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Miguel Díaz-Canel

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Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez[a] (Latin American Spanish: [miˈɣel ˈdi.as kaˈnel]; 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.

Excelentísimo Señor
Miguel Díaz-Canel
Díaz-Canel in 2023
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
Incumbent
Assumed office
19 April 2021
Second SecretarySalvador Valdés Mesa
Preceded byRaúl Castro
17th President of Cuba
Incumbent
Assumed office
10 October 2018
Prime MinisterManuel Marrero Cruz
Vice PresidentSalvador Valdés Mesa
Preceded byHimself (as President of the Council of State)
Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado (as President, 1976)
President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba
In office
19 April 2018 – 10 October 2019
First Vice PresidentSalvador Valdés Mesa
Preceded byRaúl Castro
Succeeded byManuel Marrero Cruz (as Prime Minister)
19th Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers
In office
24 February 2013 – 19 April 2018
PresidentRaúl Castro
Preceded byJosé Ramón Machado Ventura
Succeeded bySalvador Valdés Mesa
Minister of Education
In office
8 May 2009 – 21 March 2012
PresidentRaúl Castro
Preceded byJuan Vela Valdés
Succeeded byRodoldo Alarcón Ortíz
Personal details
Born (1960-04-20) 20 April 1960 (age 64)
Placetas, Cuba
Political partyCommunist Party of Cuba
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2009)​
Children2
Alma materUniversity of Las Villas
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionEngineer
Signature

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, ushering in a new reign.

Early life

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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

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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][8] He gained a reputation for competence in this post,[8] during which time it is reported that he supported 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.[5][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).[5][12] 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)

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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.[13] 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.[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 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.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17][18][19] 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.[20]

 
Díaz-Canel with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, 22 November 2022

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,[21][22] and changed the currency system.[23] During the protests, he said: "The order of combat has been given - into the streets, revolutionaries!"[24]

 
Díaz-Canel with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Paris, France, 22 June 2023

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. BBC News stated that Díaz-Canel is loyal to the Castros' ideologies.[25]

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.[26] 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.[27]

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.[28][29]

In December 2023, Díaz-Canel condemned the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called Israel a terrorist state.[30] He joined a pro-Palestine demonstration in Havana.[31] On 15 October 2024, he led a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Havana.[32]

Awards

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Personal life

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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 Peraza.[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

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Notes

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  1. ^ In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Díaz–Canel and the second or maternal family name is Bermúdez.

References

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  1. ^ "Díaz-Canel no es un relevo histórico". Martinoticias. 25 February 2013. Archived from the original on 1 March 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
  2. ^ Ahmed, Azam; Robles, Frances (19 April 2018). "Who Is Miguel Díaz-Canel, Cuba's New President?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  3. ^ "El pasado asturiano del nuevo presidente de Cuba". 19 April 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Díaz-Canel, otro presidente de un país americano descendiente de emigrantes". La voz de Galicia. 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e Damien Cave, Raúl Castro Says His Current Term as President of Cuba Will Be His Last Archived 16 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, 24 February 2013
  6. ^ "Cuban president highlights Fidel Castro's thoughts about education". www.radiohc.cu. Archived from the original on 14 July 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  7. ^ Al Jazeera Staff. "Miguel Diaz-Canel: Cuba's post-Castro president". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d "Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba selects first non-Castro president since Fidel". The Guardian. Associated Press. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 5 January 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  9. ^ a b Augustin, Ed (18 April 2018). "After six decades of Castro rule, Cubans greet end of era with a shrug". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  10. ^ "En sustitución de Juan Vela es designado Miguel Díaz Canel ministro de Educación Superior". cubaheadlines.com. Archived from the original on 28 February 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  11. ^ Ryan Villarreal (26 February 2013). "Sustaining The System: Cuba's New VP Diaz-Canel Marks Ascent Of Younger Generation". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
  12. ^ "Nota oficial". Diario Granma. 22 March 2012. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Raul Castro to lead Cuba's Communist Party until 2021". FRANCE 24. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 23 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. ^ "Cuba's Raúl Castro hands over power to Miguel Díaz-Canel". BBC News. 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  15. ^ "Charles and Camilla make history in Cuba". www.bbc.com. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  16. ^ Cuba’s Reformed Constitution, a Democratic and Participatory Process Archived 9 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine Havana Times, 23 July 2018
  17. ^ Marc Frank (21 February 2019). "Explainer: What is old and new in Cuba's proposed constitution". Reuters. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  18. ^ "Cuba expands rights but rejects radical change in updated constitution". UPI. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "Cuba approves same-sex marriage in historic turnabout". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  21. ^ "Miguel Díaz-Canel: "La limonada es la base de todo"" (in Spanish). Noticias Cubanet. 26 May 2020. Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  22. ^ Pentón, Mario J. (26 May 2020). "Limonada y guarapo, las nuevas propuestas del gobernante Díaz-Canel para la escasez en Cuba". El Nuevo Herald. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  23. ^ "Day Zero: how and why Cuba unified its dual currency system | LSE Latin America and Caribbean". LSE Latin America and Caribbean blog. 10 February 2021. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  24. ^ Público (12 July 2021). "El presidente de Cuba: "La orden de combate está dada, a la calle los revolucionarios"". Público (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 20 November 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  25. ^ "Cuba leadership: Díaz-Canel named Communist Party chief". www.bbc.co.uk. 19 April 2021. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  26. ^ Gámez Torres, Nora (23 February 2022). "Cuba blames U.S. for the crisis in Ukraine, but stops short of endorsing Putin's invasion". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  27. ^ "Russian, Cuban presidents meet in Moscow, decry 'unfair' sanctions". Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Reelecto Miguel Díaz-Canel presidente de la República de Cuba - Prensa Latina" (in Spanish). 19 April 2023. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  29. ^ Oppmann, Patrick (19 April 2023). "Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel wins a second term". CNN. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  30. ^ "Cuba condemns 'genocide' committed by 'terrorist state of Israel'". Anadolu Agency. 27 December 2023.
  31. ^ "Thousands led by Cuba's president march in Havana in solidarity with Palestinian people". Associated Press. 24 November 2023.
  32. ^ "Cuban president leads pro-Palestinian march in Havana". France 24. 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  33. ^ "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] (in Spanish). Resúmen Latinoamericano. 2 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  34. ^ Cuban President Diaz Canel awarded Libertadores Order in Venezuela. Archived 17 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine Radio Artemisa. Published: Thursday, 31 May 2018 10:45
  35. ^ "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] (in Spanish). Cuba Debate. 9 November 2018. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  36. ^ "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". 12 February 2023. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  37. ^ "Fruitful meeting between presidents of Cuba and Portugal". Presna Latina. 14 July 2023. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
  38. ^ "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.
  39. ^ ""Totalmente espectacular" tesis de Díaz- Canel | Cuba Noticias 360". 23 March 2021. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
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Party political offices
Preceded by 8th First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
2021–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Himself (as President of the Council of State and Ministers)
 17th President of Cuba
2019–present 		Incumbent
Vacant
Title last held by
Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado (1976) 		Incumbent
Preceded by President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba
2018–2019 		Succeeded by
Himself (as President)
Manuel Marrero Cruz (as Prime Minister)
Preceded by 19th Vice President of the Council of State and Ministers of Cuba
2013–2018 		Succeeded by
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