Juanita Castro, the younger sister of Fidel Castro who lived in exile for decades due to her criticism of the Cuban communist regime, dies at 90

Juanita Castro, sister of the late dictator Fidel Castro, died this Monday in the city of Miami at the age of 90.

The Mexican journalist María Antonieta Collins, who wrote her memoirs, announced the news on her Instagram profile.

“This is the news that I never wanted to give, but that, as her spokesperson in the last three decades of her life, I have to communicate. Today, at 90 years of age, Juanita Castro went ahead of us on the path of life and death, an exceptional woman, a tireless fighter for the cause of her Cuba that she loved so much,” Collins wrote.

Collins said her sister, Enma, and her extended family will not be giving interviews at this time.

She also reported that Juanita Castro’s funeral will be held privately, in accordance with her will.

Juanita Castro was an emblematic figure of the Cuban diaspora in Florida. Although she admitted in her memoirs that she initially helped and supported the revolution led by her brother Fidel, she later broke off relations with her entire family due to political differences, becoming a fierce critic of the Castro regime, communism, the figure of Che Guevara and also of her own brothers, Fidel and Raúl.

In her book, “My Brothers Fidel and Raul. Juanita Castro’s memoir as told to Maria Antonieta Collins,” Juanita explained that she worked directly with the CIA to sabotage and conspire against her brother Fidel’s regime. While still on the island, she also helped opponents of the Cuban dictatorship who were persecuted by the regime’s security forces.

Because of these actions, Juanita had to leave the island and go into exile in 1964 to Florida.

In Miami, where she lived for almost 60 years, she worked for years in a pharmacy she owned before retiring in 2007.

In several speeches during her youth, Juanita criticized communism, the Castro regime, and also the imperialist aspirations of the former Soviet regime, which, in the words of the Castro sister herself, sought to expand its dominance in Latin America using Cuba as a gateway.