Castro's Cuban dissident daughter to speak at CNU
News Release - June 2, 2006
Public's contact for publication:
Kim Roeder
Director of Student Activities
(757) 594-7260
Media contact:
Karen L. Gill
Office of Communications and Public Relations
karen.gill@cnu.edu
(757) 594-8428
Updated Sept. 14, 2006, new location
 Alina Fernandez, the daughter of Fidel Castro and a Cuban dissident, will speak at Christopher Newport University on Sept. 21. |
(NEWPORT NEWS, Va.) — The daughter of Fidel Castro will speak at Christopher Newport University at 7 p.m. on Sept. 21 in the Ferguson Center for the Arts Concert Hall. Alina Fernandez, a Cuban dissident and author of the autobiography “Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba,” will share her story of growing up in the shadow of Fidel Castro and about life in Cuba under his dictatorship. The location for the speech has been moved to the Concert Hall because of increased interest in Fernandez' speech after her father ceded power to his brother, Raul Castro, on July 31 after undergoing emergency surgery. |
The event is sponsored by the University’s Campus Activities Board. It is free and open to the public.
For more information, please contact Kim Roeder, CNU's director of student activities, at (757) 594-7260.
About Alina Fernandez
Born in 1956 as a result of Castro's summer affair with his comrade, Natalia Revuelta, Fernandez is among her father's biggest critics.
After the Revolution of 1959, Castro treated his illegitimate daughter with extreme feelings – utter adoration or painful neglect – depending on his mood. Through the years, however, Castro's influence as an authority figure in her life never diminished.
As she grew older, she recognized her position as one of Cuba's elite, but the political practices she witnessed under her father's regime and the neglect she experienced drove her to renounce that position and, ultimately, her relationship with her father as well.
In 1993, armed with false papers and disguised as a Spanish tourist, she escaped from Cuba. She eventually moved to Miami, where she now hosts a daily radio program on Cuban and Cuban-American issues. She has not spoken with her father in more than a decade.
"I feel pity as I think that he should be already out [of power]. My only hope was that he would be able to bring democracy to Cuba while he was still in power, but he's not doing that," Fernandez said.
Fury at her father's regime initially drove her from her homeland, but Fernandez is certain that one day she will return.
"I hope that every Cuban out of Cuba will go back," she said. "We have a lot of experience to bring back. We have a lot of will to rebuild the country."
Christopher Newport University is a four-year public university in Newport News, Virginia. CNU enrolls 4,800 students in programs through its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Luter School of Business and offers great teaching, small classes and an emphasis on leadership, civic engagement and honor. Visit us at www.cnu.edu.