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Feature: Fidel Castro's first-born son foments a nanotech revolution

In a Q&A, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart reveals the truth behind his nom de guerre in Russia and his efforts to launch a nanotechnology R&D center in Havana

Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart R. STONE/SCIENCE

The father took care of the politics. The son shepherded some of Cuba's biggest science dreams. In the 1980s, Fidel Castro tapped his eldest son, Fidel Castro Díaz-Balart, to bring nuclear power to Cuba. When Raúl Castro took power in Cuba in 2008, Castro Díaz-Balart, who has always been close to his uncle, saw his stock rise. Now, he has discovered a new passion, nanotechnology, and has spent several years laying the groundwork for a nanotech R&D center slated to open later this year in south Havana. The soft-spoken science adviser to Cuba's powerful Council of State and vice president of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba sat down with Science in February in the towering José Martí monument, a short walk from his office in the main government complex in Havana.

To read the full story, see the 15 May issue of Science.

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