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Dublin: 11 °C Monday 20 May, 2013

No surprises: Raul Castro re-elected president of Cuba

This is the second five year term for the 81-year-old Raul Castro who officially took over from his brother Fidel in 2008.

Raul Castro takes questions from journalists on Friday
Raul Castro takes questions from journalists on Friday
Image: AP Photo/Franklin Reyes

RAUL CASTRO HAS been re-elected as Cuba’s president, officially to his last five-year term, with a new regime number two: Council of State Vice President Miguel Diaz-Canel, official state media said.

“The National Assembly of People’s Power today approved, in this capital, Army General Raul Castro Ruz as president of the Council of State, and elected Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, as its first vice president,” according to the AIN news agency on Sunday.

Diaz-Canel, who turns 53 in April, is an electrical engineer by training, a former education minister and the president’s de facto political heir seeking to project into the future the Americas’ only one-party Communist regime.

Raul Castro, now 81, became interim president when his brother, revolution icon Fidel, took ill in 2006. He then formally became president in 2008.

The National Assembly, whose members ran for office in October unopposed, also chose Esteban Lazo, 69, as their new speaker.

- © AFP, 2013

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Comments (4 Comments)

  • Yes. Elected by rubber stamp. Why not let the people of Cuba have a choice candidates from different political parties. If the communist party of Cuba truly believe that they have the support of the general population why not put it to the test.

    Reply
  • Brian 25/02/13 #

    ‘The National Assembly of People’s Power’…yeah right. Maybe the Castro brothers’ good friend Hugo Chavez could help steer them towards democracy seeing as he is such a champion of the ordinary man.

    Reply
  • SnappyJ 25/02/13 #

    Is what Cuba has any worse than the ‘democracy’ available in the US where corporations are now free to basically buy elections thanks to the citizens united ruling and they have a President who doesn’t believe in any transparency in government?

    Reply
  • Vive la Revolution!

    Reply

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