Clara Nibot Cuban-American anti Castro Republican Activist Dies
Tuesday, May 21, 2014
“She was an activist and very much involved in Republican Party politics until she got sick but until she got sick you could always count on her to be there and she will be sorely missed,” said Bergen County GOP Chairman Bob Yudin.
Ms. Nibot challenged Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-37) in the 2007 general election.
Fernando Alonso, the current President of the Bergen County Hispanic Republican Club described Ms. Nibot as a Cuban anti-Castro dissident who helped many young Republicans. “Including me, many years ago,” Alonso said. “She was a good, kind, wise woman.”
In an interview which appeared in the Record in January of 2011, Clara was quoted as having arrived in the US in 1961 from Cuba as a tourist. She never returned to Cuba or saw her father, a doctor, who was not permitted to leave Cuba.
She was an outspoken advocate for her people and often pointed out the human rights violations so many continue to endure there. “… But there are still human rights violations and people are being put in jail and persecuted because they believe in free speech,” Nibot said in 2011. “No one is holding him [Castro] accountable.”
Clara was born in Havana, Cuba. She lived in Irvington before moving to Bergenfield 43 years ago. She was a Systems Analyst for Mason Tenders District Trust Fund, New York City for 30 years, prior to retiring in 2004.
Clara was the beloved wife of the late Jose Nibot who died in 2005, the devoted mother of Ismael (Caroline) Nibot and Sylvia Claffey, and loving sister of Alicia Burt. She will be sadly missed by her cherished granddaughters, Olivia and Megan Nibot.
The family will welcome friends Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m. onThursday, May 22nd at the French Funeral Home, 161 Washington Avenue in Dumont.
Funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. at St. John’s R.C. Church, 29 North Washington Ave, Bergenfield.
Internment at George Washington Memorial Park, Paramus.
