Castro Diaz-Balart, the eldest son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro has committed suicide on Thursday, reports state media. According to reports, Diaz-Balart, aged 68 years has been undergoing treatment for depression for the past few months.
Diaz-Balart, a popular nuclear scientist and physicist in Cuba, was known as 'Fidelito' and 'Little Fidel' among people in the nation. Due to depression, Fidelito was initially hospitalized, and he later continued his treatment as an outpatient.
Fidelito was an exact lookalike of his father, and it fetched him the name 'Little Fidel.' He was tall and bearded like his dad, and many of his mannerisms reminded the late revolutionary leader who aimed to take Cuba to new heights of socialism and communism.
Castro Diaz-Balart was born in 1949 out of Fidel Castro's brief marriage with Mirta Diaz-Balart. The couple divorced before Castro took power in Cuba, and during those times, Mirta Diaz-Balart and her relatives went into exile. Later, Diaz-Balart's relatives became prominent figures in the Cuban American exile community, the enemy group of Fidel Castro.
After Castro took over the rule of the country, Mirta Diaz-Balart sent Fidelito for a brief visit to see his dad. But Castro never returned the boy which made Mirta allege that her son has been kidnapped.
Soon, Fidelito became the heartthrob of Cuban youth. He completed his studies in the Soviet Union and later married a Russian woman. Fidelito was the spearhead of Cuba's nuclear program for many years, but later he was dismissed from the administration due to differences of opinion with his father. When his uncle Raul Castro was sworn to power in 2008, Fidelito was named as his scientific adviser and soon he started making more public appearances.
The death of Fidelito came just over a year after his father's demise on November 25, 2016.
