As beloved and famous as Fidel Castro is among Cuban people, no one knows anything at all about his personal life.
In the Cuban media, there is hardly ever any mention of his wife, who he has been married to for more than 30 years, or their 5 sons.
In October 2000, The Miami Herald ran a photo of his sons Alejandro and Antonio, and reported that it was the first known published photograph of them.
The Cuban media is heavily censored, and few publications outside of Cuba have ever been able to get ahold of pictures of the dictator's family.
Castro's wife, Dalia Soto Del Valle, and his 5 sons, Alejandro, Alex, Alexis, Angel and Antonio, are not involved in politics at all.
They live better than most Cubans, but not extravagantly.
Castro has them stay out of the public eye, and avoid any scandalous or attention-drawing behavior.
Castro has always been careful to keep his private life out of public scrutiny.
He has never been one to talk about his background or personal life.
The Cuban media is banned from reporting anything about his family or private affairs.
On the 40-year anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, a 75-minute documentary about the leader was shown on Cuban television, and its mention of his children was the first for many Cubans.
Fidel Castro's reason for keeping his private life secret is a sensible one.
He claims that over 600 attempts have been made on his life, and therefore he must be careful.
While this is a good point, to many, Castro seems to simply be a very private man who prefers not to mix personal and political matters.
In a recent documentary, he said that keeping his private life out of the public eye allows him a certain amount of freedom that he could otherwise not enjoy.
Dalia Soto Del Valle met Castro in the 1960's during his campaign to increase literacy.
At that time she was a schoolteacher.
After they married and settled down, she became a housewife, attending to her duties at home and rarely making any public appearances.
Their children use her surname, Soto Del Valle, in order to not attract attention to themselves.
They all range from mid-20's to mid-30's and have ordinary jobs.
Angel, the youngest, studies medicine and Antonio is in med school studying orthopedic surgery.
The other three brothers work in the computer industry.
There is a sixth son with his previous wife who is in his 50's, but even less is known about him.
It is known that he has a family and no ties to Castro's regime.
Just because the press can't report on Castro's kids doesn't mean that Cubans aren't curious about them.
The sons all dress casually, but must be accompanied at all times by bodyguards.
This, of course, draws suspicious looks everywhere they go.
In 2002, the veil was dropped slightly.
Son Antonio's ex-girlfriend fled Cuba and ended up in Miami with videotaped footage of the Castro family at home.
She sold this tape to Miami's Spanish-language Univision station, which aired segments of it in a special called "The Secret Life Of Fidel Castro.
" Although there are rumors about what goes on at the Castro compound, Point Cero, the video shows nothing shocking at all.
It contains footage of the intensely private leader and his family sitting down to dinner and not much else.
Since the Cuban leader has been experiencing problems with his health, his sons have become more visible.
They have been in the media, making statements regarding their father's condition.
When Castro passes on, many feel that Cuba will open up, and this more open spirit has already been seen in Cuba's media.
Recently, there were television news programs profiling two of his sons, something that never would have happened before.
People and FACTS Magazine assembled and put together a great interesting collection of little known facts about Fidel Castro in a single publication titled "The World's Biggest Fidel Castro FACTS Collection".
It's available at: http://www.
FidelCastroFacts.
com The elusive leader has always said that a political leader shouldn't mix his private and public life.
Maybe when Castro passes on, we will learn more about his life.