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Iberosphere

News, comment and analysis on Spain, Portugal and beyond

diaz-balart

The man who knew Fidel Castro, Warhol and Franco’s Spain

November 4, 2011 by Guy Hedgecoe Leave a Comment

It’s over half a century since the artist Waldo Díaz-Balart left Cuba. On January 1, 1959, he was seeing the New Year in at Havana’s Tropicana nightclub with the son of President Andrés Rivero Aguero, when he heard the news that the Revolution had triumphed. The 27-year-old Díaz-Balart knew he had to leave the island. His father, Rafael, had been a minister in the Batista government and had already left for the United States. His situation was also uncomfortable for social reasons: his sister, Myrta, had been married to a young man called Fidel Castro. They divorced in 1955. “On the one hand the Balart family had been in power and on the other, my sister had been married to Fidel … [Read more...] about The man who knew Fidel Castro, Warhol and Franco’s Spain

Filed Under: Culture, Featured, Spain News Tagged With: andy warhol, Castro, castro cuba, castro spain, cuba, Cuban revolution, diaz-balart, Fidel Castro, Franco, franco's spain, news from spain, raul and fidel, Raul Castro, spain, spain cuba, spanish news, velvet underground, Waldo Diaz-Balart

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