Fidel Y Ral, MIS Hermanos. / My Brothers Fidel and Raul. Juanita Castro's Memoir as Told to Mara Antonieta Collins: La Historia Secreta: Memorias de

Al terminarlas en 1999, simplemente decidi no publicarlas, y a lo largo de la dcada, ambas compartimos el secreto de guardar el libro, --el primero que yo haba escrito--. Sorpresivamente, en el 2009 decidi abrir su alma en un extraordinario recorrido por el triunfo y la tragedia de su vida, y por ende, en los acontecimientos que han marcado las vidas de millones en los ltimos cincuenta aos.

Esta es una gran historia para cubanos y para quienes no lo son. Es el testimonio contado en primera persona, por alguien que estuvo desde que naciera, junto a dos de los personajes polticos de la historia contempornea de Amrica Latina: sus hermanos Fidel y Ral.

Es por lo tanto una radiografa --la ms cercana y fidedigna-- que alguien pudiera hacer de los suyos: de su madre, de su padre, de los abuelos y de todos los hermanos incluyendo los famosos y los que decidieron no serlo. Es el recuento de la mujer que rompi con todo, y quien en 1964 vino a vivir al exilio cubano en los Estados Unidos. Es la historia que Juanita Castro nos deba a todos, la que nunca ha contado a nadie, y aqu la tienen". --Mara Antonieta Collins.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION: Ten years ago, Juanita Castro set down to write her memoirs, and thanks to the fortunate coincidence that I was both her friend and a journalist, we began working on them together.

When we finished in 1999, Juanita decided not to publish them, and for the past ten years we kept this book--the first one I had written--a secret. Surprisingly, Juanita chose this year, 2009, to bear her soul in an extraordinary journey through the triumphs and tragedies of her life and, consequently, the events that have shaped the lives of millions of people during the past fifty years.

This is the first-hand testimony of a person who, from the moment of her birth, was connected by the deepest bond to two of the most notable political figures of contemporary Latin American history: Fidel and Raul Castro, her brothers.

It is, therefore, the most intimate and accurate analysis any person can do of their own kin: mother, father, grandparents, and brothers, the famous and those that chose to stay out of the limelight.It is the account of a woman that severed all ties, a woman that in 1964 joined the Cuban exile in the United States. It is a story for Cubans and non-Cubans alike --the story Juanita Castro owed each and every one of us; a story that had not been told until today. Mara Antonieta Collins