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The life of Mirta Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, who was the first wife of the late dictator Fidel Castro and mother of his eldest son, was closely intertwined with the opposing poles of Cuban politics over the past 70 years.
The woman, who passed away this Saturday at the age of 95 in Madrid, Spain, was married to Fidel Castro in the 1950s. She was the mother of Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart and also the aunt of Republican congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, the sons of her brother Rafael Díaz-Balart, a prominent Cuban politician who strongly opposed the Cuban revolution initiated by her ex-husband.
This duality defined the complex history of Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, born in Havana on September 30, 1928, daughter of a wealthy Cuban politician.
She was studying Philosophy at the University of Havana when she met Fidel, a student from the Law School and a student leader.
They got married in 1948 when she was 20 years old and he was 22, despite the bride's family opposing the engagement. However, the wealthy parents of the young woman financed the wedding, allowing the couple to spend their honeymoon in Miami and New York.
In 1949, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, known as "Fidelito," was born, the only son of the couple, who took his own life in 2018.
However, the Castro-Díaz-Balart marriage did not last. They divorced in 1955, when Fidel was in exile in Mexico.
She was granted sole custody of the child.
Díaz-Balart revealed that the separation occurred not only due to Castro's revolutionary activities but also because of her husband's infidelity with the famous Havana aristocrat Naty Revuelta.
With her, who was also married and became his lover, Castro had a daughter named Alina Fernández.
"Well, it's the same as always (...) Men, as you know," Díaz-Balart responded when discussing the topic in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo in 2016, following the death of the Cuban dictator.
"In our separation, there were never any harsh words; we parted ways civilly. I have never wished him any harm," she said.
She then added that she remembered her "marriage to Fidel as something distant, but also as a very beautiful phase of my youth. I always wished him well."
In 1956, Mirta married the lawyer Emilio Núñez Blanco, who came from a family loyal to Fulgencio Batista and was the son of a former Cuban ambassador to the UN, Emilio Núñez Portuondo.
The report from the Spanish newspaper El Mundo states that when Fidel learned about the wedding, he had his son sent to Mexico under the pretext of wanting to say goodbye to him, in case he died in his political struggles. However, once there, he forcibly detained him. In the end, it was Núñez Portuondo himself who rescued Fidelito.
Following the triumph of the revolution in 1968, Mirta and her husband, by then the parents of two daughters, Mirta and América Silvia, moved permanently to Spain, while Fidelito was sent by his father to study in the Soviet Union.
Emilio, a staunch opponent of Castroism, contributed to several newspapers in Miami. She, for her part, maintained a discreet profile throughout her life, never appearing in the media or speaking about her past or her relationship with Fidel.
"He never spoke badly or well of Fidel; he never spoke at all. Even for those of us who knew his past, it was unmentionable, perhaps because he wanted to erase that chapter of his existence," revealed a close friend to El Mundo.
In Madrid lived Mirta's two brothers: Waldo, a sought-after painter, and Rafael, a former government official during Fulgencio Batista's regime who vehemently opposed the Cuban revolution and resided in Miami at the same time.
Mirta is the aunt of Republican congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, sons of her brother Rafael, who exiled in the United States and founded the Patriotic Union of Cuba, an anti-Castro organization.
Lincoln Díaz-Balart served in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011, while Mario Díaz-Balart has been serving in Congress since 2003.
Both have been staunch opponents of the Castro regime, which adds an intriguing dimension to the family history, given the direct connection to Fidel Castro through their aunt.
For his part, Fidelito and his mother were always very close; he would visit her in Madrid, and she also made occasional trips to Havana, organized by Raúl Castro himself, according to a 2020 article in El Nuevo Herald.
According to a report by the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, in 2006, when it was announced that Fidel Castro was handing over power to his brother Raúl because of his illness, she was in Havana. During her time there, her husband passed away in Madrid, where he had been suffering from Alzheimer's for years and was residing in a care facility.
Two years later, at the age of 80, she returned to the Island and was with her son at the inauguration of a scientific event. On that occasion, mother and son posed for the cameras together for the first time in decades.
"She looked radiant, very happy to be next to Fidelito. She's a woman who has aged exceptionally well despite her years," a source told El Nuevo Herald.
During her time in Cuba on those trips organized by Raúl Castro, she stayed at the El Laguito protocol house, and Fidel and Raúl would occasionally visit her there.
Mirtha Díaz-Balart was the only woman Fidel Castro married in a church ceremony.
After learning about the dictator's death in 2016, she stated that she was affected.
"I have felt sorrow for his death, even though that story took place more than 60 years ago. These days I have prayed for his soul; I am Christian," she told El Mundo.
After the suicide of her son Fidelito in Havana on February 2, 2018, following a severe depression, Mirta suffered greatly and in silence, remarked her grandson Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov, son of "Fidelito" and Russian citizen Olga Smirnova, who confirmed his grandmother's death this Saturday on social media platform X.
Raúl Castro and the Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel sent floral tributes to the wake, which is taking place in Madrid.
The life of Mirta Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez reflects a fascinating paradox: a woman who was married to the leader of the Cuban revolution, while her family became prominent exiles fervently opposing the very regime he established. This duality highlights the complexity of recent Cuban history and the divisions that the revolution created within families themselves.
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