Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (January 17, 1926 – May 6, 2005) was a

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

n attorney and politician. In the 1950s, Díaz-Balart served as Under Secretary of Interior during the dictatorship of

Fulgencio Batista Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (born Rubén Zaldívar; January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was a Cuban military officer and politician who played a dominant role in Cuban politics from his initial rise to power as part of the 1933 Revolt of t ...

and Majority Leader in the Batista-controlled

Cuban House of Representatives The Congress of Cuba () was the legislature of Cuba from 20 May 1902 until the Cuban Revolution of 1959. The Congress consisted of the 130-member Chamber of Representatives (''Cámara de Representantes'') and the 54-member Senate (''Senado'') in ...

prior to the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

Biography

Born in Banes, Díaz-Balart was the son of the mayor of Banes,

Rafael José Díaz-Balart Rafael José Díaz-Balart (c. 1899 – 1985) was a Cuban politician and mayor of the town of Banes, Cuba, Banes. With his wife América Gutiérrez, he was the father of Rafael Díaz-Balart, Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart and progenitor of the Díaz-Ba ...

. In 1955, Díaz-Balart gave a speech before the Cuban House of Representatives in opposition to the amnesty granted to his former brother-in-law,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, for his involvement in the 1953 attack on the

Moncada Barracks The Moncada Barracks were military barracks in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba named after General Guillermo Moncada, a hero of the Cuban War of Independence. On 26 July 1953, the barracks was the site of an armed attack by a small group of revolutiona ...

(disputed). Díaz-Balart was elected

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

in 1958, but was unable to take office due to Fidel Castro's rise to power on January 1, 1959. Díaz-Balart 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 Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart (born Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart y Caballero; August 13, 1954 – March 3, 2025) was a Cuban-American attorney and politician. A member of the United States Republican Party, Republican Party, he was the United State ...

and

Mario Díaz-Balart Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart y Caballero ( ; born September 25, 1961) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Florida's 26th congressional district. A member of the Republican Party ...

, TV news

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

José Díaz-Balart José Díaz-Balart (born November 7, 1960) is a Cuban-American journalist and television anchorman for both Telemundo and NBC News. Diaz-Balart previously anchored weeknight editions of '' Noticias Telemundo'' on Telemundo and '' José Díaz-Bala ...

, and investment

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

Rafael Díaz-Balart. He is the brother of Mirta Díaz-Balart,

's first wife. His brother, Waldo Díaz-Balart was a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and a former

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who appeared in two movies by

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

in the 1960s. His father, Rafael Jose 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 some years living in Spain. He worked there as an insurance company executive with Ibérica de Seguros La Providence. 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. Díaz-Balart died on May 6, 2005, in his

Key Biscayne, Florida Key Biscayne is a village in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. Located on the island of Key Biscayne, the village is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The population was 14,809 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...

, home after a battle with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

. The building that houses the

Florida International University College of Law The Florida International University College of Law is the law school of Florida International University, located in Miami, Florida in the United States. The law school is accredited by the American Bar Association, and is the only public law sc ...

was named in honor of his father,

References

Bibliography

50th anniversary of the jail assault that established Castro
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz-Balart, Rafael 1926 births 2005 deaths People from Banes, Cuba

Rafael Rafael may refer to: * Rafael (given name) or Raphael, a name of Hebrew origin * Rafael, California Fiction * ''Rafael'' (TV series), a Mexican telenovela * ''Rafaël'' (film), a 2018 Dutch film People * Rafael (footballer, born 1978) ( ...

American politicians of Cuban descent 20th-century Cuban politicians Members of the Cuban House of Representatives Cuban emigrants to the United States People from Key Biscayne, Florida Deaths from leukemia in Florida Deaths from cancer in Florida Exiles of the Cuban Revolution in the United States 20th-century Cuban lawyers Spanish anti-communists American anti-communists Cuban anti-communists