Juanita Castro, one of the younger sisters of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, whom she opposed, died at age 90 in Miami, announced Maria Antonieta Collins, a Mexican journalist close to the family.
“Juanita Castro, exceptional woman, tireless fighter for the cause of the Cuba she loved so much, has passed away,” wrote on Instagram, Monday, December 4, the author of the memoirs of the deceased who lived in exile in Miami (Florida) for decades.
Juanita Castro left Cuba in 1964 after breaking with her brothers Fidel – who died in Havana in 2016 – and Raul over disagreements over the direction taken by the 1959 revolution against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
In her memoir published in 2009 and entitled Fidel and Raul, my brothers, the secret history, she explains that she initially supported the Castro revolution, before losing all illusion in the face of the executions of opponents ordered by her older brother and the slide of the island towards communism. She then claims to have helped and protected, from her home in Havana, people persecuted by the government.
“Deserter” and “persona non grata”
According to her own account, she collaborated with the CIA, the American intelligence agency, from 1961 to 1964, just before her departure for the United States, under the pseudonym "Donna". In exile in Miami, she publicly denounced the policies of her brothers at the head of the island. She opened a pharmacy in Miami and worked there for decades before retiring at the end of 2006.
In her memoirs, she describes having difficulty reconciling being the sister of the communist leaders and belonging to the community of Cuban exiles in Florida.
“Without a doubt, I suffered more than the rest of the exiled population,” she wrote. “For those in Cuba, I am a deserter because I left and denounced the regime in place. For many in Miami, I am “persona non grata” because I am the sister of Fidel and Raul.
According to the Univisión media, she died of natural causes in a Miami hospital. “Her sister Emma and her extended family ask that their privacy be respected at this painful time. There will be no interviews and according to his wishes, his funeral will be private,” wrote Maria Antonieta Collins in her Instagram post.
