Mirta Díaz-Balart: The Complex Life of Fidel Castro's First Wife and Aunt to U.S. Congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart

Mirta Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, the first wife of the late dictator Fidel Castro and mother of his eldest son, led a life intricately intertwined with the polarities of Cuban politics over the past 70 years. She passed away this Saturday at the age of 95 in Madrid, Spain. Mirta was married to Fidel Castro in the 1950s and was the mother of Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart. However, she was also the aunt of Republican congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, the sons of her brother Rafael Díaz-Balart, a prominent Cuban politician who fervently opposed the Cuban revolution initiated by her ex-husband.

This dichotomy defined the complex story of Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart Gutiérrez, born in Havana on September 30, 1928, to a wealthy Cuban politician. She was studying Philosophy at the University of Havana when she met Fidel, a student of the Faculty of Law and a student leader. They married in 1948, when she was 20 and he was 22, despite her family's opposition. Nonetheless, her affluent parents funded the wedding, allowing the couple to honeymoon in Miami and New York.

In 1949, their son Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, also known as "Fidelito," was born. Tragically, Fidelito committed suicide in 2018. The Castro-Díaz-Balart marriage did not last, and they divorced in 1955 when Fidel was exiled in Mexico. Mirta retained sole custody of their child. She later revealed that the separation was due not only to Castro's revolutionary activities but also his infidelity with the renowned Havana aristocrat Naty Revuelta, with whom he had a daughter, Alina Fernández.

In a 2016 interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Mirta reflected on the separation, stating, "In our separation, there were never any harsh words; we parted civilly. I never wished him any harm." She added that she remembered her marriage to Fidel as a distant yet beautiful part of her youth and always wished him well.

In 1956, Mirta married lawyer Emilio Núñez Blanco, from a family loyal to Fulgencio Batista and son of former Cuban ambassador to the UN, Emilio Núñez Portuondo. According to El Mundo, when Fidel learned about the marriage, he had their son sent to Mexico under the pretense of saying goodbye, only to forcibly keep him there. Eventually, Núñez Portuondo rescued Fidelito.

After the revolution's triumph in 1968, Mirta and her husband, by then 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 anti-Castro figure, contributed to several Miami newspapers. Mirta, on the other hand, maintained a low profile, never speaking publicly about her past or her relationship with Fidel.

A close friend revealed to El Mundo that Mirta "never spoke ill or well of Fidel; she never spoke at all. Even for those of us who knew her past, it was unmentionable, perhaps because she wanted to erase that chapter of her life." In Madrid, Mirta lived near her brothers, Waldo, a renowned painter, and Rafael, a former official in Batista's government who vehemently opposed the Cuban revolution and resided in Miami.

Mirta was the aunt of Republican congressmen Mario and Lincoln Díaz-Balart, sons of her brother Rafael, who exiled to the United States and founded the Cuban Patriotic Union, an anti-Castro organization. Lincoln Díaz-Balart served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2011, and Mario Díaz-Balart has served in Congress since 2003. Both have been staunch opponents of the Castro regime, adding an intriguing dimension to the family’s history given their direct connection to Fidel Castro through their aunt.

Despite the political rifts, Mirta and Fidelito remained close. He would visit her in Madrid, and she occasionally traveled to Havana, visits organized by Raúl Castro, according to a 2020 article by El Nuevo Herald. In 2006, when it was announced that Fidel Castro was ceding power to his brother Raúl due to illness, Mirta was in Havana. During that stay, her husband, who had been suffering from Alzheimer's and was in a nursing home, passed away in Madrid.

Two years later, at the age of 80, she returned to the island and appeared with her son at the inauguration of a scientific event, marking the first time mother and son posed for cameras in decades. "She looked radiant, very happy to be with Fidelito. She is a woman who has aged remarkably well," a source told El Nuevo Herald.

During her visits to Cuba, organized by Raúl Castro, Mirta stayed at the protocol house in El Laguito, where Fidel and Raúl would occasionally visit her. Mirta Díaz-Balart was the only woman Fidel Castro married in the church. After learning of Castro's death in 2016, she expressed her sorrow. "I felt sadness for his death, even though that story happened over 60 years ago. These days I have prayed for his soul; I am a Christian," she told El Mundo.

After Fidelito's suicide on February 2, 2018, in Havana, following severe depression, Mirta suffered greatly and in silence, according to her grandson Fidel Antonio Castro Smirnov, the son of Fidelito and Russian citizen Olga Smirnova. He confirmed his grandmother's death on the social network X this Saturday. Raúl Castro and Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel sent floral tributes to the wake, which is being held in Madrid.