Posted on Thu, Sep. 21, 2006
Castro's daughter says she doubts he will fully return to power
Associated Press
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Fidel Castro's estranged daughter said Thursday that
although the dictator was ill, "he never lost control" of Cuba.
Alina Fernandez said she doubted her father ever would fully return to
power in Cuba after handing over control to his brother Raul in July to
undergo surgery for intestinal bleeding.
And while Raul Castro lacks Fidel Castro's charisma, as someone who has
overseen the Army and the country's tourism, "he's not a person to be
underestimated," Fernandez told reporters before addressing a packed
crowd at Christopher Newport University.
Fernandez was 3 when Castro took power. As his illegitimate daughter,
she had sporadic contact with him until she left Cuba disguised as a
Spanish tourist in 1993. Her autobiography, "Castro's Daughter: An
Exile's Memoir of Cuba," was published five years later.
It was at 3 years old that Fernandez witnessed her first execution, as
Castro began killing his political enemies.
"For me, life went from white and black and turned gray for a long
time," Fernandez told the crowd. "Since the very moment those executions
took place, fear embraced the people and the entire country."
Fernandez balked when she had the opportunity to be recognized as
Castro's daughter, and in 1989 joined the dictator's dissidents.
Now in her 50s, Fernandez hosts a radio program out of Miami and in
August CNN hired her to provide commentary on Cuban issues.
Greta Galvez Harrison brought her 6-year-old daughter to hear Fernandez
speak. Many of Harrison's relatives also fled Cuba, and her mother has
joined other Cuban-Americas in planning to return to the country after
Castro dies.
"People think (Cubans) have this great medical care and this great
educational system, but they don't," Harrison said. "Communism doesn't
work."
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15578453.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_news
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