Perhaps if you passed her on a stretch of a crowded street in Union City, she might strike you as being familiar. But you'd have to know a bit about history. Say her last name just once and it might be enough, because it has great significance in this city, which has the second largest Cuban-American community in the United States. Many here have fled the dictatorship in Cuba and what they call "oppression under Fidel." This is why she too has fled. There is the uncanny resemblance in her eyes that betrays her somewhat secret identity. It is these eyes that link her to the hundreds of photos and posters of Cuban President Fidel Castro. This is his "flesh and bones" so to speak; this is his daughter, Alina Castro, an exile from her father and her father's Cuba at the age of 38 years old. Like Elian Gonzalez and countless others, Alina Castro sailed the ocean to escape a life that was built and supported by what she calls a "very oppressive regime." On a recent visit to City Hall in Jersey City, Alina Castro talked with a reporter from the Union City Reporter. Giving very brief answers, Castro seemed to choose her words carefully. The interview Reporter: What is life like in Cuba? Castro: Your life and children are something that belongs to the state. That is the worst part of dictatorship. There is only a political anthem and a feeling like you're always being lied to. I've been trying to exile myself since the age of 14. Reporter: Many people I have spoken to talked about the immense sense of fear that seems to prelude everything in life. What does that fear do? Castro: It creates a lot of paranoia. [Life] is built on fear and vigilance. You must even hide your own garbage. That's how bad it is. It's madness." Reporter: What kind of a father is Fidel? Castro: Well, he's not anymore. That's not important." Reporter: Was he a good father? Castro: He was a little dominant. I was a child but we broke all relations when I was 22 years old to not be in his circle. Reporter: What is he like as a ruler? Castro: I think that to be in power for so long converts you into something else. Reporter: What is he like as a man, as a person, independent of everything else? Castro: He is capricious, acting on a whim. He is a man having the only political problem - being the Anti-American. Reporter: Do you ever think about Cuba, about him, your family or miss anything about it? Castro: No, you don't miss places you have suffered. There is a sense of nostalgia I don't have. I never had much contact with my other family members. Reporter: What are your impressions of America? Castro: [Smiles for the first time during the interview.] I've been here for almost four years and the more you know something, the more you appreciate it. I think America has been generous with Cubans and it is a great country. I think that now with the Internet that helps to communicate with other cultures and gain better knowledge and understanding of each other. Reporter: Since the removal of Elian from his Miami relatives' home by force by the U.S. government, have those impressions been affected or changed in any way? Castro: America is a law-abiding country. That's the way it is. You live here you must abide by the laws. The way they removed him was really tough. I don't think they needed a SWAT team. I think these relations are just to please Castro. I don't know who will win with this little boy's case, but I know that he has already lost a lot. Reporter: How does it make you feel when most Americans outside the Cuban-American community believe Elian should be returned to Cuba? Castro: I can understand that. When this little boy will be 11 he will be separated from his family and visit them twice a month. They will decide what occupation he should take. You have to know this regime to understand Cuban sentiment. It doesn't make sense to send this boy back. We would like to see this little boy be free in Cuba and be able to come back to visit this place and the family that took care of him here. It's time for America to rule about that. Elian symbolizes hundreds of families. It's not whether he will be sent back or not. No matter what you think now, this would not have happened if Cuba was not under Fidel's rule. Reporter: If the courts here decide that Elian should indeed be returned to Cuba under his father's custody, what should happen? How should Cuban-Americans react? Castro: We have to be law abiding. If the law says so, according to the law, then he has to go back. Reporter: If he does go back, what kind of future do you foresee for him? Castro: He will become some type of political leader. Like I said before, he will be sent to a boarding school at the age of 11 and then they will decide what he will become.