Ramon Castro, the Older Brother of Fidel and Raul dies in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Ramon Castro, the older brother of Fidel and Raul Castro, died Tuesday at the age of 91 years, reported dpa news.

Ramon Castro died on Tuesday morning, said the official newspaper “Granma” in its online edition, without specifying the cause of death. After being cremated, his remains were to be transferred to Biran, the birthplace of the Castro’s in eastern Cuba.

Ramon was two years older than former President Fidel Castro, and was seven years older than the current president, Raul. Unlike his two famous brothers, the first of several children in the Castro Ruz family not devote himself to politics and lived apart from the public spotlight.

In Cuba he was known especially in his role as a farmer. The older brother resembled Fidel physically, among other things by his bushy beard. On the island he was known colloquially as “Mongo”.

Like his two brothers, Ramon Castro was born into an old landowning family in the village of Biran, in today’s eastern province of Holguin. His parents were the Spanish immigrant Angel Castro and Lina Ruz. The family properties were also expropriated after the triumph of the 1959 revolution.

State media stressed that Ramon Castro was imprisoned in 1953 during the regime of Fulgencio Batista and collaborated with the hiding of members of the July 26 Movement, the guerrilla group led by Fidel Castro that came to power in 1959.

Ramon Castro worked organizing supply networks for the guerrilla fronts in the east of the island, recalls Granma.

The elder Castro worked in the farm sector following the rise to power of his brother Fidel and later served as an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture and the now defunct Ministry of Sugar, among other positions.