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Fidel Castro’s Eldest Son Commits Suicide, Cuban Media Says Fidel Castro’s Eldest Son Commits Suicide, Cuban Media Says
(35 minutes later)
HAVANA — Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, the eldest son of the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, committed suicide on Thursday after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported. Fidel Angel Castro Díaz-Balart, a nuclear physicist who was the oldest son of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, died on Thursday, Cuban state media reported. He was 68.
“Díaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning,” the website Cubadebate said. Mr. Castro, who had been under treatment for a deep depression for several months, committed suicide, according to a report in Granma. He had been undergoing outpatient treatment after being hospitalized.
Mr. Castro, 68, also known as Fidelito, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, had initially been hospitalized for depression and then continued treatment outside of the hospital. Bearing a close resemblance to his father, Mr. Castro, known as Fidelito, was the only son of the president and his first wife, Mirta Díaz-Balart. At the time of his death, he was a science adviser to Cuba’s Council of States and vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba.
A nuclear physicist who studied in the former Soviet Union, he served as a scientific counselor to the Cuban Council of State and vice president of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. According to the academy, Mr. Castro held a doctorate in physical sciences mathematics and sciences.
His father died just over a year ago, on Nov. 26, 2016, at age 90.
From 1980 to 1992, Mr. Castro Díaz-Balart was in charge of Cuba’s national nuclear program, and he spearheaded the development of a nuclear plant on the island.
Cuba halted those plans in 1992 because of a lack of funding after the collapse of its trade and aid ties with the former Soviet bloc, and Mr. Castro Díaz-Balart largely disappeared from public view.