Topple Fidel, Is Sister's
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
net minister and confidante. Philip Bonsai was the last U.S. ICAYUNE, NEW ORLEANS, butions. ambassador to Cuba. Miss Castro lives quietly with a family of exile friends in a Miss Castro began under- modest home. She reads Span- ground activity against her TOPPLE FIDEL, ish and French books, mostly brother's regime. Then she with anti-Communist themes. packed her bags and quietly, IS SISTER'S AIM She has learned enough English for essential needs and remains unmolested, boarded a Cuban airliner for Mexico. From there Juanita Castro Rabid aloof from exile political in- trigue. she came to Miami. I - Agiti-C ommutist Her anti-Fidel broadcasts are Y2 beamed to much of Latin Amer- By THEODORE A. DIGER ica. MIAMI, Fla. (AP) — Juanita One of her latest replied to a Castro has been trying during pastoral letter by Roman Cath- five years in exile to foment a olics in Cuba calling for lifting Since then, she said, she has counterrevolution against her of the U.S. economic boycott of had no contact with Fidel or his brother Fidel, the prime minis- Cuba because of hardships the brother Raul, minister of Cuba's ter of Cuba. people are undergoing. "What Now, she says, she devotes does the economic boycott have full time to this project and to to do," Miss Castro asked, armed forces. helping distressed refugees "with Cuba not producing, as Juanita said she has had indi-I from her brother's regime. before, enough rice, beans, rect contact with her oldest sis- "The problem of Cuba de- vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, mands all my time," said Miss poultry, eggs, coffee and items Castro, 34, comely and fashiona- that are rationed now?" ter, Angelita. She expressed bly miniskirted. "I have little FEW NEEDS hope that Angelita, in Cuba, time for pleasure." Unnamed sponsors of these would turn against communism. SECOND SPEECH broadcasts provide income for Every time Fidel makes a the senorita. She says her per- speech, Juanita broadcasts an- sonal needs are few. other to the Cuban people. And She said she also maintains she goes on the air frequently contact with anti-Castroites in- exhorting people in her home- side Cuba. land, especially in the armed Things were different during forces, to rise up. childhood days on the big Castro Among those who could be lis- sugar plantation in eastern tening is the boy friend she left Cuba. Juanita recalled: "Fidel behind in Cuba in June 1964. and I used to play together. We 'I have learned that he is on played cards, we went to the the side of the (Castro) re- beach together, we had good gime," said Miss Castro, a times." touch of melancholy in her During Fidel's revolution brown eyes. "He was a captain which overthrew President Ful- in the rebel (Castro) army." gencio Batista in 1959, Juanita The 5-foot-5, brown-haired was on his side. While his forces senorita, who bears a physical held forth in the rugged Sierra resemblance to Fidel, said that Maestro., she dealt with peas- in exile she has only occasional ants in the area, and taught dates—no time for romance. some of their children. "I am a passionate anti-Com- Then, early in 1960, said Jua- munist," she said, explaining nita, she learned that ber broth- the split with her brother. "That er was a Communist. is an obsession in my life." "I heard him say things and FOUNDATION AID became suspicious," she said. Juanita spends long hours at a VISITORS CITED desk in offices of the Marta C She added: "Carlos Rafael Abreu Foundation, which she p Rodriguez always entered his founded to help fellow exiles. p home with ease, while Bonsai Throughout the day, Cubans a had to wait to see him." Rodri- needing assistance go there. guez, founder of Cuba's Commu- The foundation, named for a I nit party, now is a Castro Cabi- woman who did similar work in Cuba during the independence wars against Spain, maintains centers m Mexico. Jamaica and Spain. It is financed by contri- .