Miguel Diaz-Canel was officially named as the new leader of Cuba on Thursday, one day after a vote in the country’s National Assembly.

It’s the first time in nearly six decades that Cuba is being led by a man not named Castro.

Diaz-Canel, 57, was selected as the unopposed candidate to replace Raul Castro, 86. Castro embraced Diaz-Canel — who wasn’t yet born when Fidel Castro led his revolution in 1959 — during Wednesday’s session, all but sealing his status as the island’s next president.

Raul Castro is still expected to exercise a large measure of control over the Cuban government and have the final say on important decisions. He will remain first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, a member of the National Assembly and, even if he is no longer president, the most powerful public figure on the island.

In remarks following the National Assembly’s announcement, Diaz-Canel acknowledged that Raul Castro would remain as the head of the armed forces, which runs much of the Cuban economy and tourism industry.

An electrical engineer by training, Díaz-Canel was born a year after Fidel Castro took power. Tall and gray-haired, he speaks in a soft monotone and rarely strays too far from the script in public appearances.

But while there were other, more dynamic members of his generation who years earlier appeared to have a better lock on the top job, Díaz-Canel quietly made a name for himself as an efficient administrator while serving as the top Communist Party official for the provinces of Villa Clara and then Holguín, where Fidel and Raul Castro were born.</s>Cuba is poised for a new leader to take over. For the first time in almost 60 years, it won't be a member of the Castro family.</s>The island nation of Cuba is preparing to name its first leader not named “Castro” in nearly 60 years.

Through the Space Age, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Internet era, Cubans held one constant: A Castro ruled the nation.

That is about to change.

Raúl Castro, 86, is expected to step aside as Cuba’s president Wednesday less than two years after Fidel Castro’s death,

“This is an important moment for Cuba, but the truth is, nobody knows what to expect,” said Camilo Condis, general manager of Artecorte, a community project in Havana. “I mean, other than Fidel and Raúl, who is there? You didn’t really know anyone else.”

President Raul Castro is expected to retire during the National Assembly meeting that begins today in Havana probably culminating with a succession vote Thursday .

The 86-year-old Castro is expected to hand over power to a handpicked successor.

Experts believe that most likely will be 57-year-old Miguel Diaz-Canel who was born after the revolution and grew up in the shadow of the olive-drab-wearing guerrilleros.

Access to the Internet is still spotty and there are now more than 5 million cellphones in this nation of 11.5 million people.

The late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro ruled the Caribbean island nation for 47 years, before ill health led him to hand the leadership authority to his younger brother.

Raúl Castro saying, ‘I am president, but I have a term, and then someone else is going to lead.’ . . . If you are someone who really wants the regime to endure, it’s what Raúl needs to do.”

The post Cuba’s New Leader Will Not Be Named “Castro” appeared first on 850 WFTL.</s>Cuba Will Soon Be Led By Someone Who Is Not A Castro

For the first time since 1959, the communist island of Cuba will not be run by a Castro. On Thursday, Raúl Castro will hand the presidency over to a successor, widely believed to be First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel.</s>Cuba on Wednesday selected 57-year-old First Vice President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez as sole candidate to succeed Raul Castro as president of Cuba, the centerpiece of an effort to ensure that the country’s single-party system outlasts the aging revolutionaries who created it.

The virtually certain unanimous approval of the National Assembly will install someone from outside the Castro family in the country’s highest government office for the first time in nearly six decades.

The 86-year-old Castro will remain head of the Communist Party, designated by the constitution as “the superior guiding force of society and the state.” As a result, Castro is almost certain to remain the most powerful person in Cuba for the time being. His departure from the presidency is nonetheless a symbolically charged moment for a country accustomed to 60 years of absolute rule first by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and, for the last decade, his younger brother.

Nominated as new first vice president was Salvador Valdes Mesa, a 72-year-old Afro-Cuban former union official who has held a long series of high posts in the Cuban government. The government’s official Candidacy Commission also nominated another five vice presidents of the Council of State, Cuba’s highest government body. Only one of the five, 85-year-old Ramiro Valdez, was among the revolutionaries who fought with the Castros in the eastern Sierra Maestra mountains.

