Fidel Castro’s son kills himself, Cuba’s state media reports
The eldest son of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro killed himself on Thursday after months of treatment for depression, state media reported. He was 68.
The official website Cubadebate said Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart had been in a “deeply depressed state.” A brief note read on state television said his treatment had “required an initial hospitalization regime then outpatient follow-up.”
Castro Diaz-Balart was known for his resemblance to his father, earning him the nickname Fidelito, or Little Fidel.
He had served as scientific advisor to the Council of State and was vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. He studied nuclear physics in the Soviet Union and preferred to stay away from political issues. He previously was head of Cuba’s nuclear program.
His mother was Mirta Diaz-Balart, a woman from Cuba’s aristocracy whom Fidel Castro married in his youth before beginning the revolutionary struggle that later brought him and his brother Raul to power.
Through his maternal lineage, Castro Diaz-Balart is related to U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican who represents a Cuban exile community in Florida.
Fidel Castro died in November 2016 at age 90.
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