Recently, the country of Cuba sees Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, Raúl Castro's handpicked successor, take the presidency. After Cuba and the Obama administration agreed to restore diplomatic relations freed up decades of stagnation and allowed interaction between the two countries to flow free. Díaz-Canel has been a bit of a mystery for onlookers in and out of Cuba. While being born after the revolution, Díaz-Canel slowly and steadily rose through the ranks of the bureaucracy through his strong belief in and loyalty to communism and the revolution. For most, he holds a stubborn duality in his views. On one hand, this fierce advocation of the socialist cause unaccepting of critics and willing to shut down their ideas; he has allegedly "led a campaign to stifle students who read and discussed literature that was not approved by the Communist Party", and was leaked in a video to verbally attack the U.S. claiming that Cuba "had no responsibility to meet its demands under the reconciliation brokered by President Barack Obama", before moving on to criticize a website he considered "subversive". However, he has also demonstrated a more liberal, approachable and friendly, modern side. He has been described as a "good listener", and has proved himself to be a strong ally of one of the country's only gay clubs. Díaz-Canel is reported to mix well with the intellectuals, artists, and youth, among whom he is well-liked and praised. He also biked to and from work instead of taking a government vehicle, although he was always trailed by personal security in vehicles. Moreover, he has pushed for internet access in Cuba to connect the country to the rest of the world. The National Assembly voted him into presidency unanimously on Thursday, welcoming him with a standing ovation.
In spite of Díaz-Canel's rigidity in his communist support, I believe Díaz-Canel to be an appropriate candidate for presidency, based on this article's descriptions of him. He's very open-minded and listens to people's concerns, which I consider to be essential qualities of a leader. He may be uncompromising when it comes to the traditionalist socialism ideas of his predecessors, but everyone has a belief they support fully and refuse to compromise on. If he is open to change and receptive to those he interacts with, I believe he will be a decent leader. What are your thoughts on Mr. Díaz-Canel and his firm standing for his predecessors' communist ideals? Do you believe Díaz-Canel has the qualities of a leader? Does he have the abilities to take on the many responsibilities of presidency of Cuba at this time, including reigniting the economy and accommodating the population's impatience with the country's change of pace?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/world/americas/miguel-diaz-canel-bermudez-cuba.html
3 comments:
Out with the old and in with the new, but the new is almost exactly the same as the old. This is similar to how Medvedev was "officially" in charge of Russia when Putin's terms ran out - Castro is still in charge, but he just gave up the title of "El Presidente." Castro will still set the policies, while Diaz-Canel will just be the face.
Even though Diaz-Canel is not very different from his predecessors, I hope that he has realized how much his country has suffered over the past multiple decades without trade to the US. Let's be realistic. The Cold War is over, and there's no use in dwelling over the past. There won't be another Cuban Missile Crisis, at least not involving Cuba, and I think we need to finally settle things out and actually make the most of our relationship with them. I hope that Diaz-Canel sees this and recognizes that improving Cuba's relationship with the US can revamp their entire economy and bring them back into the global market.
Given Diaz-Canel’s support for communism, it is likely that he will assume a similar political presence in Cuba as his predecessor, Raul Castro, did. However, the relationship between Cuba and the United States is also undeniably improving, ever since the restoration of diplomatic relations in 2015. Although Diaz-Canel appears to have good leadership qualities, as demonstrated in the post, his political actions appear to be more troubling – in particular, his assertion that he will refuse to cooperate with the United States in regards to reconciliation. Thus, while it seems likely that Diaz-Canel will serve as an adequate leader for Cuba, his role in improving Cuba-United States relations will likely be more suspect.
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