Alina Fernández

Who is Alina Fernández?

Alina Fernández Revuelta is the daughter of Fidel Castro and Natalia Revuelta Clews. She is critical about the government of Cuba, where she lived until 1993.

Fernández lived with her mother, Natalia "Naty" Revuelta Clews, who was born in Havana in 1925 and stepfather, Orlando Fernández. In Cuba, she worked as a model and public relations director of a Cuban fashion company, according to the University Program Board. In 1993, at age 37, she left Cuba for Spain using false papers and a wig. Elena Díaz-Verson Amos, a Cuban immigrant, and wife to John Amos helped Fernández leave Cuba. Fernández lived in Columbus, GA with Díaz-Verson for several years.

Fernández next moved to Miami where she works in radio. In 1998 Fernández wrote Castro's Daughter: An Exile's Memoir of Cuba describing her life in Cuba and the changes that occurred over nearly four decades. She has a radio show called Simplemente Alina on WQBA in Miami. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the fare on her variety show is light, with guests such as painters and musicians. She devotes Wednesdays to Cuban politics.

Fernández has one daughter. In an interview in 2008 with Foreign Policy magazine, she said she had been closer to her Uncle Raúl Castro than she was to her father. She said Raúl Castro, who succeeded her father as the Cuban president, had helped her on several occasions. "He was the person to whom you could go to and ask for help every time you had a practical problem. I personally asked for his help a couple of times, and he always helped me immediately. In the family he was the only help you could find. On these kinds of issues, Fidel was totally unhelpful."