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Cuba has a new president, and for the first time in over 40 years, his last name is not Castro.

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by Nicole Acevedo and Carmen Sesin,

Cuba has a new president, and for the first time in over 40 years, his last name is not Castro.

 Miguel Díaz-Canel officially became president on Thursday morning after Raúl Castro stepped down and Díaz-Canel was confirmed by the National Assembly.

Although Castro will remain head of the Communist Party, the most powerful governing body on the island, his departure from the presidency represents a symbolic shift in leadership. Díaz-Canel, who has served as Cuba’s first vice president since 2013, turns 58 on Friday.

The transition is an effort to guarantee that new leaders can maintain power in the communist-run government. But Díaz-Canel faces challenges ahead, primarily economic stagnation and a younger generation’s disenchantment with their limited opportunities.

Before stepping down, Raul Castro, 86, was president for two five-year terms after the late Fidel Castro, his brother, fell ill in 2006 and transferred power to him.

Analysts debate how much power Díaz-Canel can wield as president with Castro still at the helm of the Communist Party.

“I think it’s going to be very tough for him,” said Pedro Freyre, chair of international practice for Akerman LLP. “I don’t know that he can do it.”

Díaz-Canel had long been seen as the overwhelming favorite to replace Castro, after climbing the ranks of the Communist Party.

Cuba: Life without the eternal shadow

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castro-endWaking up without Fidel: Around 12 million Cubans have just spent their first day without the Máximo Líder.

The morning after the news of Fidel Castro’s death, Cuba’s best-known blogger, Yoani Sánchez, reached for her camera. Her photograph depicts a still-sleepy Havana at sunrise. For whole generations of Cubans, it is the first morning without the man who determined every detail of their lives. “A strange lightness lies over the city,” Sánchez remarks.

Cuba without Fidel Castro. Cuba without the Máximo Líder. Something that was always unthinkable has now become reality. Sánchez writes of nervous security personnel and incredulous Cubans who couldn’t believe the news delivered by the head of state, General Raúl Castro, in a televised address to his compatriots.

Sánchez is part of the small section of the Cuban population who dared to publicly defy the leader of the revolution. For this, the online rebel has been threatened, spat on and humiliated by the security forces. Sánchez has paid for her courage with ostracism, official degradation and hatred. Now, her generation hopes that something is finally changing in Cuba. For a few years now, Sánchez has been allowed to publish her blog “14ymedio.com”. It’s primarily popular with Cubans in exile and with foreigners, because Cubans themselves don’t have internet.

Depleted opposition mostly in exile

Little remains of Cuba’s opposition. Oswaldo José Payá, one of the most prominent opposition politicians, died four years ago in a mysterious car accident. To this day the Payas family claims it was an assassination. Many others cracked under the tremendous pressure from Cuba’s domestic intelligence service and decided, after years in jail, to spend their lives in exile. But whether from Miami or Madrid, they have almost no influence over political developments in Cuba. They aren’t present in state media reports, and they can’t reach their compatriots because of the lack of internet.

Even the leaders of the civil rights movement “Ladies in White” were in Miami at this historic juncture. They were taking part in a ceremony to name a street after them – Damas de Blanco Way. Many Cubans in exile celebrated the death of their former tormentor, but in the camp of the depleted opposition there is almost no hope, and no united strategy for a life on the island without Fidel Castro.

“Resist foreign domination”

Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel also warns people not to expect too much. In an interview with DW Online he said he didn’t believe that there would be changes any time soon. “Cuba has a right to self-determination, and I believe the doors are starting to open a little there now as well. Cuba has always had to fend off aggression, and the embargo has still not been lifted,” he said.

Pérez Esquivel, who himself resisted a dictatorship during the rule of the military junta in Argentina, sees the communists’ fear of intervention from abroad as the main brake on further development: “After more than 50 years of resistance, people have to respect the fact that Cuba still intends to resist foreign domination.”

