castro's daughter speaks at ohio university -- alina fernández shares her personal story with packed audience

the ballroom in ohio university's baker student center was crowded beyond its capacity. an organizer even instructed the audience that it is in a state of fire hazard because of doors being blocked by people who came to see her this evening: alina fernández revuelta, the daughter of fidel castro and natalia revuelta clews. ms. fernández gave the keynote address for the international week on monday may 11, 2009.






















in her rather short speech she gave an account of her life in cuba -- a mixture of broad strokes in cuban history, the living conditions of cubans, and personal anecdotes. whereas she called natalia fernández her mother, she barely referred to fidel castro as "father" rather calling him by his first name.

she was born in 1956 because fidel castro had an affair with her mother when he was married to another woman. she said her mother had curves "like a coke bottle until coke came in cans" and because of her beauty and letters she sent to fidel in jail a relationship between the two developed.

in her speech she mentioned little of her personal meetings with her father except for one pivotal moment: she said having watched the revolution of the bearded men in green uniforms on television when she was four years old, she was astonished when the bearded man she had so often seen on the screen suddenly appeared in her living room.

she said she remembers the revolution from the television: vive la cuba libre! shouted the bearded man she said and donald duck and uncle scrooge vanished from the screen forever. the bearded man stayed and talked, often for hours, she said, his longest speech lasting more than twelve. she and other children would literally get down in front of the television to pray to fidel, she told the audience, to be please finished with his harangue before seven when the children's entertainment was scheduled. when fidel visited her house, she said, it was most of the time at night often bringing her presents.

she said that it is hard to tell a personal story and the story of a country at the same time. indeed, it seemed that she felt most comfortable when she could fall back into personal anecdotes or general critical remarks about cuba, which she said she escaped from disguised as a spanish tourist in december 1993. she was followed by her daughter, who she called "the troll." she's living in miami, florida where ms. fernández hosts a radio talk show on wqba called simplemente alina. in 1998 she wrote a book called "castro's daughter: an exile's memoir of cuba." based on her book a movie production by oscar-winning bobby moresco is planned at the moment.

her speech was intermingled with little jokes when she talked of her life such as that even in prison men can cheat -- referring to fidel castro's letters to her mother while also writing to his wife. she elicited laughter from the audience when she said she misses the dancing and partying in her country where she could drink in public. in the united states, she says, she feels she doesn't have a social life because there this kind of partying doesn't exist. even now, she said humorously, she's still scared of the united states. she fled cuba after she developed oppositional political views and joined a dissident movement. "once you are an enemy your are only seen as one even if you are a relation," she said.

when she didn't speak of personal anecdotes she talked about the conditions she experienced when growing up in cuba: the social control, the spies of the commission to keep up the revolution, the scarcity of food and electricity in the early 1990s, the so-called special period or phase particular, the disappropriation of the farmer's produce, the execution of political opponents, the "peter pan children", kids that disappeared in cuba likening it to the kindertransport ordered by goering in nazi germany, and the little chance to move upward on the social ladder.

"people have free education and free health insurance but they don't get paid for their work," she said. "most people make $5 dollars a month if you're good maybe $20" but that people had to stand in lines to get food. she remembered one political measure in the special phase when chickens where distributed to every cuban, three chicks a person, so that they could raise them to provide meat. "first you raise them, then you say okay today i eat pepino," she said in a bitter joke.

she spoke about how she led a split life, on one hand living like any other cuban but on the other hand dealing with a special role her birth had bestowed upon her. when she was ten she learnt that the bearded man who had visited her house many nights was her father, she said, and not the man her mother had married, orlando fernández. that's when she fell into an identity conflict "but rebelling against yourself is good for nothing," she said. she told the audience how people queued up in front of her house when she was on the way to school. she said people thought because she had a relation to fidel castro she could petition on their behalves. she said it was sad that she couldn't.

the audience had about half hour to 40 minutes to ask questions. three or four people attempted to get answer from her about the future of cuba -- without success. she said she won't predict anything but that cuba is run as a family business.




















a couple of people made comments about the positive sides in cuba such as organic food growers and their movement around havana or that ms. fernández' was "one-sided." ms. fernández said that she had her point and didn't not answer to these comments beyond that.

a few other people spoke of their experiences as relatives of cubans who escaped the island. one of the them thanked ms. fernández for "speaking the truth" so that people can see beyond the curtain and don't romanticize communism, the legend cuba, or the revolution.

she said she has no desire of returning to cuba after having waited long to get out. with fidel castro she has no relation today.

ps: okay, this post seems to have nothing to with germany or u.s.-german relations. having been born and lived part of my childhood in the german democratic republic (gdr) -- or what most u.s. residents refer to as "communist germany" -- i've been interested in and fascinated by cuba. along with other eastern european nations they were so-called brother states to us i.e. the gdr led by the big brother, the sowjet union.

although it is hard to compare the cuban conditions to my memory of the former gdr republic, which is now east germany, standing in line for food, the scarcity of items, the spy in the neighborhood, and the state claiming of private property sounded very familiar to me. another issue ms. fernández mentioned reminded me of the labor situation in the former gdr i.e. that everyone men and women alike had to work -- for better or for worse, in cuba for minimal to no pay, in the former gdr with more money for men and punishment such as jail for unemployed.

but before i get too much more into my story of partially growing up in communism i close with a favorite quotation from german author theodor fontane's master piece effi briest: "das ist ein zu weites feld" -- this is too wide a subject (literally though too wide of a field).

at least for this post.



read more details on her escape from cuba in this 1998 new york times article: "how it felt do grow up as castro's daughter"

a transcipt of an interview by cnn.com with her from 2002: "a look at fidel castro's daughter living in exile in miami"

a more recent article of 2005 in the times online: "alina fernandez"

an even more recent interview in foreign policy: "seven question's: Castro's dauther speaks out"