Miguel Díaz-Canel Explained

Honorific Prefix:His Excellency
Miguel Díaz-Canel
Office:8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
1Namedata:Salvador Valdés Mesa
Term Start:19 April 2021
Predecessor:Raúl Castro
Office1:17th President of Cuba
Primeminister1:Manuel Marrero Cruz
Vicepresident1:Salvador Valdés Mesa
Term Start1:10 October 2019
Predecessor1:Himself (as President of the Council of State)
Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado (as President, 1976)
Office2:President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba
1Namedata2:Salvador Valdés Mesa
Term Start2:19 April 2018
Term End2:10 October 2019
Predecessor2:Raúl Castro
Successor2:Himself (as President)
Manuel Marrero Cruz (as Prime Minister)
Office3:19th Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers
President3:Raúl Castro
Term Start3:24 February 2013
Term End3:19 April 2018
Predecessor3:José Ramón Machado Ventura
Successor3:Salvador Valdés Mesa
Office4:Minister of Education
President4:Raúl Castro
Term Start4:8 May 2009
Term End4:21 March 2012
Predecessor4:Juan Vela Valdés
Successor4:Rodoldo Alarcón Ortíz
Birth Date:1960 4, df=yes
Birth Place:Placetas, Villa Clara Province, Cuba
Party:Communist Party of Cuba
Children:2
Alma Mater:University of Las Villas
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Engineer
Signature:Miguel Díaz-Canel signature.svg

Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez (pronounced as /es-419/; born 20 April 1960) is a Cuban politician and engineer. He has served as the 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba since 2021 and as the 17th President of Cuba since 2019. In his capacity as First Secretary he is the most powerful person in the Cuban government.

Díaz-Canel succeeded the brothers Fidel and Raúl Castro, becoming Cuba's first non-Castro leader since its revolution and its first non-Castro head of state since 1976. He has been a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party since 2003. He served as Minister of Higher Education from 2009 until 2012, when he was promoted to Vice President of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister). A year later, in 2013, he was elected as First Vice President of the Council of State. He succeeded Raúl Castro as the President of the Council of State in 2018; in December 2019 this office evolved into President of the Republic. On 19 April 2021, Díaz-Canel assumed the reins of the Communist Party when he replaced Raúl Castro as First Secretary.

Early life

Díaz-Canel was born on 20 April 1960 in Placetas, Villa Clara, to Aída Bermúdez, a schoolteacher, and Miguel Limón, a mechanical plant worker in Santa Clara, Cuba.[1] [2] He is of direct paternal Spanish-Asturian descent; his great-grandfather Ramon Diaz-Canel left Castropol, Asturias, Spain for Havana in the late 19th century.[3] [4]

He graduated from Central University of Las Villas in 1982 as an electronics engineer and thereupon joined the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces.[5] Beginning in April 1985, he taught engineering at his alma mater.[6] In 1987, he completed an international mission in Nicaragua as First Secretary of the Young Communist League of Villa Clara.[7]

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 top position higher than a governor).[5] He gained a reputation for competence in this post, during which time it is reported that he supported LGBT rights at a time when many in the province frowned upon homosexuality.[8] In 2003, he was elected to the same position in Holguín Province.[5] [9] In the same year, he was co-opted as a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba.[10]

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).[5] [11] In 2013 he additionally became First Vice President of the Council of State.[5] As First Vice President of the Council of State, Díaz-Canel acted as deputy to the President, Raúl Castro.

Leader of Cuba (2018–present)

In 2018, the 86-year-old Castro stepped down from the position as president of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, 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.[12] [13] On 18 April 2018, Díaz-Canel was selected as the only candidate to succeed Castro as president. He was confirmed by a vote of the National Assembly on 19 April[14] and sworn in on the same day.[15] Policy experts expected that he would pursue cautious reform of his predecessors' communist economic policies, while preserving the country's social structure.[13] 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.[8]

