Alina Fernández

Infobox Person
name=Alina Fernández Revuelta

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caption=Alina Fernandez taken February 8, 2008
birth_date=Birth date and age|1956|3|3|mf=y
birth_place=Havana, Cuba
death_date=
death_place=

Alina Fernández Revuelta (born March 19, 1956) is the daughter and a critic of Fidel Castro. She lived under her father’s rule from when he took power in 1959 until she fled the country in 1993 with her daughter because of dissenting political views.

As an illegitimate daughter of the President, she lived her young life with her mother, Natalia "Naty" Revuelta Clews, born in Havana in 1925 and married to Orlando Fernández, and became a model and public relations director for a Cuban fashion company, according to the University Program Board. In 1993, she fled to Spain using false papers and disguised as a Spanish tourist using a wig. From Spain, she moved to Miami.

In 1998 she wrote "Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba." It describes in intimate detail her life growing up in Cuba as Castro's daughter and the changes that occurred within the country. For example, at the age of three, she remembers Mickey Mouse being replaced on the television with executions ordered by Fidel Castro.

She has a radio show called Simplemente Alina (Simply Alina) on WQBA in Miami. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the fare on her variety show is light, with guests such as painters and musicians. However, Wednesdays are a total immersion in Cuban politics.

In 1993, Elena Díaz-Verson Amos, a Cuban immigrant, and wife to John Amos (one of the founders of Aflac, INC), assisted Alina in fleeing Cuba. She lived with Mrs. Amos in Columbus, GA for several years.

Movie Deal

Moresco Productions, headed by Oscar winning filmmaker Bobby Moresco, co-writer and producer of "Crash", "Millenium" and "The Black Donnellys", and co-producer of "Million Dollar Baby", has teamed up with Austin based Artists Relations Group to produce the life story of Fernández. Moresco has been donned to co-write, produce and direct the film.

Nilo Cruz has signed to co-write with Moresco. Cruz, the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, originally hails from Cuba, and during a freedom flight in 1970 left for the Little Havana area of Miami. Cruz began studying the arts in the early 80’s, and received his MFA from Brown in 1994. Renowned for his award winning play; "Anna in the Tropics" won some of the highest awards on the Broadway circuit, including the Pulitzer Prize as well as that year’s Steinberg award. The following year, his project landed a Broadway premiere with Jimmy Smits (Star Wars II and III, Cane) playing the lead role.

The movie is expected to move into production next year.

Myspace and Facebook Profile

For regular updates on the film, feel free to join her Myspace page at www.myspace.com/castrosdaughter, or search Castro's Daughter in the Facebook film category.

Lawsuit

Fidel Castro's sister Juanita Castro filed a lawsuit in Spain against her niece Alina Fernández for libel over some passages in her autobiography that were about Juanita and Castro's parents Angel Castro and Lina Ruz. The passages make up only a tiny portion of the book. After seven years and Juanita having spent $100,000, in 2005 a Spanish court ordered Fernández and Plaza & Janes, the Barcelona Random House division that published the book, to pay $45,000 to Juanita. Juanita claimed the book defamed her family stating "People who were eating off Fidel's plate yesterday come here and want money and power, so they say whatever they want, even if it's not true""Part of my family was responsible for a lot of suffering in Cuba -- you can't change that," she said. "But nobody has the right to offend Fidel's family. Insult Fidel -- there's plenty to say." Several other former associates of Castro agreed with Alina's description. An English version, published under the title Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba, lacks the offending passages. [http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y05/ago05/09e9.htm]

References

* "Havana Dreams, a Story of Cuba" by Wendy Gimbel (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998) ISBN 0679430539
* "Castro's Daughter, An Exile's Memoir of Cuba" by Alina Fernandez (St. Martin's Press, 1997) ISBN 031219308
* [http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4222 2008 interview, "Foreign Policy"]