After more than half a century, a Castro will not govern the Caribbean island

Leer en español: Cuba: ¿Quién será el sucesor de Raúl Castro?

Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, a member of the Castro family has always been in charge of the country. Now, for the first time in almost 60 years, this could change and the government would be left in the hands of a new head of state without military lineage.

In the last 12 years, Raúl Castro (86 years old) has ruled the island. Under his mandate, without losing the ideals of Revolution and communist structure, Raul Castro has improved the conditions of foreign investment in the Caribbean country, closer ties with the United States, and modified immigration regulations that now allow citizens to leave the island during a period of two years without losing their assets.

If the agreed dates are met, on April 16, Castro would hand over power to his successor, who would be ratified by the National Assembly. This entity was shortlisted after 8 million Cubans were called to ratify a list of 605 deputies that will make up the parliament.

According to what was established by Raúl Castro, the candidates to govern the island cannot be older than 70 years. In turn, the term of government will be of maximum two consecutive periods (10 years), another of the changes made by the president during his more than one decade in charge of the island.

A favorite that will not be a surprise

Many political analysts agree that the current vice president of the Councils of State and Minister of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, will be in charge of assuming the power handed over by Castro. This was the same figure that Raúl occupied next to Fidel Castro, before having been named president.

Díaz-Canel is a 57-year-old electronic engineer who has acquired close ties to the Castro family since 2009, after becoming Minister of Higher Education. During the last years, Diaz-Canel has been responsible for the formation of numerous cadres of the Communist Party (PCC). His ideological firmness profiles him as a successor that would defend the Cuban Revolution, thus ensuring continuity in the policies of the government established decades ago.

However, his detractors describe him as a man "without charisma or will of his own". As Cuban dissident and blogger, Yoani Sánchez, points out in a BBC article, Díaz-Canel "is a faithful product of the political cadre laboratory, someone suckled in the udder of the PCC and attached to the official script without separating a single line".

Although other names sound like possible candidates for the presidency of Cuba, -such as José Ramón Machado, second secretary of the PCC, and Ramiro Valdés, considered a "hero of the Republic" for his participation in emblematic struggles-, Raúl Castro seems to have discarded them when putting 70 years as the maximum age for candidates to lead the country. Both Machado and Valdés exceed this age limit.

Who will choose the next president?

In Cuba, citizens do not vote for the president but for local representatives and deputies to the National Assembly. These members become the voice of the inhabitants when they elect the president of the Councils of State and Ministers. For decades, Fidel Castro and his brother Raul Castro were elected unanimously in the Assembly. However, after the announcement of the end of the government cycle of Raúl, the president has expressed that there will be no more 'Castro' in charge of the command in Cuba.

Latin American Post | Krishna Jaramillo
Transltaed from “ Cuba: ¿Quién será el sucesor de Raúl Castro?”