Cuban VP Bets on Continuity of the Socialist System
HAVANA TIMES – The Cuban first vice president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said today that continuity of the island’s socialist system will take place in 2018 when a new president is chosen, reports dpa news.
“I do not conceive any ruptures in our country, I believe that first of all there has to be continuity”, said Diaz-Canel after voting today in the local delegate elections.
“There will be presidents in Cuba always defending the Revolution and they will be comrades who who come from the people will choose them,” said Diaz-Canel when asked by the media if he will be the future Cuban president.
The current president, Raul Castro, announced that he will not accept reelection next year and, although there is no official successor, it is foreseeable that the Communist Party organs will select Diaz-Canel to be the president’s replacement.
More than eight million Cubans were eligible to vote today to elect neighborhood representatives. Some of them will also subsequently be members of the municipal councils and then candidates for deputies to the national parliament in elections for which there is no date yet.
The local elections mark the beginning of a process that will culminate in February 2018 with the election of a new National Assembly, which must ratify the new president of Cuba.
“Today we are making a vote for the Revolution, the homeland and socialism,” Diaz-Canel told the media after voting.
According to the Cuban vice president, today’s vote “will send a message to those who want to see us change or impose conditions that this is a people that is not going to break, that long ago defended its sovereignty and independence.”
The process to replace Raul Castro comes at a time when there are strong tensions between Cuba and the United States under Donald Trump.
Castro is expected to remain as the head of the Communist Party, the main source of power and decision-making in the country.
Relations with the United States “do not depend on us, it depends on them, it depends on the attitude they assume,” said the Cuban vice president.
Diaz-Canel affirmed that Trump “has intensified the blockade and has slowed down the advanced path” during the presidency of Barack Obama.
Would love to be at a late night bar with Kennedy and Carlyle- Love reading your posts and comments- Feliz Navidad guys and Havana Times writers and Circles!
My opinion Gerard regarding the relationship between Guevara and Fidel Castro is that Castro was delighted when Guevara wrote to him on April 1 (appropriately All Fool’s Day) 1965 resigning his Cuban citizenship and all Government positions and going off the Congo Brazzaville by April 21 under the alias of ‘Ramon Benitez’. That when in October Guevara wrote to Castro expressing his frustration with the Congolese whose actions Guevara described as “organised chaos”, Castro was alarmed that he might endeavor to return to Cuba and become a rival. So Guevara left Congo on November 21 for Dar-es-Salaam and Prague. Cuban Intelligence then supplied him with finance and false identity papers to enable him to fly
via Montevideo to La Paz in Bolivia as Adolfo Mena Gonzalez a Uruguayan working for the Organization of American States. The beard was gone, and his hair dyed grey. So by providing funding and false identity papers, Castro certainly contributed to the cause of Guevara’s demise.
As I wrote recently in these pages, both Castro and Guevara were motivated by deep hate, but you will have noted that led by Nick, the usual bunch of sycophants attacked my views and sprang to the defense of their heroes.
You are so correct in saying that for those of us who believe in freedom and individuality in the human spirit, support for the oppressors “beggars belief”.
Whilst you two men with obvious differing views/opinions of the late Fidel Castro and possibly Che Guevara discuss the merits of Fidels womanising . I would like to ask MrKennedy Earle Clarke how can he justify that by the end of 1959, a conservative estimate of five hundred Cubans who opposed Fidel’s leftists ways were executed in Havana under the direction of one Che Guevara, in Santiargo de Cuba under Raul Castro , and throughout the island under other appointed executioners .This was only the beginning. By 1963 Fidel’s government had executed yes executed 7,720 souls:2,975 without trials and 4,245 with only mock trials. The number of deaths and disappearances continued each week , each month, and each year. Fidel as well as Che Guavara were two evil and murderous men who simply just had a lust for power and removing anyone who got in their way, and we know just how Che was very popular, so much so that Fidel i believe was part of his downfall and ultimate execution/murder. How anyone can support and idolise either of these two gangsters/murderers beggars belief. And still the Cuban people are being surpressed and denied the right to a free vote!
Musical chairs. At least this way they can claim a “result.”
I have been mulling in my mind how to describe Diaz-Canel when he becomes President, but with Raul retaining being Secretary General of the Communist Party of Cuba and Head of the military.
‘Sub-Dictator’?
‘Party Side-kick’?
‘Follow My Leader’?
‘Paid Party Intern”?
Quack. Quack. quack.
The “whorehouse” is an excellent metaphor for the Castro dictatorship’s export of professional services, particularly doctors. Fidel in this regard would be the pimp and the doctors-for-hire as the prostitutes. Castro kept 80% and the doctors 20%. Jus’ saying…..
