Fidel Castro’s daughter Alina Fernández Revuelta spoke to a full house at Ohio University on Monday describing her life and experiences in Cuba. Castro’s own daughter fled the island in 1993 as a political refugee after she broke with her father’s totalitarian ideology. She describes how the “revolution” became endless and was used to militarize every aspect of Cuban society. Extreme rationing led to a breakdown of social values, where the average Cuban had to resort to breaking the law and participate in the black market simply to survive.

Young Alina Fernandez with her father

She explains that the transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his younger brother Raul Castro did not mean that much would change in the country, saying that “What is happening in Cuba is bizarre; it’s like a family business.” She also reiterated what I have written about before and what countless others believe: that Cuba should not “move toward a political or economic model like that of China.”

Fernandez describing the exploitation of Cuban women for foreign tourists

If America is to go into the business of propping up totalitarian, anti-American dictatorships, then we should do it with both eyes open. Around the world, America’s new approach to dictatorship shows the would-be dictators that authoritarianism pays, just as long as they can do business with the United States. We are giving legitimacy to those regimes that systematically deny basic human rights to their own population, at least in practice. In the name of cultural tolerance, liberals say to themselves: that’s the system they like, so why try to force them to change? The truth is that the oppression in these countries does not stop at “regular” folks but even reaches the very daughters of the dictators, because blood is not thicker than power. The oppression extends even further, with the exportation of an ideology that cultivates either apathy or sympathy here at home, the latter being the most dangerous threat to what we call freedom.

As we speak, Latin American countries are being taken over by leftist leaders that vow a radical socialist revolution based on defeating “the empire” which is code for “the United States.” The Domino Theory is being witnessed as we speak, and as long as these socialists can keep the propaganda flowing and keep their domestic situations from destabilizing excessively, we can expect the continued spread of communism and socialism in or own backyard… that is, unless something were to stop this downward spiral into socialism. Cuban-Americans have been warning of this for decades. Even Castro’s own daughter is warning us of this. An active anti-American alliance is being formed south of our borders united behind a love of tyranny, a love of Castro, and a hatred of free markets and free expression. Will we stand up against tyranny before it is too late? I hope so.

-AG