Fidel and Raul Castro’s youngest sister, Agustina, passes away

By Cafe Fuerte

HAVANA TIMES — Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz, the youngest of Fidel and Raul Castro’s siblings, passed away this Sunday in Havana aged 78 years old, close family sources have confirmed.

Agustina’s death took place at about 7 a.m., the result of a bout of pneumonia. She had suffered from Alzheimers and her disease had got worse in recent months, to the point that she could no longer identify family members.

Fulfilling her last wish, her remains were cremated. The family is waiting for their sister Enma Castro Ruz, who is living in Mexico, to arrive in order to hold the private funeral.

A mass of remembrance was offered this Sunday at a church in Havana.

Three siblings still alive

With Agustina’s death, only three out of the seven Castro Ruz siblings continue to live: Enma, 82 years old; Raul, 85 years old; and Juanita, 83 years old, who lives in Miami.

Angela, the eldest, died in 2012 aged 88 years old; Ramon, at 91 years old, and Fidel, aged 90 years, passed away last year.

Agustina was the last daughter of the Angel Castro and Lina Ruz marriage. She was born in Biran, the old province of Oriente, on August 28th 1938, and according to her own personal account, she was “the most spoiled out of all seven siblings.”

“My parents spoiled me to death,” Agustina said in some statements published in Fidel and Raul, my brothers, Juanita Castro’s memoir which was published in 2009.

Practicing Catholic

Of firm Catholic faith, Agustina was sent to Europe by her parents, to study opera in the 1950s. She was never in the public eye nor she did she ever hold any government role or position under the regime which her brother Fidel Castro led since 1959.

She married the concert pianist Silvio Rodriguez Cardenas, who died in Orlando, Florida, in 2009.

Their marriage gave birth to three children: Silvio and Angel, both living in Orlando, Florida, and Lina, who repatriated back to Cuba after having lived in the United States. Her two sons are currently in Havana to attend their mother’s funeral rites.

Up until now, official Cuban media hasn’t said anything about Agustina Castro’s death.