News Release

Fidel Castro’s daughter profiles life in Cuba

October 15, 2009

Alina Fernandez, the daughter of former Cuban president Fidel Castro, has no desire to return to her totalitarian homeland following his death.

“I won’t be the first one on the first plane after he dies,” she told a packed Capital Union Building Student Center at Penn State Harrisburg Wednesday, Oct. 6. “I am an enemy (of Cuba)” and would be treated like one if I returned, she adds.

Fernandez, who learned she was Castro’s illegitimate daughter at the age of 10, painted a bleak, grim picture of her native country since Castro led the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. “The purpose of a revolution should be to change or to improve,” she said. “But in Cuba, the revolution is endless.

In Fernandez’ eyes, the revolution brought nothing but social and economic upheaval to Cuba. “As a result of Castro, Cuban institutions were destroyed, religion was banished, freedom of the press ended, farms were taken over by the state, political opponents were executed, and hate of America was fostered,” she recalls. The only positive step, according to her, which can be attributed to Castro was that all parking meters were destroyed.

“The government now has total control of the people. Every neighborhood has people watching and reporting to the authorities,” she said sadly. Her mother, who remains in Cuba, is a “true believer” in the Castro regime, while her grandmother referred to him as “the devil.”

For Fernandez, her personal revolution began when she was in her teens. “The state owned our personal lives, and with the fall of the USSR, it became an even more difficult place in which to live.” She began speaking out against Castro and his government and fell out of favor. A friend helped her escape to Spain and she eventually settled in the U.S. She now resides in Miami and is an American citizen.

She does favor easing the U.S. restrictions against Cuba. “Things are changing,” she pointed out listing $800 million in annual trade with the U.S. already in place, the approval of family visits, and the ability to send money to relatives in Cuba.

And for the future? When asked she confidently stated her homeland could one day become a democracy – after her father’s death.