Lina Ruz González

Coming from a peasant family from the province of Pinar del Río. Mother of Fidel and Raúl Castro.

She was born in the Pinar del Río locality of Catalina, in Guane on the banks of the Cuyaguateje river, in a family of 9 siblings. She was the daughter of Dominga González and Francisco Ruz. The Ruz González family dedicated themselves to tobacco cultivation in the fertile land that the family owned.

In 1910 the hurricane that hit Pinar del Río caused the river to cease being navigable, so the family, which depended on it for transporting the products from their fertile land, decided to abandon the town.

After a brief stay in El Cayuco, an area of forestry exploitation nearby. The family also did not prosper there, so they were forced to move to the eastern part of the country accepting an offer from some contractors.

After a brief stay in Camagüey they moved toward the Birán area in the province of Oriente where Ángela's uncle, Perfecto Ruz Vázquez had begun to work on the properties of the Spanish Ángel Castro Argiz who owned a tavern and several farms in the area.

Lina, 19 years old, united with her employer Ángel Castro, who was already a mature man. From that marriage were born Ángela María Castro Ruz, Ramón Castro Ruz, Fidel Castro Ruz, Raúl Castro Ruz, Emma Concepción Castro Ruz, Juana de la Caridad Castro Ruz and Agustina del Carmen Castro Ruz.

Lina was practically illiterate and like Ángel learned to read and write almost entirely on her own with great effort and willpower. She managed everything daily inside and outside the house and the family economy.

She accepted without protest the Agrarian Reform Law that her children promoted after the revolutionary triumph of January 1, 1959 and through which she lost all her properties.

She died three and a half years after the Triumph of the Revolution.

On August 6, 1963 the property of the Castro Ruz Family passed to the Cuban State. This property was dedicated to the development of a Livestock Plan, established with the latest scientific and technical advances of the time.

Source: EcuRed