Source: dw.com

Breaking News: Cuba’s Fidel Castro dead at 90

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Cuban communist revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro, seen in this 2012 photo, has died. Castro held tremendous sway in his country for decades, particularly during the Cuban missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviets inched closer to catastrophe. (Roberto Chile/AP)

Cuban communist revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro, seen in this 2012 photo, has died. Castro held tremendous sway in his country for decades, particularly during the Cuban missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviets inched closer to catastrophe. (Roberto Chile/AP)

Cuban President Raul Castro announces death on state media

After years of false rumours about his death, Fidel Castro, the ailing former leader of Cuba, has died at the age of 90.

Cuban President Raul Castro announced the death of his brother on Cuban state media.

Castro was one of the most divisive figures of modern history. To some, he was a revolutionary icon defending a socialist ideal against the encroachment of capitalism and imperialism. To others, he was a totalitarian dictator who ran a repressive government that quashed individual rights and carried out political executions.

Castro’s system of one-man and one-party rule kept him in power for 49 years, the longest of any head of government in the world. For most of that time, he was a thorn in the side of the U.S., which carried out several failed assassination attempts against him, as well as the infamous botched Bay of Pigs invasion.

The U.S. also put in place tough economic and travel sanctions against Cuba, barring U.S. citizens from travelling to or doing business with the country. The sanctions have remained in place for decades, but in December 2014 U.S. President Barack Obama announced his government is taking steps to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba.

The revolutionary as a young man

Castro was born on Aug. 13, 1926, in what was then Oriente province in the eastern part of the island of Cuba.

The son of a sugar cane farmer, Castro attended Roman Catholic schools and established an early reputation as a gifted athlete.

He studied law at the University of Havana, where he became actively engaged in politics. At the age of 21, he joined a group of Cubans and exiles from the Dominican Republic intent on overthrowing the Dominican dictator Gen. Ralael Leonidas Trujillo Molina.

After completing his degree and becoming a lawyer, Castro joined the Cuban People’s Party, a reformist movement.

Castro was only 27 when on July 26, 1953, he launched an attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba, then under the control of Gen. Fulgencio Batista, who had seized power in Cuba in a military coup a year earlier. The attack failed, with Castro and most of his fighters captured or killed, but the date went on to become Cuba’s most important holiday.

Castro was arrested and eventually sentenced to 15 years in prison but was pardoned after only two years. He went into exile in Mexico, where he assembled a group of revolutionaries dubbed the 26th of July Movement. A year later, in 1956, with the help of future rebel icon Ernesto (Che) Guevara and other opponents of the Batista regime, Castro returned to Cuba.

In January 1959, with a mere 800 guerrilla fighters, Castro and his troops managed to defeat Batista’s professional army of 30,000 soldiers, forcing Batista to flee Havana under the cover of night.

Rolling Stones inviting Cubans to free concert

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f56f4d82422021_56f4d82422057.thumbThe Rolling Stones are welcoming Cubans to their free concert on Friday with Mick Jagger speaking Spanish in a video on YouTube, though few are likely to see it, given Cuba’s scant Internet penetration.
“We have played in many incredible places but this concert in Havana is going to be a historic event for us,” Jagger said in a voice over while the Stones’ song, “Jumping’ Jack Flash” plays to snippets of concert video. “We hope it will be for you, too.” (here)
Less than one-third of Cubans have access to the Internet, with only 3.4 percent of homes connected to either the Internet or a local Cuban Intranet, according to U.N. data.
The Stones added Cuba to the end of a Latin American tour, becoming the first major international rock stars to play in the island nation.
The outdoor concert at a sports complex was postponed five days because of the 48-hour visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, who departed Cuba on Tuesday.
The band have brought in 61 shipping containers with an estimated 500 tonnes of equipment, such as a stage, speakers, lights and video screens, the production manager, Dale Skjerseth, told reporters on Sunday.
A crew of 140 Stones employees and at least 80 Cubans have set up on grounds including a football field and adjoining baseball fields with room for hundreds of thousands of spectators who are invited to arrive for free on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Last Chance, Amigo? 60 Years ago Turkey fooled USA to put missile in Turkey created Cuban missile crisis.

