Fidel Castro’s Elder Brother Dies at 91

Date: 24 February 2016 - 20:54

News ID: ۲۴۲۵۳

HAVANA (Press TV) -Ramon Castro, the elder brother of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and incumbent President Raul Castro, has died at the age of 91.
Castro, a lifelong rancher and farmer, passed away in the capital, Havana, on Tuesday and his cremated remains were to be taken to his hometown, Biran, in eastern Cuba.
Nicknamed Mongo, Ramon was two years older than Fidel. Little is known about his private life except that he was born in 1924 and had five children. In recent years, he lived on a farm near the capital Havana.
Unlike his brothers, who pursued political careers, Ramon remained in Biran, where he helped his father with the family business. He later studied agricultural engineering at the University of Havana.
Following the 1959 victory of the Cuban Revolution and Fidel’s rise to power, Ramon often worked as an agricultural adviser to the government. In the early 1960s, he oversaw sugar production in eastern Cuba and helped increase output.
Fidel himself stepped down as Cuba’s president because of a serious illness, at first provisionally in 2006 and then definitively in 2008. Raul, his longtime defensee chief, has since led the government and said he would step down from power after his second term as president ends in 2018.
Ramon liked to talk about his family’s longevity. His father lived until age 82, and at least one aunt reportedly lived past 100. "It seems that we have a good genetic mix,” Ramon said in late 2004, expressing confidence that Fidel would recover from illness, which he did.