Cuba faces future without a Castro
If all goes as expected, Cuba will name a new president in two weeks – the first time in nearly 60 years that the communist country’s leader won’t be a Castro.
Outgoing President Raul Castro will still loom large in retirement, much like his older brother Fidel Castro, who hovered over the nation’s affairs until his death in 2016. But when the Cuban National Assembly meets April 19 to name the new president, it will mark a major shift in the history of the Caribbean island.
“This is not a transition to democracy, but this is enormous,” said Pedro Freyre, an attorney with the Akerman law firm who represents several American companies doing business in Cuba. “As our president would say, ‘It’s huge.’ ”
Castro’s successor likely will be a man largely unknown outside Cuba: Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, who has risen steadily through the ranks of the Communist Party.
Diaz-Canel’s ascension is not a guarantee. Would-be successors have come and gone over the years.
Still, Cuba experts agree that Castro is likely to stand by Diaz-Canel.
Castro and his cohorts could be making a pragmatic decision to anoint a younger leader to give the appearance of changing with the times, said Frank Mora, director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University.
“They’re all in their late 80s,” he said. “They understand that they have to hand power over to someone who will live longer than a couple of years.”