I’m not so certain about the hair larrybudwiser. It is evident that Trump(f) spends a lot of money on blow-waves and hair dye. Certainly Fidel had more hair, I wonder if any of the multitude of prisons in Cuba are built on former golf courses? Fidel had so many dug up, but it is amusing to consider that his playboy son “Tony” is Cuba’s top golfer. That is when he is not loafing around the Mediterranean.
I’m sorry Carlyle, normally I’d agree with you but Fidel had nicer hair and Trump didn’t operate prisons-couldn’t fit golf courses.
How can someone do “so much to educate his people from ignoranse (sic)” without freedom of speech, press, thought, travel, choice (e.g., government)…?
Expect more of the same? For the last 60 years the people of Cuba have been subjected to extreme poverty in certain areas or possibly not extreme poverty but certainly hardly having enough to get by on. Open up the country to the Cuban people, hold free elections and let the people decide who they wish to govern them, because if as the present government must obviously believe that the Cuban people are right behind them, then if this is true then surely the Cuban people would/will re-elect them to power and make/continue to make decisions on their behalf?
Or are the present rulers scared of what the people might actually want? Change! Change! Change! and even more Change! This will never happen though, will it?
As one raised under the Castro regime, Diaz-Canel knows nothing else and that is obvious. He is a true product of the communist system. He also seeks power!
I don’t mind disagreement which is inevitable when discussing politics. But as regards CErmle, he contributes naught but tries with inept one-liners to negate the opinions of others. As you well know Kennedy Earle Clarke, I despise communism and as you support it, we are bound to disagree. But you will have noted, I give my reasons, CErmle knows nothing of reason. Like a lost sheep he merely bleats.
I am not your brother!
That Circles is why I am not going to respond to this Kennedy Earle Clarke rant. What is sticking in his thraw is the factual evidence that Fidel Castro and Donald Trump have marked similarities. The response from Kennedy Earle Clarke is bilge.
Kennedy, as you continue to avoid the topics of the posts… this time you really went off the deep end.
Brother Carlyle, You accuse broth CErmile of besmearching you with his comments, but you do the same thing to anyone who does not agree with your statements. You criticize other’s comments and it is one-sidedly fair for you to do so. What you give out, you must be able to take. Hard punches are compensated with hard punches. If you cannot take a hard punch, just dance around and jab!!
Where can I, who was brought up under the poorest conditions imaginable,enjoy retreat? I am not rich by any standards, but I do share the little that I have with the less fortunate in my country. Is this the only way a person can be considered a real person by having a retreat? I keep repeating that I am working class and always will be. Isn’t it more manly to father four children by a woman than to be gay? Have you ever womanized in your life. Is it out of envy and jealousy why you keep harping on the subject? In the Bible it is told that King David was a womanizer, yet GOD said that David was a man after HIS own Heart. It is not the womanizing, it is the METTLE of the man. The PRINCIPLES, The INTEGRITY, The CHARISMA, The CONFIDENCE the man EXUDES, are attributes which magnetize women to such men! Are you in possession of any of these attributes Brother Carlyle?.
I see that you are copying Donald Trump’s line CErmle. i guess you are an admirer.
Go crawl back under your log CErmle.
Because I made a valid comparison between Fidel Castro and Donald Trump which included their womanizing, you endeavor to smear me. The reality for communists and fellow travelers like yourself, is that when provided with facts which you don’t like because they do not fit in with your warped opinions, you have to endeavour to distract by making inane useless comments – the only area where you appear to have any talent being unable to make contributions, but only to criticize others. It reflects a childish inadequate mind.
I requested, in a very cordial way, of engaging in straightforward dialogue. You are confirming my initial suspicions that there are really no intellectual capabilities for you to do so. However, if you just want to provoke me, I think you understand where that is going to lead to. Still trying to be “nice.”
Nice try, but nobody is with you on this one Joseph.
That’s a fake news come-back. You can do better than that.
Would those who know you also testify that you have never womanized? I ask with respect, since you seem to delight in accusing others of this very thing.
True. True. True.
That privilege Kennedy Earle Clarke of full-time propaganda is in the hands of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of Cuba. So if you wish to see the garbage they produce, just visit a Cuban school and see it plastered on all the walls along with graffiti. In Cuba, only regime propaganda is permitted.
Haven’t seen his will Ken. RAFIN SA coughed up $706 million for the shares purchased from Italy.
