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CNN Saturday Morning News

A Look at Fidel Castro's Daughter Living in Exile in Miami

Aired April 27, 2002 - 09:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: There are plenty of critics of Fidel Castro living in Miami, but not many can say that they're related to the Cuban leader. CNN's Mark Potter reports on the Cuban exile who is becoming a talk radio sensation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is after midnight, and Cuban Exile Radio is still going strong in Miami. This show, "Simply Alina," with host Alina Fernandez, features music, history, and of course in Miami, Cuban politics and Fidel Castro, all in Spanish.

As can be expected, most of the discussion is critical of the Cuban leader. What makes it unusual is that Alina Fernandez is Fidel Castro's daughter, living in exile.

ALINA FERNANDEZ, FIDEL CASTRO'S DAUGHTER: I try not to refer to him as a father.

POTTER (on camera): Because?

FERNANDEZ: He's a chief of state. He's still the Cubans (UNINTELLIGIBLE). That's the way I see him.

POTTER: You don't see him at all really as your father?

FERNANDEZ: I try not to.

POTTER (voice-over): Alina is the product of an adulterous relationship between Castro and a Cuban socialite. Alina was aged 10 when she was told the frequent visitor was actually her father.

FERNANDEZ: At the beginning of the revolution, he went to visit the house. He gave me a little something disguised as himself, with the beard and, you know, the stars.

POTTER (on camera): He gave you a doll of himself?

FERNANDEZ: Yeah. I didn't know what to do with a baby doll with a beard, so.

POTTER: So what did you do?

FERNANDEZ: I began to pull the hairs out.

POTTER (voice-over): As she got older, Alina worked as a model, rejected the Cuban revolution and became a dissident. She hasn't spoken to Castro in nearly 20 years, saying he is no longer a dictator but a tyrant.

FERNANDEZ: I think that (UNINTELLIGIBLE) what happens is that he despises the Cuban country and the Cuban people.

POTTER (on camera): He despises them?

FERNANDEZ: That's what I think.

POTTER (voice-over): In 1993, Alina came to the U.S. after fleeing Cuba disguised as a Spanish tourist. She wrote a book, spoke at protest rallies, and testified before the Senate against sending Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba.

Now she's on the air in the middle of the night.

(on camera): What if a call came in and it was Fidel Castro? What would you say to him?

FERNANDEZ: Jesus, I don't know. That would surprise me enough.

POTTER: But if it were to happen? I know it's unlikely, but what would you say?

FERNANDEZ: I don't know.

POTTER (voice-over): What Alina does know is that Miami and its rhythms are home now. She wishes her father would bring democracy to Cuba, but for that she has little hope.

Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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