Juanita Castro, one of the younger sisters of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, whom she opposed, has died aged 90 in Miami.
The news was reported by Maria Antonieta Collins, a Mexican journalist who was close to the family.
"Juanita Castro, an extraordinary woman and a tireless fighter for the cause of Cuba, which she loved so much, has died," wrote on Instagram the author of the memoirs of the deceased, who has been living 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 Raúl over disagreements over the direction of the 1959 revolution against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
In her memoir, published in 2009 and titled "Fidel and Raúl, my brothers, the secret history", she revealed that she initially supported Castro's revolution, then lost all illusions after the executions of opponents ordered by the elder her brother, and the island's slide toward communism. Juanita admitted that she helped and protected people persecuted by the government in her home in Havana.
By her own account, she cooperated with the CIA from 1961 to 1964, just before she left for the United States, under the alias "Donna." In exile in Miami, she publicly condemned the policies of her brothers in Cuba. In Miami, she owned a pharmacy where she worked until her retirement at the end of 2006.
According to Univisión, Juanita Castro died of natural causes at 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 her wishes her funeral will be private," Maria Antonieta Collins also reported. /BGNES
