Castro nears retirement as Cuban president; lawmakers vote on successor

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Castro nears retirement as Cuban president; lawmakers vote on successor

By Frank Jack Daniel and Sarah Marsh

 

FILE PHOTO: Cuba's First Vice-President Miguel Diaz-Canel stands in line before casting his vote during an election of candidates for the national and provincial assemblies, in Santa Clara, Cuba March 11, 2018. REUTERS/Alejandro Ernesto/Pool/File Photo

 

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's Raul Castro was just hours away from retiring as president after parliament proposed Miguel Diaz-Canel as his replacement on Wednesday, a shift that will usher in the island's first non-Castro leader since the 1959 revolution.

 

Castro, 86, was due to step down on Thursday after 10 years in office. He announced his departure several years ago and has long signalled that Diaz-Canel, a 57-year-old Communist Party stalwart, was his likely successor, carefully managing the transition to ensure political continuity.

 

The move to a younger generation of Communist leaders is historic on an island dominated for nearly 60 years by Fidel Castro and then his brother Raul. But in the short term it is unlikely to herald major changes to the one-party system or state-dominated economic model.

 

The rubber-stamp National Assembly voted on the proposal to promote Diaz-Canel, who is currently first vice president. His was the only name put forward by a party-backed commission, and was greeted with a long ovation from lawmakers. Lawmakers will vote for 30 other members of Cuba's state council as well as the president. The results will be announced and the new president will be sworn in on Thursday.

 

Although this week's assembly is promoting younger government leaders, Castro and other elders of the revolution will retain considerable power in their roles as the top leaders of the Communist Party at least until a party congress set for 2021.

 

Political observers said Diaz-Canel would be given the job of breathing life into the creaking economy, but would seek Castro's approval on major strategic decisions such as the relationship with the United States.

 

He is expected to be cautious at first, seeking to consolidate support among party conservatives despite desire among young Cubans for faster development. He is extremely unlikely to challenge one-party rule.

 

Diaz-Canel should "increase the speed of change in Cuba while preserving the good things," said blogger Harold Cardenas, 32, adding that resistance from within the party to Castro's economic reforms had held the country back.

 

After years climbing the ranks of the Communist Party, the future president is considered a safe bet to carry the mantle of Castro and other elderly leaders who helped Fidel Castro oust U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista. Trained as an electrical engineer, Diaz-Canel embraces technology and appears socially liberal, but he is relatively unknown to ordinary Cubans.

 

He faces "myriad challenges on all fronts," said Richard Feinberg, who led Latin America policy in former U.S. President Bill Clinton's White House.

 

Cuba's economy remains smaller per capita than it was in 1985, when it had the support of Communist ally, the Soviet Union, according to one study. It is suffering from a crisis in oil benefactor Venezuela. Relations with the United States are strained anew under President Donald Trump and Cuba has few allies in the region.

 

"Most Cubans, especially the young, await an unambiguous, decisive acceleration of market-opening reforms," Feinberg said. "Strategically, Diaz-Canel must confront renewed hostility from the U.S. administration."

 

Castro, who had served for decades as defence minister, became president in 2008 when Fidel Castro, his health failing, formally handed over power. Fidel Castro died in 2016 aged 90.

 

CASTRO'S REFORMS

Shunning the long speeches his brother was famous for, Raul Castro kept his low-key style even as he reached a landmark agreement in 2014 with former U.S. President Barack Obama to restore diplomatic ties with the United States. Relations with Washington had been hostile since soon after Fidel Castro took the island on a sharply leftward path after the revolution.

 

While stressing he was acting to preserve and not dismantle socialism, Castro also introduced market reforms to one of the world's last Soviet-style centrally planned economies, permitting more small businesses and encouraging some foreign investment.

 

He gave more freedoms to Cubans, allowing them to travel, visit resorts on the island previously reserved for foreigners and gradually increasing internet access, although opposition groups still face official harassment.

