Miguel Díaz-Canel

Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (Spanish pronunciation: [miˈɣel ˈdi.as kaˈnel]; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician serving as the President of Cuba since 10 October 2019. He was previously President of the Council of State of Cuba from 2018 to 2019 and First Vice President from 2013 to 2018. He has been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2003, and he served as Minister of Higher Education from 2009 to 2012; he was promoted to the post of Vice President of the Council of Ministers (deputy Prime Minister) in 2012. A year later, on 24 February 2013, he was elected as First Vice President of the Council of State.[1]

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Díaz-Canel Singao and the second or maternal family name is Bermúdez.
Miguel Díaz-Canel
Díaz-Canel in 2015
17th President of Cuba
Assumed office
10 October 2019
Prime MinisterManuel Marrero
Vice PresidentSalvador Valdés Mesa
LeaderRaúl Castro (First Secretary of the Communist Party)
Preceded byVacant
Himself as President of the Council of State
President of the Council of State of Cuba
In office
19 April 2018 – 10 October 2019
Vice PresidentSalvador Valdés Mesa
Preceded byRaúl Castro
Succeeded byHimself (head of state)
Esteban Lazo Hernández (not head of state)
President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
In office
19 April 2018 – 10 October 2019
PresidentHimself
Preceded byRaúl Castro
Succeeded byManuel Marrero Cruz
First Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba
In office
24 February 2013 – 19 April 2018
PresidentRaúl Castro
Preceded byJosé Ramón Machado
Succeeded bySalvador Valdés Mesa
Minister of Higher Education
In office
8 May 2009 – 21 March 2012
PresidentRaúl Castro
Preceded byJuan Vela Valdés
Succeeded byRodolfo Alarcón Ortiz
Personal details
Born
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez

(1960-04-20) 20 April 1960
Placetas, Villa Clara, Cuba
Political partyCommunist Party of Cuba (1982-present)
Spouse(s)Martha (divorced)
Lis Cuesta
Children2
EducationMarta Abreu University of Las Villas
Signature

He was selected to succeed Raúl Castro as the candidate for President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers on 18 April 2018 and was sworn into office the following day after nationwide polling. His two predecessors in the role were brothers, by blood, and notably his succession from Raúl Castro represents a clearly non-dynastic form of succession for the Communist Party as well as the Republic of Cuba. Díaz-Canel is therefore the first president to not be a Castro family member since Osvaldo Dorticós in 1976 and the first leader of the government who is not a Castro since José Miró Cardona in 1959. Miguel Díaz-Canel is likely to succeed Raúl Castro as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most powerful position of Cuba, in 2021.[2]

Early life

Díaz-Canel was born on 20 April 1960 in Placetas, Villa Clara, to Aída Bermúdez, a schoolteacher, and Miguel Díaz-Canel, a mechanical plant worker in Santa Clara.[3][4] Of direct paternal Spanish (Asturian) descent; his great-grandfather Ramón Díaz-Canel left Castropol, Asturias for Havana in the late 19th century.[5][6]

He graduated from Central University of Las Villas in 1982 as an electronics engineer and thereupon joined the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.[7] Beginning in April 1985, he taught at his alma mater. In 1987, he completed an international mission in Nicaragua as First Secretary of the Young Communist League of Villa Clara.

Political career

In 1993, Díaz-Canel started work with the Communist Party of Cuba and a year later was elected First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of Villa Clara Province (a position equivalent to a regional governor).[7][8] He gained a reputation for competence in this post,[8] during which time he also championed LGBT rights at a time when many in the province frowned upon homosexuality.[9] In 2003, he was elected to the same position in Holguín Province.[7][10] In the same year, he was co-opted as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba.[11]

Díaz-Canel was appointed Minister of Higher Education in May 2009, a position that he held until 22 March 2012, when he became Vice President of the Council of Ministers (deputy prime minister).[7][12] In 2013 he additionally became First Vice President of the Council of State.[7]

President of Cuba

As First Vice President of the Council of State, Díaz-Canel acted as deputy to the President, Raúl Castro. In 2018, the 86-year-old Castro stepped down from the presidency, though he retained the most powerful position of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and the commander-in-chief of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.[13][14] On 18 April 2018, Díaz-Canel was selected as the only candidate to succeed Castro as president.[8] He was confirmed by a vote of the National Assembly on 19 April[8] and sworn in on the same day.[15] He is a party technocrat who was little-known to the public before becoming president. Policy experts expected him to pursue cautious reform of his predecessors' economic policies, while preserving the country's social structure.[14] He is the first president born after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and the first since 1976 not to be a member of the Castro family.[9]

He received Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro just 2 days after his inauguration. He met with Maduro again in May 2018 in Caracas, during first official foreign visit as head of state. In his first multinational political trip since becoming President, Díaz-Canel traveled in November 2018 to visit all of Cuba's Eurasian allies. Diplomatic meetings were held in Russia, North Korea, China, Vietnam, and Laos. Brief stopovers in the United Kingdom and France also included meetings with British parliamentarians and French leaders. In March 2019, Díaz-Canel and his wife hosted Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in Havana as the first British royals to visit the island.[16]

