http://www.smh.com.au/world/cuba-brims-with-little-fidels-20090927-g7r2.html
Cuba brims with little Fidels PHILIP SHERWELL September 28, 2009 Father of nation...Castro in 1978. NEW YORK: Fidel Castro is renowned for his revolutionary fervour but his long-suffering compatriots in Cuba know little about his other passion - women. Discussing the former president's private life is strictly taboo in the Caribbean outpost. But a long-time Cuba-watcher has now disclosed the scale of his philandering and the existence of at least 10 offspring. In 1993, Ann Louise Bardach asked Dr Castro during an interview for Vanity Fair how many children he had. He smiled and answered: ''Almost a tribe.'' During the research for Without Fidel, her new book chronicling the lives of Dr Castro and his brother, Raul, she discovered how true that observation was. Dr Castro, now 83, was a dashing young man whose good looks and rebel swagger gave him a strong sexual allure. Reports describe women swooning when he arrived triumphantly in Havana after the 1959 revolution and during early trips to the US. He had one child, Fidelito (Little Fidel), with his first wife Myrta Diaz-Balart in 1949 and five boys between 1962 and 1974 with Dalia Soto del Valle, a little-seen companion whom he is said to have married in 1980. But there have been many more lovers and several other children - most notably as the 29-year old rebel leader celebrated his release from prison in 1955 for a failed uprising in decidedly debauched fashion. Three women bore Dr Castro children during 1956. Bardach also discloses another apparent addition to the brood - a son known as Ciro, the product of another brief fling in the early 1960s. Ciro lives in a Havana suburb where nobody knows his provenance. And then there is the claim made this year by a Cuban intelligence defector that Dr Castro sired another son in 1970. Dr Castro's children have largely adhered to their father's instructions not to flaunt their privileged backgrounds and are rarely seen in public. Fidelito has received the highest prominence. But when he mishandled Cuba's nuclear power program, his father ordered his dismissal. ''He was fired for incompetence,'' Dr Castro said. ''We don't have a monarchy here.'' Many Cubans would disagree. After the crippling intestinal disease of diverticulitis nearly killed him in 2006, his brother Raul was anointed to replace him. The younger Castro was confirmed as President last year in a feudal handover. Telegraph, London [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
