Castro’s rule left his clan dysfunctional, divided
Dilemma many families faced in choosing either exile or solidarity with Cuba revolution affected his loved ones too
Fidel Castro’s rule of nearly five decades split many a Cuban family between exile and solidarity with the communist revolution — including his own. While brother Raul was his closest confidant and successor as president, sister Juana, exiled in south Florida, called Fidel a “monster” to whom she hadn’t spoken in more than four decades.
Eldest son Fidelito, long Castro’s only officially recognised child, was a nuclear scientist in Cuba. Eldest daughter Alina Fernandez, born from an affair with a married socialite who stayed on the island decades later, blasted him on exile radio from Miami.
The sprawling Castro clan, made larger by Fidel’s early extramarital affairs, also suffered from the same sorts of dysfunction and disagreements afflicting so many other families: siblings who don’t speak, adults resentful over childhood slights and murky talk of babies born out of wedlock.
During Castro’s long illness, the tightly wrapped secrecy about his family started unravelling as his youngest sons and their mother, Dalia Soto del Valle, rallied around him.
Soto del Valle, a blonde, green-eyed former schoolteacher Castro met during Cuba’s literacy campaigns in the 1960s, was his life’s most enduring relationship. She was rarely seen in public and never alongside the “maximum leader” while he was in power.
Together more than four decades, the couple had five sons, now middle-aged. There were also dividing lines in the family tracing back to a custody battle over Fidelito even before Castro toppled Fulgencio Batista in 1959. Those divisions would only grow deeper and more bitter after the revolution, similar to the splintering in untold Cuban families with members on both sides of the Florida Straits.
Two of Castro’s nephews, Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, later became Florida congressmen who personified exile opposition to his regime.
Among his own offspring, Fidel only publicly recognised Fidelito.
Despite their differences, the Castros still living on the island were said to regularly attend weekend gatherings with outdoor meals and horseback riding hosted by Raul in his role as lead organiser of family events.