Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 19 april 2018
Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, selected as next president of Cuba

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN ally nonexistent. That image last year, Diaz-Canel ex- erage $30 a month, leaving Council of State, Cuba's
and ANDREA RODRIGUEZ changed slightly this year pressed a series of ortho- workers struggling to feed highest government body.
Associated Press as state media placed an dox positions that includ- their families, and often de- Only one, 85-year-old
HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban increasing spotlight on Di- ed somberly pledging to pendent on corruption or Ramiro Valdez, was among
government on Wednes- az-Canel's public appear- shutter some independent remittances from relatives the revolutionaries who
day selected 57-year-old fought with the Castros in
First Vice President Miguel the late 1950s in the eastern
Mario Diaz-Canel Bermu- Sierra Maestra mountains.
dez as the sole candidate State media went into
to succeed President Raul overdrive Wednesday with
Castro in a transition aimed a single message: Cuba's
at ensuring that the coun- system is continuing in the
try's single-party system out- face of change. Commen-
lasts the aging revolutionar- tators on state television
ies who created it. and online offered lengthy
The certain approval of explanations of why Cu-
Diaz-Canel by members of ba's single-party politics
the unfailingly unanimous and socialist economy are
National Assembly will in- superior to multi-party de-
stall someone from outside mocracy and free markets,
the Castro family in the and assured Cubans that
country's highest govern- no fundamental changes
ment office for the first time were occurring, despite
in nearly six decades. some new faces at the top.
The 86-year-old Castro will "It falls on our generation to
remain head of the Com- give continuity to the revo-
munist Party, designated lutionary process," said as-
by the constitution as "the sembly member Jorge Luis
superior guiding force of Torres, a municipal council-
society and the state." As man from central Artemisa
a result, Castro will remain province who appeared to
the most powerful person be in his 40s. "We're a gen-
in Cuba for the time be- eration born after the revo-
ing. His departure from the In this July 6, 2013 file photo, Cuba's President Raul Castro, left, and Vice President Miguel Diaz- lution, whose responsibility
presidency is nonetheless Canel Bermudez attend the opening of a two-day, twice-annual legislative sessions, at the Na- is driving the destiny of the
a symbolically charged tional Assembly in Havana, Cuba. nation."
moment for a country ac- Associated Press Castro entered the Nation-
customed to 60 years of al Assembly just after 9 a.m.
absolute rule first by revolu- ances, including remarks to media and labeling some overseas. accompanied by a broad-
tionary leader Fidel Castro the press last month that in- European embassies as Castro's moves to open ly smiling Diaz-Canel. Cere-
and, for the last decade, cluded his promise to make outposts of foreign subver- the economy have largely monies continued through
his younger brother. Cuba's government more sion. been frozen or reversed as lunchtime and broke until
Facing biological reality responsive to its people. But he has also defended soon as they began to gen- Thursday morning, when
but still active and appar- "We're building a relation- academics and bloggers erate conspicuous shows the new national leader-
ently healthy, Raul Castro ship between the gov- who became targets of of wealth by the new entre- ship is expected to be of-
is stepping down as presi- ernment and the people hardliners, leading some preneurial class in a coun- ficially announced on the
dent in an effort to guaran- here," he said then after to describe him a poten- try officially dedicated to anniversary of the defeat
tee that new leaders can casting a ballot for mem- tial advocate for greater equality among its citizens. of U.S.-backed invaders at
maintain the government's bers of the National Assem- openness in a system intol- "I don't want to see a capi- the Bay of Pigs in 1961.
grip on power in the face bly. "The lives of those who erant of virtually any criti- talist system, hopefully that Fidel Castro was prime min-
of economic stagnation, will be elected have to be cism or dissent. Internation- doesn't come here, but we ister and president from
an aging population and focused on relating to the al observers and Cubans have to fix the economy," 1959 until he fell ill in 2006.
increasing disenchantment people, listening to the alike will be scrutinizing ev- said Roberto Sanchez, a Although Osvaldo Dorti-
among younger genera- people, investigating their ery move he makes after 41-year-old construction cos was president of Cuba
tions. problems and encourag- he officially takes office on worker. "I'd like to have during Fidel Castro's time
"I like sticking with the ideas ing debate." Thursday. more opportunity, to buy a as prime minister, he was
of President Fidel Castro Diaz-Canel gained promi- Two years after taking over car, and have a few pos- considered a figurehead
because he did a lot for nence in central Villa Clara from his ailing brother in sessions." beside the man who led
the people of Cuba, but province as the top Com- 2006, Castro launched a se- As in Cuba's legislative Cuba's revolution, forged
we need rejuvenation, munist Party official, a post ries of reforms that expand- elections, all of the leaders its single-party socialist sys-
above all in the economy," equivalent to governor. ed Cuba's private sector to selected Wednesday were tem and ruled by fiat.q
said Melissa Mederos, a There, people described nearly 600,000 people and selected by a government-
21-year-old schoolteacher. him as a hard-working, allowed citizens greater appointed commission.
"Diaz-Canel needs to work modest-living technocrat freedom to travel and ac- Ballots offer only the option
hard on the economy, be- dedicated to improving cess to information. He has of approval or disapproval
cause people need to live public services. He became failed to fix the generally and candidates generally
a little better." higher education minister unproductive and highly receive more than 95 per-
Most Cubans know their in 2009 before moving into subsidized state-run busi- cent of the votes in their
first vice president as an un- the vice presidency. nesses that, along with a favor.
charismatic figure who until In a video of a Communist Soviet-model bureaucracy, The Candidacy Commis-
recently maintained a pub- Party meeting that inexpli- employ three of every four sion also nominated anoth-
lic profile so low it was virtu- cably leaked to the public Cubans. State salaries av- er six vice presidents of the