Cuba’s National Assembly voted officially to appoint Miguel Diaz-Canel
Cuba’s National Assembly voted officially on Thursday to appoint 57 year old Miguel Diaz-Canel as Cuba’s new head of State, ending nearly 60 years of rule by Castro.
Diaz-Canel’s selection indicates the dawn of a new era in a country that has identified deeply with the Castro rule.
Castro led the revolution that triumphed in 1959 that resulted in the longest lasting Communist regime in the Western Hemisphere.
Before his death in 2016, Fidel Castro had sought to prevent the creation of a personality cult, forbidding statues or street names honoring him. In perhaps a nod to that policy, Cuba’s official news media was largely devoid on WWe speak of Fidel as a man, not as a god, and of the Cuban community in Miami as being people who are not totally against this island,” said Mónica Rivero, editor in chief of OnCuba. She continued: “But it’s not really about us. It’s more about whether you can or can’t have this kind of change when it comes to expression . . . . Díaz-Canel is going to be in the shadow of Raúl and those who fought with Raúl and Fidelednesday of ponderous coverage of the Castro family’s ceding power.
The new candidates also included the first black Cuban to hold the post of first vice president, and three female vice presidents. The results of the assembly vote are to be announced Thursday, but there is little doubt that those on the list will be approved.
All of those named to the powerful council are party loyalists. But their relative youth — the list includes Yipsi Moreno, a 37-year old former Olympic hammer thrower — suggested a passing of the torch.
For some elderly Cubans, the moment was hard to comprehend. “For me, not having a Fidel or Raúl, it’s almost impossible to conceive of. It’s almost out of my realm of understanding,” said Giraldo Baez, a 78-year-old former factory administrator. “But even as they go, I feel we still need to follow their ideas.”
