Díaz-Canel: Only a young face in front of a country and a parliament?
The new president of Cuba faces countless uncertainties, but no less than those that Adolfo Suárez had to manage since 1976, while he elaborated the Law for Political Reform with Torcuato Fernández-Miranda. The challenges of Diaz-Canel are enormous: economy in bankruptcy, monetary duality and budget cuts. Foreign investment has been slowed down, growth is meager and political changes are still in the waiting room.
In a country that lives in slow motion, what are the real benefits that Diaz-Canel can provide?A meeting of the new heads of state would undoubtedly reinforce the Spanish role in this new political stage.Santiago Carrillo called Suárez an intelligent and clever anticommunist. Diaz-Canel's ability is evident, he only needs to demonstrate his intelligence and lead Cuba towards democracy.
It was born in 1960. The Cuban Revolution had triumphed fifteen months before and the changes began to be implemented at full speed.Fifty-eight years later, and although no Castro presides over the country, control continues in the hands of Raúl Castro, who remains the first Secretary of the Communist Party, the only one in the country, and leading the Armed Forces until 2021.On the other hand, Alejandro Castro, his son, is the one who directs the intelligence services and knows the secrets of all the officials and in 2014 he led the negotiations with the United States.
Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel is not a military man and the military is suspicious of him. It does not dominate the Party, nevertheless it is appreciated by Raul Castro, although it does not belong to the familiar clan. He studied engineering and at the end of the 80s fulfilled his military obligations in Nicaragua. There he was political commissar of the Armed Forces and lived the end of Sandinismo.Once on Cuban soil again, he started a political career in second level positions. He did not make mistakes or make enemies. Never was a threat to anyone and perfectly fulfilled the positions held, as well as the Union of Young Communists, the highest political authority of the provinces Villa Clara and Holguín.
Step by step, and already in Havana, the newly appointed president progressed without pause, although his case moves away from the meteoric rise of other youth leaders raised by Fidel Castro and burned in a short time for his ambition as was the case of the minister of Roberto Robaina.The first summit of Diaz-Canel was in 2003 when Raúl Castro elected him a member of the Political Bureau, the highest organ of the PCC. In 2009 the country went through a deep government crisis that took ahead the vice president and economic brain, Carlos Lage, and the chancellor Felipe Pérez Roque.As a consequence of the purge, Cuba was left without a generational change. Diaz-Canel, however, left fortified as the new Minister of Education. During that time he focused on university reform and a plan to improve teaching facilities throughout the country.Until 2013, where he was named vice president of Cuba.
Since then, he became increasingly visible and his name was among the candidates of the Castro relay complex.Now in power, presiding over one of the countries most coveted historically by the United States, this could be the beginning of a transition or only in the epilogue of fidelismo.When Adolfo Suárez was appointed Spanish president in 1976, all of them asked the same question and that between Suárez and Díaz-Canel certain personal parallels can be established.Both come from a middle class family, away from the centers of power, had a participation in youth organizations, are loyal to the single party and have had a continuous rise in bureaucratic structures.
One and the other developed their careers in secondary and provincial positions, they have been pro-government and well versed in the territorial reality and the bureaucratic machinery. And although Diaz-Canel is not known for his charisma, he is a good speaker and, despite the age difference with which they reached the presidency of the government, 43 years old Spanish, 58 Cuban, they share an aura of youth.Suarez led a small group of politicians of his generation convinced of the need for democracy, it took a lot of effort, but he succeeded. Three years later they had dismantled the Franco regime with the collaboration of the Communist Party.
Achieving this in Cuba can be a chimera. For the absence of a figure like King Juan Carlos, determined to modernize Spain in the shortest possible time. Secondly, because Raúl Castro has not wanted to execute any political opening, not even using Obama's disposition; and because the military structure remains alert, ready to certify revolutionary socialism at the price that is necessary.However, no one has questioned whether the new president tries to really exercise power, what would happen? Would they dismiss him or would he succeed in establishing his own agenda? What would happen in the Greater Antilles if a group of officers opted for it?