He received a visit from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro just two days after his inauguration. He met with Maduro again in May 2018 in Caracas, during his 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 President of the Republic of Cuba, an office that was recreated that February after a series of constitutional reforms were 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, limited the presidency to two consecutive five-year terms and banned discrimination based on gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.[18] [19] [20] His government also reformed the country's Family Code in 2022, after a referendum was approved, which, among other things, legalised same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption and altruistic surrogacy. These policies have been described as the "most progressive" in Latin America.[21] His administration has suppressed dissent, particularly surrounding the 2021 Cuban protests triggered by the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggested combatting the country's food crisis with pizza, guarapo and lemonade,[22] [23] changed the currency system.[24] During the protests, he said: "The order of combat has been given - into the streets, revolutionaries!"[25] On 19 April 2021, he officially became the First Secretary of the Communist Party following the resignation of Raúl Castro. This made him the leader of Cuba in fact as well as in name. It had been understood that Raúl retained the real power after ceding the presidency to Diaz-Canel in 2018. Diaz-Canel is the first non-Castro to lead the party since the Cuban revolution of 1959. BBC News stated that Díaz-Canel is loyal to the Castros' ideologies.[26]

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Cuban government blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine and backed Russia's right to "self-defense" against NATO expansion, but did not endorse the invasion, saying the conflict should be resolved diplomatically.[27] Díaz-Canel visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, and the two leaders criticized Western sanctions against Cuba and Russia. They also opened a monument to Fidel Castro in one of the Moscow's districts.[28]

On 19 April 2023, Díaz-Canel was re-elected by the National Assembly for a second five-year term as president, along with Salvador Valdés as vice president. Despite the difficult economic conditions facing the country, his re-election was widely expected and received widespread support from the Assembly members, with 97.66% backing Diaz-Canel's proposal and 93.4% supporting Valdés. The president was praised by the Assembly members for his leadership in difficult circumstances and for prioritizing collective work, innovation, and science.[29] [30]

In December 2023, Díaz-Canel condemned the "genocide of Palestinians" in the Gaza Strip and called Israel a "terrorist state".[31] He joined a pro-Palestine demonstration in Havana.[32]

Awards

Personal life

Díaz-Canel has two children from his marriage to his first wife, Marta Villanueva, which ended in divorce. He currently resides with his second wife, Lis Cuesta.[38]

On 23 March 2021, Díaz-Canel obtained a PhD in technical sciences, defending a thesis titled "Government Management System Based on Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development in Cuba."[39]

