Father Fidel

Fidel Castro's father, Ángel María Bautista Castro y Argiz, passed at age 80. Having achieved one year more in age, the Cuban President has announced he has no desire to serve another term.

While it is typical for sons or daughters to take up the family mantle in such cases, Fidel seems to have had no ambition for his children having kept them out of the news — daughter Alina did publish her memoir following her emigration to Spain. Actually, they appear to be so little favored by his near five decades in the spotlight that news reports don't seem to be clear how many or who Fidel has fathered. The Miami Herald reported on the five "A" sons, Angel, Antonio, Alejandro, Alexis and Alex, but the BBC quoted only an "F" last year as Fidel Jr. , a doctor, weighed in last year on the health of the country's most celebrated patient. The AP references both Fidel and the As, but leaves out Alina.

Fittingly, just as controversy has been a hall mark of his international renown, so, too, does it appear to be a likely feature of the legacy he will leave as a father.

** Tough to remember sometimes that father is not a title honorary or historic as in "father of the country." **