Jose Diaz-Balart returning to MSNBC for new show

[Judi Lynn]

10. Jose Balart-Diaz' father, Rafael, was powerful in Cuba, close to dictator Fulgencio Batista.

Rafael Diaz-Balart (17 January 1926-6 May 2005) was a Cuban politician who served as the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives under Fulgencio Batista's regime. He was a Progressive Action Party member, and his sons Mario Diaz-Balart and Lincoln Diaz-Balart would enter US politics.

Biography
Rafael Diaz-Balart was born in Banes, Cuba in 1926, and he became the brother-in-law of Fidel Castro after his sister Mirta married him. Diaz-Balart condemned Castro's attack on the Moncada Barracks in 1953, and he supported Fulgencio Batista's corrupt conservative dictatorship. He became a Senator in 1958 and served as Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, serving as a Progressive Action Party member. In 1959, he went into exile in the United States during the Cuban Revolution, and he died of leukemia in Key Biscayne, Florida in 2005. His sons Mario Diaz-Balart and Lincoln Diaz-Balart both became US politicians in Florida.

https://historica.fandom.com/wiki/Rafael_Diaz-Balart

I should add he also held the position of Transport Minister in the cabinet of Fulgencio Batista.

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Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (January 17, 1926 in Banes, Cuba - May 6, 2005) was a Cuban politician. Díaz-Balart served as Majority Leader of the Cuban House of Representatives and Under-Secretary of Interior during the presidency of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1955, he gave a speech before the Cuban House of Representatives in opposition to the amnesty granted to his former brother-in-law, Fidel Castro, for his involvement in the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks. Díaz-Balart was elected senator in 1958, but was unable to take office due to Fidel Castro's rise to power on January 1, 1959.

He founded La Rosa Blanca (The White Rose), the first anti-Castro organization, in January 1959. He is the father of U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Díaz-Balart and Mario Diaz-Balart, TV news journalist José Díaz-Balart, and investment banker Rafael Díaz-Balart. He is the brother of Mirta Díaz-Balart, Fidel Castro's first wife. His brother, Waldo Díaz-Balart is a painter and a former actor in two movies by Andy Warhol in the 1960s. His father, Rafael Díaz-Balart was elected to the Cuban House of Representatives in 1936 and his brother-in-law, Juan Caballero, was elected to the Cuban House of Representatives in 1954.

Following his departure from Cuba, Rafael Diaz-Balart spent the following years living in Spain. He worked there as an insurance company executive with Aseguros Iberica La Providencia. This company had investments in real estate companies which developed property on the Spanish Riviera. He then also spent several years serving as a diplomat for the government of Costa Rica in Venezuela and Paraguay.

He died on May 6, 2005 in his Key Biscayne, Florida home after a battle with leukemia. The building that houses the Florida International University College of Law bears his name, "Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall".

https://alchetron.com/Rafael-D%C3%ADaz-Balart

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See photo at link:

This is an ORIGINAL, vintage photo showing cuban politician RAFAEL DIAZ BALART, sitting right, at a press conference while working for President FULGENCIO BATISTA in Habana, Cuba, circa 1950's. The photo is credited to famous Cuban photographer SALAS. It is in VERY GOOD c ondition and it measures 8 x 10 inches. GREAT CUBAN POLITICAL MEMORIES !!!!!!!!

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1950s-original-salas-photo-cuba-1559092390

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Jose Balart-Dias' aunt, his father's sister, and her husband, Fidel Castro, in their youths







Interesting account of the relationship between the Diaz-Balarts and Fidel Castro from the non-fiction book, Cuba Confidential, Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana, by Ann Louise Bardach, former New York Times journalist:

Chapter Two Castro Family Values

"One day I'll be out of here and I'll get my son and my honor back - even if the earth should be destroyed.” Fidel Castro in a 1954 letter from prison to his half-sister Lidia.


Some time ago, a Cuban in exile contacted his divorced wife who had left for the United States with their six year old son. He asked that their son be allowed to visit him, arguing that as he was about to undertake a perilous excursion, it may well be the last time for him to see his cherished son. Although his former wife was wary and wounded from a protracted divorce and custody suit, she relented, accepting his promise "as a gentleman," as he put it, to return the boy in two weeks' time.

But when the two weeks elapsed, the boy was not sent home. And two months later, when the father embarked on his dangerous mission, he did not return the son to his mother but rather turned him over to the care of his relatives and close friends. The kidnapped six year old boy was not Elian Gonzalez but six year old Fidelito Castro, the first born son of Fidel Castro by his first wife, Mirta Diaz-Balart. Nor would this be the final round in their bruising custody battle.

For those who were baffled by the passion and tenacity of the battle waged by Fidel Castro for the return of Elian Gonzalez, many of the answers lie in Castro’s own family history. In some respects, for Fidel Castro and many Cubans, the personal is the political. For them, the four decade stalemate between Miami and Havana is the natural outcome of an extended broken family. In certain respects, it is a huge family feud.

More:
https://www.bardachreports.com/cuba-confidential-chapter-two