Fidel Castro’s son apparent target of newspaper column

It was entitled “The travels of Gulliver, Jr.” and published in the Tribuna de la Havana (Havana Tribune) weekly, also known as the “Periodical of Cuba’s capital.”

An opinion column written by Alexander Alvarez Ricardo and published Oct. 24 has provoked Cuban journalists and social media users to speculate over the text’s significance, which many believe is in reality a piece criticizing Antonio Castro Soto del Valle, Fidel Castro’s youngest son.

Turkish magazine Gala photographed Castro Soto del Valle in June as he spent his summer vacation in the famous tourist enclave of Bodrum.

“Thanks to his father, Gulliver, Jr. travels quite frequently. He appears as a giant enjoying himself on the Mediterranean coast, or as a dwarf adventuring through life without any problem, thanks to his visa. He sets sail to compare whether the skies of other lands are as intensely blue as those of his own. Sailing on his father’s fleet is a hereditary privilege,” reads the text’s opening paragraph. The article has sparked a debate on social media despite the fact that no names are mentioned and the writing has a cryptic tone.

In another excerpt, the journalist compares and contrasts the luxury and freedom Gulliver enjoys with that of his peers: “While he sails through calm seas, in his land, other sailors can only watch the seagulls fly by …Thousands of scrolls narrate the experiences of the chosen one. Tranquil nights in the margins of the Aomori. Barrels of wine opened in Hawaiian beaches. Afternoons spent fishing in the Sidney Bay.”

Turkish news agency Dogan also reported that Fidel Castro’s son, who studied Medicine and is currently Global Ambassador of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, arrived in the Greek isle of Mykonos in a 50-meter yacht and reserved five suites in a luxurious Bodrum hotel.

Dogan posted a video showing one of Antonio Castro’s bodyguards attacking a reporter, Yasar Anter, who was trying to photograph Castro while he was having dinner with a group of friends in a restaurant.

In late September, while his uncle Raúl Castro attended United Nations activities, he was also captured on camera trying to evade a Univision 23 news team.

None of this was published in Cuba’s official press outlets, which are under the control of the Ideological Department of the Communist Party. Only social media users and those who watch American television through illegal satellites learned about the case.

To all this, is what the journalist who wrote the “Travels of Gulliver Jr.” column could be alluding to in his piece.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Fidel Castro’s son apparent target of newspaper column."