Cuba set for non-Castro leader

Cuban lawmakers were set to start a two-day session on Wednesday to name the first nonCastro president in more than 40 years, ushering in younger Communist leaders who will be under pressure to bring greater prosperity and revitalize the creaking economy.

The replacement for President Raul Castro is widely expected to be first vice president Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, an engineer who embraces technology and appears socially liberal but is considered a safe pair of hands to follow the elderly leaders who fought the 1959 revolution, as they retire.

The next president is likely to be cautious at first, seeking to consolidate support among conservatives despite a desire for faster development of an economy smaller than it was in 1985, when Cuba had the support of the Soviet Union.

Gathered at a convention center in a leafy Havana suburb, 605 legislators in the rubber stamp national assembly will select 30 other members of Cuba’s state council along with the replacement for Castro, who took over from his brother, Fidel, in 2008.

Castro, 86, brought sweeping change, significantly thawing relations with the United States for the first time since rebels led by his brother overthrew a US-backed dictator, and making cautious market reforms to one of the world’s last Soviet-style command economies.

But with the economy suffering from a crisis in allied Venezuela and relations with the US strained anew under President Donald Trump, some Cubans are pessimistic about their lives improving and feel nervous about what is to come.

While the assembly will promote younger leaders, Castro and other elders of the revolution will retain power on the Communist Party. REUTERS

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