Diplomatica: 'I believe in the project Cuba is developing,' Cuban president's daughter says
Diplomatica: 'I believe in the project Cuba is developing,' Cuban president's daughter says
Jennifer Campbell Jennifer Campbell
Published on: July 8, 2014 | Last Updated: July 8, 2014 5:05 PM EDT
Ask the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro what it was like growing up with such a famous father and she’s quick to answer that being his daughter “is not a public position.”
Mariela Castro Espín, a professor and member of the Cuban parliament since 2013, says it with a laugh, but she does want to stress that she doesn’t always share her father’s opinions, nor does he dictate the way she votes on policy.
“I have responsibilities and I don’t like to be classified as the president’s daughter,” she says. “Ever since I’ve been a child, I’ve always said what I thought. I’m a part of my family and they have given me certain social values, the same values of Cuban society.”
For example, her brand of socialism is one where “humans organize themselves according to state policy.”
She believes, she says, “in the rights of the people to participate in public policy discussions and I believe in the project Cuba is developing, of experimenting to create a new society with the primary goal of emancipating the human being. I don’t think of it as a socialist model. I think instead of an experiment to discover more fair societies as an alternative to the capitalist system. No one has the right to tell Cuba to copy other models.”
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