MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Miguel Díaz-Canel becomes the new president of Cuba: there is no chance of a Trojan horse

The parliament ratified the former vice president with 99.83% of the votes. HO/AFP

Miguel Díaz-Canel has been ratified on Thursday by the National Assembly of Cuba as the new president of the Council of State, the country's first leader in practice. The parliament ratified the former vice president with 99.83% of the votes of the deputies present. Diaz-Canel replaces the General Raúl Castro, who retires from power after 12 years at the head of the country. However, the new president clarified that Raúl Castro “will lead the most important decisions” for the country.

For the first time since the Cuban Revolution triumphed 59 years ago, a Castro does not occupy the presidential post in a so-called “postrevolutionary era” in which, according to Díaz-Canel, there is an “international situation characterized by the growing threat to democracy”. peace and security.“ Emphasizing that ”in this context I ratify that Cuban foreign policy will remain unchanged and we reiterate that no one will achieve the purpose of weakening the Revolution or bending the Cuban people, because Cuba does not make concessions against its sovereignty and independence,“ he added.

After the ratification of Miguel Díaz-Canel and the transfer of power, the historic parliamentary session was closed by his mentor, Raúl Castro, in Havana with a speech in which he was fully satisfied putting the presidency in the hands of Díaz-Canel, with whom exchanged visible signs of affection. The general affirmed that he trusts in the ”absolute success“ of his successor, has highlighted his ”virtues, experience and dedication to work“ and has stressed that ”it is not improvised“ and that ”his rise has not been the result of chance nor of haste “.

In the same way, Raúl Castro continued his speech with a memorandum of the Cuban revolution and the mandates of him and his brother, Fidel Castro. A ”colossal work,“ according to Diaz-Canel when mentioning the mandate of Raúl, his mentor.

Raúl Castro ratified the Caribbean country's position regarding its foreign policies, corroborating support for the Latin American Bolivarian project. ”We ratify the support for Venezuela and its civic-military union, led by Nicolás Maduro,“ Castro told the plenary. Rejecting ”interventionist and imperial plans commanded by the United States.“

Castro will remain the first secretary of the Communist Party until 2021 or sooner if the general can not complete the mandate, this party head has been the most relevant element of his speech in internal key. It means that the political power and the power of the State would unite irremediably in a single figure, as happened with Fidel and Raúl, which would change the internal panorama since it would cease to exist a figure of cohesion -as a Castro is- and could open differences within the elite of Cuban power between reformers and conservatives. Led the first by Raúl with a policy of economic openness and rapprochement with the United States and the second with the socialist doctrine and constant struggle with the neighbor of the north enunciated for decades by Fidel.

Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, 57, assured that there will be no attempt at a political transition in this change of president. ”We will be faithful to the legacy of Fidel Castro, historical leader of the Revolution, and also to the example, value and teachings of Raúl Castro, current leader of the revolutionary process,“ denying the possibility of any Trojan horse in this process.

”I do not come to promise anything, as the revolution never did in all these years. I come to fulfill the program that we have imposed, with the guidelines of Socialism and the Revolution,” said the new president.