Cuba: Miguel Diaz-Canel officially elected president to succeed Raul Castro

He had held the rope since 2013 to succeed the Castro brothers at the head of the Cuban state. Miguel Díaz-Canel, already first vice-president, was elected this April 19, 2018 as the new president of Cuba.

Portrait of a man who built step by step a professional and political career, first in the shadow of Raùl Castro, before appearing in the light as the designated dolphin.

Discreet and accessible but not very smiling and modest speaker… this is how observers of Cuban politics characterize the new head of state. It is the tip of the iceberg of a new generation of Cuban Communist Party cadres born after the 1959 revolution.

But unlike other figures like Carlos Lage, former Minister of the Economy or Felipe Pérez Roque (both ousted in 2009) and Roberto Robaina, these last two former Cuban diplomats, a time presented as possible candidates for the succession of the two brothers Castro, Miguel Diaz-Canel, he has been able to last.

Born in Santa Clara in the province of Villa Clara, in the centre of the country, on April 20, 1960, of a mother as teacher and a civil servant father, Miguel Díaz-Canel is a trained electrical engineer. A flawless school career, from a student to a career in teaching university and then Minister of Higher Education in 2009.

A political course also without fault since it climbs one by one all the marches of the Union of the communist youths until the positions strategic of first secretaries of the party at first in his province of Santa Clara (from 1994 to 2003), then in the more eastern Holguín (2003-2009) where he is responsible for restoring order.