Facing biological reality, Raul Castro is working to ensure a smooth transition from him and his small group of former guerrillas to a new generation that can maintain the government’s grip on power in the face of economic stagnation, an aging population and waning revolutionary fervor among Cuban youth attuned more to global consumer culture than the anti-capitalist, nationalist messaging of the state-run media.

That media went into overdrive Wednesday with a single message: Cuba’s system is continuing in the face of change. Commentators on state television and online offered lengthy explanations of why Cuba’s single-party politics and socialist economy are superior to multi-party democracy and free markets, and assured Cubans that no fundamental changes were occurring, despite some new faces at the top.

“It falls on our generation to give continuity to the revolutionary process,” said assembly member Jorge Luis Torres, a municipal councilman from central Artemisa province who appeared to be in his 40s. “We’re a generation born after the revolution, whose responsibility is driving the destiny of the nation.”

Most Cubans know their first vice president as an unremarkable speaker who initially assumed a public profile so low it was virtually nonexistent. Until March, Diaz-Canel had said nothing to the Cuban people about the type of president he would be. The white-haired, generally unsmiling Diaz-Canel had been seen at greatest length in a leaked video of a Communist Party meeting where he somberly pledged to shutter some independent media and labeled some European embassies as outposts of foreign subversion.

That image has begun to change slightly this year as Diaz-Canel stepped into the moderate limelight offered by Cuba’s Soviet-style state media. With his public comments in March, many Cubans got a glimpse of him as a flesh-pressing local politician, an image familiar to residents of the central province where he was born and spent nine years in a role akin to a governor.

Castro entered the National Assembly just after 9 a.m. accompanied by a broadly smiling Diaz-Canel.

The 604 assembly members were sworn in — a 605th was absent — then voted for the president and vice president of the legislative body itself. The result of the votes for president and vice presidents and other national leaders is expected to be officially announced Thursday, the anniversary of the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion defeated by Cuban forces in 1961.

As in Cuba’s legislative elections, all of the leaders being voted in on Wednesday are selected by a government-appointed commission. Ballots offer only the option of approving or disapproving the official candidate. Candidates generally receive more than 90 percent of the votes in their favor.

Fidel Castro was prime minister and president from 1959 until he fell ill in 2006. Although Osvaldo Dorticos was president of Cuba during Fidel Castro’s time as prime minister, he was considered a figurehead beside the man who led Cuba’s revolution, forged its single-party socialist system and ruled by fiat.</s>Cuba's National Assembly has all but assured that Miguel Diaz-Canel will assume power and replace Raul Castro as president.

Cuba’s National Assembly has appointed Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel as the only candidate in the running to become the country’s next president. The 57-year-old long-standing Communist Party member, if elected, will replace current Cuban president Raul Castro. While the younger and more tech-savvy political figure is said to be in touch with the people, locals and political insiders believe that the legacy of the Castro family regime will likely continue.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the assembly had made its formal announcement. Votes for the presidency, as well as the 31 members of Cuba’s ruling Council of State, would be held the same day with the results to be revealed on Thursday. A win for Diaz-Canel would mark the end of nearly six decades of leadership by Fidel Castro, who was succeeded by his brother Raul after his death in 2016. Fidel Castro was 90-years-old at the time of his demise.

Political insiders say that Diaz-Canel has been indoctrinated with similar ideologies to those that are the earmarks of the Castro regime. Former Cuban diplomat Carlos Alzugaray called the relationship between Raul Castro and Diaz-Canel one of “mentor and disciple.” Castro, who is 86, will maintain a powerful presence in Cuba and continue as the head of the Communist Party.

Diaz-Canel will take the reins backed by a diverse and much younger council, according to the Post. Nominees for the Council of State include both black as well as female candidates for the position of vice president. They are all described as staunch loyalists to the current regime and are expected to make slow, measured changes to the way Cuba is governed.

Local reactions to the appointment have been varied. Because the new governing body will follow several of the established ideas and methods, many Castro family loyalists are confident in their ability to maintain continuity.

