Ramón Eusebio Castro Ruz (14 October 1924 – 23 February 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and activist. He was the eldest brother of Fidel and

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeed ...

and a key figure of the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cour ...

Biography

Ramón, the eldest of the Castro brothers, the son of Ángel Castro, a Spanish-born rancher, and his second wife, Lina Ruz, grew up on his family's large farm in Birán, Holguin province, in eastern Cuba. Ramon Castro, who studied agricultural engineering, spent his life tending crops and livestock. He oversaw Cuba's sugar production in the 1960s to help increase output, and he founded several state companies handling production and transport of food crops. He also participated in agricultural research. "Physically, he is stunningly like his brother Fidel, an enormous, heavy-set, gruff bear of a man, with a scraggly beard, a red face, a blustery manner, a ready teasing smile and bright dancing eyes," wrote American journalist,

Sally Quinn Sally Sterling Quinn (born July 1, 1941) is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at '' The Washington Post''. Early life Sally Quinn was born in Savannah, Georgia, to Lt. General William Wilson "Buffalo Bill" ...

, who in 1977 was rare in being offered a unique opportunity to do an interview in Cuba. ''Habaneros'' and tourists alike would confuse Ramón for his brother Fidel, as they passed in the streets of Havana. He would declare "No, soy Mongo" using a childhood nickname that only his friends and family would know. Although not active in the armed rebellion like his brothers, Ramón Castro aided in the revolution as the

quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land armies, a quartermaster is generally a relatively senior soldier who supervises stores or barracks and distributes supplies and provisions. In ...

for the troops of Fidel and Raúl, sending them weapons and supplies. He also established and maintained pipelines from the cities to the troops in the field. He also manufactured an alcohol-based fuel for Cuba during a gasoline shortage. He later said he led a network of 1,200 men: "All of them were thieves. We stole things for the war." After the revolution, the family farm that employed 400 people and produced sugar cane, oranges, cattle and lumber, along with its core 26 buildings became legal propert