Fidel Castro’s older sister dies

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REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- The older sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul Castro has died, news reports from Havana and Miami say. Angela Castro was 88.

She is the first of the seven Castro siblings to die and, as the Associated Press put it, her death suggests the ‘looming mortality’ of her more famous brothers.

The Miami-based website cafefuerte.com quoted another sister, Juanita, who lives in Miami, as saying Angela died Tuesday morning, quietly, in a Havana clinic where she had been in declining health for some time. There was to be a funeral on Thursday, the website said.

As of this writing, there has been no mention of the Castro family loss in Cuba’s state-controlled media nor an announcement from Fidel or Raul.

Fidel, who upon serious illness handed the government over to Raul nearly six years ago, is 85. Raul is 80.

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-- Tracy Wilkinson