Fidel Castro’s Eldest Son,Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart Commits Suicide in Havana

It has been reported by the Cuban state media that Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart,the eldest son of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, committed suicide on Thursday.

He had been suffering from  depression for months and was being treated by doctors, according to the Cuban website Cubadebate.  He was 68 years old. He passed away in Havana.

He was popularly known as "Fidelito". He was trained in the former Soviet Union and worked as a Nuclear Physicist. He wrote several books and had also represented his country in academic events all around the world.  He served as the executive secretary of Cuba's Nuclear Energy Commission and was dismissed from his position in 1992. He held a high and important post at the time of his death. He was a scientific adviser for the Cuban Council of State and he served as vice president of Cuba's Academy of Sciences.

Diaz-Balart had been hospitalised due to his depression and was being treated by doctors.

His father, Fidel Castro, the notorious dictator of Cuba who nearly caused a nuclear war by defying the U.S. He passed away at the age of 90 in November of 2016.

Not much is known  about Diaz-Balart. His father who ruled the nation with an iron fist  did not give any information about his family, as he feared that such information might be used to cause harm and also to  overthrow the Castro regime.

Diaz-Balart had been nicknamed "Fidelito" because he resembled his father. He was the only child of the late Fidel castro and his  first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart. Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez was the daughter of Rafael José Díaz-Balart, a prominent Cuban politician and mayor of the town of Banes. She married Fidel Castro in 1948 and they were divorced when he was in exile, in 1955. She was given the custody of her son. Shortly after Castro took over Cuba,  Diaz-Balart went to visit him as a boy but he was not allowed to return to his mother. It was believed that he was kidnapped by his own father. A young Fidelito was seen in a TV interview with CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow, speaking fluent English along with his father in Havana.

His mother later married  Emilio Núñez Blanco , the son of a former Cuban Ambassador to the UN, Emilio Núñez Portuondo. She moved to Spain in 1959 and there are claims that she still resides there.

Mario Díaz-Balart is his cousin who is a Republican congressman in Florida and a staunch critic of the Cuban government.

Fidelito was photographed in Havana alongside model Naomi Campbell and socialite Paris Hilton, in 2005 at a Cigar party.

It has been announced that his family is planning his funeral.