Originally published in the Southern Accent, Oct. 14, 2010
Alina Fernandez told students Thursday that her father, Fidel Castro, continues to influence world hatred toward America and has caused Cubans to live in fear.
Fidel Castro’s daughter spoke to more than 1,600 students and people from the community for convocation on Oct. 7 at the Iles P.E. Center. Fernandez’s father is the former president of Cuba and current leader of the Cuban communist party.
“I was so afraid everyday in Cuba,” Fernandez said later in an interview. “You are so afraid that you cannot sleep because you think that they are going to come for you at some point.”
During the morning convocation, Fernandez summarized Castro’s life, how he met her mother and shared a brief history of Cuba under Castro’s rule. Afterwards, she answered questions from the audience.
She spoke again at a Latin American Club fundraiser event primarily open to the community. The entire event was a question-and-answer session with the audience. Questions ranged from Castro’s personal life to Cuban and Latin American politics.
Fernandez, a straightforward critic of the government her father established, commented on the results of Castro’s revolution.
“He didn’t accomplish anything important,” Fernandez said. “The result in Cuba is pathetic. The country is a ruined country.”
Maria Gozalez, a sophomore nursing major, agrees that conditions in Cuba are repressive. She and her family were finally allowed to leave Cuba after waiting eight years. She said it’s a difficult environment, especially for people not part of the communist party.
“There is no freedom or opportunities,” she said. “If you are a faithful Christian, you are not allowed to be part of the communist party. If you’re not from the party, you are not accepted.”
Fernandez found the conditions so unbearable, she escaped from the island in 1993 disguised as a Spanish tourist.
“I always felt that I was living in a nightmare, and everyday I woke up and said, ‘what day will I be able to leave this country?’” Fernandez said referring to her life in Cuba.
Students seemed to enjoy the convocation, especially those with a personal connection to the situation in Cuba. Victor Paez, a sophomore finance management major, shares such a connection. His family managed to escape to the United States by raft.
“I thought the convocation went well,” Paez said. “We actually got somebody I actually know and was hilarious.”
However, both Gonzalez and Paez felt the speaker could have shared more details about her personal relationship with her father.
During the interview, Fernandez was asked what she would do first if she had the power to change Cuba’s situation.
“I would have to spend a long time thinking about what I would do because it wouldn’t be an easy decision,” Fernandez said in Spanish. “That’ll have me thinking for days, at least. What can you do for a country that is absolutely devastated?”
She then added with a smile, “Turn on some music so people can start dancing and lift their spirits."