Change of Leadership in Cuba

Apr 21, 2018 Editorial, Features / Columnists

For the first time since the Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro toppled the United States-backed Fulgencia Batista dictatorial regime in 1959, someone outside the Castro family has assumed the Presidency of Cuba as Raúl Castro stepped down. The 86-year-old Castro was replaced by Cuba’s First Vice President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermudez who vowed to continue the Communist Party ideals of his predecessors.
That continuity is expected since Raúl Castro will remain head of Cuba’s Communist Party and the Cuban armed forces until 2021. Díaz-Canel represents a new generation of Cuban rulers, who for decades has only known Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl Castro. Diaz-Canel ascension to the presidency marks the end of the Castro dynasty for the first time since the Cuban revolution.
Fidel Castro assumed the post of Cuba’s president in 1976, in addition to being the Communist Party First Secretary and ruled Cuba with an iron fist for almost five decades. The fiery apostle of the Cuban revolution adopted a Marxist-Leninist model of development and made Cuba a one-party communist state; the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
He defied the US for nearly half a century, bedeviling 11 American Presidents and bringing the Cold War to the Hemisphere. He dominated his country with strength and symbolism from the day he triumphantly entered Havana until he handed power over to his brother in 2006.
Raúl Castro assumed the Presidency 12 years ago and led Cuba through some of its biggest changes in decades. During his two terms as president, Castro opened up Communist Cuba to a small but vital private sector and, perhaps most significantly, normalize diplomatic relations with the United States.
It was a notable departure from his brother’s communist agenda, but it was possible only because he, too, was a Castro.
Castro’s handpicked successor, Miguel Diaz-Canel, 57, is a Communist Party loyalist who was born a year after Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. His rise ushers in a new generation of Cubans whose only firsthand experience with the revolution has been its aftermath; the early era of plenty, economic hardships, privation of the economy after the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union; and a brokered détente with the United States, which paved the way for the reopening of the American Embassy and the first visit of a sitting United States President to Cuba in 88 years.
Diaz-Canel came to office at a time of tremendous change on the island, both real and promised, but experts say there is nothing in his résumé to suggest he is going to take risks. However, change is often a managed affair in Cuba, orchestrated to maintain order while leaving little to chance or, especially, political uncertainty. The economic changes have been slow in Cuba to the frustration of many Cubans hoping for better pay and more opportunity.
So, too, has foreign investment with leaders afraid that it could grow to the point that they can no longer control it.
President Diaz-Canel faces a new set of challenges because of President Trump’s decision to undo some of President Obama’s easing of restrictions on travel to Cuba. As Cuba seeks to modernize its moribund economy with a new generation of leaders less tethered to the past, the U.S. appears to be moving toward a policy of isolating Cuba.
Fewer American tourists are allowed to visit Cuba. And Mr. Trump has reduced the size of its embassy staff by two-thirds and has closed the section that issues visas to Cubans seeking to visit the U.S.
The sudden slide in relations with the U.S. will affect Díaz-Canel’s ability to sustain the economy and stave off domestic pressure.

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