See also

External links

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Notes and References

  1. News: Díaz-Canel no es un relevo histórico. 10 January 2016. Martinoticias. 25 February 2013. 1 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130301014406/http://www.martinoticias.com/content/article/19844.html. live.
  2. Web site: Who Is Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba's New President?. Ahmed. Azam. Robles. Frances. 19 April 2018. The New York Times. 20 April 2018. 19 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180419231310/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/world/americas/miguel-diaz-canel-bermudez-cuba.html. live.
  3. Web site: El pasado asturiano del nuevo presidente de Cuba . 19 April 2021. 22 July 2024.
  4. Web site: Díaz-Canel, otro presidente de un país americano descendiente de emigrantes. 2018. La voz de Galicia. 22 July 2024.
  5. Damien Cave, Raúl Castro Says His Current Term as President of Cuba Will Be His Last, The New York Times, 24 February 2013
  6. Web site: Cuban president highlights Fidel Castro's thoughts about education. 2021-04-19. www.radiohc.cu. en. 14 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210714173325/https://www.radiohc.cu/en/noticias/nacionales/199245-cuban-president-highlights-fidel-castros-thoughts-about-education. live.
  7. Web site: Al Jazeera Staff. Miguel Diaz-Canel: Cuba's post-Castro president. 2021-04-19. www.aljazeera.com. en. 20 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220820182916/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/4/11/miguel-diaz-canel-cubas-post-castro-president. live.
  8. News: After six decades of Castro rule, Cubans greet end of era with a shrug. Augustin. Ed. 18 April 2018. The Guardian. 19 April 2018. en. 15 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220815101345/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/18/raul-castro-cuba-step-down-leader-miguel-diaz-canel. live.
  9. Web site: En sustitución de Juan Vela es designado Miguel Díaz Canel ministro de Educación Superior. cubaheadlines.com. 24 February 2013. 28 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130228233648/http://www.cubaheadlines.com/es/2009/05/08/17064/en_sustitucion_de_juan_vela_es_designado_miguel_diaz_canel_ministro_de_educacion_superior.html. live.
  10. News: Ryan Villarreal. Sustaining The System: Cuba's New VP Diaz-Canel Marks Ascent Of Younger Generation. International Business Times. 26 February 2013. 26 February 2013. 5 April 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220405045900/https://www.ibtimes.com/sustaining-system-cubas-new-vp-diaz-canel-marks-ascent-younger-generation-1104628. live.
  11. Web site: Nota oficial. 22 March 2012. Diario Granma. 31 March 2019. 27 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210227115655/http://www.granma.cu/granmad/2012/03/22/nacional/artic03.html. live.
  12. Web site: 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.. 23 April 2018. 18 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180718003647/https://amp.france24.com/en/20180419-raul-castro-leadership-cuba-communist-party-2021-diaz-canel. live.
  13. Web site: Cuba's new 'babysaur' to replace a dinosaur is no cause of celebration—it's shameful!. Andrés Oppenheimer. 20 April 2018. Miami Herald. 23 April 2018. 22 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180422053351/http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article209446674.html. live.
  14. News: Associated Press. Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba selects first non-Castro president since Fidel. 19 April 2018. The Guardian. 19 April 2018. en. 5 January 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230105161716/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/19/miguel-diaz-canel-cuba-selects-first-non-castro-president-in-60-years. live.
  15. Web site: Cuba's Raúl Castro hands over power to Miguel Díaz-Canel. BBC News. 19 April 2018. 19 April 2018. 19 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180419145233/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43823287. live.
  16. Web site: Charles and Camilla make history in Cuba. 25 March 2019. www.bbc.com. 2 April 2019. 2 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190402091019/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47688610. live.
  17. https://www.havanatimes.org/?p=136317 Cuba’s Reformed Constitution, a Democratic and Participatory Process
  18. News: Explainer: What is old and new in Cuba's proposed constitution. Marc Frank. Reuters. 21 February 2019. 24 February 2019. 29 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190729110641/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cuba-constitution-explainer/explainer-what-is-old-and-new-in-cubas-proposed-constitution-idUSKCN1QA273. live.
  19. Web site: Cuba expands rights but rejects radical change in updated constitution. UPI. en. 2 March 2019. 1 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190401054305/https://www.upi.com/Cuba-expands-rights-but-rejects-radical-change-in-updated-constitution/1601551276671/. live.
  20. Mega. Emiliano Rodríguez. 8 March 2019. Cuba acknowledges climate change threats in its constitution. Nature. 567. 7747. 155. EN. 10.1038/d41586-019-00760-3. 30862928. free.
  21. News: Cuba approves same-sex marriage in historic turnabout . en-US . Washington Post . 2022-09-27 . 0190-8286 . 27 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220927002515/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/24/cuba-same-sex-marriage-referendum/ . live .
