Cuba's Next President Vows That Cuba Will Not Change Its Political And Economic System

Cuba's First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel. (STRINGER/REUTERS)

Reuters: Likely successor to Cuba's Castro rejects U.S. demands for change

HAVANA (Reuters) - The man forecast to replace Cuban President Raul Castro early next year rejected U.S. demands that the Communist-run country change its political and economic system.

In a Sunday speech blasting U.S. pressure on the Venezuelan government and what he termed an effort to discredit the Cuban tourism industry, First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel said these and other recent events in the region proved “imperialism can never be trusted, not even a tiny bit, never.”

Diaz-Canel was quoting Ernesto Che Guevara at a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of the revolutionary who had helped lead a Bolivian uprising modeled after Cuba’s.

“Cuba will not make concessions to its sovereignty and independence, nor negotiate its principles or accept the imposition of conditions,” Diaz-Canel said, apparently responding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent statement at the United Nations that sanctions would not be lifted until the Caribbean island restores democracy and capitalism.

“The changes needed in Cuba will solely be carried out by the Cuban people,” Diaz-Canel said.

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Update: Cuba’s first vice president rejects U.S. demands for political change (New York Post)

WNU Editor: First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel's vow to not change the Cuban political and economic system contradicts what has been coming out of Cuba in the past year .... specifically that he would lead the movement to reform it. Has he had a change of heart (or has he been warned not to change the status quo) .... I do not know, but I am still standing by my comment in 2013 (yes, I have been watching him closely that long) that he is the man to watch in Cuba, and that he will reform it .... The Next Leader Of Cuba? (February 25, 2013).