Fidel's Sister Dies

Three of 7 Siblings Still Live
{Thursday, March 30th, 2017}

        On Sunday, March 27th in Havana, Augustina Castro died at age 78. Born in Biran in the old province of Oriente, she was the youngest daughter of Angel and Lina Ruz Castro. With Augustina's passing, now only 3 of the 7 Castro siblings are still alive and they are 85-year-old Raul, the Cuban President; 83-year-old Juanita who lives in Miami; and 82-year-old Emma who lives in Mexico after marrying a Mexican.

       This photo shows Augustina on the left and Emma on the right when they were in Miami recruiting money and moral support at the outset of the Cuban Revolution that was led by Celia Sanchez and the brothers Fidel and Raul. Prior to her death Sunday in Havana, Augustina had asked to be cremated. Emma flew from Mexico City to attend funeral rites for her younger sister. Also, Augustina's two sons Silvio and Angel, who live in Orlando, were in Havana this week to honor their beloved mother.

       This photo shows the three Castro brothers -- Raul, Ramon, and Fidel -- in the back row with their four sisters and their mother Lina, who is in the middle of the front row wearing glasses. Augustina is standing between Raul and Ramon. The photo was taken the day Emma, sitting to the right of her mother, got married. It is also known that the 7 siblings had a half-brother named Martin who still lives a very quiet life as a farmer in southern Cuba where he had often been visited by the oldest Castro brother Ramon.

Fidel's oldest sister Angela was born in 1923.

Always fiercely loyal to Fidel, Angela died in 2012.

        This, I believe, is one of the most interesting of all the Fidel Castro family photos. It was taken in 1940. The back row shows the 14-year-old Fidel on the left with his favorite sister Angela in the middle and his oldest brother Ramon on the right. In the front row sitting down is Fidel's younger brother Raul on the left, Lidia Castro Argota in the center and Fidel's younger sister Juanita, the one who defected to Miami in 1964, on the right. But it is Lidia who makes this photo so pertinent. She was Fidel's beloved half-sister. This 1940 photo was taken in Santiago de Cuba at Lidia's home, which the teenage Fidel made it a point to visit often. He worshiped Lidia. From 1953 till 1956 he wrote sweet letters to her, seeking and receiving her "necessary approval and understanding" for the revolutionary life that was by then absorbing him. It is my opinion that Lidia is the only person on the planet that could have talked Fidel out of waging war against the Batista dictatorship, and she chose not to do so. Lidia was Angel Castro's daughter by his first wife Maria Argota. Angel didn't officially marry Fidel's mother Lina until after their third child, Fidel, was born. Because of Angel's extreme wealth and his contract with the infamous U. S. company United Fruit, Fidel was never close to his father Angel, who died in 1956. But his love and admiration for Lidia was both worshipful and historical. She died at age 77 in 1991, meaning she was 26 when the above photo was taken in 1940. 

       This is the 14-year-old Fidel on that 1940 visit to Lidia Castro Argota's home in Santiago de Cuba. It is believed that his beloved half-sister, Lidia, took this photo herself. She was the biggest influence in Fidel's formative teenage years. Later, when he was Cuba's Athlete of the Year he gave his trophy to Lidia; and later, when he declared war against the Batista dictatorship in July of 1953 it was Lidia whose "necessary approval and understanding" he sought and needed. Lidia's influence on Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba was huge. Her husband, Dr. Narciso Montero, died of Hodgkin's Disease in 1945. Fidel was a big eater and Lidia often fixed his favorite dish -- eggs, fruit and gelatin. 

        This photo shows the Castro brothers. Now at age 85 Raul is Cuba's President. Fidel at 90 and Ramon at 91 both died in 2016. Ramon supported his brothers but was more interested in farming than politics.

      Of Fidel Castro's six siblings, only Juanita defected to South Florida and denounced the revolution but to this day her reasonings are clouded and debatable. The photo above shows Juanita at the front of an anti-Fidel march in New York City in 1979 to protest Fidel's appearance at the United Nations. But the Miami-New York circles that she defected to included revengeful CIA-backed Cubans fiercely anti-Castro. Note the expression on Juanita's face and how tightly her arms are being gripped by two stern individuals.