 

On Wednesday, Castro wore a dark suit in place of military fatigues and sat near Diaz-Canel as an official read out the names of proposed leaders to the 604 legislators gathered at a wood-panelled convention centre in a quiet Havana suburb.

 

The legislators then cast secret ballots and were expected to almost unanimously support the slate.

 

One of the elders of the revolution, 85-year-old Ramiro Valdes, was proposed to the council of state, the country's top executive body, a sign of caution in implementing the generational shift. Valdes has held senior posts since the 1960s.

 

The first vice president will be Salvador Valdes Mesa, who at 72 is between the two generations. He is seen as less reform-minded than the new president. He is the first Afro-Cuban to hold such high office in the government.

 

Cuba calls its political processes democratic. However, many ordinary Cubans say they feel distant from politics, preferring to focus on making ends meet within the limited economic opportunities that opened under Castro's changes.

 

A few even call for political reform.

 

"Change would be good to give opportunities to the opposition, so that there are other parties and freer elections," said Ruben, 51, a musician who did not want to give his full name for fear of reprisals.

 

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Sarah Marsh and Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-04-19

[spidermike007]

When a cockroach finally makes a disappearance, it is time for the entire nation to celebrate.

 

I had the good fortune of visiting Cuba many times, while "LA chcaracha grande" was still in power. I befriended many in Cuba. Amazing place. Extraordinary people. Great culture. But, all had the same thing to say about Fidel.

 

They had a great PR machine, and it would crank out alot of hyperbole about their educational and healthcare system being the best in the world. And you would then have numskulls like Michael Moore pick up on that, and run with it, to create utter disinformation campaigns. Yes, they did produce the greatest number of doctors per capita. But, most would have to leave the country to make a living, as they could not live very well on the $40 a month government salary. I met civil engineers, who had trained in Russia, and specialized in suspension bridges, who made $38 a month, and moonlighted as tour guides, to feed their families. All the while Castro was living in his gilded mansion, feasting on lobster tail, and socking away billions. For some of us, we were able to see for ourselves, and we saw that the dissemination was just that. When I would meet locals, they would nearly all say the same thing. Fidel was universally despised, and so was the regime. All of that was said in hushed tones, for fear of being discovered, and sent to one of his concentration camps, or marched before a firing squad. I would stop to chat with a local, and within minutes he would get picked up by the police. I would later find out he was held for days, under suspicion of offering either prostitution services or currency exchange. The government hated for the people to engage in exchange, as it gave them power and freedom. It was sickening. I stopped visiting, around 2008, as I got so disgusted with the government and the low quality of life the people had to endure under the despotic regime of the Castro brothers. They are absolute vermin, on every level. I was told by reputable sources that both brothers had fortunes into the tens of billions of dollars, and many of the generals were worth billions. Total hypocrisy. Castro lost his ideals, and sight of the bigger picture within 30 days of assuming power. It was all about the money, and the power, and the totalitarian rule. It was not about the people.

 

Very, very typical of the regime of despots. You have been made so poor by our policies, and our systematic repression of the people, that there is no way you could afford a $60 boom box. I know people who have been put into jail for the most minor of offenses. During my last trip in about 2008, "la grande cucaracha" (Fidel, for those of you who do not speak spanish. The grand cockroach). started losing his faculties, and really begun a heavy crackdown. He became very paranoid, and probably should have been put on heavy anti-depresent of bi-polar meds. He started having people locked up for the most minor of offenses. Women who were hanging out talking to their friends were locked up on suspicion of prostitution. It was quite sickening. I left a few days early on that trip, and vowed to never return, until they had cleared out the vermin. I hope that happens. Nothing of any real significance will happen as long as Raul is in power. No doubt he is less dogmatic than his older brother. But, he is also a pragmatist. If he can still maintain absolute control, while amassing many more billions of dollars, why not? 

 

I wish the best for the Cuban people. They deserve a better life, and they deserve better government.