Castro\'s Daughter Speaks at Penn State Berks

[Jimmy2]

09-26-2007 03:44 PM

Castro's Daughter Speaks at Penn State Berks

One woman provided some inside information on that Cuban regime Tuesday night. The daughter of Fidel Castro spoke to a packed house at Penn State Berks. WFMZ's Melissa Batulis reports. Alina Fernandez's mother and Fidel Castro were never married. But the Cuban leader did play a consistent role in Alina's childhood and adolescence. Tonight, she shared some of those personal memories and in turn shed some new light on the situation in Cuba. >> ALINA: In my case, everything began with something called revolution.

Alina Fernandez has blurry memories of happier Cuba. But Fidel Castro's political hold on the country began soon after her mother's affair with the then rising dictator.

>> ALINA: My mother took me out of my crib and put me on the floor in the living room in the midst of a fog of cigar smoke. From there I could see his head lost in that blue, smelly cloud, the dark harry man of them all. I just met Fidel Castro himself.

From there, Fernandez describes the relationship with her biological father as bizarre. She says he was the man that visited mostly at night.

>> ALINA: Only grandma called him the devil.

Through the eyes of a child, she describes her father's rise to power as days of praying in front of the television for cartoons to return. But as she grew older she became more aware of the situation in her country and gave up her social standing to join a political movement against Fidel.

>> ALINA: When the time came I was to be recognized as a formal descendent, I denied such an honor and tried to hide behind my name Fernandez.

Fernandez and her daughter escaped Cuba in 1993. Since then she says her identity as Castro's daughter has been more prominent than ever. So she's using that to forge a small connection between two countries that have historically drifted worlds apart.

>> ALINA: It's just to be a little descriptive to people who can't relate to a situation like that I just tried to create a little bridge of communication.

As for Castro's health, Fernandez says the party is so controlling of rumors it's difficult to know whether he's alive. And, as a resident of Miami, she admits it is a torn feeling to see so many people celebrate the idea of her father's death. Melissa Batulis, 69 News Berks Edition.