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Luces, Cámara, Castro! -- El Video de Fidel se Presenta en Univision 41
Ten-Part Report On 11 Pm 'Noticias 41' Weekdays Nov. 11-15 & 18-22
New York, NY -- "Noticias 41," New York's premiereSpanish-language TV newscast seen here on Univision 41 (WXTV), pierces the veil of cigar smoke that has shrouded the private life of Cuba's Fidel Castro to go where no TV news program has gone before -- to Punto Cero (Point Zero), the suburban Havana villa occupied by the Cuban President and his extended family. Beginning Monday, November 11, the 11 pm weekday edition of "Noticias 41" (Channel 41 News) will feature "La Vida Secreta de Castro" (The Secret Life of Castro), a ten-part series built around the first and only home movies of Fidel Castro ever to be seen by the public. "La Vida Secreta de Castro" will be seen November 11 through 15 and November 18 through 22 on the 11 pm edition of "Noticias 41."
The significance of the broadcast of Castro's home video cannot beoverstated. Castro has jealously guarded his private life from publicview throughout his 43-year presidency. Not even Barbara Walters of ABCNews, who has interviewed Castro at length twice in the past quartercentury, had access to his home. "It's my human right to defend myprivacy," the Cuban leader is quoted as saying by ABC News.The Castro home video at the core of the "Noticias 41" series, was shotby the Cuban leader's own grown children. It had fallen into thepossession of Dashiell Torralba, former girlfriend of Antonio CastroSoto del Valle, a Cuban orthopedic surgeon and son of Fidel Castro andhis wife, Dalia Soto del Valle. According to Ms. Torralba, who arrangedfor Univision to get the videotape after she left Cuba, her two yearrelationship with Antonio Castro was torpedoed by his mother. Shemaintains that broadcast of the Castro home video is a way to even thescore with Ms. Soto del Valle. In the "Noticias 41" series, the Castro home video is intercut withinterviews of Ms. Torralba and other former members of Castro's innercircle.
They include Juanita Castro (Fidel's sister), Alina Fernandez(Fidel's daughter), and Alcibiades Hidalgo, former private secretary toRaul Castro, brother of Fidel.What emerges from "La Vida Secreta de Castro" is a candid portrait of aCuban family of privilege. Punto Cero, while hardly pretentious, isboth spacious and comfortably appointed. It has plenty of playgroundequipment and a pool for the Castro grandchildren. Castro is anoenophile whose wine cellar holds bottles worth up to $400. Contrary towhat one might imagine, he does not wear his signature Army fatigues athome. He does, however, drink buffalo milk. But like many extendedfamilies, there are some problems. Most notable among them, perhaps, isthe allegation by Ms. Torralba that Castro's daughters-in-law live infear of their mother-in-law, Ms. Soto del Valle."La Vida Secreta de Castro" is produced by Univision's Miami, Florida,TV station WLTV Channel 23. In addition to Univision 41 (WXTV), here,the series will also be seen on WLTV in Miami and on Univision's TVstation in Puerto Rico, WLII Channel 11.
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Ted Faraone
Faraone Communications
212-489-1313
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