Editing Fidel Castro (section)

===Marital history===
The Cuban government has never published an official marital history of Castro, with most information coming from defectors and scarce details published in state media and pieced together over the years.{{sfn|Skierka|2006|p=3}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm |last=Tamayo |first=Juan O. |title=Fidel Castro's Family |work=The Miami Herald |via=Latinamericanstudies.org |date=8 October 2000 |access-date=13 January 2010 |archive-date=25 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925195101/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/fidel/castro-family.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In his earlier years in power, he showcased some of his family life, in particular his eldest son Fidelito to portray himself as a regular "family man" to the apprehensive American audience, but eventually abandoned that as he became more concerned about his safety.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=65}} Throughout his rule, Castro never named an official "[[First Lady of Cuba|First Lady]]" and when the need for such a public female companion was necessary, [[Celia Sánchez]] or Raúl's wife, [[Vilma Espín]], would play such a role of ''la primera dama''.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=62}}

Sánchez described Castro as a compulsive lover or "womanizer"; he was officially married twice but carried on numerous affairs, including many one-night stands.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=60}}{{sfn|Quirk|1993|p=231}} Popular with women and often recognized as a [[sex symbol]] in Cuba,{{sfn|Bourne|1986|p=201}} Castro never had difficulty in finding love and seduction. Sánchez denies that Castro ever engaged in any unusual or un-consensual behavior.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=60}} Castro was also described as a poor father; often absent from their lives, he had little interest in his children's activities and was more interested in his work.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=63}} Raúl, who had much stronger paternal feelings towards his family, was often the one who played the role of surrogate father to Castro's children, in particular Fidelito and Alina.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=194}}
* Castro's first wife was [[Mirta Díaz-Balart]], whom he married in October 1948. She is the only spouse of Castro acknowledged by the Cuban Government. Diaz-Balart, the daughter of a [[Rafael José Díaz-Balart|powerful Cuban politician]] and sister of Batista's [[Rafael Díaz-Balart|Undersecretary of Interior]], was a student at the [[University of Havana]], where she met and married Castro. She divorced him later, in 1955, while he was in prison due to the attacks on the Moncada Barracks. They had one son:
**[[Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart|Fidel Ángel "Fidelito" Castro Díaz-Balart]], born in September 1949.{{sfn|Bardach|2007|p=67}} Fidelito grew up at various times between Havana and Miami; he later went to the Soviet Union to study [[nuclear physics]]. For a time, he ran Cuba's atomic-energy commission before being removed from the post by his father.<ref name="anderson">{{cite news |last=Anderson |first=Jon Lee |title=Castro's Last Battle: Can the revolution outlive its leader? |magazine=The New Yorker |date=31 July 2006 |page=51 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/31/castros-last-battle |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-date=26 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226221245/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/07/31/castros-last-battle |url-status=live }}</ref> He took his own life in February 2018, over a year after his father's death.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42913492|title=Fidel Castro's son 'takes own life'|date=2 February 2018|access-date=4 March 2019|work=BBC News|archive-date=6 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406082830/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42913492|url-status=live}}</ref>
* During his first marriage, Castro briefly encountered Maria Laborde, an admirer from Camagüey, of whom very little is known and who has long been deceased. They had one son:
**Jorge Ángel Castro, born on 23 March 1949. It was long believed that his birth was in 1956, but Sánchez and another defector uncovered that he was in fact born earlier than Fidelito. This was also confirmed by [[Alina Fernández]], who claimed that Fidelito told her that Jorge Angel was the "around the same age as him".{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=68}}<ref name="Hart">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/6235286/Fidel-Castros-Cuba-full-of-his-offspring-after-years-of-womanising-by-El-Commandante.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/6235286/Fidel-Castros-Cuba-full-of-his-offspring-after-years-of-womanising-by-El-Commandante.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Fidel Castro's Cuba full of his offspring after years of womanising by El Commandante|last=Hart|first=Philip|journal=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 September 2009|access-date=26 November 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/politica/2018/02/02/sepa_usted/1517584659_839094.html|title=Las dispares vidas de los otros hijos de Fidel Castro|last=Palomo|first=Elvira|date=2 February 2018|work=El País|access-date=26 November 2019|language=es|issn=1134-6582|archive-date=22 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822161019/https://elpais.com/politica/2018/02/02/sepa_usted/1517584659_839094.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
*While Castro was married to Mirta, he had an affair with [[Natalia Revuelta Clews|Natalia "Naty" Revuelta Clews]]. Widely regarded in Havana for her beauty, Natalia was married to Dr. Orlando Fernandez but sympathized with the aims of the Revolutionary movement. She initially joined the movement as a friend of Castro but later became his mistress and visited him while imprisoned in Isla de Pinos.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=69}} She would give birth to his daughter: 
