Juanita Castro, sister of Cuban rulers Fidel and Raul Castro, cooperated with the CIA in the 1960s — a time when the U.S. agency was plotting to assassinate Fidel and overthrow his revolution &mdash according to an exclusive Univision-Noticias 23 report on her newly published book.
The report also revealed that Juanita, who broke with her brothers' revolution in 1964, hid government opponents in her home; that Fidel refused to visit her because the house was "surrounded by worms;" and that their mother often intervened with Raul to help Castro critics, jailed or fugitive.
Described as the Castro family's best-kept secret in the weeks that preceded the release of her book Monday, Juanita's revelation of her link with the CIA came as a short teaser at the end of a Univisión-Noticias 23 report on the book broadcast at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Juanita told the program that a person close to her and Fidel told her that "The CIA wanted to talk with me . . . because they had interesting things to tell me and interesting things to ask of me. . . . I was left half-shocked, but in any case I told them yes."
Maria Antonieta Collins, who co-authored the book and reported the television story, then added: "Tomorrow: For the first time, a CIA agent who became the lifetime protector of a collaborator . . . and who dared propose to the sister of Fidel that she cooperate with the CIA, archenemy of the Castro brothers?"
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