Fidel Castro’s sister Juanita dies aged 90 after working with CIA against Cuban dictator brother & living in exile in US
FIDEL Castro’s exiled sister who worked with the CIA against her dictator brother had died in Miami at the age of 90.
Juanita Castro abandoned Cuba for Florida in 1964 after accusing her brother of turning the Caribbean island into “an enormous prison surrounded by water”.
She spent decades fighting for the downfall of her brothers Fidel and Raul and even collaborated with the CIA, under the alias Donna, in plans to overthrow them.
Despite her mission to take down Fidel, she expressed sadness over his death in November 2016 – but insisted she would never return to Cuba.
Journalist María Antonieta Collins, co-author of Juanita’s memoir, confirmed her death on Monday.
She said: “Today Juanita Castro went ahead of us on the road to life and death, an exceptional woman, a tireless fighter for the cause of her Cuba that she loved so much.”
It is understood Juanita died of natural causes at a hospital in her adopted home city.
Collins said her funeral would be private.
Fidel’s sister went into exile in the States after spending several months in Mexico.
She obtained US citizenship in 1984 and opened a chemist’s in Miami where she worked for years before selling it in 2006.
Juanita railed against the Cuban system and the work of Fidel and his brother Raul for decades and worked with the CIA.
In her memoirs, ‘Fidel and Raul, My Brothers: The Secret History’, she claimed she had suffered in exile more than others.
She wrote: “Undoubtedly, I have suffered more than the rest of the exiles because nowhere along the Straits of Florida do they give me respite and few are those who understand the paradox of my life.
“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.”
Juanita was one of four sisters of Fidel and was supportive in the late 1950s of her brother’s effort to overthrow former president Fulgencio Batista.
Juanita played an active role in the Cuban revolution by buying weapons for the movement that went on to become the political party led by her brother.
Fidel and Raul’s sale of a family plantation, which coincided with Juanita’s feelings of betrayal at the growing influence of Cuban communists in the government, led to a rift with her siblings that never healed.