The Daughter of a dictator

Evin Shoap / senior photographer Alina Fernandez speaks on topics ranging from politics to her escape from Cuba.

Fidel Castro’s daughter, Alina Fernandez, offered a first-hand account of Cuban life and criticized U.S. attitudes toward Cuba in a full Wilson Hall auditorium Monday night.

Fernandez was born in 1956 and lived under her father’s rule from when he took power in 1959 until she fled the country with her daughter because of dissenting political views in 1993. As an illegitimate daughter of the dictator, she lived her young life with her mother and became a model and public relations director for a Cuban fashion company, according to the University Program Board.

"I think if [the United States] really didn’t want Castro to be there then he wouldn’t be," Fernandez said. "He’s there because he’s allowed. He’s smarter than the politicians here."

What will happen in Cuba after Castro’s death depends on U.S. intervention.

Dictatorships last because they have outside support, and fail because they have outside pressure, Fernandez said.

One form of pressure from the United States is its embargo, but under the Bush administration some trade has resumed.

"Embargo is a political game and not even that anymore," Fernandez said.

The Cuban attitude toward America and Americans is a mixture of jealousy and a desire to escape to the United States, Fernandez said.

"The generation prior to Castro [was] concerned about politics. The generation after wants to escape politics."

Fernandez blames U.S. media for the apathy of the United States toward Cubans’ plight.

"You have [Havana Bureau Chief] Lucia Newman from CNN down in Cuba and, for her, nothing ever happens," she said. "You’re opportunistic. You only want to see the beginning and the end. There’s no actual reporting,"

The difficulties in Cuba began as soon as Castro took power. Castro’s communist revolution aimed to eliminate institutions, family, church and freedom of the press.

"Since then, fear embraced the population and country," Fernandez said.

Cubans also face food shortages from the government-controlled agricultural system. Farmers are only allowed to sell to the state and, because the government is primarily interested in cash crops, this often leads to shortages.

"I don’t know if you can relate to the disappearance of electricity or water or sugar or milk. It is very difficult to give you a picture of the Cuban reality," Fernandez said. "If everyone has the right to the same thing because we are communist, then no one has milk."

"Cuba is a country obligated to live on a black-market basis, stealing from somewhere to sell somewhere else."

Castro aims to control the media, communication and commerce in Cuba and to manipulate international sentiment through demagoguery. Cuba has been involved in guerilla wars since 1959 and is active in opposing U.S. policy in the Middle East and elsewhere.

"You never know how long and strong Castro’s arm is," Fernandez said.

Now, Fernandez lives in Miami and hosts a radio show that addresses Cuban and Cuban-American politics, according to the UPB.

She was selected as a speaker by the Madison International Association, working with La Unidad Latina, CMISS and the UPB in order to help Harrisonburg and the JMU community both gain an international perspective.

"Some issues a lot of people have talked about and talked about but the Cuba-America relationship has been ongoing," Ellen Kokinda, Madison International president said. "This is somebody who has had an insider view of Cuba."

Kokinda hoped the speech had caused the audience to evaluate how the United States affects the rest of the world and understand international perspectives toward the United States.