**[[Alina Fernández|Alina Fernández Revuelta]],<ref name="anderson"/> born in 1956, is Castro's only daughter. She did not know her true parentage until she was 10. Castro showed little interest in her but sent her to a boarding school in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France. One of the few people willing to stand up to Castro, several defectors have described her personality as the most similar to her father. Alina became a public relations director for a State-owned fashion company and a model for [[Havana Club]]. Her father inadvertently found out about the latter job while reading ''Cuba'' magazine, coming across an advertisement showing Alina posing in a bikini on a boat with two other models; according to Sánchez he "nearly exploded with rage".{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=70}} Alina left Cuba in 1993, disguised as a Spanish tourist,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=2ef037b4-5f82-4283-b1fb-2cc9e2442977 |title=Cuba's first family not immune to political rift |access-date=10 August 2006 |last=Boadle |first=Anthony |date=8 August 2006 |agency=[[Reuters]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011191626/http://canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=2ef037b4-5f82-4283-b1fb-2cc9e2442977 |archive-date=11 October 2007 }}</ref> and sought asylum in the US, from where she has criticized her father's policies.{{sfn|Fernández|1997|}}
*Castro's second and longest marriage was with Dalia Soto Del Valle, another admirer who met Castro during a speech in Villa Clara in 1961. She was a teacher who was part of the Government's literacy campaign. She moved to Havana on Castro's initiative and later moved in with him at ''Punto Cero'' as his permanent family. Her relationship with Castro was kept secret until 2006 when she was photographed with an increasingly frail Castro during the Party Congress, although the Cuban Government has released no other information.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=73}} Castro and Dalia had five sons, each of them starting with the letter A and three of them a variation of "Alexander" (in homage to Alexander the Great, his pseudonym while a guerrilla fighter):{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=74}}
**Alexis Castro Del Valle, born in 1962. Described as a loner with few friends, he eventually got a degree in computer science but has since become a mechanic.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=75}}
**Alex Castro Del Valle, born in 1963. Much more affable and outgoing, he was initially trained as an engineer as well but instead became a photographer and cameraman for ''[[Granma (newspaper)|Granma]]'' and [[Cubavisión]], respectively. He later became the official photographer of his father and, published several books, and hosted the exhibition ''Fidel Castro: Photografia Intimidade''.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=76}} 
**Alejandro Castro Del Valle, born in 1969. Considered a "computer geek" like his brothers, he also studied computer science and engineering but was passionate about the subject. Around 1990, he wrote software that allowed Russian programs to be run on Japanese ones; the product was purchased by [[NEC]] of Japan, which raised his national profile in the engineering community of Cuba and even public praise from his father.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=76}}
**Antonio Castro Del Valle, born in 1971. A national youth baseball champion, he studied sports medicine at the University of Havana and became an [[Orthopedic surgeon]]. He is currently the head of the Surgery unit at the Elite Frank Pais Orthopedic Hospital, a Doctor to the National Baseball team, and President of the Cuban Baseball Federation.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=78}}
**Angelito Castro Del Valle, born in 1974. Considered spoiled by his parents from a young age, he was long considered the "trouble child" of the family. He was passionate about cars and frequently earned the ire of his father's escort unit for disrupting the mechanics' work. Angelito never obtained any higher education but later became the senior executive of the Mercedes-Benz concession of Cuba.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=79}} 
*After the 1970s, Castro began a long relationship with Juanita Vera, a Colonel in the foreign intelligence service who joined his escort unit as his English interpreter. She often appeared in public with Castro, in particular in Oliver Stone's ''[[Comandante (2003 film)|Comandante]]'' as his translator and interpreter. She and Castro had one son, Abel Castro Vera, born in 1983.{{sfn|Sánchez|2015|p=269}}

Castro had another daughter, Francisca Pupo (born 1953), the result of a one-night affair. Pupo and her husband now live in Miami.<ref name="canf.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.canf.org/es/ENSAYOS/2003-dic-09-vida_secreta_del_tirano_castro.htm|last=Duarte|first=Roberto|title=Vida Secreta Del Tirano Castro
|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061210012059/http://www.canf.org/es/ENSAYOS/2003-dic-09-vida_secreta_del_tirano_castro.htm|archive-date=10 December 2006|access-date=16 August 2017}} ''CANF.org''. Cuban American National Foundation. 29 October 2003</ref> Another son known as Ciro was also born in the early 1960s, the result of another brief fling, his existence confirmed by Celia Sánchez.<ref name="Hart"/>

[[File:Family Tree of Fidel Castro.svg|center|thumb|upright=3|{{center|Castro's family tree}}]]