In October 2019, Diaz-Canel became the official "President of the Republic of Cuba", an office that was recreated that February after a series of constitutional reforms being approved in a constitutional referendum.[17] This office replaced the one he had held since April of the previous year, which was the President of the Council of State, which was previously the head of state of Cuba. The position of President of the Council of State became a less important position and is now carried out by Esteban Lazo Hernández in his authority as the President of the National Assembly of People's Power. Diaz-Canel's reforms among other things, added the creation of a two consecutive five-year term limit for the presidency and banned discrimination based on gender, race, sexual orientation/gender identity and/or disability.[18][19][20][21]

State visits

As First Vice-President
Country Areas visited Date(s) Notes
South Africa Pretoria March 16, 2015 [22]
Angola Luanda March 17, 2015 40 years of independence of this African country and the establishment of relations between Cuba and Angola.[23]
Namibia Windhoek March 20, 2015 25th anniversary of Namibian independence [24]
Angola Luanda September 26, 2017 Inauguration of Angolan President[25]

As President of Cuba

Awards

Order of the Liberator (Venezuela), First Class (2018).[26]

Personal life

Díaz-Canel has two children with his first wife, Martha. He currently resides with his second wife, Lis Cuesta.[27]

See also
  • List of Presidents of Cuba
  • List of Prime Ministers of Cuba
  • List of international trips made by Miguel Díaz-Canel

References
  1. "Ratificado Raúl como presidente del Consejo de Estado y del Consejo de Ministros (+ Fotos)". Cubadebate.
  2. "Miguel Diaz-Canel named Cuba's new president". CNN. 20 April 2018. Still, Castro made clear Díaz-Canel will ultimately succeed him as head of the Communist Party when he steps down from that post in 2021.
  3. "Díaz-Canel no es un relevo histórico". Martinoticias. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  4. Ahmed, Azam; Robles, Frances (19 April 2018). "Who Is Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba's New President?". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  5. Cuba ya tiene un nuevo presidente, de ascendencia asturiana - ileon
  6. De ruta por las raíces asturianas de Miguel Díaz-Canel - El Comercio
  7. Damien Cave, Raúl Castro Says His Current Term as President of Cuba Will Be His Last, The New York Times, 24 February 2013
  8. Press, Associated (19 April 2018). "Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba selects first non-Castro president since Fidel". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  9. Augustin, Ed (18 April 2018). "After six decades of Castro rule, Cubans greet end of era with a shrug". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  10. "En sustitución de Juan Vela es designado Miguel Díaz Canel ministro de Educación Superior". cubaheadlines.com.
  11. Ryan Villarreal (26 February 2013). "Sustaining The System: Cuba's New VP Diaz-Canel Marks Ascent Of Younger Generation". International Business Times.
  12. "Nota oficial". Diario Granma. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  13. "Raul Castro to lead Cuba's Communist Party until 2021". FRANCE 24. 19 April 2018. 'I confirm to this assembly that Raul Castro, as first secretary of the Communist Party, will lead the decisions about the future of the country,' Diaz-Canel said.
  14. Andrés Oppenheimer (20 April 2018). "Cuba's new 'babysaur' to replace a dinosaur is no cause of celebration—it's shameful!". Miami Herald. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  15. "Cuba's Raúl Castro hands over power to Miguel Díaz-Canel". BBC News. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  16. "Charles and Camilla make history in Cuba". 25 March 2019 – via www.bbc.com.
  17. Cuba’s Reformed Constitution, a Democratic and Participatory Process Havana Times, 23 July 2018
  18. Marc Frank (21 February 2019). "Explainer: What is old and new in Cuba's proposed constitution". Reuters. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  19. Antonio Recio (21 August 2018). "Some Traps in Cuba's New Constitution". The Havana Times.
  20. "Cuba expands rights but rejects radical change in updated constitution". UPI. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  21. Mega, Emiliano Rodríguez (8 March 2019). "Cuba acknowledges climate change threats in its constitution". Nature. 567 (7747): 155. doi:10.1038/d41586-019-00760-3. PMID 30862928.
  22. Russell (23 March 2015). "Díaz-Canel reaffirms Cuba's unconditional support for the African cause". Youthandeldersja.wordpress.com. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  23. "Diaz-Canel: We come to Angola to confirm our friendship, our brotherhood". Youthandeldersja.wordpress.com. 23 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  24. "Cuba´s First Vice-president Attends Inauguration of Namibian President". Cadenagramonte.cu. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  25. "Radio Havana Cuba - Miguel Diaz-Canel Heading Cuba's Delegation to New Angolan President's Inauguration". Radiohc.cu. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  26. Cuban President Diaz Canel awarded Libertadores Order in Venezuela. Radio Artemisa. Published: Thursday, 31 May 2018 10:45
  27. "Quién es Miguel Díaz-Canel, el sucesor de Fidel y Raúl Castro". 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 27 November 2016. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
Political offices
Preceded by
Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado
(until 1976)		 President of Cuba
2019–present		 Incumbent
Preceded by
Raúl Castro		 President of the Council of State of Cuba
2018–2019		 Succeeded by
Esteban Lazo Hernández
(not head of state)
President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba
2018–2019		 Succeeded by
Manuel Marrero
Preceded by
José Ramón Machado Ventura		 First Vice President of the Council of State of Cuba
2013–2018		 Succeeded by
Salvador Valdés Mesa
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