Raul Castro retires as Cuba’s Communist leader, but will still have say in strategy

Cuba turned the page on the Castro era on April 19 with the ruling Communist Party electing President Miguel Diaz-Canel to replace Raul Castro as party chief, although Diaz-Canel said he would continue to consult his predecessor on strategic decisions. The succession marks the end of six decades of rule by brothers Fidel and Raul Castro, who led a 1959 revolution in the Caribbean island nation of 11 million, installing a Communist-run country on the doorstep of the United States. The mantle now passes to a younger generation that worked its way up the party ranks rather than forging itself through guerrilla warfare. Diaz-Canel, 60, who was party chief in two provinces before joining the national government in 2009, had already succeeded Castro, 89, as president in 2018, and been widely tipped to also take the role of first party secretary — the most powerful position in the country. His election came as part of a broader reshuffle of the party’s political bureau at a four-day congress held largely behind closed doors. (Reuters) This article was provided by The Japan Times Alpha.