Meet the Diaz-Balarts: A couple of Castro's 'nephews' — in Congress

National Review, March 10, 2003 by Jay Nordlinger

They're called the "Cuban Kennedys," and the appellation is inevitable. The family is big, influential, and sort of glamorous. They were political leaders first in Cuba and then in Miami. The sons, in fact, are princes of Miami, although no scandals attach to them. In this sense they're not very Kennedyesque, which is just the way the family would want it. The Diaz-Balarts are strong Republicans.

Two of the boys are in Congress: Lincoln Diaz-Balart, elected in 1992, and Mario Diaz-Balart, elected just last November. Another son is Jose Diaz-Balart, a television anchorman. He used to work on the CBS morning show, and is now a star of Telemundo. The fourth son -- although the firstborn, actually -- is Rafael Diaz-Balart, an investment banker in Miami.

I visit the boys in Congress, meeting the two in Lincoln's office. (It's only right that Mario, the freshman and little brother, be forced to trek to the bigger brother's office.) I ask an easy, warm-puppies question: Are their parents proud of them? "Sure," answers Lincoln, "but they never put any pressure on us to have a political career. They never told us what they expected. They guided us by their example. A lot of the things we deeply believe in, we picked up from them."

In talking to the brothers, it's obvious that they're passionately, even quintessentially, American. And they're equally passionately Cuban, never forgetting -- never forgetting the terror, depravity, and desperation in the homeland 90 miles away. Their father has said of his sons, "They're 100 percent American and 100 percent Cuban." As exemplified by the Diaz-Balarts, this is a formula that adds up.

The Diaz-Balart story is well known in Miami, but little known outside that community. The brothers, and others, will tell you that that's typical of the Cuban story in general. An ancestor, Rafael Balart, fought and died in the Cuban war for independence. Since then, there have been a lot of Rafaels in the family. "Everybody's Rafael," says Mario Diaz-Balart. "We don't forget that history." The boys' grandfather was Rafael Diaz-Balart, who was a country lawyer, mayor of his town, and counsel to the United Fruit Company. Lincoln Diaz-Balart knows that everyone's supposed to gasp at the mention of United Fruit, "but they were very good in Cuba. I don't know about Central America, but, in Cuba, they paid their taxes, they built infrastructure -- everyone wanted to work for United Fruit. They were an influence for good."

That grandfather named his first son Rafael Lincoln Diaz-Balart: This is the boys' father. The grandfather revered President Lincoln, and so bestowed that name on his son. The grandmother, as it happened, was a deep admirer of Ralph Waldo Emerson: so another boy in that family was Waldo. Rafael Lincoln Diaz-Balart rose to become an important politician in the Republic. He would be majority leader in the House of Representatives. But first he was a friend, comrade, and roommate of Fidel Castro. One fatal thing the boys' father did was introduce Castro to his sister Mirta, whom Castro married in 1948. They had one son, before divorcing in 1954. That boy, Fidelito, was sent to the Soviet Union to study and be communized.

According to Lincoln Diaz-Balart, his mother always hated Castro, even when the young rabble-rouser was best friends with her husband. She never trusted Castro, and she was appalled at the way he treated Mirta, her sister-in-law. When Castro seized power, the Diaz-Balart family -- which then numbered four -- happened to be out of the country. How important was that to their survival? "Put it this way," says Mario Diaz-Balart, when I ask him: "If they hadn't been out of the country, you and I and Lincoln wouldn't be having this conversation right now." The Castroites burned and looted their home. Last November, when Mario was elected, National Journal said that the new congressman's "views on Cuba policy are likely to be colored by his family's experience." Colored. You think?

In the past, Castro has liked to say to visiting U.S. congressmen, "Give my best to my nephew, would you? He's in Congress, you know." Now he has two "nephews" in Congress. Lincoln says, "Castro likes to toy with us in that way. It's totally cynical. It's just part of his game. His visitors say, 'You've got a nephew in Congress?!' They're so impressed." The boys have no contact with their cousin, Fidelito. He was once out of favor with the regime, but is now back in, apparently. Lincoln says, "I don't wish ill on anybody -- except on those who are running that place." Mario chimes in, "Look, Fidelito is one of the oppressors, he's part of that machine." Blood relative or not, "that's how we feel."

The boys' father, Raphael Lincoln Diaz-Balart, gave an extraordinary speech in the Cuban House in May 1955. Lincoln hands me a translation. The father wanted to explain his opposition to a law that amnestied Castro and his band. The law had just been passed and was apparently popular. The majority leader said, in part,