Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
CUBA SUCCESSOR TOUTS CASTRO LEGACY
Diaz-Canel pledges outgoing president ‘will lead’ decisions
Outgoing president Raul Castro said he foresees Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez serving two five-year terms as leader of the Cuban government, and taking the helm of the Communist Party, the country’s ultimate authority, when Castro leaves the position in 2021. But in Miami, Cuban-Americans said they didn’t expect much from Diaz-Canel.
“The reality is that Raul Castro is still controlling the Communist Party. We are very far from having a democratic Cuba,” one emigre said.
HAVANA — Raul Castro stepped down as president of Cuba on Thursday, handing power to a 57-year-old successor he said would hold power until 2031, a plan that would place the state the Castro brothers founded and ruled for six decades in the hands of a Communist Party official who remains little known to most people on the island.
Castro’s 90-minute valedictory speech offered his first clear vision for the nation’s future power structure under new President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez. Castro said he foresees the white-haired electronics engineer serving two five-year terms as leader of the Cuban government, and taking the helm of the Communist Party, the country’s ultimate authority, when Castro leaves the powerful position in 2021.
“From that point on, I will be just another soldier defending this revolution,” Castro said. Castro, 86, broke frequently from his prepared remarks to joke and banter with officials on the dais in the National Assembly, saying he looked forward to having more time to travel the country.
In his own half-hour speech to the nation, DiazCanel pledged to preserve Cuba’s communist system while gradually reforming the economy and making the government more responsive.
“There’s no space here for a transition that ignores or destroys the legacy of so many years of struggle,” Diaz-Canel said. “For us, it’s totally clear that only the Communist Party of Cuba, the guiding force of society and the state, guarantees the unity of the nation of Cuba.”
He said he would work to implement a long-term plan laid out by the National Assembly and Communist Party to permit moderate growth of private enterprises such as restaurants and taxis, while leaving the economy’s most important sectors — energy, mining, telecommunications, medical services and rum- and cigar-production — in the hands of the state.
“The people have given this assembly the mandate to provide continuity to the Cuban Revolution during a crucial, historic moment that will be defined by all that we achieve in the advance of the modernization of our social and economic model,” Diaz-Canel said.
Cubans said they expected their new president to deliver improvements to the island’s economy, which remains stagnant, dominated by state-run enterprises that are unable to provide salaries high enough to cover basic needs. The average monthly pay for state workers is roughly $30 a month, forcing many to depend on remittances from relatives abroad.
“I hope that Diaz-Canel brings prosperity,” said Richard Perez, a souvenir salesman in Old Havana. “I want to see changes, above all economic changes allowing people to have their own businesses, without the state in charge of so many things.”
But in Miami, CubanAmericans said they didn’t expect much from DiazCanel.
“It’s a cosmetic change,” said Wilfriedo Allen, 66, a lawyer in Miami who emigrated from Cuba in 1961. “The reality is that Raul Castro is still controlling the Communist Party. We are very far from having a democratic Cuba.”
After formally taking over from his brother, Fidel Castro, in 2008, Raul Castro launched a series of reforms that led to rapid expansion of Cuba’s private sector and burgeoning use of cellphones and internet. Cuba today has a vibrant real estate market and one of the world’s fastest-growing airports. Tourism numbers have more than doubled since Castro and President Barack Obama re-established diplomatic relations in 2015, making Cuba a destination for nearly 5 million visitors a year, despite a plunge in relations under the Trump administration.
The election of President Donald Trump dashed dreams of detente with the U.S., and where it once got Venezuelan subsidies totaling more than $6 billion a year for two decades, Cuba has seen its patron collapse economically.
With Castro watching from the audience, DiazCanel made clear that for the moment he would defer to Castro. “I confirm to this assembly that Raul Castro, as first secretary of the Communist Party, will lead the decisions about the future of the country,” DiazCanel said. “Cuba needs him, providing ideas and proposals for the revolutionary cause, orienting and alerting us about any error or deficiency, teaching us, and always ready to confront imperialism.”
Diaz-Canel gained prominence in Villa Clara province as the top Communist Party official. People there describe him as a modestliving 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 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 hard-liners, leading some to describe him a potential advocate for greater openness.