I suppose nearly anything is possible.| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Caribbean-Latin America | |
| Miguel Diaz-Canel Likely To Succeed Raul Castro | |
| 2016-11-28 | |
Miguel Diaz-Canel, 55, currently serves as Raul Castro’s vice president and is his apparent successor. He has been working his way up the hierarchy for 30 years, first in provincial positions and then as minister of higher education. When he was 43, he became a member of the Politburo, the youngest ever. Most of the other members fought in the 1959 revolution. An electrical engineer by trade and a Beatles fan, Diaz-Canel is a social media devotee, often posting pictures of himself and the younger Castro brother. America’s Quarterly said in a profile last year Diaz-Canel generally keeps a low profile. He was born after the revolution and is a member of the reform wing of the party, more an experienced manager than ideologue. Unlike the Castros, he dresses in jeans and sports jackets, eschewing military fatigues. He is described as witty and relaxed in private, but not a rousing speaker or charismatic leader in public. In his provincial stints, Diaz-Canel often would pop into local bars to take the temperature of the community. In appointing Diaz-Canel, Raul Castro declared, “Comrade Diaz-Canel is not an upstart nor improvised.” He stopped short, however, of declaring Diaz-Canel his successor. When he assumed power from his brother in 2013, Raul Castro said he would serve only five years but left open whether he also will resign his positions as head of the Cuban military and the Communist Party. The question is whether Diaz-Canel will be able to maintain the same kind of control as the Castro brothers, who forged strong relationships with the military, which controls nearly all of the island’s money and economy. Cuban dissident and human rights activist Antonio Rodiles thinks not. He told the Latin Post Diaz-Canel will be little more than a figurehead for the military, a placeholder until younger members of the Castro family, like Raul Castro’s son Alejandro are ready to seize power. "When Raul Castro is the president, then yes, the president runs Cuba," Jaime Suchliki, director of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, told the Miami Herald. "When Raul Castro is not president, that will be a very different matter. Díaz-Canel has no tanks and no troops." Col. Alejandro Castro Espin, 51, is in Cuba’s Interior Ministry security forces and one of his father’s closest aides as a member of a commission on defense and national security. Also in the wings is Col. Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Callejas, his son-in-law. The Herald said signs of generational change are emerging all over the island. "They are showing on the Mesa Redonda TV show documentaries glorifying the lives of old military generals, humanizing the lives of members of the elite,” Cuban dissident Ailer González told the Herald. It seems a sort of goodbye, in order to promote younger people willing to continue defending the regime." | |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 I am afraid there is no chance the next [Cuban] president will be black. I remember saying the same thing here in 2008. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-11-28 18:53 |
| #7 I am afraid there is no chance the next Cuban president will be black. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2016-11-28 18:40 |
| #6 Hey, its an opening. We are sending off a individual just suited for El Presidente. Has the resume, rules by the pen and phone. Has no need for opposition parties. Will fit right in with the existing political philosophy. What an opportunity and auspicious timing! |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-11-28 18:23 |
| #5 A blast from the past, only musty, A trope that was Russian, and rusty: "The Beatles! And denim!" "Oh, groovy! Let's friend him!" "I'm nothing like Castro. Just trust me." |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2016-11-28 16:46 |
| #4 I suppose nearly anything is possible. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-11-28 14:11 |
| #3 I would agree that the successor to Raul will eventually be a from the Castro family (or an in law of that family). There is a lot of stolen wealth that has to be protected. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2016-11-28 12:10 |
| #2 ...and loves the Beatles. That trick won't work with me - Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe loves the Beatles and he's a Grade A asshole. |
| Posted by: Raj 2016-11-28 11:32 |
| #1 Dang, when I looked at the picture at the link I thought the smarmy looking jackass in the middle was Diaz-Canal. Then I read further and found the smarmy looking jackass is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sitting between Diaz-Canal and Raul with a shit eating grin on his face. So we had Baraq and now Canada has Justin. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2016-11-28 11:00 |