As you probably haven’t spent more than a couple of weeks on a package tour to Cuba CErmle, you would be unlikely to meet anybody of significance. if you had experience of living in Cuban homes, you would also know of the deep longing for release from the repression of “Socialismo”.
Just re-read what I wrote Kennedy Earle Clarke. I wrote as evidence of womanizing that Fidel Castro fathered four children by four different women in ONE YEAR! In total he fathered 12 children by 7 women. In addition, there was his prolonged affair with Ceiia Sanchez, he didn’t marry Dalia Soto de Valle who had borne him five sons, until Sanchez died in 1980.
Your claims about being somehow different are irrelevant and today there are tens of thousands sleeping on the floor in Cuba – most homes have at most two bedrooms shared by up to four generations. many are wooden shacks. I have never either lusted after power and control, or had real wealth. Those who know me, will laugh at your assumptions about me. So Kennedy Earle Clarke, be honest and tell us all how large is your island retreat?
Feel free to enlighten me. I welcome your thoughts. But please, try to write something substantive.
I never met any of the types ;you are describing and asking about. The commitment to a socialist future is almost universal.
Such ignorance. I can’t believe you are that uninformed. You must be joking.
Are you refuting Carlyle? If so, where is the substantiation?
Of course, with lack of a access to free press, information and facts, one can only expect parroting of The Regime’s one-liners.
I believe you are confusing Fidel’s intent with megalomania.
Carlyle’s comparison is very much on point. Trump supporters (of which I am very much not one) could state that he forfeited a lucrative career in order to “make America great again.”
It’s all about power and control. Damn the consequences.
Fought for “interest(s) of oppressed” Cubans? Look where that has gotten you.
You are right that Fidel didn’t operate a whorehouse; he was the Whore.
Brother Ken, you and I can laugh at the comedy Supplied by brother Carlyle the modern day Goebbels of Adolf Hitler. When certain person want to tarnish the worthwhile contribution you have made to the Planet, they concoct all kind of Garbage propaganda
Brother Carlyle, your reply is pathetic. There could never be any similarity between Fidel and Trump and you know it. If Fidel’ Father fathered four children by four different women, can that be regarded in the same vein as operating a whore house? Come on brother Carlyle, I am deeply disappointed in you. I was born into poverty, I slept on the floor and I am from poor beginnings; this is why I can easily identify with the 1959 Triumphant Revolution and where the struggling masses are waging war for their total liberation from the likes of you and Donald. I am working class and always will remain and will always express solidarity with them!! Fidel was a promising Lawyer who could have amassed millions working for the oligarchs, but be abandoned his practice to fight in the interest of his oppressed brothers and sisters– a task or a commitment you are totally incapable and unworthy to perform, because REAL LEADERS were born, not made, not manufactured! Have a most wonderful Day brother Carlyle
I am most intrigued by the reference to shares in ETESCA. If Fidel Castro owned part of RAFIN SA and through them shares of ETESCA, who owns them now? Were they left to a family member?
I think Ken that the answer is that following the example of Fidel Castro there are those who imagine becoming like him, very rich. They will undoubtedly wish to retain the current system. Diaz-Canel who as you can see from the photograph has a sense of humour similar to that of Raul Castro, will as dictator undoubtedly have a very comfortable future well removed from the abject poverty of the average Cuban without remittances.
There will be the regime supporters who will howl with outrage at my comment, but let them remember the multi-residence compound at Siboney with swimming pool and tennis court – Google Earth 5 ta D Havana – the two island retreat of Cayo Piedra, the yacht Aquarama II and his share of the 27% holding by RAFIN SA in ETECSA, the monopoly telecommunications system of Cuba.
I was interested in the headline. Some years ago I read an article (can’t remember where) in which the writer suggested that there are people in the bureaucracy in Cuba who are well aware of what happened in the former Soviet Union and who can imagine themselves among those who become very rich.
What do your readers think? Are there people who think this way? And how many remain committed to a socialist future for Cuba?
Have you noticed Kennedy Earle Clarke whilst ruminating in your island retreat, the marked similarities between Fidel Castro and Donald Trump(f)? Both outstandingly narcisstic, both fond of giving prolonged irrelevant rants, both opposed to the media, both womanisers (although Fidel was far ahead of Trump) and both seeking total power and control. Don’t decry the whore houses, remember that Trump(f)’s grandfather operated one and Fidel fathered four children by four different women in one year. Fidel could probably have run a profitable gambling house (casino), Trump(f) tried and failed,.
Change to what? To the days of Batista when Cuba was regarded as the WHORE HOUSE of the world? Revert to GANGSTERISM and Gambling Houses? Revert to the days when Cuba was run from the White House instead of Havana?