Cuba has a new president

A new president and for the first time in six decades, his last name is not Castro!

The National Assembly swore in Diaz-Canel, with 603 out of the 604 lawmakers present for the vote.

Cuba’s National Assembly has elected Cuba’s First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel to replace 87-year-old Raúl Castro, who took over as Cuba’s leader in 2006 after his brother Fidel Castro fell ill. Raúl Castro stepped down in observance of the two-term limit for senior government and party officials that he himself mandated in 2011.

 57-year-old Díaz-Canel – a trained engineer worked his way up from a local party leader to first vice president. Díaz-Canel is a seasoned, pragmatic politician. As a Communist official in his home province of Villa Clara in the 1990s, when Cuba suffered a prolonged economic depression, he rode his bicycle to work rather than take a car and driver.

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.

If Díaz-Canel can deliver on economic issues – the top priority for most Cubans – he’ll be judged a success. If not, he will face a rising tide of discontent from a population impatient for change.