“So you really are Fidel Castro’s nephew?” I asked then-State Rep. (and U.S. Representative-to-be) Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida when we first met in 1987.

“Yes,” he replied to a question he had undoubtedly heard scores of times. “My Aunt Mirta, my dad’s sister, was the first and only Mrs. Castro. And being married into the Diaz-Balart family, which was politically prominent in the 1950s, certainly helped Fidel.

“My dad [Rafael Diaz-Balart, president of the Cuban Senate] arranged the only known meeting between Fidel and [Cuban strongman Fulgencio] Batista. And you know how ‘Uncle Fidel’ repaid the favor? As soon as he came to power in 1959, he put out a warrant for the arrest of our family, and we were forced to flee Cuba.”

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