The daughter of late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro gave a surprising answer when asked if she is the half-sister of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Rumors that the Cuban communist revolutionary fathered Trudeau have circulated since Castro died in 2016, with observers pointing to physical similarities between the former Canadian PM and photos of a young Castro.
The rumors resurfaced several times in the years since, particularly as his mother admitted to having a relationship with Castro, and after Castro's eldest son left a suicide note referring to Trudeau as his half-brother. Fact-checkers, however, maintain there is no evidence Trudeau is Castro's son because Margaret didn't visit Cuba and meet Castro until four years after he was born.
But Castro's daughter, Alina Fernández, may have just reignited the rumors once again after she refused to deny them in a recent interview with NewsNation. During the interview, host Katie Pavlich asked Fernández, 'For years we've heard rumors that Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Canada, could be your half-brother. What do you think of that?' With a wry smile, Fernández replied: 'The only thing I can say is that his mother used to visit the country very often.'
Pavlich then said, 'Well that may be a tell then. I guess that's a half answer. Do you plan to call him and maybe find out?' Fernández answered, 'No, no, I won't do it. If he wants, he's gonna be welcome, but I won't. I won't. I think he keeps that to himself, and you have to respect that.'
Fernández's responses will surely become another piece of circumstantial evidence that conspiracists who favor the Castro-Trudeau relationship rumors latch onto. Justin Trudeau is the son of Canada's late former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and activist Margaret Sinclair, who took her husband's name. He was born in 1971, and his parents divorced 13 years later during his father's last months in office.
Margaret Trudeau would later admit - in her 1982 book Consequences - that she had had affairs with actors Jack Nicholson and Ryan O'Neal, and singer Lou Rawls as the relationship broke down. And through her public persona, she said she became associated with members of the Rolling Stones, top US government officials - and even Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. The latter of those relationships has led to speculation over the past decade, including by President Donald Trump, that Pierre Trudeau is not truly Justin Trudeau's father.
The rumors began in 2016 and exploded two years later when Castro's eldest son, Fidelito, died by suicide in 2018 and several outlets reported he had left a note referring to Trudeau as his half-brother. Photos have emerged of Fidel Castro holding Justin Trudeau in 1976 as the Canadian Prime Minister and his wife landed in Havana in a historic visit, becoming the first NATO leader to step foot in Castro's Cuba.
But there is no evidence Margaret or her husband had met Castro before Justin was born. 'Experts say it would have been impossible for an earlier visit to Cuba to go unnoticed,' the AP noted in 2018. 'Cuban media have been unusually open about the death of Castro's oldest son, Fidelito, describing it as a suicide after a long depression. Neither state media nor independent reporters covering the death have reported the existence of a suicide note.'
Still, President Trump entertained the rumors in his 2024 book, Save America. 'His mother was beautiful and wild. In the 1970s, she would go 'clubbing' with the Rolling Stones, but she was also somehow associated with Fidel Castro,' he wrote. 'She said he was 'the sexiest man I've ever met,' and a lot of people say that Justin is his son. He swears that he isn't, but how the hell would he know! Castro had good hair, the 'father' didn't, Justin has good hair, and has become a Communist just like Castro.' Despite the president's musings and the popularity of the rumors, there remains no hard evidence that Fidel Castro was indeed Justin Trudeau's father.