According to the Post, however, some younger residents see the change in rulership as no change at all. Citing a disconnect between former leadership and the needs of the little man, confidence that change will come to Cuba is low. Any improvements to their quality of life will take time.</s>HAVANA -- The Cuban government on Wednesday selected 57-year-old First Vice President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez as the sole candidate to succeed President Raul Castro in a transition aimed at ensuring that the country's single-party system outlasts the aging revolutionaries who created it. The certain approval of Diaz-Canel by members of the unfailingly unanimous National Assembly will install someone from outside the Castro family in the country's highest government office for the first time in nearly six decades.

The 86-year-old Castro will remain head of the Communist Party, designated by the constitution as "the superior guiding force of society and the state." As a result, Castro will remain the most powerful person in Cuba for the time being. His departure from the presidency is nonetheless a symbolically charged moment for a country accustomed to 60 years of absolute rule first by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and, for the last decade, his younger brother.

CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez reports from Havana that many on the island do not necessarily foresee any drastic changes, and there are some in the younger generation that were hopeful of some expansion of limited economic reforms and more opportunities. They don't necessarily see it happening this time around although there are some that remain hopeful.

In the U.S., Cuban exiles and Cuban-American leaders see this as not a true election at all, Bojorquez reports. They see it as a mere passing of the torch from one dictator to another with practically no chances of improving relations between the United States and Cuba.

Facing biological reality but still active and apparently healthy, Raul Castro is stepping down as president in an effort to guarantee that new leaders can maintain the government's grip on power in the face of economic stagnation, an aging population and increasing disenchantment among younger generations.

"I like sticking with the ideas of President Fidel Castro because he did a lot for the people of Cuba, but we need rejuvenation, above all in the economy," said Melissa Mederos, a 21-year-old schoolteacher. "Diaz-Canel needs to work hard on the economy, because people need to live a little better."

Most Cubans know their first vice president as an uncharismatic figure who until recently maintained a public profile so low it was virtually nonexistent. That image changed slightly this year as state media placed an increasing spotlight on Diaz-Canel's public appearances, including remarks to the press last month that included his promise to make Cuba's government more responsive to its people.

"We're building a relationship between the government and the people here," he said then after casting a ballot for members of the National Assembly. "The lives of those who will be elected have to be focused on relating to the people, listening to the people, investigating their problems and encouraging debate."

Diaz-Canel gained prominence in central Villa Clara province as the top Communist Party official, a post equivalent to governor. There, people described him as a hard-working, modest-living technocrat dedicated to improving public services. He became higher education minister in 2009 before moving into the vice presidency.

In a video of a Communist Party meeting that inexplicably leaked to the public last year, Diaz-Canel expressed a series of orthodox positions that included somberly pledging to shutter some independent media and labeling some European embassies as outposts of foreign subversion.

But he has also defended academics and bloggers who became targets of hardliners, leading some to describe him as a potential advocate for greater openness in a system intolerant of virtually any criticism or dissent. International observers and Cubans alike will be scrutinizing every move he makes after he officially takes office on Thursday.

Two years after taking over from his ailing brother in 2006, Castro launched a series of reforms that expanded Cuba's private sector to nearly 600,000 people and allowed citizens greater freedom to travel and access to information.

He has failed to fix the generally unproductive and highly subsidized state-run businesses that, along with a Soviet-model bureaucracy, employ three of every four Cubans. State salaries average $30 a month, leaving workers struggling to feed their families, and often dependent on corruption or remittances from relatives overseas.

Castro's moves to open the economy have largely been frozen or reversed as soon as they began to generate conspicuous shows of wealth by the new entrepreneurial class in a country officially dedicated to equality among its citizens.

"I don't want to see a capitalist system, hopefully that doesn't come here, but we have to fix the economy," said Roberto Sanchez, a 41-year-old construction worker. "I'd like to have more opportunity, to buy a car, and have a few possessions."

As in Cuba's legislative elections, all of the leaders selected Wednesday were selected by a government-appointed commission. Ballots offer only the option of approval or disapproval and candidates generally receive more than 95 percent of the votes in their favor.