  22. Web site: 2020-05-26. Miguel Díaz-Canel: "La limonada es la base de todo". Noticias Cubanet. es. 20 November 2022. 20 November 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20221120202916/https://www.cubanet.org/noticias/miguel-diaz-canel-la-limonada-es-la-base-de-todo/amp/. live.
  23. Web site: Pentón . Mario J. . 2020-05-26 . Limonada y guarapo, las nuevas propuestas del gobernante Díaz-Canel para la escasez en Cuba . 2023-12-07 . El Nuevo Herald . 4 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240204153806/https://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america-latina/cuba-es/article242998311.html . live .
  24. Web site: 2021-02-10. Day Zero: how and why Cuba unified its dual currency system LSE Latin America and Caribbean. 2022-02-06. LSE Latin America and Caribbean blog. 7 February 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220207160439/https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/latamcaribbean/2021/02/10/day-zero-how-and-why-cuba-unified-its-dual-currency-system/. live.
  25. Web site: Público. 2021-07-12. El presidente de Cuba: "La orden de combate está dada, a la calle los revolucionarios". 2022-02-06. Público. es. 20 November 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211120122213/https://www.publico.es/internacional/presidente-cuba-orden-combate-dada-calle-revolucionarios.html. live.
  26. Web site: 19 April 2021 . Cuba leadership: Díaz-Canel named Communist Party chief . www.bbc.co.uk . 19 April 2021 . 22 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220922141146/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-56802129 . live .
  27. Web site: Cuba blames U.S. for the crisis in Ukraine, but stops short of endorsing Putin's invasion . . Nora . Gámez Torres . 23 February 2022 . 25 February 2022 . 25 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220225164140/https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article258694343.html . live.
  28. Web site: Russian, Cuban presidents meet in Moscow, decry 'unfair' sanctions . 27 March 2023 . 27 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230327021752/https://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/russian-cuban-presidents-meet-in-moscow-decry-unfair-sanctions/2745382 . live .
  29. Web site: 2023-04-19 . Reelecto Miguel Díaz-Canel presidente de la República de Cuba - Prensa Latina . 2023-04-19 . es . 19 April 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230419212603/https://www.prensa-latina.cu/2023/04/19/electo-miguel-diaz-canel-presidente-de-la-republica-de-cuba . live .
  30. Web site: Oppmann . Patrick . 2023-04-19 . Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel wins a second term . 2023-04-19 . CNN . en . 4 February 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240204153756/https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/19/americas/cuba-relection-president-intl/index.html . live .
  31. News: Cuba condemns 'genocide' committed by 'terrorist state of Israel' . . 27 December 2023.
  32. Web site: Thousands led by Cuba's president march in Havana in solidarity with Palestinian people . Associated Press . November 24, 2023 .
  33. News: Cuba. Condecoran a Raúl Castro y Díaz-Canel con la orden Agostinho Neto . Cuba. Raúl Castro and Díaz-Canel are awarded the Agostinho Neto order . Resúmen Latinoamericano . 2 July 2019 . Spanish . 30 May 2021 . 4 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220604055225/https://www.resumenlatinoamericano.org/2019/07/02/cuba-condecoran-a-raul-castro-y-diaz-canel-con-la-orden-agostinho-neto-fotos/ . live .
  34. http://www.artemisaradioweb.icrt.cu/sitenglish/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8730:cuban-president-conferred-venezuela-s-highest-distinction&catid=11:artemisa&Itemid=181&lang=en Cuban President Diaz Canel awarded Libertadores Order in Venezuela.
  35. News: Vietnam condecora a Miguel Díaz-Canel con la Orden de Ho Chi Minh . Vietnam honors Miguel Díaz-Canel with the Order of Ho Chi Minh . Cuba Debate . 9 November 2018 . Spanish . 30 May 2021 . 3 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210603072003/http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2018/11/09/vietnam-condecora-a-diaz-canel-con-la-orden-de-ho-chi-minh/ . live .
  36. Web site: 2023-02-12 . Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez on Twitter: "Un altísimo honor recibir la Orden Mexicana del Águila Azteca, condecoración que simboliza el origen, la identidad y la fortaleza de esta entrañable nación. La recibo con humildad e infinito agradecimiento, consciente de que el auténtico merecedor es el heroico pueblo cubano.. 2023-02-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230212045331/https://twitter.com/diazcanelb/status/1624508924513734658 . 2023-02-12 .
  37. Web site: Fruitful meeting between presidents of Cuba and Portugal. Presna Latina. 2023-07-14. 2023-11-01. 1 November 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20231101083645/https://www.plenglish.com/news/2023/07/14/fruitful-meeting-between-presidents-of-cuba-and-portugal/. live.
  38. Web site: Quién es Miguel Díaz-Canel, el sucesor de Fidel y Raúl Castro. 12 June 2015. 25 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20161127214952/http://www.diariopopular.com.ar/notas/147716-quien-es-miguel-diaz-canel-el-sucesor-fidel-y-raul-castro. 27 November 2016. dead.
  39. Web site: "Totalmente espectacular" tesis de Díaz- Canel | Cuba Noticias 360. 23 March 2021. 3 June 2021. 20 August 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220820043933/https://www.cubanoticias360.com/califican-de-totalmente-espectacular-tesis-doctoral-del-presidente-cubano-miguel-diaz-canel/. live.

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