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150929-obama-raul-castro-02_da77d017537f22a7ada41983de87f9ae.nbcnews-fp-1200-800Back dropped by a monument depicting Cuba’s revolutionary hero Ernesto “Che” Guevara, U.S. President Barack Obama listens to the U.S. national anthem during a ceremony at the Jose Marti Monument in Havana, Cuba, Monday, March 21, 2016. “It is a great honor to pay tribute to Jose Marti, who gave his life for independence of his homeland. His passion for liberty, freedom, and self-determination lives on in the Cuban people today,” Obama wrote in dark ink in the book after he laid a wreath and toured the memorial dedicated to the memory of Jose Marti. (AP Photo/Dennis Rivera) – Puerto Rico OUT

The leaders’ press conference has resulted in an extraordinary interchange between CNN reporter Jim Acosta, a second-generation Cuban-American, and Raul Castro, a figure of absolute authority in Cuba who is never subjected to aggressive questioning by the state-controlled press or exposed to questions from independent foreign reporters.

When asked why Cuba has political prisoners, Castro testily addressed Acosta directly, saying “Give me the list now of political prisoners to release … if there are political prisoners they’ll be free before nightfall.”

Cuba is criticized for briefly detaining demonstrators thousands of times a year but has drastically reduced its practice of handing down long prison sentences for crimes human rights groups consider to be political. Cuba released dozens of political prisoners as part of its deal to normalize relations with Cuba and Amnesty International said in its 2015/2016 report that it knew of no prisoners of conscience in Cuba.

Turkey’s Erdogan, Began the Turkification of South America by using Islam again

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Erdoğan presents Cuba mosque

Erdoğan presents Cuba mosque

“Turkey understand the power of Islam that’s how they used to concur three continent”

It was Turkey who created Cuban missiles crisis almost US and Russia destroyed each others

Turkish President Erdoğan presents Cuba mosque project to Castro,

Although Cuban officials have already agreed with Saudi Arabia for the construction of a mosque in Havana, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has told Cuban President Raul Castro that Ankara would like to conduct its own project similar to Istanbul’s iconic Ortaköy mosque in another Cuban province.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Castro in Havana on Feb. 11, Erdoğan said Cuban officials had already made an agreement with Saudi Arabia for the construction of a mosque in Havana.

“We want to build the mosque ourselves. We don’t want a partner. If you find it appropriate, we would like to build it in Havana. But if you have promised a Havana mosque to other people, then we can build our Ortaköy Mosque in another Cuban province,” Erdoğan quoted himself as saying to Castro.

Mustafa Tutkun, the vice general manager of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), announced in November 2014 that Ankara had been negotiating with Cuban officials to build a mosque on two hectares of land in Havana’s historic center. The Diyanet had proposed the construction of a mosque similar to the picturesque Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul, which was built by Ottoman Armenian architects Garabet and Nigoğayos Balyan in 1856.

Erdoğan added on Feb. 11 that “Cuban officials have no negative attitude” regarding the issue, stressing that the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), as well as the Diyanet, will finalize the deal.

BREAKING NEWS U.S. to Restore Full Diplomatic Relations With Cuba, Officials Say

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The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half century after the release of an American contractor held in prison for five years, American officials said Wednesday.
In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final culminating meeting at the Vatican, President Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the island nation just 90 minutes off the American coast.
The contractor, Alan Gross, boarded an American government plane bound for the United States on Wednesday morning and the United States sent back three Cuban spies who have been in an American prison since 1981. American officials said the Cuban spies were swapped for a United States intelligence agent who has been in a Cuban prison for nearly 20 years and said Mr. Gross was not technically part of the swap but released separately on “humanitarian grounds.”
In addition, the United States will ease restrictions on remittances, travel and banking relations and Cuba will release 53 Cuban prisoners identified as political prisoners by the United States government. Although the decades-old American embargo on Cuba will remain in place for now, the administration signaled that it would welcome a move by Congress to ease or lift it should lawmakers choose to.
“Today, the United States is taking historic steps to chart a new course in our relations with Cuba and to further engage and empower the Cuban people,” the White House said in a written statement.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/world/americas/us-cuba-relations.html?emc=edit_na_20141217