As It Happens10:21Fidel Castro’s anti-communist daughter hopes the U.S. will bring regime change to Cuba
While thousands of Cubans have been marching in the streets to oppose the U.S. indictment of their former president Raúl Castro, a literal daughter of the revolution is singing a different tune.
Alina Fernández, a long-time anti-communist activist who lives in exile in Miami, is Raúl Castro’s niece, and daughter of the late Cuban revolutionary and president Fidel Castro.
Earlier this month, the U.S. indicted 94-year-old Raúl Castro over the downing of two civilian airplanes 30 years ago, when he was defence minister.
The move has left Cubans wondering whether U.S. President Donald Trump will make good on his threats to use the military to take Castro by force, as he did with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in January.
After capturing Maduro, Trump ordered an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse.
During a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Cuba is “run by a bunch of incompetent communists.”
“We want something good for the Cuban people, and hopefully there’ll be a good outcome there for them. There needs to be,” he said. “Having a failed state 90 miles from our shores is a threat to the national security of the United States.”
Fernández agrees. Here is part of her conversation with As It Happens host Nil Kӧksal.
Alina Fernández, do you believe the U.S. Secretary of State when he says the U.S. is going to do the best for the Cuban people?
I do. We have to wait until presidency number 14 [since the Cuban Revolution] to have someone engaged in solving the situation down in Cuba, or at least help to push for a solution. And that person is Marco Rubio. I do agree with what he says.
In the best case scenario for you, how would the U.S. help Cubans?
Pressuring to the maximum for an engagement in a negotiation. And of course we have so many Cuban Americans that are excellent, wealthy professionals that are willing to go back and invest in Cuba. Everything in Cuba has to be redone … from building to plumbing. It’s a country that is falling apart.
Many, as you know, point to what the U.S. has been doing already, putting pressure on Cuba — you know, the water shortages, millions of Cubans experiencing the issues around oil, and needs there. We’ve spoken to folks in Cuba in our coverage as well. They blame the U.S.
I understand that. That is historical, and that’s a very firm point of view. The legend of Cuba is that [it’s] the small David facing Goliath. And it’s very apart from reality.
Cuba has been interfering or engaged in every civil war that has been in the hemisphere of South America, Central America, even the Middle East, from the beginning.
So there is a lot about Cuba that people really don’t know.
You fled Cuba, and you were in your 30s at the time. You’ve lived in Miami since, and you’ve only been back a handful of times. What shifted for you? When did you realize you wanted to speak out and be critical of your family?
I spoke out the first time somebody gave me the opportunity. In this case, it was a journalist from Spain.
I felt uncomfortable in the wrong place for many, many years. And at that point when I was able to escape, my purpose was to get my daughter out from there. That happened during the ’90s and it was called the Special Period, and the conditions … were totally similar to the ones we are seeing today, because the Soviet Union stopped their help.
Was that the last time you went back?
I went back the last time in ’22, for a couple of days.
And what was that like?
Bittersweet, as always. You know, it is a country you love so much. It’s the place in which you feel yourself. But you cannot live there.
In Havana on Wednesday, residents condemned the U.S. indictment of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, who was charged in connection with a 1996 incident in which Cuban jets shot down two civilian planes carrying exiles, killing four. ‘At that time, they had their defence and their right to defend their airspace,’ said Rosmery Pena, a legal adviser for self-employed workers.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche … insists that Raúl Castro will face justice in the United States. When was the last time he spoke to him?
Many, many years ago, even before I left, because, as I was vocal about not being happy in that country … I wasn’t speaking too much about myself, but about my surroundings. And that’s one of the Cuban tragedies. You become the enemy if you dissent. And I lost all those relationships with my family since then.
Would you support his capture by U.S. Forces?
He’s a soon-to-be 95-year-old person, and it’s going to be painful, and I don’t even think it’s possible. But that’s what it is now. He’s [responsible] for a crime that was committed 30 years ago. But I think it is more a point of pressure than a real thing.
If … discussions that are happening between the U.S. and Cuba disintegrate further and the U.S. were to take military action, what do you make of that possibility?
I’ve heard so many, many times that that is not going to happen. That’s what I would like to believe.
But, at the same time, to negotiate, you need two [parties]. And right now, the Cuban side seems to be holding their terms and not showing any will of negotiating, which is absurd because really, common sense tells you that this situation that had lasted for so long is unsustainable.
Nobody wants it. Everybody wants a better life, a better life for their children, a future. That’s nothing you can expect in Cuba under this very tough and dogmatic regime.
We’ve seen the U.S. take military action elsewhere … and the result has not at all been really much better for the people in those countries. Do you think the United States knows what it might get into if it were to take military actions?
Anything that I can say from my ignorance will be speculation, to tell you the truth, and I don’t want to confuse anybody. I don’t have the slightest idea about who is really in charge at this point of [Cuba]. I know it’s the military. Another historical bizarre thing is that the country is ruled and owned by the army. But who knows what can happen there.
[Cuban] Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Josefina Vidal-Ferreiro gave an interview to PBS this week and was specifically asked about the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Here’s what she said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio does not know Cuba. He has never been to Cuba. He doesn’t understand Cuba. It seems that he is not familiar with Cuba’s history. So the message that he sends, which is a very clear message of the United States wanting to dictate [to] Cubans what kind of political system or model or order we should have, it reflects very clearly that he doesn’t know us and how proud we are of our independence and our determination to defend it.”
What would you say to the minister?
It is very easy from her position to defend the status quo that is maintaining the other people in misery.
