Díaz-Balart was the daughter of América Gutiérrez and
Rafael José Díaz-Balart, a prominent politician and mayor of the town of
Banes in eastern Cuba. She was a philosophy student at the
University of Havana, when she met and married Fidel. Castro and Díaz-Balart married on 11 October 1948, honeymooned in
New York City, and divorced seven years later in 1955 (while Castro was in prison following a failed attack on the
Moncada Barracks). They had one child, a son,
Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart (1949–2018). After the divorce, Castro was not granted custody of their son. Instead, Fidel Jr. was estranged from his father until he stayed with him after a visit in Mexico, prior to his father's return to lead the
Cuban Revolution. In 1956, Díaz-Balart married Emilio Núñez Blanco (1925–2006), the son of a former Cuban ambassador to the UN,
Emilio Núñez Portuondo. They had two daughters, including
Mirta Núñez. The family lived at Havana's
Tarará beach resort when in Cuba. Díaz-Balart lived in
Madrid with her family after 1959, the year in which Castro's revolution succeeded. She was deprived of the company of her son for many years as he studied in Cuba and the Soviet Union. The
Miami Herald claimed in 2000 that she was still living in Spain, and that occasional visits to Cuba were arranged by
Raúl Castro, her former brother-in-law. By 2018, the year in which her son Fidelito committed suicide, she was reportedly once again living in Cuba at age 90. Díaz-Balart was the aunt of
anti-Castro U.S. Republican politicians
Mario Díaz-Balart and his brother
Lincoln Díaz-Balart, as well as TV anchor
José Díaz-Balart. She was the sister of the painter
Waldo Díaz-Balart and politician
Rafael Díaz-Balart. Díaz-Balart died in Madrid on 6 July 2024, at the age of 95. ==References==