The Candidacy Commission also nominated another six vice presidents of the Council of State, Cuba's highest government body. Only one, 85-year-old Ramiro Valdez, was among the revolutionaries who fought with the Castros in the late 1950s in the eastern Sierra Maestra mountains.

State media went into overdrive Wednesday with a single message: Cuba's system is continuing in the face of change. Commentators on state television and online offered lengthy explanations of why Cuba's single-party politics and socialist economy are superior to multi-party democracy and free markets, and assured Cubans that no fundamental changes were occurring, despite some new faces at the top.

"It falls on our generation to give continuity to the revolutionary process," said assembly member Jorge Luis Torres, a municipal councilman from central Artemisa province who appeared to be in his 40s. "We're a generation born after the revolution, whose responsibility is driving the destiny of the nation."

Castro entered the National Assembly just after 9 a.m. accompanied by a broadly smiling Diaz-Canel. Ceremonies continued through lunchtime and broke until Thursday morning, when the new national leadership is expected to be officially announced on the anniversary of the defeat of U.S.-backed invaders at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

Fidel Castro was prime minister and president from 1959 until he fell ill in 2006. Although Osvaldo Dorticos was president of Cuba during Fidel Castro's time as prime minister, he was considered a figurehead beside the man who led Cuba's revolution, forged its single-party socialist system and ruled by fiat.</s>Miguel Diaz-Canel rose to the Cuban presidency by executing orders, not by showing creativity or independence: Our view

For nearly 60 years, the president of Cuba has been named Castro, first Fidel and then brother Raul. And for most of those years, the Cuban economy has been stagnant and personal freedoms have been suppressed.

Now, Cuba’s president will be Miguel Diaz-Canel, a former regional administrator who turns 58 Friday. This is no doubt a new chapter of some kind. But it would be wise not to expect much change, at least not right away.

For starters, Diaz-Canel is a prototypical party loyalist who rose to the top by executing orders, not by showing creativity or independence. In fact, he brings to mind the character in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S Pinafore who advanced from errand boy to admiral through fastidious attention to office cleanliness: “I polished up that handle so carefully that now I am the ruler of the Queen's Navy.”

What’s more, being a president of Cuba isn’t all it's cracked up to be. Raul Castro will retain the position of Communist Party head, which will allow him, and his successor when he dies, to keep Diaz-Canel in check were he to show signs of departing from party doctrine.

Multiple generations of Cubans have come of age knowing nothing put privation and having no memory of the heady days of the revolution. It is not hard to imagine them rebelling some day against the mismanagement of the economy that has been the hallmark of Cuban communism.

Nor is it hard to imagine that they will demand more than the limited experiment with small-scale free enterprise that Cuba’s leaders have sanctioned. Free enterprise is the only thing that has kept Cuba from collapsing in recent years. National leaders allow it as the economy founders, then pull back when they think it is going too far.

For the United States, the best approach is to not allow itself to be scapegoated. One reason the Castros stayed in power for so long is that they were able to blame Cuba's woes on ill-conceived and counterproductive sanctions imposed by Washington.

Former president Barack Obama had moved to neutralize that approach by partially normalizing relations with Havana, including allowing people to travel between the countries more easily. President Trump has unwisely decided to roll back those Obama policies, again setting the United States up for blame.

Eventually, more freedom will come to the island nation. But none of this is destined to happen just because Cuba has a new president not named Castro.

If you can't see this reader poll, please refresh your page.</s>What Cuba's New President Hopes To Accomplish

Cuba's new president, Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez took office Thursday promising to defend the Castro legacy, but he also pledged reforms aimed at modernizing the island nation's economy.</s>The Latest on Raul Castro's handover of Cuba's presidency (all times local):

Raul Castro has passed Cuba's presidency to Miguel Diaz-Canel, putting the island's government in the hands of someone outside the Castro family for the first time in nearly six decades. He remains head of the powerful Communist Party that oversees political and social activities.
Miguel Díaz-Canel is named the new President of Cuba. It is the first time in six decades that a Castro family member is not leading Cuba.