After defecting to Miami, this is Juanita in 1969. 

       This photo shows Juanita with Fidel in 1959 shortly after his victorious Cuban Revolution had made him an international sensation for overthrowing the U.S. and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship. In 1963 Juanita and her six siblings attended the funeral of their mother Lina. It was 1964 that Juanita defected to South Florida where she has remained to this day but, at age 83, she admits she has never been fully accepted by Castro hardliners. According to the New York Times, one reason Juanita left Cuba in 1964 was because, at a bowling alley, pro-Fidel Cubans berated her for smoking Chesterfields, a popular U.S. cigarette. But she has acknowledged working for the CIA against Fidel in both Cuba and the U. S.

     On November 28th, 2016, Frances Robles interviewed Juanita for the New York Times in Coral Gables three days after Fidel had died at age 90 in Havana. The hour-plus interview is available on YouTube and in it she was much harsher against Donald Trump than Fidel. She said she had called her sister Enma in Mexico to discuss Fidel's passing and that she got "no joy" related to his death. She also expressed bitter disdain about the wild street celebrations in Miami that broke out as soon as Fidel's death, which occurred late at night on Nov. 28-2016, was announced. She told Ms. Robles, "That reaction hurts." 

       For years Juanita operated a very successful Drug Store in Miami-Coral Gables. She opened her pharmacy, called "Mini Price," in 1973 and sold it for a huge profit in 2006 to the pharmaceutical giant CVS. To abide in the Miami area, she had to denounce Fidel and his revolution to the highest degree, but reports abound that her defection was more about economics than politics. In Cuba, it is known that Fidel loved but only modestly took care of his closest relatives and that included his only daughter Alina who defected to Miami and got rich as an anti-Fidel writer, broadcaster and orator. Fidel's 8 sons and all of his six siblings and ten children except sister Juanita and daughter Alina remained loyal to him. Fidel also had six half-siblings: Lidia, Pedro Emilio, Manuel, Antonia, Georgina and the little-known Martin.

       Juanita Castro wrote a book -- "Fidel & Raul: My Brothers" -- but her hour-plus video interview with Frances Robles on Nov. 28-2016 was much more revealing and up-to-date about how she truly rationalizes her brothers, the revolution, and living since 1964 on the outskirts of one of her brothers' richest, most indelible, and most controversial creations -- the anti-Castro bastion know as Little Havana in Miami.

        Juanita Castro back in November did not return to Cuba to participate in the funeral ceremonies surrounding the death of her older brother Fidel nor was she in Cuba this week after the passing of her younger sister Augustina. But perhaps as much as anyone else, Juanita epitomizes the everlasting pros and cons of Fidel Castro and his famed Cuban Revolution, especially how those two historic and topical entities so drastically changed and still deeply affect the world's superpower, the United States. While Fidel's daughter Alina apparently defected to Miami for financial reasons, it seems Juanita's defection to Miami was two-fold -- financial and political, both of which apparently reflect her secretive CIA ties.

     This AFP/Getty Images photo was taken in 2003 at the tomb of Castro matriarch Lina Ruz in Biran, Holguin in southeast Cuba. The three visitors this particular day were her son Ramon and her daughters Augustina and Enma. Ramon died at age 91 in 2016; Augustina died at age 71 in March-2017; and Emma at age 82 still lives in Mexico and flew to Havana this week to attend funeral services for Augustina.

      This photo shows Lina Ruz and Angel Castro. Before they married, she was a maid and he was a rich rancher who owned or controlled about 34,000 acres of prime Cuban land. Lina and Angel had 7 children together -- Ramon, Fidel, Raul, Juanita, Angela, Augustina, and Enma. Angel had been married previously and the Lina-Angel siblings had at least six half-siblings: Lidia, Pedro Emilio, Manuel, Antonia, Georgina, and the lesser known Martin. Angel Castro's wife prior to marrying Lina Ruz was Maria Luisa Argota.

       Angel Castro was so rich that he had his own railroad outside Biran in Oriente Province to take his products to market. As shown above, on Sundays Angel often took his children...his hijos...for joy rides.

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