But since rising to national prominence, he has seemed to strike a distant and difficult-to-read figure. The makeup of the new Politburo that will guide Cuba through the next years was also announced Monday. Its members face huge challenges as the state struggles with the coronavirus, United States sanctions, crumbling infrastructure and embedded bureaucracy. He was sanctioned by the US in September He has impressed Cubans as personable on Mesa Redonda, the round table that is broadcast to the nation and that has been an important source of news during the coronavirus pandemic.
This corresponds with his insistence that he represents continuity rather than any break with the past. There was a domestic plane crash that killed and a tornado strike in Havana that killed six and injured He faced criticism for not coming across as empathetic as Fidel, an admittedly high benchmark to meet.
And as president, the silver-haired, burly leader often appeared at events holding hands with his wife, who has forged a position of first lady that did not exist before in Cuba and quietly championed the fledgling private sector. Despite such nods to a more open, connected Cuba, Diaz-Canel has made "We are Continuity" the mantra of his government, which kicked off its mandate with a tightening of state control over the creative and economic sectors.
Also he has reiterated the Communist party's dismissal of dissidents as a tiny U. His presidency coincided with former U. President Donald Trump's move to tighten the decades-old trade embargo on the island. It was not until this year that his government forcefully resumed market-style reforms to the centrally planned economy launched by Castro a decade ago, pressured by a liquidity crisis that has spawned widespread shortages.
Those reforms have included tentative measures to expand the private sector and a painful monetary overhaul reducing imports, increasing exports and reducing subsidies to state enterprises. The leader who grew up in a modest home in the central province of Villa Clara has cultivated the image of the hard-working everyman. In the s, following the collapse of Cuba's former benefactor the Soviet Union, he was known to cycle to work wearing shorts instead of commuting by Soviet-made Lada like other party leaders.
He spent his first year as president - before the pandemic hit - traveling to get a better insight into Cubans' lives in visits broadcast on state television, contrasting with the low profile of his camera-shy predecessor.
Diaz-Canel, 60, who was party chief in two provinces before joining the national government in , had already succeeded Castro, 89, as president in , 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 under the banner of "Unity and Continuity".
He will always be present," Diaz-Canel told hundreds of delegates in his first speech as party chief, his dark suit and red tie contrasting with Castro's military fatigues. Castro would also continue to dispense guidance and "alerts in the face of any error or deficiency," he said. The reshuffle of the political bureau, the party's highest decision-making body in between sessions of the broader central committee, includes the appointment of Brigadier-General Luis Alberto Rodriguez Lopez-Calleja, head of the armed forces' enterprises which control swathes of the economy.
Some Havana residents applauded the generational handover saying Diaz-Canel was more in tune with the times. Others were sceptical it would make much of a difference. Diaz-Canel has emphasized continuity since becoming president and is not expected to move Cuba away from its one-party socialist system, although he will be under pressure to undertake economic reforms.
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