BOGOTA, Colombia (AA): Miguel Diaz-Canel was elected Wednesday by assembly lawmakers to be Cuba’s president for another five years.
Newly-elected lawmakers began the morning session with the presence of former president and revolutionary leader Raul Castro. The meeting ended with the election of the sole candidate, Diaz-Canel.
He received 459 of 460 votes, while Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa was re-elected with 439 votes.
The elections for president are not held directly. Lawmakers in the National Assembly choose the head of the country from among their members — a system that dates to 1976, under the late iconic leader Fidel Castro.
For many, the arrival of Diaz Canel was supposed to mean change on the island but it represented the continuity of a one-party system and the predominance of a planned economy dominated by state-run enterprises.
That is why the island has seen its biggest anti-government protests since the Cuban revolution. On July 11, 2021, thousands of Cubans, angry about blackouts, took to the streets demanding the improvement of living conditions.
Diaz-Canel, a 62-year-old electrical engineer, replaced Raul Castro as president in 2013 and as leader of the Cuban Communist Party in 2018.
He has led the country amid its worst economic crisis in decades, with shortages of food, medicine and fuel due to the tightening of US sanctions and the devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
