During an interview, Fidel Castro's daughter, Alina Fernandez, gave a cryptic "half-answer" when asked whether she believed that Justin Trudeau, the former Prime Minister of Canada, was her half-brother.Appearing on NewsNation's Katie Pavlich Tonight, Fernandez primarily discussed the humanitarian crisis in Cuba, which faces U.S. sanctions, as well as President Donald Trump's threats of potential military action against the island after completing peace negotiations with Iran.Before the interview concluded, Pavlich insisted on asking one more question: "For years, we've heard rumours that Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Canada, could be your half-brother. What do you think about it?"Fernandez did not give a direct yes-or-no answer. Instead, she replied:"The only thing I can say is that his mother used to visit the country very often.".When Pavlich replied that this sounded like "a half-answer," Fernandez responded, "Yes."Pavlich then asked whether she would contact Trudeau to find out. Fernández said she would not, adding that if he wanted to reach out, he would be welcome and that "you have to respect" his privacy on the matter.The long-running conspiracy theory first gained traction following Castro's death in 2016, when the office of the then-prime minister released a statement describing Castro as a "legendary revolutionary" while acknowledging that he was also a "controversial figure."In 2018, following the death of Castro's son, Fidelito, online posts alleged that a suicide note identified Trudeau as a half-brother. Media outlets later traced the claim's spread to social media speculation and misinterpretations of photographs rather than any primary documentary evidence..U.S. President Donald Trump further fueled the rumour in his 2024 book Save America, in which he wrote that Justin Trudeau's mother, Margaret Trudeau, was "somehow associated" with Castro."A lot of people say that Justin is his son," Trump wrote. "He says that he isn't, but how the hell would he know!"Historical records show that Pierre and Margaret Trudeau's widely publicized visit to Cuba took place in 1976, several years after Justin Trudeau was born in 1971. Fact-checkers and historians have repeatedly cited this timeline as a key challenge to the claim.
