Raul Castro (R) raises the hand of Miguel Diaz-Canel during a session of the National Assembly of People's Power in Havana, capital of Cuba, April 19, 2018. Miguel Diaz-Canel was elected on Thursday as Cuba's new president, as the successor of Raul Castro, who concluded two consecutive five-year terms in office. (Xinhua/Irene Perez/CUBADEBATE)
Raul Castro will remain party head until 2021 congress
Cuba got a new president on Thursday as Miguel Diaz-Canel, who had been first vice-president, assumed the reins as the successor to outgoing president Raul Castro in a historic generational change for the first time in almost six decades.
The succession was reported by Granma, the official organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The National Candidature Commission had nominated Diaz-Canel, first vice-president of the Council of State, after the 57-year-old's name was proposed by the 604 National Assembly lawmakers to head the country.
As the NCC finally announced Diaz-Canel's name after months of speculation, he received a standing ovation and a hug from his mentor, Raul Castro.
"Diaz-Canel has a rich political career aligned with the generation born after the triumph of 1959 and has been growing with the revolution since he became a student leader," said Gisela Duarte, president of the NCC.
Although Castro was elected a lawmaker, he won't be part of the Council of State. The 86-year-old will remain head of the Communist Party until a congress in 2021.
In a speech, Diaz-Canel laid out the government's roadmap for the next five years.
Diaz-Canel gained prominence in central Villa Clara province as the party chief, a post equivalent to governor. People there describe him as a hardworking, modest-living technocrat dedicated to improving public services. He became higher education minister in 2009 before moving into the vice-presidency.
According to analysts, Cuba's relationship with the United States, which has nose-dived since Donald Trump was elected US president, is a major challenge Diaz-Canel will inherit.
Washington has reduced staffing at its Havana embassy to its lowest level since the 1970s due to unexplained illnesses among its diplomats.
The U.S.-Cuba detente, under former U.S. president Barack Obama in 2014, was one of the highlights of Castro's presidency and part of his broader opening of the island in order to preserve Cuban socialism.
