to reporters in Miami on October 27, 2009. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File)
Mr. Castro defected from Cuba the following year after Mr. Raul helped him obtain a visa to Mexico. She never saw her brothers again.
“I can no longer be indifferent to what is happening in my country,” she told reporters after arriving in Mexico. “My brothers Fidel and Raul have turned it into a huge prison surrounded by water. People are nailed to the cross of suffering imposed by international communism.”
Her work with the CIA was so secret and not publicly known that when she arrived in the United States a year later, many Cuban exiles feared she was a communist spy. She later helped found a CIA-backed nonprofit organization to fight the Castro regime.
She eventually settled into a quiet life in Miami, where she ran the Little Havana Pharmacy and became a respected member of the Cuban-American community. She became a US citizen in her 1984.
Luis Zuniga Rey, a Cuban political prisoner until his expulsion from Cuba in 1988, said Wednesday that he met Juanita Castro during an interview on local radio.
“She was serious, but always kind and respectful,” he said. “As the sister of the Cuban dictator, she always tried to keep her family background from interfering with her fellow Cubans here in Miami.”
Her opposition to Fidel Castro “showed great courage,” he said.
“Imagine what it's like to challenge a powerful brother and what that means on a personal level,” he said.
Former US ambassador calls Castro 'commander', labels US 'enemy': Department of Justice
Fidel Castro ruled Cuba until 2008, when he handed over power to his second-in-command, Raúl. Raul Castro then spent 10 years as Cuba's leader.
She was not pleased when Fidel suffered serious health problems in 2006, which led to street celebrations in Little Havana. Even though she fought his government, he was still her brother.
“Just as people are demonstrating and celebrating, I am also expressing my sadness. I respect the position of everyone who is happy about the health crisis, but they You have to respect me too,'' she told The Associated Press. “It's my family. It's my brother. It doesn't matter. We're separated for political reasons, ideological reasons, but that's it.”
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Fidel Castro passed away in 2016 at the age of 90, and Raul, 92, has lived a retired life. His eldest brother Ramon passed away in 2016 at the age of 91.
