Getty Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro’s oldest son, Fidel “Fidelito” Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on February 1, according to the state-run website Cubadebate. He wasn’t Fidel Castro’s only son, but he was the one that was in the media spotlight the most while growing up. Fidel Castro tended to keep his children hidden away quite a bit while they were growing up. But exactly how many children did Fidel Castro have? The exact number isn’t actually known, but it’s estimated that Fidel Castro had at least nine children, including Fidelito. He had one son, Fidel Angel “Fidelito” Castro Diaz-Balart, to his first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart. Fidelito was reported to have committed suicide on February 1, 2018. Fidel also had five other sons with his second wife, Dalia Sota del Valle: Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis, Alexander “Alex”, and Angel Castro Soto del Valle. He also had a daughter, Alina Fernandez Revuelta, with Natalia “Naty” Revuelta Clews. He had another son, Jorge Angel Castro, with an unnamed woman and a daughter, Francisca Pupo, with another unnamed woman. Fidel passed away in November 2016 at the age of 90. Here are more details about Fidel Castro’s children.
GettyFidel ‘Fidelito’ Castro Diaz-Balart, son of Cuban revoloutionary leader Fidel Castro, attends the closing gala night for the week-long International Habano Cigar Festival on February 27, 2015.
Fidel “Fidelito” Castro Diaz-Balart was Fidel’s oldest son. He was 68 when he committed suicide. He had suffered depression in recent months, CNN reported, and was the son of Fidel and Mirta Diaz-Balart. Mirta and Fidel divorced before Fidel took power in Cuba, but Mirta sent Fidelito to live with Fidel after his father came to power. At one point, Miami relatives said that Fidel had kidnapped Fidelito when he never returned him.
Fidelito was introduced in 1959 by his father on a program broadcast by CBS, the only child of Fidel to be in the media spotlight growing up. When he studied nuclear physics in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, he used the cover name Jose Raul Fernandez. Later, Fidelito ran the atomic-energy commission before his father removed him from his position, according to The New Yorker. In 2015, Fidelito was photographed with Paris Hilton and Naomi Campbell in Havana, CNN reported.
Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov is Fidelito’s son with Natalia Smirnov. He received a scholarship in 2008 to study at Spain’s National Research Council. He’s now a professor in Havana at the University of Information Science.
GettyAntonio Castro
Antonio Castro Sota del Valle was one of five sons born to Fidel and his second wife, Dalia Soto de Valle. Antonio became a doctor for a Cuban baseball team. In 2009, ABC reported that he was tricked into having a six-month online affair with a person he believed was a “Colombian beauty” but was actually a 46-year-old male Cuban activist in Miami. Antonio later became the vice-president of the International Baseball Federation and has been deeply involved in helping Cuban ballplayers sign on American teams.
GettyAlejandro Castro in 2007
Alejandro Castro Soto del Valle is also one of five sons born to Fidel and his second wife, Dalia Soto de Valle. Three out of five of his sons with Dalia have versions of the name Alexander, which is the pseudonym that Fidel used when he was a guerrilla fighter. Alejandro was known as a “computer and softball nut” and was the last of the sons to live at home with Fidel and Dalia.
GettyAlexis Castro Soto del Valle
Alexis Castro Soto del Valle is also one of the five sons born to Fidel and his second wife, Dalia Soto de Valle. The photo above is from 2008. Most of Fidel’s five sons with Dalia graduated from Lenin High School in Havana, a school for the brightest children of top Cuban government officials.
GettyCuban photographer and cinematographist Alex Castro Soto del Valle, son of former Cuban president Fidel Castro, shows his book “Fidel, Fotografias.”
Alex Castro Soto del Valle is also one of five sons born to Fidel and his second wife, Dalia Soto de Valle. Today, Alex is a Cuban photographer and cinematographist. He wrote a book called “Fidel Fotografias” and had a gallery exhibition in Mexico in 2012. He’s married to Marila Sarduy, according to Getty, and was Fidel’s official photographer. In early 2015, he invited Coca-Cola and McDonald’s to start businesses in Cuba.
GettyAngel Castro Soto del Valle, son of former Cuban president Fidel Castro, chats at an auction during the Havana Cigar Festival, on March 1, 2008.
Angel Castro Soto del Valle is another one of five sons born to Fidel Castro and his second wife, Dalia Soto del Valle. He’s the youngest of the five sons and is said to run a car repair shop, the Miami Herald reported. He may sometimes be referred to as Angelito.
GettyFidel Castro’s daughter Alina Fernandez speaks about her father’s regime and introduces her book, “Alina: Memoir of Fidel Castro’s Rebel Daughter,” during a press conference in Los Angeles in 1997.
Alina Fernandez Revuelta is Fidel Castro’s oldest daughter, born in 1956 from an affair with Natalia “Naty” Revuelta Clews, according to The New Yorker. Her father was angry when, as a model, she posed in a bikini for a publication. In 1993, she left Cuba while disguised as a Spanish tourist and came to the United States. She was often publicly critical of her father’s regime. She has one daughter, pictured below in a photo from 1993.
GettyAlina Fernandez Revuelta (L), daughter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and her daughter Alina-Maria Salgado-Fernandez (R) toast the New Year with champagne in 1993.
In 2005, her Aunt Juanita sued Alina for defamation over passages about her grandparents in her book. An English version of the book does not have the disputed copy, The Miami Herald reported.
Jorge Angel Castro was born to Castro after a short affair with Maria Laborde, according to the Telegraph, but little is known about him. In 2000 Jorge was about 51 and had four children, possibly including triplets. He may be older than Fidelito, according to The New York Post.
Francisca Pupo (referred to in one publication as Panchita Pupo) was born to Castro after a short affair with a woman from Santa Clara. Her identity wasn’t confirmed until 2001, the Sun Sentinel reported. In 2001 she was working in a day care center. She arrived in Florida in her 40s, leaving behind an adult daughter and grandson in Cuba. She now lives with her husband in Miami.
Ciro Castro is a rumored tenth child born in the 1960s from a short affair, The Telegraph reported. Ciro was said to have “movie star look,” green eyes and dark hair. He lived in Havana and studied sports medicine.
Fito Castro is a possible eleventh child, the Miami Herald reported. A Cuban intelligence defector said in 2007 that Fito was born around 1970 to Fidel and Roxana Rodriguez, the wive of Abraham Masiques. Masiques was formerly the director of a tourism agency.
This is a developing story.