In the spirit of dictators and ruling families, it's time the world rejoices at Cuba. After over a quarter of a century of the Castro family ruling the Communist island nation of Cuba, Raúl is finally stepping down after he took the reigns from his brother, the infamous Fidel Castro.
Since 1959, the Castro brothers have controlled the island nation in an iron grip, and have spread their version of communism. While the country isn't exactly doing that well, it has more or less worked for them. Sure, not perfectly, but they have been straddling along.
And now that Raúl is stepping down, 57-year old Miguel Díaz-Canel is stepping up as the next 'President'. For the past 5 years, Díaz-Cane has been serving as the Vice President. This means that he's in a sense a puppet of Castro because he will probably still learn from the Castros. In fact, in his inaugural address, he said that there was "no room in Cuba for those who strive for the restoration of capitalism". It also comes to no surprise that he won in a landslide victory, with 99.83% of the vote.
Díaz-Canel is not expected to introduce radical changes, at least not initially. He will still be under the influence of the Castros and will at most make gradual steps. In fact, Raúl has already been doing hat for the past 10 years. Check this out:
2010: Loosening of rules governing business activities, allowing Cubans to set up their own small private businesses
2011: Opening up of the housing market, allowing Cubans to buy and sell their homes
2013: First wi-fi zones created as part of a push to make the internet more accessible for Cubans
2014: US-Cuban thaw announced leading to the restoration of full diplomatic relations between the former foes
(source: BBC)
So yes, they have been improving. You can also check my other article about Cuban Cars for some info.
But yes, this might mean something good for Cuba and the citizens who are simply tired of the two brothers controlling the country. Maybe with a fresher perspective they can introduce more reforms and maybe see a new face to Cuba. Relations are supposedly improving between the US and Cuba so that's a good sign. If the new President doesn't take a hard-lined approach like Kim Jong Un then maybe it will be better. They could still function as a "communist" state but also be kind of capitalist like China and Vietnam. America just needs to not try to encroach upon Cuba too much and then reinforce the commonly-held view of Americans as imperialists.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43823287
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-cuba-diaz-canel-20180419-story.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuba-president-raul-castro-miguel-diaz-canel-powerful-position/
about time
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