Mirta Díaz-Balart
| Mirta Díaz-Balart | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez 30 September 1928 |
| Spouse(s) |
Fidel Castro (m.1948–1955) Emilio Núñez Blanco |
| Relations | Rafael José Díaz-Balart (father) América Gutiérrez (mother) Raúl Castro (former brother-in-law) |
| Children | Fidel Ángel Castro Diaz-Balart Mirta Núñez Díaz-Balart América Silvia Núñez Díaz-Balart |
Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (born September 30, 1928) was Fidel Castro's first wife, the daughter of Rafael José Díaz-Balart, a prominent Cuban politician and mayor of the town of Banes, and his wife América Gutiérrez. She was a fellow student at the University of Havana, studying philosophy, when Fidel married her.
They married on October 11, 1948, honeymooned in New York City, and divorced seven years later (while Castro was in exile) in 1955. They had one child, a son, Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart, born on September 1, 1949. After the divorce, Castro was not granted custody of their son. Instead Castro kidnapped Fidel Jr. when his son visited Castro in Mexico prior to his return to Cuba. There is a documented story of the rescue of Fidel Jr. from his captors.
Díaz-Balart remarried to Emilio Núñez Blanco (1925-2006), the son of a former Cuban Ambassador to the UN, Emilio Núñez Portuondo.
Díaz-Balart lived in Spain with her family after 1959. She was deprived of the company of her son for many years as he studied in Cuba and the Soviet Union. A story in the October 8, 2000, edition of the Miami Herald claimed that she was still living in Spain and that occasional visits to Cuba had been arranged by Raúl Castro, her former brother-in-law.
Díaz-Balart is the aunt of anti-Castro Republican Party U.S. Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (Florida's 25th congressional district) and his brother, former U.S. Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and TV anchor Jose Diaz-Balart. She is the sister of the painter Waldo Diaz-Balart and the late Rafael Diaz-Balart. She has two daughters by her second husband, Mirta and América Silvia Núñez Díaz-Balart, both residing in Spain with their families. She has numerous grandchildren.
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