03/29/11 kb

NOTE TO EDITORS, NEWS DIRECTORS: Alina Fernandez will be available for interviews Tuesday. To schedule a time for an interview, call George Jackson III at 785-628-4661, or email gejackson@fhsu.edu.

HAYS, Kan. -- An appearance at Fort Hays State University by Alina Fernandez, daughter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, has been scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center in Sheridan Hall on the Fort Hays State University campus.

Admission to her presentation, sponsored by FHSU's Office of Diversity Affairs, the University Activities Board and the Black Student Union, is free. The public is welcome to attend.

Fernandez was originally scheduled to speak at FHSU last November, but a missed flight resulted in her visit being rescheduled.

Through her insight as one of the Cuban elite, Fernandez guides listeners through her life in Cuba and describes the surrounding political environment during the 1960s and '70s. Weaving in her unique sense of style and humor, she reveals personal, exciting and suspenseful anecdotes, snapshots of Cuban society, her inside scoop on Cuban politics, and a detailed view of her father, retired leader Fidel Castro.

"The '60s and '70s seem like ancient times to most of our students," said George Jackson III, coordinator of the Office of Diversity Affairs. "Alina will really help bring this time to life for our audience."

As one of Castro's children, Fernandez had a strangely mixed upbringing; a combination of privilege and privation. She was just a toddler when Castro overthrew the Batista government during the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

She later opened her eyes to the political climate in Cuba and became rebellious and, in the '80s, became part of the political dissident movement on the island. By 1993, she was forced to flee Cuba and now lives in the United States.

For more information about the event, contact the Office of Diversity Affairs at 785-628-4661.