Juanita Castro, the youthful sister of Cuban rulers Fidel and Raul Castro, who was a CIA informer and outspoken critic in opposition to their communist authorities, has died in Miami aged 90.
Florida had been her dwelling since fleeing her homeland almost 60 years in the past.
Journalist Maria Antonieta Collins, who co-wrote Juanita Castro’s 2009 guide Fidel And Raul, My Brothers. The Secret History, wrote on Instagram that she died on Monday.
“Juanita Castro was ahead of us on the path of life and death, exceptional woman, tireless fighter for the cause of her Cuba that I love so much,” Ms Collins wrote.
She mentioned her funeral could be held in personal. The explanation for her dying has not been made public.
A staunch anti-communist, Juanita Castro was so against her brothers’ insurance policies she turned a CIA double agent beneath the codename “Donna”.
She wrote in her guide she started collaborating with the CIA shortly after the United States botched the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. The spouse of Brazil’s ambassador to Cuba persuaded her to fulfill an officer throughout a visit to Mexico City.
She informed the CIA agent she didn’t need any cash, and wouldn’t help any violence in opposition to her brothers or others.
She smuggled messages, paperwork and a refund into Cuba hidden inside tinned items.
The CIA communicated together with her through shortwave radio, taking part in a waltz and a music from the opera Madame Butterfly as indicators that her handlers had a message for her.
She had initially been supportive of her brothers’ efforts to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista, taking part in an lively position within the Cuban revolution by elevating cash and shopping for weapons.
But she turned disillusioned when Fidel Castro turned a hard-line communist after taking energy in 1959 and pushed those that disagreed out of his authorities.
She remained in Cuba whereas their mom was alive, however fled the island after she died.
“Everything was becoming more dangerously complicated,” she wrote.
Raul Castro helped her get a visa to Mexico the place she spent a number of months earlier than going into exile within the US.
She by no means noticed her brothers once more.
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She helped discovered a CIA-backed non-profit organisation that labored in opposition to the Castro authorities earlier than settling right into a quiet life in Little Havana the place she ran a pharmacy amongst her friends dwelling in exile, who feared she was a communist spy.
She turned a US citizen in 1984.
Fidel Castro dominated Cuba till 2008 – when he handed energy over to Raul, who spent a decade as Cuba’s chief.
Fidel died in 2016 aged 90, whereas Raul, 92, resides in retirement. The eldest brother, Ramon, died in 2016 aged 91.
Source: information.sky.com”