Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 29, 1993                   TAG: 9312290069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: MEXICO CITY                                LENGTH: Short

CASTRO GRANDDAUGHTER FREE TO JOIN HER MOTHER

"I have no problem giving her permission to leave the country," said Fernando Salgado, who retired in September as first dancer in the Cuban National Ballet.

The girl's mother, Alina Fernandez Revuelta, fled Cuba last week and was granted asylum in the United States. Cuban law requires that both parents approve the departure of a person under 20 years of age.

Salgado told reporters who visited him in Havana that Interior Ministry officials visited him on Sunday, the same day Jesse Jackson met Castro, to ask if the girl was free to join Fernandez.

He said the daughter, also named Alina, wanted to leave.

"Our love has been forged and separation cannot distance us," he said.

He said he decided to permit her departure because "I don't want history to repeat itself." The mother clashed repeatedly with authorities over their refusal to let her leave Cuba. She said she eventually made her way out in disguise under a false passport.

- Associated Press