DIAZ-CANEL: CUBA’S HEIR APPARENT

HAVANA— With revolutionary leader Fidel Castro dead and his brother Raul vowing to step down as president in 15 months, it will soon be the hour of heir apparent, Miguel Diaz-Canel, an advocate for modernizing Cuba’s state-run media and abysmal internet access.

Fidel Castro died on Friday aged 90 and the 85-yearold Raul Castro, who took over as president in 2008, says he will step down in February 2018 at the end of his second five-year term.

Diaz-Canel was elevated to the position of first vice president in 2013, putting him next in line for the presidency.

At 56, he is a relative youngster in the ruling Communist Party’s leadership and will need to appeal to younger generations if Cuban communism is to thrive beyond the Castro brothers.

Born after the Castros took power in 1959, DiazCanel is a child of their revolution who rose through the Communist Party by cultivating relationships within the political elite.

“He has the advantage of having outlived his predecessors [as heir apparent],” said Christopher Sabatini, a Cuba expert at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Other apparent successors have emerged over the years only to fall suddenly. Among them were Carlos Lage, then 57 and one of Cuba’s secondary vice presidents, and Felipe Perez Roque, then 43 and foreign minister.

They were both sacked in 2009 as part of a purge by Raul Castro for appearing too ambitious.