Can Cuba’s New President Complete Castro’s Revolution?
Díaz-Canel has to force Raúl Castro’s economic reforms through a resistant bureaucracy—something even Raúl had trouble doing.
Updated | When Miguel Díaz-Canel formally accepted the presidency of Cuba in April, he became the first non-Castro to run the country since Fidel’s revolution swept the island in 1959.
In his inaugural address, the new president pledged to continue Raúl Castro’s vision, most notably his unfinished “updating” of the economy, a Cuban form of market socialism launched in 2011 to replace the former Soviet-style central planning system. If he is successful, his reforms would produce the most profound transformation since Fidel took power six decades ago and lay the groundwork for what his brother Raúl called “prosperous and sustainable socialism.”
But, in taking the helm of government, Díaz-Canel faces strong political headwinds. He has
