Cuba's President Raul Castro (L) speaks with his first vice-president Miguel Diaz Canel during a session of the National Assembly in Havana, December 20, 2014. REUTERS/Enrique De La Osa
John Caulfield, The Hill: Cuba's next president faces choice between economy and communism
On April 19, Cuba’s National Assembly will meet to elect Cuba’s next president. There will only be one name on the ballot for the legislators to consider and the vote will be unanimous. First Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel will become president and Raul Castro, at 86 years old, will formally retire from government. Raul personally selected Diaz-Canel five years ago as his first vice president and has groomed him as his successor.
While Raul will retire from his head of state position, he will continue as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, where he is likely to exercise a chairman of the board role rather than chief executive officer. At 57 years old, Diaz-Canel was born after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. He is a civilian who held increasingly important Communist Party positions and has a reputation as a low-key and efficient administrator.
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WNU Editor: When I was working at the UN less than 30 years ago I got to know a few Cuban diplomats. When it came to discussions about economic growth, development, markets, and the importance and contribution of entrepreneurs to a growing economy .... these Cubans were dinosaurs. Flash forward to today .... these dinosaurs are still running the country. I had hopes a year or two ago that thing will change. But after talking to my Cuban friends I do not have those hopes anymore. My prediction. Soon to be President President Miguel Diaz-Canel will try his best to run the country as it has been since the revolution .... and more young Cubans will continue to flee not wanting to live under such a rigid dictatorship.
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